How SEO content marketing drives sales and revenue

If you’re unfamiliar with SEO, don’t be put off by complex terms such as backlink analysis, HTTP and core web vitals – SEO is actually one of the most simple and cost-effective content marketing strategies available, and while it’s continuously evolving, the fundamental elements always remain. SEO strategy primarily involves optimising your content so that search engines like Google can find your website and direct traffic to your key landing pages whenever they are relevant.

In this blog, we’ll be covering how you can use SEO (search engine optimization) practices to augment your content marketing campaign, as well as the specific SEO content strategies best positioned to drive sales and revenue. If you’re looking to thrive amongst a sea of competitors, keep reading and discover the benefits of creating content to secure organic traffic – and if you’re looking for some more support, we offer a variety of managed SEO content services as well as SEO consultancy.

What is an SEO content strategy?

If you’ve created a content marketing strategy to promote a new product or service, you might already have a clear idea of the types of content you will produce to promote your upcoming release. The question is: how are you going to get prospects to find your content? With an SEO content strategy, of course! Implementing a powerful SEO content strategy will not only help search engines to find your key landing pages more easily, but will also prompt them to display your content on the results pages, targeting prospects who are actively searching for the keywords associated with what you’re looking to market.

As each landing page or blog post you create will be optimised to appear high in the search engine rankings, you’ll have a much better chance of enticing new traffic. Not only this, but if you’re targeting the right short- and long-tail keywords, that traffic will be relevant, and hopefully conversion-ready. Creating content with SEO in mind will no doubt have a significant impact across your marketing channels, so let’s dive in and discuss how to go about it. This post will cover the following:

• The importance of keyword research and finding users with the right search intent
• Creating an effective SEO content strategy across different funnel stages
• Using link building and internal links to augment your SEO strategy

What are keywords and how do I use them?

Keywords are specific terms associated with the products or services you offer, and are an important factor in what a search engine like Google will be looking for when determining the rankings. To find terms that will be relevant to your services and specific pages, you will have to conduct keyword research. There are a number of useful keyword research tools available such as SEMrush, Google Keyword Planner and Moz, but for businesses new to SEO and content strategy, it may be useful to have assistance from an experienced agency. If you would like to know more about selecting the correct short- and long-tail keywords for your primary conversion pages, take a look at The Brainy Beginner’s Guide To SEO for some useful insights.

Once you have conducted your research, the next step is to map a primary keyword, and sometimes supporting keywords, to specific pages or other pieces of content on your website like a long-form blog post. This is how your SEO strategy will begin to unfold – with keywords aligned to each part of your website, you can begin to create content that is aligned to exactly what your target audience is looking for in the search results. In time, this meticulous content strategy will encourage organic traffic to each optimised webpage and blog post, allowing you to continuously improve by monitoring how users are traveling around your site and whether they are converting.

Creating a powerful SEO content marketing strategy: Using personas

You might already know who you are looking to target with your content marketing strategy, but it pays to be specific. Identifying your target audience and how they operate online is vital if you want your content to be seen by prospects who will convert and take action.

At The Brains, we’ve found that the best way to do this is by defining marketing personas through workshops we conduct with our clients. Personas in this instance are virtual mock-ups of the types of people who will be most interested in the products or services you’re marketing. For example, if you are selling running shoes, you could decide on multiple personas who you feel might be interested in purchasing from you:

• Persona #1: A young female professional who lives in central London and likes to run after work.
• Persona #2: A retired man who lives in the suburbs and likes to run once a week.

With this information, you can start to plan your content and SEO strategy and determine what types of content will be most effective in terms of converting each of your target personas.

• Persona #1 might have less time to carry out extensive research given her lifestyle, so might prefer to read a short blog post that provides information about why she should choose one brand of running shoes over another.
• Persona #2 will likely have more time to spare, which means he would prefer to read long-form articles that include a little more detail.

Once you have defined which types of content will be the most effective for each of your personas, you will need to refer back to your keyword research and consider your ranking opportunities. While it can be tempting to optimise for terms with a high search volume, usually these terms are highly competitive and it can be difficult to see the results of your efforts in a short space of time. A long-tail key term or a phrase with a lower search volume will usually provide a better opportunity for a page or blog post to rank highly in the search engine results.

The marketing funnel: Developing an SEO strategy for prospects at each stage

Now that you have a clear idea of who your target audience is, you need to assess where they are in your marketing funnel. Knowing how close your target audience is to making a purchase plays a significant role in the types of SEO content you create.

• Will you be targeting prospects who are still in the awareness stage who are just looking to become more educated about a specific product or service?
• Will you be targeting prospects who are beginning to research and look at different options before making a purchase?
• Will you be targeting prospects who are close to making a purchase?

