Let’s pretend I have a sugar ant infestation in my house. While dwelling on my ant invasion after work, while stuck in traffic, I turn to Siri for assistance. “Siri, how do I get rid of sugar ants?” Siri then comes to my aid with a list of articles and websites which should knock out my pests for good.

The task I just performed is one we do often. Whether we are looking for a restaurant, comparing a product or trying to solve a problem, the way we search for information has drastically changed. Instead of searching for solutions, for example, “Siri, find me an exterminator,” we are searching based on the problem.

This trend in searching is one which Google noticed some time ago. With a shocking 15% of unique searches every day, Google took action. Revising its algorithm in early September, Google began giving its users better search results based on content.

Content marketing is not a new concept, but it now plays an even greater role in our digital marketing efforts. Today, nearly 50% of companies have content marketing strategies, and 78% of CMOs believe custom content is the future of marketing. With content emerging as the prime organic tactic to improve your web presence, it might be time to make a few adjustments. The five tips below will help improve your content marketing strategy.

1. Ditch the one word terms.Not only is it going to be incredibly difficult for you to compete with the millions of search results for the term “golf”, but we now know that people aren’t typing general terms into searches, they are typing, “Des Moines golf courses which offer lessons.” So, think it terms of your customer, and develop terms and phrases which would help them get to your services or products.
2. Update your website’s copy. Define the top five keywords you would like to rank for, then comb through your website to see how often they appear. Revise content to fit in more keywords, but make sure you are not being overt and irritating with your keyword usage.
3. Make sure the keywords you are using fit with what you are saying. Keywords in the copy and behind the scenes (meta data) must fit with the content you are providing. Stuffing your website and social media platforms with keywords will only get you in trouble. Google will penalize you if a user comes to a page on your site from a search, and then leaves in less than sixty seconds because they didn’t find what they were looking for.
4. Plan more time for inbound marketing efforts. Not only will you gain credit with Google, but you are also promoting your company as an industry expert. Inbound marketing delivers 54% more leads than traditional outbound marketing.
5. Step up your social media game. A company’s social media content is consistently evolving; it should never be static. The more you include a phrase or long-tail-keyword within the copy of your blog or the description of your YouTube video, the more chances you will have of appearing for relevant terms in Google’s search.

Now I know what you’re thinking, “these are all fantastic ways to improve my content marketing strategy, but how will I find the time to do all of this?” Don’t worry, we can help do some of these tasks for you!