Search engines aim to deliver the most relevant content to users based no their keyword search queries, and do so by taking into consideration over 200 different ranking factors. These factors, moreover, fall into one of three facets of SEO.
1. Indexation factors pertain to technical tactics and strategies that help ensure that search engines can access, crawl, and index a site’s pages and content.
2. Relevance factors are those that improve a site’s relevant on targeted keywords, and mostly happen at the content level, including title tags, meta descriptions, header tags, images, and, of course, onpage copy.
3. Popularity factors refer to action that occur offsite (i.e. on third-party sites and social networks) that demonstrate to search engines that a site (and its content)
Content marketing is important for a number of reasons. But foremost, content marketing is important because nearly every asset a brand uses to communicatte with users/consumers is, in fact, a piece of content (e.g. product pages, blog posts, guides, infographics, social media posts, etc.). Consequently, when a brand is proactively aware of the role that its various content assets play in its marketing efforts, it is better positioned to optimize those asset to generate a preferred or desired outcome – whether that outcome is a sale, a like, a share, a sign-up, or some other meaningful action. Furthermore, content marketing is important because of its innate ability to support other marketing acquisition channels. This includes, but is not limited to:
SEO by generating a body of keyword relevant content that supports a brand’s search engine rankings
Social Media by providing value-added content that fosters engagement and inspires actions
Email Marketing by either supporting subscriptions goals or supporting drip marketing efforts
Sales by eductating users and consumers about a brand’s products and services
Digital Advertising and Paid Search by providing value-added conent that generates conversions