Identifying these stages will determine the types of primary and related keywords you should be using when you create content. And, using the exact keyword phrase as a guide while writing your engaging content will allow you to ensure that the information you are providing your prospects with is always relevant to them and their goals.

Content for prospects at the awareness stage

Prospects at the awareness stage are just beginning to show interest and will use search engines to find out more. To use the running shoe example again, if someone is new to running and wants to know more about buying the right gear, they might search something along the lines of:

• Why should I buy running shoes?
• Are running shoes necessary?
• Are running shoes expensive?

When targeting prospects at this stage, it’s important that your content answers these questions. For instance, you might write a blog or an article that covers these questions without adding any direct sales actions. Instead of sales messaging, you could include internal links that direct prospects to your landing page where they can have a look around and familiarise themselves with your brand. Internal linking is a great way to keep your SEO traffic on your site for as long as possible by directing them along the sales journey.

Content for prospects at the research stage

At this stage, your prospects already know that they want to purchase a pair of running shoes and are actively looking at different brands to find a pair that suits their needs and budget. To do this, they will likely have questions such as:

• What is the best brand of running shoes?
• What brand of running shoes is the best value for money?
• How much should I spend on running shoes?

Creating content at this stage should focus on answering these questions and signalling that your brand provides the best solution. Arguably, prospects at this stage of the marketing funnel are the trickiest, as you need to prove to them why they should consider you over your competitors.

You make or break a conversion at this stage, so make sure you create content that is fully primed to appear on search engine ranking pages and later guide the user to understand your core USPs. Often, prospects will simply choose the business that has the highest ranking without looking any further, purely for ease and speed – it’s at this stage that your full plethora of SEO skills will truly be tested.

Content for prospects at the purchasing stage

Prospects at this stage are practically walking (or in this case, running) to the checkout desk. They just need a final push before they convert. Although they will know who you are as a brand at this point, they may still have a few questions that you can answer using your on-page SEO skills, such as in an optimised FAQ section. These queries might include:

• How long do X brand of running shoes take to arrive?
• Do I need to buy any additional items?
• Do these shoes come with a warranty?

Your main hurdle at this stage is your competitors, so make sure that your content provides better, more informed answers that will lead your prospects to make the final conversion.

Augment your SEO strategy with link building

A content marketing strategy will do wonders for your business so long as it is supported by other marketing pillars. Content creation using relevant keywords is a vital part of the process, but both external and internal linking can bring even more traffic and help you pave the way to SEO success.

When optimising your web pages, consider where you have opportunities to use internal linking to help users access more information. As for external links, digital PR specialists can help you to build relationships with specific blogs (or other sites that are related to your service) that will be able to provide your site with a high-quality backlink. Having a strong portfolio of backlinks will help you rank higher in the organic search results as Google will notice that your site has increased authority. As a leading link building agency, we know from experience that building a strong, healthy backlink portfolio is a key element of SEO.

Our final tip: Stay consistent with your content strategy

Whether you’re launching a new product or service or you’re simply looking to perform better in the organic search results, it’s essential to keep creating and scheduling SEO content to ensure that prospects can always find you when they’re looking for specific terms in the search engines.

As Google’s algorithm is continuously being updated, organising a regular SEO analysis across your site is vital if you are to align your content strategy accordingly. Consider investing in SEO tools and keeping track of important metrics in Google analytics so that you can analyse your SEO strategy as your business continues to grow. We also recommend using a content calendar so that you can create consistent posts each month and integrate this with your social media marketing efforts. The more relevant content you create, the more likely your pages are to be found by the search engines.

SEO content strategy at The Brains

SEO and content marketing are somewhat inseparable, and at The Brains. As one of the UK’s leading SEO agencies, we pay close attention to aligning these processes wherever possible. Hopefully in this blog you have learnt that choosing the right keywords (with an achievable search volume), exploring your personas and identifying where your prospects are along the marketing funnel is essential if you want to create content that will encourage conversions on your site. With our content strategy experts on your side, you’ll have direct support across all of these workstreams and more. We’ll help you not only conduct essential research, but also develop a brilliant SEO content strategy that will help your business earn its rightful place high in the search results!

We offer a variety of SEO services including:

• Technical SEO
• SEO website audits
• Local SEO services
• International SEO services
• SEO consultancy 
• Link building services

If you’re looking to boost your content marketing campaign with search engine optimisation to drive sales and revenue, book a FREE consultation with one of our Brainy experts, and we’ll fill you in on how we can help you achieve your business goals through powerful, optimised content creation.