Content Strategy and the Dirty Lie about SEO
A recent comment on Online Marketing Blog in response to advice on Content Marketing Optimization states: “Why not write less and give more to gain credibility … reach the consultation and the rest will follow?” It makes sense to make fantastic content that people will interact with and share, on the rise visibility over time naturally. But that’s a superficial and often naive approach to content marketing.
Here’s the full comment from Kal:
“I find a lot of content is wasted! You see the site reputation and click! All you see is jabber and you know it is written for the search engines and not for the booklover, researcher, consumer or the surfer.”
“Why not write less and give more, then for sure you will gain credibility and credits. The problem isn’t being able to reach the first page, but reach the consultation and the rest will follow.”
Who to hold responsible for SEO ruining content? No doubt, there’s too much content made purely for SEO. You could hold responsible SEOs for that. You could also hold responsible Google for reputation it so high and you could also consider the companies that hire SEOs who want higher rankings – quick.
The dirty SEO lie. The reality is, that the “less is more” argument with content strategy facility fantastic when you don’t have to worry about where the traffic to the fantastic content will come from. This is part of the “dirty lie about SEO”: That fantastic content attracts its own consultation and that SEO ruins content.
Promote and optimize – and they will come. Should content have purpose, be coordinated, plotted and measured? Of course. The missing link from this kind of advice is the substance of attracting readers to the content and being accountable to the marketing performance of that content.
Content must be accountable. Since most content strategy work is more focused on messaging, workflow and administration purposeful content and NOT on sales, strategists don’t often value the built-in traffic generation capabilities of SEO. Most consultants are inherently biased towards their own expertise and without a holistic perspective or checks and balances, the client’s objectives will not be served properly by over emphasizing SEO or by dismissing it.
The answer? Content SEO talent. There are many marketers that refuse being herded into this channel, that fantastic content requires publicity to attract traffic to it. The most talented content marketers I know are thoughtful about efficient content, messaging and workflow. They are also capable of incorporating SEO best practices within a content strategy so all the fantastic content can be learned via multiple channels including social media and search engines.
A disservice to clients. If you have fantastic content, the question of attracting relevant traffic to it has to be considered. Not many tactics are more effective in doing that than being where customers are looking. Suggesting a company slice their website content in half or to expire older content without considering the impact on the ability for that content to attract buying customers via search is a yucky disservice. It’s just as terrible as a SEO agency suggesting a company make hundreds of junk, keyword stuffed pages just for the purpose of attracting search traffic.
Fantastic SEO, social media and content marketing is a win for all. Poorly executed SEO isn’t any more helpful to customers than incredible content that no one can find except via publicity. A amalgamation of quality SEO and Social Media Marketing can drive substantial attention to quality content. We call that Content Marketing Optimization. Adding publicity to that mix is fine but its not the only way to reach audiences.
What do you reckon? Do you reckon SEO ruins content? Do you reckon fantastic content will naturally grow traffic to itself? Can Content, SEO and Social Media quality help marketers grasp the best of both worlds: fantastic search & social visibility plus engagement with quality content?
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