Content Marketing To Rank Better in 2022

Content Marketing To Rank Better in 2022

The new year is just around the corner! The birth of a new beginning, new strategies, new goals. Upping your SEO game should be at the top of your priorities this 2022 to thrive online. With changes in SEO trends and algorithms, what seems to work this year might not cut the drill in the next year.

Moreover, the number of sites, blogs, and content keeps rising exponentially. A whopping 1.7 billion sites, more than 600 million blogs vying for consumers’ attention. Can your content stand the chance to be on the most coveted first page of search engines? Here are the answers to your fears- detailed tips and techniques to help your content to rank higher in 2022. This way you can thrive amidst the cut-throat competition!

Re-Think Content Types You Are Using

There are a large number of content that are a must in your marketing arsenal. From blogging to case studies to long-form content, different content will resonate with different consumers. That is why a variety of content can help you connect and engage with users in a number of ways. However, you just don’t write content and throw them online. Some content tends to win the heart of consumers more than ever, while others might tend to perform poorly. The number of words also plays a crucial role. For instance, writing quality long-form content will not only position you as an industry expert but will also be beneficial to users who are highly likely to come back for more.

According to Content Marketing Institute, the most in-demand content types will be:

• 48% research reports,
• 48% short articles (less than 3,000 words),
• 47% ebooks/white papers,
• 39% case studies,
• 32% long-form articles (over 3,000 words)

Find Your “Why” Behind The Content Strategy

Gone are the days of just posting on websites and updating periodically. It all begins with a content strategy and behind every strategy, there should be a “why”. The content strategy stands as a road map driving you to your end goal.

Hence, to achieve success, there should be a solid plan behind what you publish. It’s a sure bet to create meaningful, engaging content that will attract the target audience.

You need to ask yourself, why are you putting out this information? Who is the target audience? What is the user’s search intent and how can this information meet their needs? What is the optimal time to engage with the users? How can this information meet your end goal?

Various research has proven that organizations who work towards the “why” to formulate their content strategically and review them are likely to succeed amidst the noise.

Once again, Content Marketing Institute reports that the main “why’s” can be:

• Customers’ awareness: you are aware of what the consumers want and are providing just that.
• Credibility/trust: users can trust you with top-notch, meaningful content. This, however, takes time, diligence, and effort. Trust is earned.
• Education: why you post also matters as much as what you post. Whether you want to inform or educate your audience, it is important to communicate and establish values in their mind. You just don’t want your message to be hollow.

Consider Your Tone Of Voice And Message

You have carefully crafted high-quality content and got it published. Unfortunately, no one is reading, nor commenting, or reposting. What could have gone wrong? You are probably not speaking their language and message. The point is your content needs to be heard but your tone or your message might not just be right. The solution to this is simple, keeping abreast of the trends.

Today’s consumers are the most “on trend” and this requires you to be on your toes on the latest, trendy information in your industry. Not only that, you will command respect for being relevant.

A good example is how savvy marketers adapt to changes and dive into the trend during the pandemic. Many of them changed their strategies and approach and it became more of showing empathy to consumers than making sales. A quick review of their approach include:

• 70% changed targeting/messaging,
• 30% increased time spent talking to customers,
• 26% revised buyer persona.

Overall, remember to provide more support to your readers and let them know you are in for their demands. Voice search is taking over? Your SEO should be aligned to include natural language. Address your readers’ pain points. Speak with your readers and not them.

Value Customers’ Time

Consumers want to read the content but they aren’t ready to spend the whole day on it. One thing you need to come to terms with is that many scan web pages rather than reading in detail. Hence, you aren’t ready to bombard them with jargon but rather provide personalized content that they will love.

This means personalized content is one strategy that isn’t going anywhere in 2022. With personalization, you gain insight into your audience preferences while you boost engagement and conversion rates. A win-win situation. It’s good to see many businesses using personalized content. Giants like Amazon and Netflix have already jumped on the bandwagon for years. While 57% of those working in e-commerce report using personalized content. It’s a great way to show that you value your clients’ time and know what’s vital for them.

Pay Attention To Search Engine Optimization

What’s the point of nailing that content if it’s not noticed and read by the target audience? That’s where SEO comes in. You want to start with conducting keyword research and optimizing them for search engines. Then, create search-engine-worthy titles that include keywords related to your topic. Compose creative title tags, work on meta descriptions and headers as well. Now, get down to writing high-quality content that puts the reader’s interest at the forefront without forgetting to include the necessary keywords.

Bottomline

When it comes to writing SEO content, there is a whole lot that can go into it. But the real deal is without quality user-friendly content, SEO is nothing. Without SEO as well, the hard-written content is a waste. You can’t take one from the other. You want that content on Google’s first page because it deserves it!

Anchit Sood December 22nd, 2021