Start your business
Build your brand
Create your website
Online store editor
Customize your store
Store themes
Find business apps
Shopify app store
Own your site domain
Domains & hosting
Explore free business tools
Tools to run your business
Sell your products
Sell online or in person
Check out customers
World-class checkout
Sell online
Grow your business online
Sell across channels
Reach millions of shoppers and boost sales
Sell in person
Point of Sale (POS)
Sell globally
International sales
Sell wholesale & direct
Business-to-business (B2B)
Accept online payments
Set up forms of payment
Market your business
Reach & retain customers
Market across social
Social media integrations
Chat with customers
Shopify Inbox
Nurture customers
Shopify Email
Know your audience
Gain customer insights
Manage your business
Track sales, orders & analytics
Measure your performance
Analytics and Reporting
Ship orders faster
Shopify Shipping
Manage your stock & orders
Inventory & order management
Outsource fulfillment & returns
Shopify Fulfillment Network
Get paid faster
Shopify Balance
Secure business funding
Shopify Capital
Automate your business
Shopify Flow
Shopify Developers
Build with Shopify's powerful APIs
Plus
A commerce solution for growing digital brands
Enterprise
The composable stack for enterprise retail
All Products
Explore all Shopify products & features
Help and support
Get 24/7 support
How-to guides
Read in-depth business guides
Business Courses
Learn from proven experts
Shopify blog
Business strategy tips
What is Shopify?
How our commerce platform works
Shopify Editions
New, innovative Shopify products
Founder Stories
Learn from successful merchants
Branding
Build your brand from scratch
Marketing
Build a marketing plan
Ecommerce SEO
Improve your search ranking
Social media strategy
Turn social into sales
Business growth
Scale your business
Business name generator
Logo maker
Stock photography
Business Plan Template
Link in bio tool
QR code generator
Start selling with Shopify today
Start your free trial with Shopify today—then use these resources to guide you through every step of the process.
Discover how SEO content marketing can increase your search rankings, and learn how creating content can drive traffic and build brand loyalty.
Start your online business today.
For free.
Consider a potential customer navigating the internet in search of your product. If your website consists only of product pages, there’s only one way in. SEO content marketing can create additional entry points to your website. By adding new access points, you increase the chances web browsers will stop in as they wander the web.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the practice of tailoring your website to increase its ranking in organic search engine results. Search engines use bots, sometimes called spiders, to crawl websites and gain a general understanding of their content. The search engine then stores this data in a process known as indexing.
When a web user enters a query, a search algorithm flips through indexed pages and delivers results based on what it believes to be the best match. For a web page to be indexed properly, it needs to be written in a way that bots can understand.
Effective search engine optimization has both a technical and a content component. Structural elements of a web page, including its site map and its load speed, affect its search rankings (and, of course, a higher ranking means more traffic). In addition to optimizing these elements, website owners can practice good on-page SEO by writing content that includes keywords, proper title tags, internal links, and meta descriptions.
Elements outside of your site—like backlinks and external mentions—can also affect your search rankings. This is known as off-page SEO.
Content marketing involves creating content—often a short video or a blog post that lives on your website—that sparks interest for your product. This content is typically not a direct advertisement—it does not explicitly promote or sell a product. Instead, it spurs curiosity, provides information, and subtly shapes desires.
For example, if you own a novelty candle company, you may choose to create a blog post featuring 12 different birthday cake decoration ideas. Although this story does not directly sell candles, it could inspire a reader to make and decorate a cake with candles like the ones your business makes. Brands often use blogs and social media platforms as the foundation of their content marketing strategy.
Practicing content marketing creates more opportunities to interact with consumers. Instead of pushing sales in every email and post, brands can provide customers with an interesting story or helpful information. Effective content marketing can establish your brand as an authoritative voice in the industry and build deep relationships with customers.
Content marketing refers to the creation of original web content designed to engage potential customers and increase your brand’s digital presence. Content marketing is a creative process managed by marketing, content, and social media teams.
SEO, or search engine optimization, on the other hand, is the art of fine-tuning web pages to increase search performance. Not all content created for content marketing is directly related to SEO. Some content, such as a short video published on Instagram, is unlikely to appear in search results but can still benefit your brand.
