SEO v.s. Inbound Marketing

Search engine optimization! Inbound marketing! These are some of the latest buzzwords that you will hear from marketers, other business owners and even spammers warning you of impending doom if you don’t hire their services! (Don’t get us started on some of the scare tactics that spammers use…) Search engine optimization and inbound marketing are utilized in a variety of strategies, which made us wonder; how are search engine optimization and inbound marketing related? Taking a deeper look at SEO and inbound marketing, we found that the two overlap in many ways and, most importantly, have the same end goal.

SEO is used by many businesses and companies to reach certain goals.

Here are some common reasons why SEO tactics are utilized:

• Increase your ranking on search engines
• Improve traffic to your website
• Increase your website engagement
• Establish a strong online digital presence for your business

Many of the goals of SEO are interdependent; having a higher ranking on search engines will consequently increase traffic to your site because it will be one of the first pages people see. Overall, SEO is focused improving your website’s search engine rankings so that you appear at the top of search result pages, leading to more traffic to your site and more clients for your business.

Inbound marketing strategies are employed to:

• Gain new clientele through marketing materials
• Increase traffic to your website and turn traffic into leads
• Increase conversion rates
• Set your brand up as an expert resource, creating valuable content that increases your brand identity while attracting new clients to you
• Update and maintain your website with content that markets your business

Overall, inbound marketing is focused on creating high quality content which will cause people to seek you out as an expert resource on your chosen subject and will rank well in search engine results. By generating this interest in your business, you will be increasing your website traffic and your search engine results.

So while SEO and inbound marketing involve varying techniques, the end goal is the same – to increase the visibility of your business.

Through our experience, we’ve discovered is that inbound marketing and SEO overlap when it comes to content creation. When using inbound marketing strategies, you need content that is search engine-friendly and engages users. 

SEO and inbound marketing require content that:

Speaks to Your Audience

Creating content that is tailored for your audience is what makes inbound marketing effective. Knowing your audience also allows you to effectively optimize your content for search engines. For example, if you know what search terms your ideal market is using then you can build content based on those terms.

Is Authentic to Your Business

Any content that your business puts out should be true to who you are. This is important because marketers can get carried away with getting higher rankings, and use SEO tactics ingenuinely. Examples include putting keywords into blog posts and meta descriptions just to be found, even when it doesn’t apply to the content of that page. All content for your business should speak from your business and carry a coordinated tone; be mindful of the personality your business is developing through content. Content creation takes time, but it’s worth the investment.

Is Visible Online

If you’re spending time and possibly money on developing inbound marketing material, you want people to be able to easily find it online. This is how SEO really supports your inbound marketing strategies. Using on-page SEO techniques improves the chances of your website being found. Ensuring that your page has quality information, useful keywords and proper meta descriptions will bring people to that landing page when it is part of a larger campaign!

SEO and inbound marketing are linked in a way that is inseparable, as they both stress the importance of quality content for marketing your business. This is why content marketing is all the buzz now.

Businesses are currently shaping their marketing strategies with the user in mind, as they should. Several years ago, when SEO started to gain momentum, some businesses got carried away with taking into account Google’s algorithm changes rather than focusing on the larger picture – providing value to their client through their website. Now the pendulum is swinging the other way, as marketers are discovering it’s more effective to create content with the user in mind, not the computer. Remember that all the tools out there are helping you to be found by people who are searching for what they want to find online. Creating useful content is how you will be found, create leads, and gain business.

Creating content for your business can be daunting, but it’s worth the investment to create quality content for your website because it will truly improve your business. Get in touch with us today to discuss how we can help you reach your target market! You can also leave us a comment on Facebook to tell us what marketing strategies you currently use.