Brand promotion and reputation management are two huge struggles most online brands and businesses face on a daily basis. While some brands have done and continue to do well in traditional marketing endeavors, the future for most businesses is online. With both paid and organic methods for improving brand awareness and reach, finding the right combination is essential.
Some businesses focus exclusively on search engine optimization, making it possible for them to earn tons of traffic naturally and without sustained paid marketing efforts. Others choose to forgo the wait and work, and instead focus on marketing as a silver bullet for rapid and massive exposure.
What is important to remember is that both of these strategies are viable – and often work well together. Let’s talk about the important ways in which SEO and marketing can complement each other.
The Overlap of Content Impact
First and foremost, one of the biggest ways marketing and search engine optimization work together is through the creation and propagation of content. In the process of content creation, you naturally want to create content that is desirable to your audience and fulfills their needs or wishes. That automatically makes the content well-suited for marketing purposes.
Likewise, most content shared on websites, blogs and even social media is optimized for search engines. According to Tim B Design – Minneapolis SEO consultant – well-optimized content can target both search engines and users at the same time.
Through a combination of quality information, relevant link building efforts and proper marketing across all platforms, content is the cornerstone of most marketing efforts and practically any SEO strategy.
The Commonalities of Link Building
Another important common ground between marketing and SEO is the act of link building. As you expand your brand’s presence across the internet, you’ll inevitably gain more links back to your website. Brands that do a great job of promoting themselves and/or providing excellent content will inevitably start organically earning links.
However, many brands and businesses focus on developing and cultivating links to bolster their SEO credentials and marketing potential. There are many ways to earn links today, with the goal being one that provides additional opportunities for your brand to be noticed – and more SEO link juice.
The Combination of Keyword Benefits
One of the biggest aspects of researching both marketing and SEO potential involves keywords. In order to get the most oomph out of your SEO ambitions, you need to know which niches and SERPs need to be targeted. Without this information, you’re flying blind: while it may be possible to ascend the ranks of search and be noticed without keyword research and focus, it is rare.
In the world of marketing, things are no different. Before you can deploy the most effective paid marketing strategies on social media, search engines and elsewhere, you need to know which niches to target. What words and phrases people are using to find brands like yours – and how many fellow brands are contesting those specific niches – give you greater ability to focus on marketing to and targeting the right people.
The Meshing of Analytics
There’s only one true way you can know if your website or brand is making progress in a particular area: by measuring progress over time. There are literally hundreds of metrics across SEO and marketing that people use to discern whether their brand is expanding or flat-lining. From bounce rates and ROI to cost-per-click and average on-page time, these metrics tell a broader story.
And it’s important to know that these indicators can tell a story about your SEO efforts and your marketing strategies. Whether you’re analyzing how people are responding to a landing page for your latest ad campaign or determining whether Google has recently penalized you in SERPs, it’s crucial to use analytics to compare and analyze your broader efforts.
Search engine optimization and marketing efforts take time, dedication – and sometimes money. It’s important to know how the two separate elements actually work together – and even rely on one another – for any business, brand or website. A few examples of this include backlinks, analytics, keyword research and content, but there are plenty of other smaller yet important similarities. As you improve your efforts in marketing or SEO, the other will be enhanced by the skills you obtain and knowledge you collect.
