In the world of content marketing for SEO a lot has changed over the years. As tactics evolve and algorithms update, it can be confusing as to what works in 2023. To help I’ve broken down some common content marketing myths that still are believed in the SEO world, take a look:

1. I need to post a lot of blogs frequently

It’s commonly misunderstood that because Google and search engines like sites who are publishing fresh content this means you must post all the time to keep momentum. This is definitely not the case and quality should always come before quantity if you are writing content with the aim of ranking for keywords and driving organic traffic. Google has become sophisticated in understanding relevancy and the helpful content update has reinforced the importance of posting content that is useful to humans first and foremost.

2. My blogs should only be about the products I sell or my business

To develop a multi-funnel content marketing strategy you should aim to create content which targets users at all consideration stages of their buying journey.

Using blogs as a top-funnel informational hub which discusses topics relevant to your business is a great starting point to grow your organic visibility and brand awareness. You should look to build out content which answers questions your ideal customers are asking. What is important is to create content you have the authority to comment on, within the realm of your audience’s secondary interests but still suitable for your expertise. This means don’t give driving advice for winter if your business sells fashion accessories, stick to what you know and your website relevancy will be rewarded in your SEO efforts.

3. Blogs can’t generate ROI

A common concern for business owners is that blogs aren’t contributing to the bottom line and delivering ROI. This is certainly not the case all the time and it’s important to consider long-term impact of blogs for SEO growth. Whilst you should be in the know and KPI your blog strategy accordingly, it is possible for the right type of blogs to drive sales in addition to rankings or top-funnel traffic.

For ecommerce brands, creating blogs which rank and have an active audience can inspire and influence these regular readers to buy your products if you create quality buying guides which assist them in decision making. It is also important to know that many blogs aren’t designed to drive direct sales however, it is important to set out the right intent in your blog content strategy in the first instance and measure success correctly for your goals.

4. There’s no point having a blog for my business site

If not utilised correctly, it is possible your blog isn’t driving traffic or awareness of your brand. However, employing a targeted organic strategy will deliver results to suit your business aims. All you need is the right expertise to steer you in the right direction.

5. My category pages don’t matter

For those who understand the importance of SEO content strategy it is very common for key pages like category pages to be ignored or overlooked. A lot of agencies and marketers become embedded in creating blogs for top-funnel traffic and never progress beyond this to the point where they are targeting more commercial opportunities.

Category pages should act as a supporting way to help users narrow down their search and give information that helps to make a buying or conversion decision. Much thought should be put into how information is displayed, how products are accessed from these pages and how users can filter down options to find what they are looking for. Leaving prospective customers with uncertainty at this stage could lose you a conversion.

6. Bounce rate is the most important metric

In my 10 years of industry experience I have lost count of the number of businesses who overly worry about the bounce rate of a page. For some it becomes the single most important metric to them, ignoring all other positive signs of website growth.

There are many varying factors that can play a part in why your bounce rate is declining and it isn’t something that businesses need to worry about overall. Say you have massively increased traffic to a page, more users can mean more drop-offs but you still have more people spending time on your page and may have more interactions, average time spent or other metrics signalling growth but if you only look at one metric in isolation you will convince yourself things are in decline.

7. My organic content traffic should be increasing every month

This is another common concern that businesses need not worry about. In most businesses, seasonality plays a huge role. There will naturally be times when more or less people are in market to purchase your product, this can be impacted by time of year, weather, seasonal habits such as school holidays or Christmas. As a business you can use SEO data to your advantage, pre-empt the seasonal habits and demand for your products and work your strategy accordingly. You should also compare year-on-year or like-for-like reporting to give a better picture of how traffic is stacking up versus similar periods of seasonality in the past.

Hopefully this advice is useful, if you are interested in support for your brand website’s SEO or content marketing efforts, get in touch using the form below for a quote.