How can content marketing be used to help improve my company’s local seo?
Introduction
It’s a question we get asked frequently, that is, why is our marketing agency spending so much time writing content marketing?
How does writing thousands of words translate to improving a company’s seo?
Well, as with all things seo related, it does depend on the quality of the work.
What we mean is, really useful content marketing, that’s to say the writer understands Google’s EAT and also Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. Then this means that the writer should have an understanding that Google only likes quality white hat work.
So, Google only ever approves of white hat work, so if the work is good, it could help to improve the organic and local seo.
However, we are now going to elaborate a bit more, on some of the mistakes some companies make, why the work must be good quality, and also, why its worth firing up that espresso machine, and writing some really good work, as the results, well, if done right, could help you generate more business.
So, how can content marketing be used to help improve a company’s seo?
This is the key question, so let’s break it down into manageable chunks:
Can help to make your website more relevant
Now what do you mean by “relevant” we hear you cry- surely if my website sells organic chocolate, then the business is only relevant for people that what to purchase chocolates, right?
Well, not really…
Put yourself in Google’s shoes for just a second…
You’ may well be a small fish in a massive sea, and by that we don’t mean to be insulting!
We mean, that there’s going to be millions of other businesses, that are likely to also want to sell chocolate to the masses.
There’s likely to be your really high-end chocolate businesses, let’s say that only sell locally to customers in Bristol, you know the type, the really fancy chocolate retailers, the ones that can cost an absolute arm and a leg- and you have to purchase them individually.
And then their will be the business power-houses, the chocolate retailers that sell on mass, let’s say they are well known brand, and you may even set up a monthly subscription to get chocolate through your door.
So, all of these businesses are relevant to “chocolate”- yet how does Google know which businesses should appear locally, in say the Google My Business results, and which ones should appear on the first page of the organic results?
Well, it comes back to that word “relevancy”
So, if you sell chocolate online, let’s say across the UK, well you’re going to need to make your website super relevant for all of the chocolate range you sell, and the fact that you deliver via mail.
Now, if you’re a smaller business, let’s say a business based in central Bristol, well you’re going to want to make your website more relevant to Bristol and chocolate.
Where the national business, well there much more likely to be creating content marketing to earn backlinks, as they need to be relevant and an authority.
A Bristol based business, selling chocolate locally, they are going to need to do the same, but much more focused on Bristol. So, Bristol focused content marketing, such as business awards you’ve won.
The strategy needs to be different if its local seo, as opposed to national seo.
Quantity and quality
So, let’s say here in Bristol, there’s let’s say for example 7 shops which specialise in retailing electric bikes, now let’s say there all paying seo agencies in Bristol to improve their local seo so that they rank higher on Google.
However, it comes down to this, which businesses have the strongest seo? That’s what determines who ranks higher on Google.
Now content marketing is just one part of the seo process, there’s so much more that’s normally need to improve a company’s seo, however, it’s a key part.
So, it’s like what a turbo does to an engine, it gives it more power, so the more high-quality content marketing, that’s white hat, and is well-written, well this can have a positive effect on your local seo if done right.
But what do we mean by done right?
Well, the most important thing is this, it must be white hat, don’t ever cut corners, or add low-quality seo work, as you will incur a penalty.
So, make sure its white hat work, that’s the golden rule.
Useful
The next point is this, don’t write content marketing with just the sole aim of trying to improve your local seo. This wont work, it is most likely to damage your seo, what you need to do instead is write white hat work, but make the work “useful”- yes that word again.
So, by useful we mean, think of your customers, what sort of questions about your product or your service do they often have? How can you answer them questions, or more to the point, how can you aim to answer the question better than your competitors?
Bristol SEO
So, as we run a Bristol seo company, its likely you also run a business here somewhere in The South West of England, whether that be Bath, Somerset or let’s say somewhere in Devon.
We can help you to improve your organic and local seo.
For a lot of businesses, they want to improve their organic and also local seo, this is where we can help, with seo consultants, that have over 10 years experience, we are a digital marketing agency that’s well placed to help.
