At each research conference, you hear the same question of the bait-click: "SEO is it dead?"
The short answer is "no", and the longest answer is always "no", it just changes. Perhaps the term Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is not really a good way to describe the wealth of practices and factors that it encompasses anymore.
I am convinced that we will soon begin to hear "Has content marketing been dethroned?" The argument for this, although still designed to turn one's head and speak in tongues, is particularly relevant for local businesses in the 2018 research world as Google stands more firmly in the dividing line. between a researcher and local business sites with excerpts, etc., a more appropriate question would be: "Is there an interest for local businesses to do content marketing?"
I'm here to tell you "Yes, that's absolutely the case", and also share tips on:
- On what to focus on content marketing for local businesses.
- How can this help rankings and commitment.
- How to get good results on shorter deadlines and even smaller budgets, which is essential for small SEO agencies.
Ready to place this crown on the head of content marketing? Let's go!
Do Local Businesses Need Blogs?
According to a survey conducted by BrightLocal earlier this year, 68% of SEOs believe that local businesses still have to publish a blog in 2018.
Of course, this figure exceeds half of those surveyed, but it remains surprisingly low given the number of respondents likely to blog for local businesses themselves. Interestingly, 98% of respondents think that local business blogs should be updated at least once a month.
I would say that what we called a "blog" is more than a big bucket of content that does not really fit the rest of the site. This term is still relevant for many companies (and, of course, for bloggers), but I'm not sure it fits the type of content that local businesses are most likely to succeed.
Ask yourself this question: Will any one make a link to your local restaurant's blog about its new oven? Will someone search, click and read the message from a legal office about a new hiring? Not likely. This kind of "newsy" thing has its place, and it was in the blog, but not anymore.
So, what should replace the local business blog? You need something that will trigger those factors of relevance and of paramount importance in local search. Without content, how to ar …
[Read the full article on Search Engine Land.]
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Marketing Land. The authors of the staff are listed here.
About the author
Jamie Pitman is responsible for content at the local SEO provider BrightLocal. He has worked in digital marketing for almost ten years and has specialized in SEO, content marketing and social media, managing successful marketing projects for clients and employers. During this time he blogged extensively, writing more than 300 articles on a wide variety of digital marketing topics for various businesses and publications.