Content marketing has changed more in recent years than ever. Once marketers realised the potential of content marketing and the impact it can have on organic rankings, referral traffic and link building, it quickly became one of the fastest growing aspects of digital marketing.
Content marketing for voice search is a new aspect of content creation for marketing purposes. It allows us to make extremely specific articles based on question based search queries – which are growing more and more in popularity.
Successful content marketing is not quite as simple as it once was though, due to the ever-increasing intelligence of search engine algorithms. Google’s latest algorithm accurately judges the quality of content and the domain it’s held on, and will rank your website based on that.
This means that Google can tell if your content is badly written, irrelevant, plagiarised or just generally not useful for the search terms it’s trying to appear for.
This is worked out using many clever techniques and signals. Google uses sophisticated text-matching techniques to display pages that are both important and relevant to each search.
Other metrics that can affect your rankings include: Bounce rate, average time on page, scrolling below the fold, and inbound links to the blog. The overall quality of the site and how well optimised it is for search engines also comes into play.
Unfortunately there isn’t an exact science for getting your content to rank well on Google, but if you follow their Steps to a Google-friendly site you’ll have a good chance.
In summary, they explain that they want your content to be highly accurate, useful and sufficient. They want to see that other websites are linking to it or that it’s being shared on other platforms. And also that your site has logical matrix-style link structure, meaning that every page should be reachable from at least one static text link.
But what is the purpose of content marketing?
When done right, content marketing brings super relevant users to your site, via search engines and social media. They will be more engaged than your average user and spend more time on your site, they’re more likely to share your content or infographic, they’re more likely to start a discussion or to leave a comment and they’re even more likely to be driven to a sign up or purchase.
Content is still king! And maybe now more than ever thanks to Voice Search
The internet has seen an upsurge in question based search queries in recent years, which can certainly be attributed to the rise of Voice Search on mobiles, tablets and even your Amazon Echo and Google Home Hub devices.
This has provided marketers with the opportunity to provide specific articles dedicated to the exact search query, or question – and have a great chance of getting near the top of the rankings for that term. As content creators, the rise of voice search will continue to shape the way we design and create the articles we write, and also the tone we use towards our audience.
How do I start my content marketing?
To put it simply, write about what you know. You are the authority on the topics featured on your site, so you can start by writing very top level blog posts about your industry. These can be how-to guides, new information in the industry or even just answering specific questions around your business, product range or niche. This will help you rank above your local competitors.
Why not try making blog posts for long-tail keywords? This is a great way to have a better chance of ranking and pulling in highly relevant users, but of course the search volume for these keywords will be much lower than the short versions of the keyword. This is a great way to utilise the increasing number of voice searches too.
You can use tools like ‘Answer the Public’, ‘SEMRush’ and ‘Google Trends’ to discover new ideas which are relevant to your business.
It has been reported by Pamorama that blogs are the 5th most trustworthy source of information on the internet for consumers, making them essential to build authority in your niche. So what are you waiting for?
Get on the boat!
The following stats show us how pivotal content marketing is in the grand scheme of things. With 93% of B2B companies getting on-board with content marketing, and 64% of those actually outsourcing it, it shows you how important it is in order to rank well and convert users, and actually how common it is to contract out the work.
Content marketing has grown exponentially over the past year with 72% of marketers producing significantly more content than they did a year ago – and there are many reasons for this.
When it comes to link building, your site will naturally pick up around 97% more links than when compared to a site which doesn’t blog! This is essential for building your domain authority and having a great chance at ranking for your target keywords.
It’s also a far more cost effective way of getting high quality traffic to your site, which will often convert at an exceptional rate.
It has been estimated that B2B companies can expect up to 67% more leads per month once they start to blog, with B2C companies getting up to 82% more. This means that content marketing is the most cost effective way of bringing high quality traffic and hopefully leads to your site.
- 93% of B2B marketers use content marketing – Chartered Management Institute
- 64% of B2B marketers outsource writing – TopRankBlog
- 72% of marketers are producing significantly more content than they did a year ago – Chartered Management Institute
- Companies who blog receive 97% more links to their website compared to those who don’t blog – Social Media Today
- B2B companies that blog generate 67% more leads per month compared to those who don’t, and B2C companies that blog generate 88% more leads per month compared to those who don’t – Social Media Today
- Content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing and generates about 3 times as many leads – DemandMetric)
If you’d like us to review and oversee your content marketing strategy, feel free to get in touch with our helpful team today.