Andrea Durrheim

Businesses rarely launch a major advertising campaign without scrutinizing every detail. Yet many publish dozens of SEO articles without ever reading them. That can be an expensive mistake because, for many customers, SEO content is their first introduction to your business. 

Here are some attitudes towards SEO content that could damage your credibility and reduce marketing ROI, along with ways to avoid the pitfalls of a hands-off approach to content marketing. 

I Just Want SEO

SEO lives in content. Some of that lives in pages you might not think particularly important, including blogs, news, and FAQ pages. With your landing pages saying what you want them to say, you might think that these smaller parts of your content strategy are less important. 

Writers will add the right keywords, and customers will find the content. That’s where the problem comes in. 

That “less-important” content will shape initial impressions of your business. Will readers click through to your main pages? That depends on whether it seems trustworthy and demonstrates enough care and originality to deserve their attention. 

Attention and trust are both important in marketing. The Content Marketing Institute reports that while you might get attention with content, its real purpose is to build trust.

Sure, you won’t have earned absolute trust after a customer reads one blog post, but you can lose it completely and quickly if it’s factually incorrect. There’s even potential for legal liability there. 

I have seen wildly inaccurate content, presumably written by content writers familiar with a niche, or by AI that generates plausible statements that are downright inaccurate. The agency passed it. The client, it seems, hasn’t bothered to check it. The consequences can be even more serious when inaccurate content leaves readers misinformed about an important issue.  

Yes, SEO is about being found. Your concern is what happens after that. 

More is Better

With the rise of AI, the temptation to use it to produce content at scale has been great. Even without AI, a “more is better” attitude seems to prevail. The reasoning is that large volumes of generic, SEO-optimized content dumped onto the internet make you more visible. 

Even supposing it does,  if the top 10 search engine results all say the same things, you aren’t offering customers reasons to choose your business. They may as well grab a few names at random and flip a coin. If your content could sit comfortably on a competitor’s website without anyone noticing, it probably isn’t strengthening your brand. 

Google’s own guidance increasingly emphasizes original, people-first content and warns against publishing large amounts of low-value, automatically generated material. 

More, it seems, is not better. Distinctive is better. 

Yes, you shouldn’t use informational content as one long sales pitch. However, if your competitors are offering similar pages (and they probably do), you should be searching for a fresh angle, a deeper insight, or anything else that might differentiate you. 

A good SEO content writer can do this for you. But to do it effectively, they need to get to know your industry, your business, and what you feel is special about it. 

I Don’t Really Have The Time

Of all the reasons to expect content marketing to run on auto, this may be the most compelling. You have a business and you’re busy already. Your marketing team or agency has produced a proposal. You’ve approved it. Now they need to get on with it so you can get back to doing your job. This can be risky. 

Until you’re confident that the content your firm is publishing serves your clients and does your business justice, you shouldn’t be letting go of the reins just yet. 

Try Doing This Instead

Got a content strategy? Great. Happy with the SEO content titles you see? Perfect. But do check the content itself, at least at first. Your agency and its writers are getting to know you. They might misinterpret facts and technicalities at first. They might miss the very things that differentiate you and make your business a good choice. 

Ask your agency to assign a specific writer or writers to serve your firm. That way, they can benefit from the learning curve, and you’ll get greater consistency in messaging and tone. Be picky. You’re the client, and you are the expert on your business. 

This sounds intensive, but as your writer becomes more accustomed to your likes and dislikes, what you want your message to be, and how they should deliver it, you should see improvement. If they’re paying proper attention, they should start producing content that reflects your business’s true identity pretty quickly. 

As the relationship builds, content production can start running with minimal supervision from your side. A few spot checks to see whether standards are being upheld should be all you need. 

What You Have That Your Marketing Agency Doesn’t and Why You Need to Bring That to the Table

E-E-A-T. Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness: it’s something that’s second nature to you, and agencies don’t know you well enough for it to be obvious to them.

A questionnaire from your SEO agency might not lead you to think deeply about it, but you should. Don’t just go for phrases you think sound nice. Dig deep to find your competitive edge. 

Show your content agency how to apply E-E-A-T in the unique context of your business; align content with the values it supports, and communicate the philosophy that defines your business. Authenticity is key. Be real.

Engage critically with the content that will be published on your website, because it’s ultimately yours. It’s an investment in your future. With your input, your agency will be better able to help you stand out in a competitive marketplace. 

You can outsource marketing and SEO, but you shouldn’t outsource final quality control. You’re still the best person for the job, and it’s better to publish sparingly and well than to fill your website with content that neither reflects your expertise nor gives customers a reason to trust you. 

How Often do Businesses Engage With the Content They Publish?

The truth is that many businesses rarely engage with the content published in their name. That’s a missed opportunity. Your experience, expertise, and perspective are often the very things that make your business worth choosing. 

If you don’t bring those qualities to the table, even good content can become generic, and your competitive advantage may end up buried beneath words that could have been written for anyone.