SEO and Content Marketing are two things which should work together, but in some situations certain approaches to SEO could actually hinder a content marketing plan. Let’s discuss those strategies that could be doing more harm than good and how to adjust them in order to make sure that your SEO techniques and your content marketing strategy are compatible.

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You Are Focusing Too Much On Short-tail Keywords

Not too long ago, the basis of SEO and content marketing was to create pieces of content that revolved around the appropriate short-tail keywords that you had identified for your brand. For some time, this was one of the easiest ways to achieve decent rankings. However, because the focus was on the keywords, a large amount of content ended up being poor quality and boring to actual readers. In short, the content was designed for search engines not human beings!

This strategy is no longer effective thanks to the latest updates from Google. Since the Panda release, websites can be severely penalized if it is detected that they are engaging in this type of strategy. The focus is now on genuine content that is both relevant and useful. It is all about the quality rather than the quantity. In theory, your keywords should occur naturally as you write the content. Instead of asking yourself whether or not you have used the keywords enough times, ask yourself if your reader will gain anything from reading your content!

You Are Guest Posting For Spammy Back Links

One of the most recent controversies in terms of SEO and content marketing has been the issue of guest posting. Alarmists proclaimed that guest posting was dead and everyone panicked! However, the truth is that guest posting is still an important part of content marketing, but only when used appropriately. If it is used purely as a way to achieve multiple back links (often from low quality sites) then it can incur a penalty from Google. However, genuine guest posting on high authority sites can still be used to raise brand awareness and so on, just choose wisely and don’t get caught up in spammy back linking! Once again, you want quality not quantity.

You Are Not Utilizing Your Keyword Research

This may seem contradictory given that we have just said ‘don’t focus on keywords’, but keyword research is still a very important part of SEO and content marketing. Carrying out some keyword research and then analysing the results is a great way to inform your content strategy. It is essential in revealing to you the various different topics and angles that you might want to be covering in your content. Keyword research, when done right, can help you to obtain a much better understanding of what your target audience is searching for online, which in turn will help you to improve SERP!

In short, SEO and content marketing are two things which need to work together other wise you will end up self sabotaging your SEO efforts. One common theme that you have probably noticed is that the emphasis is now on quality over quantity. If you are going to achieve and/or maintain desirable search engine rankings then it is very important to make sure that you are not using outdated SEO techniques which could be damaging your content marketing strategy.