In 2021, content marketing is king. So, no matter what kind of business you run, you need to be creating the likes of blog posts, videos, or guides to boost your SEO and make more sales.
Different strategies will work for different companies, but there are three areas you should definitely be focusing on. These are:
- On-page SEO,
- Building authority backlinks,
- And content marketing, which is what I’ll be focusing on.
Here are the five main content marketing techniques you should be using to boost your search engine rankings and reach a wider audience.
Choose your target keywords carefully
If you’re familiar with SEO, you probably know a little bit about keyword research. Target keywords are the words or phrases related to your niche that you want to show up on the search engine results pages for.
You need to make sure you’re targeting the right keywords, though, or people might be disappointed or frustrated if they land on your site and can’t find the information they need.
The most important thing is to make sure you’re considering the intent behind certain keywords. When making a particular search, is the internet user trying to learn something, or make a purchase? When it comes to creating content, you’ll typically want to focus on targeting informational keywords. Brainstorm some different subjects relevant to your niche and plug them into keyword tools to find these.
There are a lot of different tools you can use to find the best keywords to target with your content marketing. Google Keyword Planner is a free tool that gives you suggestions based on the keywords you input — for instance, plugging “how to do SEO” into the search bar gives you “how does SEO work,” “how does google rank websites”, and more. This tool will also show you how competitive these keywords are.
It’s also a good idea to track your SEO performance as you go so you can tweak your content accordingly. Check how your content marketing pieces are ranking every few months, and update them whenever you spot any missed opportunities. For example, you might want to add some keywords that have grown in popularity or include some information that wasn’t available when your content was originally published.
Create content that will boost your E-A-T rating
E-A-T is a term that comes from Google Search’s quality rater guidelines, and it stands for expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness.
Because search engines want to point people towards accurate and helpful information, they consider these three factors when deciding how to rank your website for certain queries. So, when you’re putting together your content marketing strategy, it’s worth thinking about how you’re going to prove your site is a knowledgeable source of high-quality information.
Let’s take a look at some businesses that are already doing this well.
For instance, FreshBooks is an online accounting software provider, and they publish a lot of helpful financial guides for their target audience — freelancers and small business owners.
They have a guide that addresses a common concern among this group, which is whether small businesses should hire an accountant. This covers all of the relevant considerations and allows FreshBooks to show that they know the small business and accounting space inside and out. As a result, the company is able to establish itself as an expert, authoritative voice, and trustworthy source of information.
This tactic can work for businesses in lots of different industries, too.
The Real FX Group is a real estate company based in Austin, and they publish a lot of articles on the topic of purchasing a property. A great example is their guide to inspection contingencies.
In order to show your expertise, authority, and trustworthiness, you should strive to make the most informative content possible. So, this guide covers everything someone might need to know about this topic, including what the definition of an inspection contingency is, what they entail, and how to negotiate one.
Content like this also has the added benefit of attracting the right people to your website. Someone who’s interested in this information might also be interested in the company’s services.
To get the best results, you should ensure any content you publish is as relevant to your line of work as possible.
Take a look at how UTires, an online used tires provider, does this. In their blog piece on how often you should balance and rotate your tires, they go over why this is important, how often it needs to be done, and how to do it yourself. This is definitely relevant to people looking on a website shopping for tires — content like this shows that they know what they’re talking about, and are a trusted source when it comes to tire purchases.
What kinds of content could you publish to prove that you know your industry and are great at what you do?
Produce shareable content people will want to link to
Earning high-quality backlinks can have a huge impact on your search engine rankings. This involves convincing other authoritative sites to link back to yours. Google will see each of these links as a vote of confidence and will boost you up the SERPs as a result.
You need to give people a reason to link back to your site, though, and creating quality content that others want to share can really help. But what types of content tend to be the most link-worthy?
Infographics are great for building your backlink profile. They’re colorful, engaging, and great for breaking down complicated or statistic-heavy information. This is why they get shared so much.
Think about all of the infographics you see being repurposed in articles. If you can create a graphic that does a great job of illustrating stats or helpful information relevant to your niche, others in your field will want to use it.
Doing this is a lot easier than it sounds, too. If you need some help, Venngage has a guide to creating an infographic in 5 steps that will walk you through the process.
Original research is also a great tool for establishing your business as an authority in your field and building backlinks on relevant sites.
Think about what kind of study or survey you could conduct for your original research. You could conduct a focus group or survey with your customers and ask them for input as to what they need help with. Or, what questions do you have about your business or industry? You can be the one to provide the answer! Dig around for other forms of research in your industry and see what people are talking about. What would good follow-ups be?
You can also earn backlinks while boosting your E-A-T by creating ultimate guides.
This type of content should cover everything someone might want to know about a topic that’s relevant to your business. Search Engine Journal actually has an ultimate guide to ultimate guides that outlines how to create one. It covers how to pinpoint your guide’s purpose, how to choose the keywords you’re going to target with it, and more.
This type of content allows you to really show your expertise and, because it’s so comprehensive, it’ll earn you plenty of links, too.
Keep your content as relevant as possible
You want search engines to understand exactly what your business does so they send the most relevant traffic to your website. And you can help them out by ensuring you make all of your website content as relevant to your business or industry as possible.
Superdry, an apparel company, does this well with their blog. They sell men’s and women’s clothes — everything from jeans to jackets, to shirts and accessories. Their blog features a lot of content, including style guides!
One example is their winter jacket style guide for men. They give an outline of all the different types of coats a guy needs in their closet to keep warm and look good while doing it. This is certainly relevant to their audience of people looking for fashionable clothes to wear. For the man that needs a little more help pulling together his wardrobe, this is one of the many Superdry articles that can help.
Improve on your competitors’ content
Are there keywords your competitors are ranking for and you aren’t? Or are there topics similar companies are yet to cover that you could swoop in and capitalize on?
It’s a good idea to conduct a content gap analysis to see where you might be missing opportunities right now. Use a tool like Ahrefs’ Site Explorer to figure out where your competitors are excelling and what kinds of content you could create to catch up.
You should also be checking similar companies’ blogs and knowledge hubs on a regular basis for content ideas. Of course, you don’t want to copy everything you find, but pick out the most relevant articles as inspiration and build on them. As long as your content is always better than the version it was inspired by, you should start to see your site climb the SERPs.
Summary
Content marketing is the ultimate way to get more web traffic. By creating great content that targets the right keywords, you’ll be able to improve your SEO and tap into a huge audience base that you might not have been able to reach otherwise!
If you’re just getting started with content marketing, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and start researching. Target appropriate keywords, produce authoritative, share-worthy content, and keep your content as relevant as possible. You’ll be well on your way to having a huge boost in traffic.
Author bio:
Aaron Haynes is CEO and co-founder of Loganix. The company is an SEO fulfillment partner for digital marketing agencies and professionals, which provides the services businesses need to improve their online visibility and grow. If you liked this article, check out the Loganix blog, where you’ll find more SEO guides full of expert advice.