Since the turn of the century, content marketing has taken off. As a form of attracting prospects, generating leads, and converting customers, digital marketing has proven effective across all types of brands.
One of content marketing’s most appealing features is its variety of formats. A competent editor can handle website content, social media posts, blogs, and videos, making content versatile and dynamic.
Search engine optimization is a crucial element of content marketing. A content strategy that includes SEO can help you get found on search engines. If your content is SEO-optimised, it is more likely to be seen right when by the right people at the right time.
It was found that 82% of marketers invest in content marketing and 60% measure their results by referring to sales, according to HubSpot’s Marketing Report. Digital marketing trends in 2022 include content marketing and search engine optimization (SEO).
Content marketers know that rankings on Google’s first page are very important. According to Sistrix, content in the top spot on Google’s page served 25 percent more clicks than content in the bottom 10. Your high Google ranking demonstrates your power. Search engines now expose more of their products, making organic content harder to rank.
Kate Toon, SEO and Content Expert, says, “Hotels are now listed with Google’s accommodation engine.” Branded search is on its way. With the Core Web Vitals update (in 2021), Google wants to improve page load time and usability.
It is also causing waves about accessibility, such as screen reader compatibility, font adjustment, and image descriptions. Very soon, Google will be incorporating those into its algorithms. Consequently, accessible sites are rewarded instead of inaccessible ones and climb up the rankings faster.
Content marketers should consider the following elements when planning their strategies:
- Include keywords in your content that are relevant to branded search when appropriate.
- Research the results of the People Also Ask brand to make the most of your copy.
- Tracking keywords and searches will enable you to track the performance of keywords and include new ones as they are discovered.
- Embrace the use of questions in your short and long-form content (more on this below) to enhance Google’s chances of finding you.
- Google Discover is powered by great imagery.
Google Discover is a swipe-able content bank you can access on your phone. It offers tailored content based on your web and application activities and location to tailor what you read and search for based on your likes and interests.
As a result, your content will appear in mobile feeds without people having to look for it, which is a goldmine for marketers. So what are the steps for getting your content onto Google Discover?
- Produce excellent content: Although it seems obvious, Google wants to display the best and most relevant content for its users, ensuring that yours stands out from the rest.
- Be trustworthy and authoritative: If you know, Google will rank your content highly, so make sure quotes from experts or your experience on the topic are included.
- Website optimization – Great content doesn’t mean anything if you deliver it to a slow or inaccessible website.
- Consider your titles – You should avoid clicking on titles that are too promotional or clickbait-oriented
- Publish timely content – You should tap into trends and newsworthy activities to deliver relevant and timely content to users.
- Provide great visuals – Adding relevant and eye-catching images will help your content appear more prominently in the Google Discover results.
The importance of visuals for Google is increasing, according to Toon. The company is putting more emphasis on image search. With Google Discover, we see better-ranked sites with really good imagery, changing how we use Google.”
- There is a surge in interactive content.
Interactive content, which entails prospects and customers interacting, has grown in popularity among brands in the past few years. Play games, use calculators, quizzes, polls, view maps, and see infographics on interactive content, such as Black Mirror: Bandersnatch.
According to Demand Gen’s State of Interactive Content report, approximately twice as many people interact with interactive content as static content. Interactive content is particularly useful in B2B marketing campaigns such as webinars.
The marketing funnel is filled with different ways to use interactive content, and each type serves a different purpose. Some types work to generate brand awareness, while others generate leads. This infographic, for example, helps select user activities in Scottsdale, Arizona, based on an interactive journey.
DMI’s Digital Skills Test has proved to be a successful interactive content in driving visitors and leads. In this manner, you can gauge your digital expertise and see the areas where you are strong and weak in digital marketing.
The metaverse may mean that content marketing’s interactivity will become more vital. Facebook is making a big bet on the metaverse, or Meta. Ken Fitzpatrick says, “people need to care about what happens there.”
If you were to ask yourself one question in the metaverse that you can grasp, it would be, how do I make my brand or product live in a virtual world? Fitzpatrick concludes that a simple way to test it would be to create interactive content,” Fitzpatrick concludes.
- AI will play a bigger role in creating content.
The most engaging content is created with a human touch. There is no doubt that a content-rich world is dominated by content marketers who are always on the lookout for new words or phrases or use humor to capture attention. It takes a lot of effort to define the tone and personality of your copy correctly.
Copy creation will become more sophisticated than ever before due to Artificial Intelligence (AI). Its algorithms have improved their understanding of search queries by using natural language processing techniques over the past few years.
Recently, Google introduced an algorithm update, known as BERT, that is designed to understand what we type into the search box and why we are looking for it. Content Expert Kate Toon advises understanding the context.
Since BERT, there’s been another algorithm update called MUM (Multitask Unified Model). This is designed to look for patterns in language to understand it at a structural level. This helps Google better understand why people search for what they search for to give better results and service more ads.
According to Toon, copywriting, keyword research, copy automation, and copywriting services will be affected by this. Using automation is an affordable alternative for many businesses. But the message, order, and tone don’t quite match a lot of the time.
Since AI isn’t good at understanding wit, slang, rhythm, and tone, I don’t think copywriters have anything to be scared of yet. The trend seems to be moving towards automation to save money and time.”
It is useful for SEO experts as it allows them to automate the generation of meta descriptions, title tags, and alternative tags at a mass level.
- Answer-based content requires marketers to include
Nowadays, people search for online content to get answers. Now, the most popular search term on Google is ‘how,’ accounting for 14 % of all searches.
In the current technology environment, customers are more likely to turn to devices to ask questions, whether they are typing into a search engine or using voice recognition. The art of scribing copy has undergone some changes over the past couple of years, and it’s an interesting development for content marketers.
Toon states that it is difficult to rank in the organic space for keywords without any content, but it is still relatively easy to rank for content that is question-and-answer based. To answer individual questions, you need to know your audience and their pain points. You can phrase a question in so many different ways.”
You can also improve content SEO by implementing a FAQ schema. An example is quality assurance (individuals contributing different answers to a QA system) or a FAQ system. Toon says it’s really easy to do and can help you gain visibility in the People Also Ask search engine results.
SEO & Content Marketing: The Future
Content marketing and SEO development have enabled you to engage your audience and convert them by applying these strategies. Content that is authentic and provides solutions is one of the best ways of engaging your readers.
Today’s consumers expect brands to relate to them personally. Question-based searches indicate that they seek information and are interested in interactive content to enhance their experience.
By creating SEO-optimised content, you will be able to ensure that your brand appears within search engines and other social media platforms. Further, you may not need to begin from scratch: if you conduct a content audit, you can identify resources that resonate with your audience and determine whether they can be repurposed or updated.
This is the season of content marketing, so start writing, researching, and planning to demonstrate what you can do.
