Why SEO Should be The Foundation of Your Digital Marketing Strategy

When you’re building a digital marketing strategy, most experts encourage you to focus on the content because content is king.

If Content is King, SEO is Queen.

When I first started at Amerit Fleet Solutions as a Content Marketing Specialist my primary role was to produce high-quality content in the form of eBooks, whitepapers, blogs, newsletters, etc. What our agency partners told us, and what most digital marketers believe, is if you write it, your audience will read it. While that can be true, it’s important to take a step back and ask yourself: how is my audience going to find the content? That’s where SEO comes in.

When you optimize your content for search engines, you’re not focusing on selling your services, rather on introducing your brand. Even better, you’re introducing yourself to someone who is actively searching for you and your services.

B2B Audiences are Searching.

Four years ago, I had a media partner tell me that buying ads from their publication was the only way to reach my audience. Why? “Because nobody was Googling ‘fleet maintenance,’” he said. After COVID-19 cancelled all industry tradeshows and halted in-person events, it seemed that thousands of people were searching for the exact services Amerit Fleet Solutions offered.

The tradeshows and in-person conferences have resumed; yet, over the last four years our organic search pipeline has contributed to some of our most qualified leads and generated millions of dollars in business. Four years ago, we had less than 400 keywords ranking organically and only 24 of those keywords were in the top 3 positions. Today, we rank for over 1K keywords and 100 of those are in the top 3 positions.

How we Made SEO our Foundation.

So, how did we do it?

First, we focused on the keywords. In order to connect with our audience, we had to figure out what search terms they were using consistently. As a B2B company, our options for keywords were limited. We recognized that each of our products and services had a handful of relevant search terms, and we identified which keywords took priority.

Next, we started writing content and optimizing existing website pages around the priority keywords. With a smaller-than-average team, we had to get creative. Rather than creating new content and keyword stuffing one URL at a time, we mapped out our keyword strategy and redesigned our website pages accordingly. But we didn’t stop there. These keywords became a core piece of our messaging at tradeshows, in banner ads, in blogs, and in press releases. Our priority keywords were appearing in omnichannel marketing efforts, making SEO the foundation of our digital marketing strategy, and creating a cohesive message for our brand.

Finally, we focused on our back-end website optimization. We removed unnecessary code, excess CTAs, simplified the design, and optimized for mobile first.

Content will always be king for us digital marketers, but SEO is queen. If your team is small and your resources are scarce, SEO should be the foundation of your digital marketing strategy.