Original web content can help boost your website’s search rankings. Introducing blog content or creating additional pages with supplemental information creates additional entry points to your website. Publishing more content on your website is an opportunity to target additional keywords, including long-tail keywords (or specific phrases people search for), and appear in broader Google search results.
Imagine you own an ecommerce business selling raincoats for dogs. On its own, your website may rank for the search query “Where to buy raincoats for dogs.” However, this may not be the only term that potential customers search for related to your business. Your content team could choose to publish content focused on related search terms, such as “how to dry off a wet dog” or “what to do if your dog won’t walk in the rain.” Implementing this kind of SEO content writing will help direct potential customers to your webpage and ensure that they are aware of your product by the time they are ready to buy.
An effective SEO content strategy can help drive long-term success for your business. Here are some of the benefits of creating and optimizing high-quality content:
Appearing in organic search results can increase website traffic. Original content creation provides more opportunities for your target audience to discover your product via search. This can lead to increased conversions over time.
Customers who are ready to make a purchase may conduct searches for specific products. However, those who are still in the research phase are more likely to conduct broad, informational queries. Creating content that targets relevant keywords can help your brand reach customers in your target market who are further along the shopping pipeline. When they’re ready to make a purchase, they’ll already be familiar with your product.
Populating your website with relevant content that complements product pages gives users a reason to stick around. Even if they aren’t immediately interested in making a purchase, consumers can spend time on your website reading material and learning more about your product. This can deepen their relationship with your brand and build loyalty.
Use these six steps as a guide to start your own SEO content marketing strategy:
Set your content marketers up for success by establishing a clear set of goals. Goals for content marketing could include boosting web traffic by a specific number of page views per month, decreasing your bounce rate (a measure of how many visitors immediately leave your site), and ranking on the first page of search results for specific keywords.
Audience research, keyword research, and market research are all components of a good SEO strategy. Once you’ve identified your target audience, keyword research can help reveal SEO opportunities and identify which terms you should target. Using a keyword research tool can simplify this process. You may also choose to conduct competitor research. Understanding the terms that your competitors rank for can help inform your content strategy.
Brainstorm ideas and set up a content calendar. Be realistic about how many pieces you can create in a month or quarter. Aim to create high-quality content relevant to your brand and include relevant keywords.
Ensure your website includes the elements search engines use to index each page. Work with web developers to optimize your page’s performance, including loading speed. Free technical SEO tools, like Google Search Console, can help you find and address technical issues. Don’t forget about mobile optimization. More than half of web traffic comes from mobile devices, and poor mobile performance can reduce your website’s overall SEO success.
Post content following best practices for on-page SEO. Include clear, relevant title tags, inbound links, and external links in each article.
Stay up to date and use analytic tools to track your SEO success, monitoring how well your web content ranks for your target keywords. Keep track of your specific goals and adjust your strategy as you move forward.
Practicing search engine optimization can help your team get the most out of its content creation efforts. With proper optimization, your website’s content will rank higher in search results and drive more organic traffic.
Social media marketing and content marketing are both built on a foundation of quality content. Social media content often includes posting photographs, videos, and short captions, while SEO content marketing requires longer blog posts and website content. Not all content posted to social media platforms will appear in search results.
Your business can evaluate the success of its content marketing SEO strategy by monitoring website traffic and tracking relevant keyword rankings.
In general, longer content containing 800 words or more has a higher chance of ranking in search engine results. Longer content can include more keywords, and search engine algorithms are more likely to view long articles as valuable content.
Keep up with the latest from Shopify
Get free ecommerce tips, inspiration, and resources delivered directly to your inbox.
By entering your email, you agree to receive marketing emails from Shopify.
popular posts
100+ new features to grow your business
popular posts
Nov 8, 2023
Sep 1, 2023
Dec 5, 2023
Nov 9, 2023
Sep 20, 2023
Nov 23, 2023
Dec 2, 2023
Nov 6, 2023
Subscribe to our blog and get free ecommerce tips, inspiration, and resources delivered directly to your inbox.
Unsubscribe anytime. By entering your email, you agree to receive marketing emails from Shopify.
Feb 29, 2024
Feb 28, 2024
Feb 28, 2024
Feb 28, 2024
Feb 27, 2024
Feb 22, 2024
Feb 20, 2024
Feb 15, 2024
Learn on the go. Try Shopify for free, and explore all the tools you need to start, run, and grow your business.
Try Shopify for free, no credit card required.
