When you think of search engine optimization, you may think of keywords. While keywords and phrases are certainly important, they’re only part of what makes SEO work.

Those keywords have to be integrated into website content, and the quality of that content matters. Sure, you can throw together a blog without much care, but it won’t pull in the visitors like you were hoping.

The only way for SEO to succeed is if you pair it with content marketing. Still not convinced? Here are all the ways content marketing supports search engine optimization.

Algorithms Look for Well-Written Content

Search engine algorithms crawl pages for keywords, but that’s not the only factor they look for. The exact criteria for improving your SERP rankings are kept under wraps by Google, but the company has made one thing clear through its published guidelines: Quality content is king.

But what counts as quality content? While the guidelines are left pretty vague, the tech giant did say that “quality” relies on users’ perception. If they find the webpage useful, entertaining or otherwise valuable, then the content is deemed “high-quality.”

What does this mean for you? It means you need to create for a target audience, which is exactly what content marketing does. In fact, content marketing starts with using data to determine the demographics of site visitors.

Great Content Helps You Build Backlinks

Algorithms put a lot of stock in backlinks, which are links on third-party sites that direct readers to your content. The idea is, if the link is being shared, the entity sharing it must find it valuable. Building these backlinks isn’t necessarily easy, but it’s incredibly helpful for businesses trying to improve their SERP rankings.

One way you can build backlinks is to create a blog and share posts on social media platforms. This gives followers the opportunity to share your blog. The key is to create content that other people believe is worth sharing. No one wants to be the annoying person who floods friends’ feeds with content, so most people only share something they think other people will value.

Now that you know the benefits of content marketing, it’s time to start creating. Make sure to regularly refresh your site pages and post to your blog — this will ensure that you stay on the radar of both internet users and search engine algorithms. With an eye toward quality and consistency, you can boost site traffic and see an increase in revenue.