Does an SEO company offer content marketing services?
Some SEO companies offer content marketing as a whole; others cover only the part aimed at search. Content marketing as a whole covers everything a business publishes to attract and keep customers: articles and guides, but also newsletters, video, social posts, case studies, and the work of getting that material in front of people. For an SEO company, the search part means planning content around what people search for, writing or briefing the pages, and improving pages you already have. Whether it also handles distribution through other channels varies, so ask which parts are included and who does each one.
The part an SEO company covers
The search-focused part has three layers. The planning layer works out which subjects your customers search for, which questions they ask, and which pages should answer them. The writing layer produces those pages, either by the company’s own writers or through detailed briefs your team or freelancers write from. The improvement layer revises existing pages so they answer their searches better and describe themselves clearly in titles and headings.
Ask how each layer is delivered: whether you get a written plan, whether the company writes or only briefs, and how existing pages are chosen for improvement.
The part it may not cover
Content marketing also includes work that has nothing to do with search rankings: sending a newsletter to existing customers, publishing on social platforms, producing video, placing articles in industry publications, or turning a guide into a sales presentation. A company that offers these and one that does not are both legitimate choices, but if you need these channels, you need to know whether you are hiring one provider or two.
Content for people, not only for search
The two disciplines meet in one question that Google asks of all content. Its guidance on creating helpful, reliable, people-first content puts it this way: “The ‘why’ should be that you’re creating content primarily to help people, content that is useful to visitors if they come to your site directly.” Another of its questions asks: “Do you have an existing or intended audience for your business or site that would find the content useful if they came directly to you?”
That is a good test for any content proposal. A piece that would be worth sending to your customers by email, or sharing with a prospect, is the kind of content that also fits what Google describes. A piece that only makes sense as a way to rank for a phrase is the kind Google’s guidance warns against, and it does little for the rest of your marketing either.
Finding out which parts the company covers
Ask which parts of content marketing the company covers, whether it writes or briefs, how its content plan connects to your other channels, and whether each planned piece has an audience beyond search. If you need distribution through other channels, ask whether the company does it or will work alongside the provider who does.