Search engine optimization (SEO) should be a linchpin in any successful content marketing plan. But with search engines updating algorithms on a frequent basis, how is a mortal content marketer supposed to keep up?
We’ve collected advice from Content Marketing Institute contributors that will help content marketers navigate SEO even as search engine optimization evolves. Check out the following SEO checklist to make sure your content marketing is set up for success.
1. Document your SEO strategy
Let’s start with your plan as soon as you finish reading this post: If you haven’t already done so, document your SEO strategy. Depending on how far along your company is on SEO, you may need to write a basic strategy first, and then revisit it after doing some work to audit and analyze your current SEO efforts and data (more on that later!). But, if you follow CMI at all, you should already know that documenting your content marketing strategy is essential for success, and your SEO efforts should be a key part of that strategy. Content marketers who have a documented strategy are almost twice as likely to report that their content marketing is effective compared to content marketers without a documented strategy.
2. View SEO and content marketing as partners, not opponents
You may have read or heard about a “debate” between SEO and content marketing. Agencies that specialize in one or the other discipline may benefit from creating a distance between SEO and content marketing. But this way of thinking can be detrimental to the success of your content. In fact, Barry Feldman goes so far as to call this siloed thinking “ridiculous.” As Feldman writes, “Content marketing and SEO do not compete with each other.” He continues, “If we’re creating content to support our marketing objectives, a vital part of our execution strategies should be focused on optimizations that will increase the probability that our content will be discovered via search.” So, stop wasting time wondering whether you should implement content marketing or SEO. These disciplines are melding together and will provide greater success if they can work in tandem.
The Ultimate SEO Checklist: 15 Steps to Optimize Your Content Marketing Plan
