Why Technical SEO is Vital to Your Content Marketing Strategy

It’s critical to develop your website with your end-users in mind. You want to make it easy for them to find and explore information about your services and access valuable resources that support their decision-making process.

SEO (search engine optimization) helps users:

• Find your site
• Make decisions about whether they should visit your site
• Engage and interact with your content 

When you think about who your website users are and who you are serving with SEO, you need to think about it in terms of your ideal buyer personas (ideal types of customers) as well as search engines. It’s as critical for search engines to understand your content as it is for your buyer personas. Developing an SEO content strategy that keeps your unique buyer needs and search engine priorities in mind is critical to your success. 

What is Technical SEO?

According to Hubspot’s Ultimate Guide to Technical SEO, “Technical SEO refers to anything you do that makes your site easier for search engines to crawl and index. Technical SEO, content strategy, and link-building strategies all work in tandem to help your pages rank highly in search.”

How Technical SEO Helps Gain Visibility in Search Engines

Understanding the technical workings of how SEO works and what needs to be communicated to search engines is the foundation of your content strategy. Creating valuable end-user content and resources without technical SEO understanding is like designing a beautiful car without an engine. 

With that being said, there isn’t a quick x+y=z explanation of search engine optimization, because it’s a bit more complex than that. However, Google has a vast library of resources at Google Search Central that explain critical SEO foundations. 

Start with These Key Resources from Google to Learn Basic SEO Foundations:

• SEO starter guide
• How Google Search works
• Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content
• Maintaining your site’s SEO
• Site appearance FAQ
• Helpful content FAQ
• Crawling and indexing FAQ
• Site position FAQ

If you don’t have the time or desire to become an SEO expert yourself, reach out to a trusted digital marketing partner and thought leader in the industry.

If Your Content Strategy Only Considers Content Types and Content Channels, You’re Doing it Wrong

Defining your ideal content channels and types is important, but keep in mind that your content needs to be easily crawlable by search engines. You can create the most thorough, useful, and well-written content, but few people will ever see it unless a search engine can crawl it. So before you start creating your content plan, start with these critical steps: 

• Determine Your Audience Personas: Identify WHO you’re creating content for
• Conduct Keyphrase Research: Identify valuable insight into WHAT your target audience is searching for
• Conduct a Content Audit and Analysis: Identify Content Gaps and Opportunities
• Define Your Goals and Objectives: Identify what successful content means to you across all stages of your buyer journey
  • Build Trust
  • Educate Your Audience
  • Increase Brand Awareness
  • Generate Leads
  • And more …
• Determine Content Types and Channels: Prioritize audience needs and priority keyphrases for all key goals established across your buyers journey.

Get Started Growing Your Business with a Content Strategy Infused with Technical SEO

It’s never too late to get started with a thoughtful content strategy that takes both an end-user and technical approach toward gaining results for your business. Mapping your content efforts against key performance indicators for your business will be your guide toward continual testing and refinement toward success.