SEO and Storytelling: How to Write for Content Marketing

An important part of a content marketer's job is search engine optimization (SEO). Traditional branding says marketers need to tell a story, especially with compelling, authentic copy. Obviously, blending both goals is best. But can you meld these goals without losing the heart of your content? And if so, how?

Before considering these questions, it's important to look at how, exactly, marketers optimize websites for search engines and how they tell a brand's story.

Writing for SEO + Search Engine Rankings

SEO is one of the foremost goals of content marketing. It is responsible for 90 percent of the clicks on the internet. By writing around certain keywords, you can cause search engine ranking algorithms to recognize the page as relevant to searches that contain those keywords. This can, in turn, influence how relevant the search engine thinks the rest of the pages are on a given domain.

The SEO tactics that content marketers use are constantly changing as search engines change their algorithms. In general, content marketers aim for certain keyword density (the percentage of a given word or phrase compared to the total amount of copy). They may also strategically place the keyword in headings and subheadings.

Solid Storytelling Technique

In the marketing industry, people learn the importance of telling a brand's story through writing compelling stories. This doesn't necessarily mean telling the literal story of the company or product, although some choose to include that. Instead, storytelling involves providing a way for customers to relate to the brand and gives them a reason to want to know more about your business. 

For instance, one restaurant might establish itself (in marketing materials) as a place where customers are treated like family and the cooking is familiar and homey. Another restaurant might present itself as a relaxing place to lounge and have a drink or meal with friends. These are very different stories, and they influence each restaurant differently – including the aesthetics, menu items, and advertising materials of both. But each of these examples is a solid brand, and each allows customers a clear point of entry and reason to engage. 

Struggling with telling your brand's story while appealing to SEO? Let Alison know.  

Write for People, the Search Engines Come Second

Many marketers – in particular, those who are new to SEO, think it's impossible to blend these two goals. They believe telling a brand's story will detract from keyword density and that meeting keyword density goals will negatively affect the readability of the copy. Some marketers even try to work around this by creating separate pages for search engine optimization and actual human readers.

In all honesty, a lot of SEO content isn't very legible. But what is the point of creating content that isn't easily digestible?  There isn't. It's bad practice. While the exact algorithms governing search engine rankings are secret, researchers have noticed two things. If a keyword's density is too high, or if the copy isn't realistically written, Google will actually decrease a page's ranking. Readable copy is almost always better. People are not robots, nor do they compute written words as such. Tell your story in a clear, consistent voice; clear from fluff, clear from jargon, and clear from obvious SEO overload. 

Make It Shareable, Make it Powerful

What's more, one of the factors influencing a site's search engine ranking is its shareability. If a page gets linked to a lot of others, search engine ranking algorithms assume it's more relevant and rank it accordingly. While some marketers try to cheat the system by creating fraudulent links from other domains they own, search engines usually penalize this practice. Realistic links are more valuable – and those will come from readers who genuinely appreciate a site's content.

Good SEO should focus on content, not mangle it. With content marketing and SEO, a light touch is generally better. Just giving a page a keyword density of 1-2 percent, not including titles and headers, is often enough to create a positive effect. This gives content creators more room to tell the brand's story in a credible way, which makes the content more shareable and further boosts search engine rankings. The end result is solid, effective copy that both your customers and ranking algorithms will love.