Your business website needs SEO even if it serves a local market. If you have a local business, you need to think in terms of local SEO and about the local ranking of your website. Local SEO will help your business website come up in search results for related queries in your area. Since Google shows local results first in a lot of cases, you need to make sure that Google understands where you are located.

People often wonder whether SEO or content marketing is the way to go with their marketing strategy. The truth is that it’s not an either or situation. SEO and content marketing can work together to create a solid marketing strategy. You need both SEO and content marketing to market yourself properly in the digital age. 

Why is there a SEO or content marketing debate? 

For some reason, there are people out there that want you to pick a side. Many SEO companies want you to use SEO exclusively while content marketers will say that their strategy is the one to go with. The implication is that you need to hire one specialist or the other. However, true online marketing professionals recognize the need for both strategies. 

You can create SEO that is content marketing. 

You need to create content to support your marketing objectives. If you’re doing this wisely, a vital part of your execution strategies should be focused on optimizations that will increase the probability that your content will be discovered via a Google search. Saying that SEO and content marketing are two separate marketing tactics is akin to saying that newspaper headlines and copy are foes. Headlines are written to get people to read copy. In a similar manner optimizing content for search engines allows your content to be discovered so it can be read. 

In reality, SEO isn’t optimizing for the search engine exclusively. It’s really about optimizing your content so that it is well done and able to be found by the end user. Maybe content optimization is a better way to look at it. 

What does good content look like? 

Good content is content that is relevant to your topic and well-written. Of course, content should be written in such a way that it holds the interest of your reader from beginning to end. You should also use keywords in your web content. The keywords should flow naturally as you write about the topic at hand. You don’t want to overstuff your content with the keywords because that will not only make your writing read unnaturally, it also may get you penalized by search engines. 

Content marketing can’t be done well if your content isn’t done well. It’s a simple fact. If you’re writing good content, you can easily make it SEO friendly. The choice between SEO and content marketing doesn’t have to be a choice. It can be a both proposition. One will follow the other. So, the best strategy for your small business is to have content marketing that is SEO-friendly. You should not choose between SEO and content marketing, you should be doing them together. So, free your mind from the SEO or content marketing debate. There should be no debate you need both good content marketing and good SEO practices to succeed in today’s competitive online marketplace. 

For more information on writing good content, please visit our archives. We talk a lot about this topic, especially about content that appeals to both search engines and end users.