How Do White Papers Influence SEO?
At Dallas SEO Dogs we talk a lot about how much blogging and on-site content can boost your search engine optimization (SEO) strategy.
While those content pieces are extremely important for websites, some businesses like to go above and beyond with downloadable white papers that add even more value to their products and services.
The big question is: Do white papers impact SEO?
Let’s take a closer look at the influence of white papers and how they could benefit your SEO efforts.
What Are White Papers?
Whereas blogs are a marketing-heavy content strategy, white papers are their more in-depth and educational counterpart. White papers are long-form pieces of content that emphasize thought leadership and allow brands to put their industry knowledge on full display for their target audience.
These research-heavy pieces are generally the cream of the crop content on a site and are accessible as downloadable PDFs for anyone that wants to view them.
How Do White Papers Make a Difference in Your SEO?
So, if white papers end in a download, does that mean that they shouldn’t be considered part of your SEO strategy? The short answer is a strong “No.”
Let’s dive deeper down this rabbit hole. Why should your business use white papers to give their content a credibility boost with search engines?
Crawlers Can Still Find PDFs
As long PDFs are on your website, Google can crawl and index them. But in many cases, PDFs don’t have the content or optimization to help a site out in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).
That’s OK! As you’ll see later, white papers thrive with optimization and can hit all of the marks that Google craves from winning content.
So, place the sales pitch aside for now, and put your content efforts towards creating some valuable long-form content that educates and answers some of the most searched questions in your industry.
White Papers Are Traffic-Drivers
Since white papers are completely searchable and shareable, create a great paper with content that is valuable to your audience and Google will eventually increase traffic.
As we’ve mentioned before, Google values content that answers all of the important questions people are asking in queries. Therefore, if your content marketing team does its research and creates content that leaves no stone unturned, Google will crawl it and take notice.
When this happens, your white paper and site will begin to show up in relevant searches and reel in traffic that craves knowledge. They’ll spread the word if your content brings a solution to their problem.
White Papers Build Credibility
As you can see, white papers have a domino effect with how they influence your SEO strategy. When your content is searchable, indexed, and shared, your brand eventually becomes an industry authority.
When your site builds credibility, your SEO will show positive results! Not only will Google recognize your authority and start ranking your site well during common industry searches, but other great SEO opportunities can also arise:
- Greater search visibility increases traffic
- Increased traffic could increase conversions within your target audience
- Customer loyalty builds
- Your backlinks are likely to be organic and high-quality
- Your site begins to attract people outside of your target demographic
You Can Optimize Them to Match Your SEO Strategy
The great thing about any content, whether it be in blog form, service pages, or white papers, is that you can always optimize it to help you work towards your SEO goals.
Algorithm shifts and changes in audience interest will eventually render a white paper ineffective unless you update it. Therefore, when you apply monthly keyword research and audience search preferences to your existing and new content on your website, don’t forget to re-evaluate your white papers and ensure they still answer questions and give advice that your audience deems valuable.
If you need to make minor keyword and phrase changes here and there, we say make them—and update the current white paper. However, if audience interests have completely changed over to another sector of your industry, it may be time to leave your older content alone and create a new white paper that you’ve optimized to meet your audience’s current needs.
How Can You Use White Papers as a Conversion Tool?
While we aren’t saying to charge for your white paper, you shouldn’t always give them away for free. White papers are a great way to gather more data about your target audience via forms that grant visitors access to your exclusive content.
As minute as these interactions are, they are a win-win situation for everyone involved. Not only does your visitor get the information they desire, but each interaction with a form creates a conversion for your site that attracts search engine attention.
Inform Your Audience With White Papers and Unique Content From Dallas SEO Dogs
When it comes to SEO success, content is still king. Regardless of how you approach content creation, Dallas SEO Dogs has a creative team that will produce unique content that drives traffic and pushes your site up the search engine ranks.
Contact us today to learn more about our content marketing and other services. We are ready to learn more about your brand and schedule a free consultation.
