The Best Thing You Can Do To Improve Your SEO Results

SEO and digital marketing processes change all the time. I actually would say it evolves more than changes, i like to think in that way.  But you have to THINK and be creative to stay ahead of the changes. Search Engine Optimization or SEO, is still a very powerful tool.

SEO is much more than keywords or key phrase on your site. The evolution has become Semantic Search, which takes a deeper look at the action behind the search terms and phrases.

Yet there is one key activity that can payoff handsomely to any company selling a product or service.

CONTENT MARKETING

A really powerful part of your search engine optimization strategy is content. It isn’t much different. And i tell all of my clients to hire a dedicated content person. Why?

Social Media needs content. Content is needed on your site. Content is needed to make you the expert in your field.

But there is one other reason.

Ad blockers are becoming more and more common, especially on mobile. Now, as a consumer I love them. As an advertiser, I don’t particularly care for them. But the implication is that the content news sites, who derive their revenue from ads so they can provide free content, will need to become subscription sites to survive. That will hurt the marketing and advertising of products.

NATIVE ADS

To combat this, the content sites have gotten creative in their approach using native ads and sponsored stories. I’m sure you have seen them.

They look like this.

Native Ads for content marketing

These are Native Ads

Sponsored stories improve SEO

This is a sponsored story

As you can see, there is a lot more real estate to work with to get your message out.

Native ads are hosted like a blog on your site so the customer is reading this on your site and can then, navigate around and make a purchase. The additional relevant content enhances your SEO.

Sponsored stories are written by the content provider and there is a fee. But they are highly effective and have links back to your site. So from an SEO perspective, they have relevant content to your site and a backlink into your site.

A few keys to make these effective.

  • The headline is the most important.  80% of the people will click on the ad because of the headline.  Most wont read past the first paragraph.
  • Make sure the content of the story is congruent to the headline or people will just abandon the post.
  • Don’t try to sell the customer in the post or story.  use this to explain the features and benefits of who you are and what you do.  They will buy if you do this correctly.

Yes, the digital marketing environment is evolving and changing all of the time.  With every change, there is always an opportunity and content will always be the best way to connect your brand with your customers.