Does SEO really matter for digital marketing campaigns or is it just an “urban marketing myth”? To be honest, we really hate the term “SEO”. Over the last few years, SEO has become synonymous with optimizing content solely for achieving a high Google rank. For a while, that was all well and good, especially if you were in the business of flooding the Internet with hundreds of keyword stuffed articles and purchased backlinks in an attempt to temporarily be the top search engine result. With the Penguin and Panda updates, Google cracked down on these tactics – with the Hummingbird update effectively serving as the final nail in the coffin. Today's digital campaigns must be built for discovery, engagment, and conversion.

The New Rules for Digital Marketing: Optimizing Content for Discovery, Engagement and Conversion

Make no mistake: SEO is not dead. Legitimate SEO tactics still matter. But the term “SEO” really should be. Think about it: when you talk about optimizing content in conjunction with a digital marketing campaign, is your goal solely to rank highly on Google? We didn’t think so. While a high Google website ranking is important, your real goal is to create content that’s optimized for discovery and conversion. This approach is far broader than traditional SEO that focused only on achieving a high site ranking. In essence, it’s a combination of external optimization and on-site optimization that improves content symmetry across multiple platforms (including mobile). The most important part of digital marketing campaigns is optimizing content for discovery, engagement and conversion.

Here’s what matters for your next digital marketing campaign:

1. Content symmetry. 

This is the real biggie. All the content in your digital marketing campaign should work seamlessly together, including your headlines, call-to-actions, and social posts. Is your content under-performing? Make sure that it is scannable and easily digestible. Numbered lists and bullets are your friends. Feeling the pressure to constantly churn on fresh content every day? Try mining your old blog posts and white papers for inspiration and adding internal links from older, popular posts to your new posts.

2. Responsive design. 

With more mobile devices on earth than people, mobile web traffic is reshaping the Internet, according to Cisco. If your website is not mobile and tablet friendly, you’re missing out on real traffic. Your solution? Responsive web design. Just as the name suggests, responsive design literally “responds” to a device’s pixel dimensions and orientation, no zooming or pinching required. Responsive design not only makes it easy for your mobile customers to access your content, but also increases the likelihood for

3. Author attribution. 

From Google Authorship to LinkedIn, don’t ignore author attribution methods. While Google Authorship has received a lot of press, Bing has been quietly integrating LinkedIn Authorship into its search engine results. For maximum reach and a boost in search results, be sure that your content is linked to your social media profiles.

4. Keyword context. 

Please, don’t use an awkward keyword phrase like “company in NY 10001” in your text ever again. Okay, so that’s a pretty egregious example, but you get our point. A few years ago, you might have been able to get away with stuffing long awkward keyword phrases into your digital campaign copy. That’s all over. In fact, not only is keyword stuffing a huge no-no, but also what really matters now is keyword contextualization. Hummingbird places even greater emphasis on the context in which your keywords are used. When creating copy, utilize the language your target audience currently prefers when searching/conversing on social networks. 

Bottom Line

When it comes to digital marketing, traditional SEO (keywords, backlinks, etc.) is dead. Content discovery, engagement and conversion optimization is the name of the game. Successful digital marketing campaigns start with content symmetry that ensures alignment across all headlines, call-to-actions and social posts. Follow this up with responsive, mobile-friendly site design, author attribution and a renewed focus on keyword contextualization for a powerful 1-2-3 punch.