Imagine if you could rank higher in search results, drive more qualified traffic to your website, and increase your business’ trust and authority with potential customers. Sounds like a dream, right? Well, with content marketing, that dream can come true.
Creating content for search engine optimization (SEO) is the best way to experience all the benefits listed above. There are four types of SEO content you can create to experience these benefits, including:
- Blog Posts
- Long-Form Content
- Videos
- Guides
Read on to learn more about SEO-optimized content!
Blog posts
First on our list of content types for SEO are blog posts. When you think of content marketing, this format often comes to mind. In fact, there are more than 600 million blogs worldwide. example of a blog post page As the name suggests, blogging involves sharing information and knowledge through a blog.
Blog posts focus heavily on writing, but can also include photos, GIFs, and videos. Blogs are a more informal approach to sharing knowledge.
Companies typically take a more conversational tone in their blog posts, as if they were talking to a friend or colleague about a topic. It’s a great way to connect with readers and have a “conversation” about topics that interest them and are important to them. Your blog posts can cover any number of topics related to your business or industry.
Why blog posts are a great form of content for SEO
Blog posts are great for SEO because they don’t take as long to create as other types of content. Blog posts tend to be shorter, around 1,000 to 1,500 words, meaning you can post more in less time.
Not to mention, publishing blog posts often leads to better results: 60% of bloggers who post at least once a day report that they get good results from their blogs.
Long-form content
When you learn how to create SEO content, you’ll find that long-form content is popular. Long-form content involves providing detailed and deeper information about a topic. These posts tend to be longer than blog posts and have a more professional tone.
Blog posts can skim the surface of a topic, while long-form content digs deeper into a topic and helps readers learn more from different angles.
See this example from The New York Times. They created a long article that tells the story of an avalanche in Tunnel Creek.
They provide detailed details about the history of the people who experienced the avalanche but also add general information about the site and previous avalanches in that area.
Why long-form content is a great form of content for SEO
Long-form content offers a number of benefits for your SEO. One of the first benefits of long-form content is that it keeps people on your site longer.
Videos
Another great form of content for SEO is videos. Videos are a great and engaging format for providing tons of information. Here are some statistics that show the impact of video:
- 139% is how much brand association increases after watching a video
- 92% of users share videos with others
- 86% is how much the conversion rate improves with video
Videos allow you to share a large amount of information with your audience at once: one minute of video is equivalent to eight million words. Videos are also very versatile. They can stand alone or be integrated into a blog post or long-form content to add another dimension of engagement.
With video marketing, you can cover many topics in your industry. You can also create different types of videos to showcase these topics, including:
- Educational videos
- Product videos
- Explainer videos
- Product demonstration videos
- …and more!
Why videos are a great form of content for SEO
Videos are valuable for SEO for many reasons. The first reason is that they increase engagement with your business.
adults spend five hours a day watching videos. This SEO-optimized content is great for attracting potential customers and keeping them engaged. Not to mention, you can use videos to boost your page’s SEO.
Guides
When you learn how to create SEO content, you will find that many companies prefer to create longer content. Another longer piece of content you can create is a guide. Guides are comprehensive pieces that provide all the details and nuances to know about a topic.
Guides can be open or closed content. With closed content, users must enter their data to access the guide. Typically, when users submit their information, they receive a copy of the guide by email.
However, the problem with gated content is that it doesn’t count toward your SEO ranking. Since Google cannot access the text, it cannot affect your SEO. If you want to have SEO-optimized content, you need to publish your guide on your website for Google to access.
Why guides are a great form of content for SEO
In-depth content is great for your SEO, so guides can have a positive impact on your SEO. Longer content tends to work better for your business: 1,000+ word articles get more shares and social links than shorter posts.
While social activity doesn’t directly affect your SEO, receiving consistent shares and links can increase your website traffic, which increases your ranking in search results.
Writing SEO content can be quite a task when you are trying to create multiple content formats. If you feel overwhelmed with creating these different types of content for SEO, WebFX can help.