As more and more corporations turn to optimized content marketing as a form (if not replacement) of public relations, the value of a strong content strategy founded on relevant editorial, from journalistically minded writers, grows day after day.
Marketing is impossible without great content
10 years ago, the right relevant keywords, an abundance of internal links and external links, substantive word counts, and fast loading mobile page speeds got you nearly to the top of any topic you wished to own. But as Google, Bing, Yahoo, and other search engines attempt to better understand the human condition, an emphasis on quality, that most soft-sided qualifier of metrics, is driving search engine optimization companies to re-evaluate with what and how brands consider filling their sites.
Make no mistake, content is the present – and future – of marketing. Search engines will only improve on their ability to elevate and surface truly original and thought provoking narratives. And while AI may reinvent and improve our internal processes, it will never replace a good story, written from expertise.
This week’s content marketing round up!
When we see good types of content, we like to share good content — as all ships rise with the good content tide!
“Web-based content is now appearing in Google Top Story Carousels”
Google is now promoting web-based blog content in its news carousels, previously home to only the most optimized and prominent publishers and news organizations. This shift opens the door for companies to elevate their content alongside top publishers in both Google Web and Google News SERPs. Here’s a bit more on this from Search Engine Roundtable.
If you’re looking for exactly how Google News discovers your web crawled content, take a look at their Google News Indexing guide from their publisher help center.
“Short-Form vs. Long-Form Content: Which Is Better for SEO?”
Ahrefs, a leading voice in the world of search engines and content optimization, shared tips this week on the eternal debate over long-form vs. short-form content. Joshua Hardwick, Head of content, boils this down to a single thought, “Focus on satisfying searchers, not hitting some arbitrary word count.”
Also, if you were just wondering, short-form content is defined as anything under 1,000 words, but more likely to be less than 500 for most sites. Whereas long-form content is generally considered to include upwards of 2,000 words, or more. And this would apply to both blog posts, website copy, and any other type of content your site may support.
“How Experts Measure Writing Quality & Content Performance”
Jakub Zielinski a writer with our good friends over at SEMRush shared his thoughts this week on the importance of quality content. “… it’s important to remember that what works today in the world of content may not work tomorrow. Making adjustments should always be part of your content campaigns.” And continues, “High-quality content has the power to create trust, build brand awareness, and turn people into customers and advocates of your brand, regardless of your industry. Make sure your content is making an impact by regularly evaluating its quality and performance.”
“How Contextualizing Topics can Lead to Press-worthy Content for Your Brand”
Amanda Milligan, a content marketing writer with MOZ also added to the discussion this week with ideas on how to craft “press-worthy content” from contextualized topics for your brand. “Not only will taking the approach of contextualizing differentiate your story from everything else out there, it will also allow you to re-promote it when a similar event occurs or the topic trends again in the future.”
“How to Use Content & PR to Build Deep Links”
Lastly, Tom Jeffery a Digital PR writer for Screaming Frog this week shared his thoughts on the importance of deep linking and varying your content approach. “… be sure to internally link to core keyword pages…” He continues, “… the trick is to make sure you are balancing building both generic links with large campaigns (to achieve overall link KPIs) and deep links to lead generation pages (to help with core keyword performance).
As always, if you have questions on content marketing strategy, content development, or just good old fashioned content optimization strategies, our team of content marketing experts are standing by.
