Enhance Your B2B Content Marketing & SEO Strategies with Pillars

Hey, marketing professionals — Have you noticed a dip in your website traffic? Are you using AI-generated content to meet Google's Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) guidelines? If so, this could be why you’re page traffic has been in a slump. 

(Or just one of the many reasons depending on archaic practices that took place before you started the company.)

How Does Google’s E-E-A-T Impact B2B Content Marketing? 

E-E-A-T is a concept used in Google's Search Quality Rater Guidelines to help human evaluators assess the quality of search results.

While E-E-A-T is not a direct ranking factor, content that demonstrates high E-E-A-T is more likely to rank well because it aligns with what Google wants to surface in search results: high-quality, relevant information from credible sources.

You would think AI would be the end-all, be-all in credibility but alas, it’s not - it’s just regurgitated information that’s curated from other credible (and not credible) websites. That paragraph above, for example, is almost word-for-word what Google Gemini spit out when I asked it if it knew what Google’s E-E-A-T was. 

(Editor’s Note: Now I want to know, should I have quoted that second paragraph? Is this plagiarism? AI is just one giant can of worms!)

Not only does this copy/paste method raise “ethics” concerns but it also makes you sound less credible when 30 other websites are sharing the same inaccurate information. So how do you create E-E-A-T content while still using AI? By developing a pillar-based content marketing strategy that's highly focused on SEO and E-E-A-T principles.

AI can be a helpful tool when laying the foundation for creating pillar-based content marketing & SEO strategies. Using Gemini, I prompted it to help me develop a pillar-based content approach that can “arm you with SEO best practices to help your B2B brand dominate search engines and establish thought leadership.” (I stole that from Gemini, can you tell?) 

(Another editor’s note: I’ve sprinkled in my tips and tricks because I’d feel like a hypocrite posting something that was AI-generated without spicing it up.) 

How to Develop a Pillar-Based SEO & Content Marketing Strategy

Here are my 6 easy steps for implementing a pillar-based SEO and content marketing strategy:

1. Conduct thorough audience and competitor research

2. Analyze your content (and competitors too) for gaps to take advantage of/optimize for SEO

3. Define your brand’s pillar topics

4. Create supporting topic clusters

5. Produce and promote content

6. Monitor and update as needed

But it’s not really that simple. So I’ll break down the approach in more detail. 

(Pro Tip: See how I provided a list immediately after the H2 header. DO THAT! It’ll help you rank well on search pages because people are looking for quick, high-quality answers to their questions. If it piques their interest, they’ll click through to learn more and then you can capitalize on more SEO techniques through the longer-form blog.)

1: Know Your Audience, Know Your Keywords

The first step to take when creating your pillar-based content and SEO marketing strategy is to conduct thorough audience and keyword research. 

Audience Segmentation — Understanding the specific needs and challenges of your customer segments is crucial. Conduct market research, analyze customer data, and leverage social media to understand their pain points.

Once you understand your market segments, create customer/audience personas that will help guide your messaging as you move forward. When it comes to B2B marketing, especially in Mid-Market to Enterprise-level organizations, focusing on the value over the features is a MUST! So make sure that’s built into your persona profiles.  

Keyword Research — Go beyond basic keyword research tools, like SEMrush! Explore industry publications, competitor websites, Google Trends, and forums to identify long-tail keywords with high intent that resonate with your target audience. 

Consider incorporating question-based keywords to target prospects actively researching solutions; you can do this by analyzing Google’s “People also ask:” to get ideas. Additionally, you can look at “Related Searches” to see how people are searching for terms related to your keyword.

2: Take Stock of Your Content Through Audits & Competitor Gap Analyses

3. Build B2B Your Pillar Topic & Content Themes

4. Create Supporting Cluster Topics

5. Create Content & Build Your Brand’s Authority and Visibility

6. Measuring SEO Success & Refining Your Content Marketing Strategy

Moral of the Story: AI Can Benefit Your Pillar-Based Content Marketing Strategy, But You Still Need a Human’s Touch

By implementing a well-defined pillar-based content marketing and SEO strategy, you can establish your B2B brand as a thought leader within your industry and demonstrate Google's E-E-A-T principles. 

• Expertise: Focus on creating content written by subject matter experts within your B2B niche. Encourage authors to showcase their credentials and experience.

• Experience: Leverage case studies and client success stories to demonstrate your company's experience in solving B2B challenges.

• Authoritativeness: Build backlinks from high-authority industry publications and websites. Partner with B2B thought leaders for guest blogging opportunities or co-created content.

• Trustworthiness: Maintain transparency and accuracy in your content. Cite credible sources and data to support your claims. Foster audience trust by addressing their pain points and offering genuine solutions.

Over time, you'll develop a loyal and engaged audience, attract qualified leads, build trust, and achieve your B2B marketing goals. And remember, AI can have its advantages but you need to go through the output with a fine-tooth comb and edit as necessary.

If your organization wants to overhaul its SEO and content marketing strategy, contact me today, I’m open to work!