30% of Content Marketers Are Motivated by Ranking Higher in Search

Clutch’s recent research, “The Complete Guide to Content Marketing for SEO,” highlights best practices for B2B and B2C companies when publishing content for SEO purposes. This survey of 300 content marketers found that 30 percent create content to rank higher in search engines.

When comparing B2B and B2C company content goals, B2B companies tend to favor lead generation more than B2C, while also focusing on brand awareness and search engine visibility.

The content formats that are considered most effective for SEO and lead generation goals include research or original data (21 percent), infographics (14 percent), blogs (14 percent) and product reviews (14 percent). As a result of this, the majority of B2B companies are frequently producing research (75 percent), infographics (72 percent) and product reviews (71 percent).

The content marketers surveyed also weighed in on what areas of their content they would like to improve. Twenty-six percent of respondents want to optimize for access across devices, 24 percent want to create more original content, and 21 percent want to include more visual elements.

Researchers note that “These content improvement priorities align closely with [Rand] Fishkin’s requirements for 10x content, signaling an increased understanding of why 10x always surpasses just plain good or unique.”

The most important parts of a content strategy, according to survey respondents, include brand story, mission statement, content types, and metrics.

99% of Companies Now Use Data to Produce Marketing Content

The “2016 State of Digital Content” report from Altimeter revealed that 99 percent of companies use some form of data to produce relevant content. Social media metrics (65 percent) and website analytics (63 percent) were the most used by businesses for content marketing.

About 39 percent of companies also agree they can now tie their content marketing efforts to revenue generation, and 41 percent have a content strategy that spans across their organization.