If you’re trying to implement digital marketing for your business, you probably already know that there are quite a few different marketing strategies out there. Two of the most prolific strategies are search engine optimization (SEO) and content marketing. Both can boost your online presence and drive revenue.
But you may be having trouble distinguishing between the two strategies. That’s not surprising — both involve a lot of the same marketing elements, and they have similar goals. However, there is a difference, which we’ll look at on this page. Below, we’ll cover:
- Content marketing vs. SEO in a nutshell
- What is content marketing?
- What is SEO?
- Should you use content marketing or SEO?
- How are SEO and content marketing connected?
- How to use content marketing and SEO together
Content marketing vs. SEO in a nutshell
The simplest way to sum up the content marketing vs. SEO distinction is this: Content marketing is about creating content for your website, while SEO is about optimizing that content for search engine rankings.
What is content marketing?
Content marketing is a marketing strategy that involves creating different types of website content to attract your target audience. Most marketing content is written, like blog posts and articles. However, infographics and videos are other examples of content that many marketers use.
The overall goal of content marketing is to draw users to your business. By offering informative content related to your industry and keeping updated with the latest content marketing trends, you can bring users to your website, leading them to view you as a trustworthy source of information over time. Then, when they need the products or services you offer, they’ll turn to you instead of your competitors.
What is SEO?
SEO is a strategy that focuses on optimizing your presence in search results. When people search for terms related to your industry, you want them to see results from your business.
The most common type of SEO involves optimizing your website. You can do this through methods like:
- Adding keywords to your website content
- Improving your page load speeds
- Using responsive design to make your site mobile-friendly
- Using HTTPS instead of HTTP for added security
All of these tactics put your site more in line with Google’s search algorithms, increasing your chances of ranking high in search results. You can also perform off-page SEO tactics, such as earning backlinks from other websites and optimizing your Google Business Profile.
Should you use content marketing or SEO?
Now that we’ve defined both strategies, you may be asking, “Which one should I use — content marketing or SEO?” The answer is: Both.
This isn’t an either/or situation. Content marketing and SEO are both excellent strategies for improving your online presence and driving conversions. Not only that, but using one without the other is pretty much a death sentence for your marketing. SEO will fail without content, and content marketing will fail without SEO.
The best approach is to use both strategies together.
How are SEO and content marketing connected?
While it’s true that SEO and content marketing are two distinct strategies, each of them relies on the other to succeed. SEO helps marketing content rank in search results, and content marketing gives SEO something to rank.
If you use content marketing by itself, you may have some great content on your website — but no one will read it, because no one will know it’s there. You have no way of getting that content in front of your target audience. It’s just sitting there collecting dust, so to speak.
On the other hand, if you use SEO by itself, you don’t even have any content to work with. The whole point of SEO is to help your content rank in Google search results. But if you don’t have content to begin with, that doesn’t really work. Google’s not going to rank pages with nothing of value on them, nor would users click on those pages.
Together, SEO and content marketing are a powerhouse. Content marketing provides you with valuable content, and SEO then puts that content in front of users. If you compare marketing to fishing, content marketing would be the bait, and SEO would be where you put that bait out in the water to attract the fish.
How to use content marketing and SEO together
We’ve established that content marketing and SEO are best used together. But how should you approach that? How do you connect the two strategies? To answer that question, here are a few tips:
- Create content based on search results
- Implement SEO best practices as you create content
- Update old content with SEO tactics
We’ll go over each of those in more detail below.
1. Create content based on search results
When you’re coming up with ideas for your content, there are several places you can look for inspiration. But one of the best places to look is search results. After all, you ultimately plan to get your content ranking in search results.
So, start by looking at what keywords people are currently searching for in your industry. Then simply build your content around those keywords. For example, maybe you run a manufacturing company, and you see that there’s a lot of traffic for the keyword “what do manufacturing companies do.”
To enhance your research and content creation process, consider using content marketing tools that can help you analyze search trends and keyword performance. Based on that, you can make your next blog post about what manufacturing companies do, since you know that’s something your audience is interested in knowing.
2. Implement SEO best practices as you create content
You don’t want to manage your content marketing or SEO strategy in a vacuum. Instead, work on them simultaneously. One way to do that is by implementing SEO practices in your content as you create it. That’s much more efficient than creating your content first and worrying about SEO later.
So, let’s say you’re writing an article on your website. When you outline it, you should look at other pages currently ranking for your target keyword and answer the same questions you see answered on those pages. Then, as you write the actual page, integrate keywords naturally throughout the content.
3. Update old content with SEO tactics
Finally, it’s worth noting that content marketing doesn’t end after you publish a page. Over time, a lot of content becomes outdated, so it’s a good idea to update it periodically. How do you update it, though? Among other things, you use SEO practices.
Let’s say you’re trying to freshen up an old piece of content, but you’re not sure how to update it. In that case, try conducting a quick SEO check. Ask yourself questions like:
- Does this page target the right keywords?
- Am I addressing the same search intent as other pages ranking for this keyword?
- Do I have enough internal links on this page?
- Are the headings organized in a user-friendly way?
If you see room for improvement in any of those areas, that shows you what to update to boost the page’s ranking in Google.
Get help boosting your SEO and content marketing strategies with SEO.com
Content marketing and SEO can both be a lot of work. In fact, if you want them to drive revenue for your business, they should be a lot of work. But you can only commit so much time and effort to those strategies when you have so many other aspects of your business to manage.
That’s where SEO.com comes in. We’ll use our many years of digital marketing experience to manage your SEO and content marketing for you, optimizing it for maximum revenue. You’ll still get to call all the shots and stay informed of everything we do, but you won’t have to handle the workload yourself.
Let’s Drive Results Together 
Interested in our SEO services or our content marketing services? Contact us online today to get started!
Meet