Although this article concentrates on how content marketing can be used to help improve a companies seo, its important to remember that this is just one part of the seo process, there’s so much more work that’s often needed, so during the working week, our team is likely to be working hard for clients in Bristol, doing the following work:
– Building business citations
– Building new websites
– Consulting with businesses in Bristol
– Writing seo reports
– Adding new meta titles and descriptions
– Adding new pages
– Much more
So what should I be writing about, to try and improve our seo?
Well, this is the million dollar question, yet, it all boils down to this, try to help your customers the best you can- sounds obvious, right?
Well, not really, so many digital marketing agencies get it wrong, thinking that they must focus on improving the seo, which is of course important, yet, first must come helping your customers, then by doing that, this will help improve your seo. So helpful guides, these may keep a shopper on your website for longer, may reduce your companies bounce rate, may attract backlinks, see how if the work is white hat, how it can help improve your organic seo?
So always aim for quality, and concentrate on answering questions that your customers often have.
Remember that Google wants to supply the best answer to a question that it can, so, if you aim to offer the best advice your business can, then your more likely to rank higher.
Lets put it another way, lets say you’re a family lawyer, and you are based in Bristol, lets say central Bristol, your business is based in the dockland area of Bristol.
Now, around you lets say are one hundred other family law practices, some with just one solicitor some employing over 100 lawyers.
So, the competition is strong, now, people who are going through a divorce, there most likely to have the same questions, like “how do you even begin the divorce process” and “how long does a divorce take”.
Now, these are simple questions for any family law practice to answer, yet, the business that answers it best, gives the best possible advice, and generally has the best seo will rank higher. So, the point we are trying to make is this, sure, the question can often be answered in a short sentence, yet it’s the companies here in The South West, which go the extra mile, which aim to help their customers, with that question, and many others, which are likely to rank higher on Google.
How often should we be writing?
This does depend, for a super competitive business sector, then you often need to publish content marketing more often, in a low competition business sector less so.
However whichever business sector you’re in, the work must be quality, don’t ever think quantity is better than quality, as this could drive down where your business ranks on Google.
Plus, also concentrate on writing to help your customers with questions they often have.
Will we see results overnight?
No, and this is not what a lot of businesses want to hear, we realise that. Often a business owner wants to see results quickly, however, with seo, things are often very slow. However, how slowly depends on the current level of your seo, if you just need a nudge onto the first page of Google, then obviously things might be much quicker.
However, if you’re a new business, that’s to say the website has just be designed, and you’re up against really strong competitors then things might take a long time.
The way we always explain this, is as follows, Google uses over 200 different ranking factors, which are used to determine how good your seo is, now if you’re a new business, well, your seo is likely to be very weak. Now compare this with say the business currently occupying the number one spot on Google, their there simply because Google has deemed that company has having very strong seo, but that’s because they may have been paying an seo agency, like us, every single month, for say the last 7 years straight.
So, the point we are trying to make is, any business that’s just starting, often they will be up against direct competitors, that may have been paying seo agencies for a long time, so to see any improvement for their own seo, might take some time.
How does Google know if the work is quality or not?
Google is very good at knowing if the work is quality, here’s some of the ways the search engine will know if the work is quality or not:
– Google Knowledge Graph
– Google Knowledge Vault
– Google EAT
– Google’s algorithm updates, such as Hummingbird, Panda and also Penguin
– Google Analytics
Am I best hiring a copywriter?
This depends, some copywriters might have huge amounts of expertise in your business sector, so are well placed to write the content marketing.
However, some copywriters, might not have a clue about your business sector, so the content marketing might well be poor quality, and not very useful to a reader, so it does very much depend on how good the copywriter is.
Will each piece of writing mean I will climb up Google’s ranks?
No, it doesn’t work like that, its something a business may ask an seo agency, such as, how many pieces of content marketing does a business need to write to reach number 1 position on Google, however, you cant put a number on it.
That’s to say its not a matter of writing a set amount of articles, it about writing quality, and then measuring whether this has improved the seo each month.