Content is what you write and context means the actual meaning behind the content. There is a huge difference between content and context in SEO. Many people consider both as one and the same thing.
If you are writing enough content for your website but still your bounce rate is high or your visitors are not liking your content then the problem does not lie in content. Rather it lies in the context of your content.
The real meaning behind any content should be as clear as water and it should be easily understandable by anyone.
The main difference between both is content refers to the main topic or work whereas context refers to the real meaning behind the content which helps the user to actually understand the concept in a deeper sense.
These two words i.e. content and context are actually confusing while writing for SEO.
Understand this with the help of an example.
- Content- They live in the foothills of the Himalayas.
- Context- The story revolves around a boy who lives in the foothills of Himalayas.
The first sentence i.e. content tells about the main topic but the second sentence i.e. content tells the actual meaning of the line. The first sentence gives you context for the content which could be written in an understandable and clear way.
What is Context in SEO
Context is the real meaning behind the topic and the value of the content for the right audience.
Whereas context marketing is the ability to provide the relevant content to the right person at the right place and at the right time. It could be based on past interactions of the customer with your brand and present needs.
Context actually amplifies the voice of your content to make it clear and understanding. Now Google has become context-sensitive rather than content and thus the phrase content is king has been abolished.
But in reality content and context work together and provide extreme value and experience to the content. This enhances user experience as well as upgrades the content value in the eyes of the search engine algorithm.
Without a proper and useful content along with good context, no one would like to find you and spend time on your website.
Content would be meaningless without proper context and moreover it won’t impact much. Both together can deliver valuable content. Moreover, search engines now use context behind the keywords based searches and deliver results according to that only.
Now with the development in the digital world, the marketers have moved fully beyond tactics like personalization and retargeting and various offers to consumers that are interesting and timely. The content that is greatly shaped with quality and relevant context can take the message to the next level.
Why does context matter in digital marketing
The more the context-focused the more the relevancy and user experience. Context actually means delivering the right message at the right time along with at the right place and on the right platform in the preferred language.
Context makes content relevant and personalized which creates an experience, meaning, and value. This ultimately results in a more personalized and meaningful message to each person which helps to generate deeper insights and ultimately higher ROI for the business.
Moreover, when you have a highly valuable context around some topic it gives you a chance to write more, and that little personalized details help to clarify the purpose of things rather than just giving general, unspecific, and less interesting information.
An example!
Let’s consider a spell bee contest as a resemblance here. If the judge asks a contestant to spell the word “Male”. Then the kids might ask some specific questions to the host to know the context more clearly like what is the definition? what’s the meaning? Can you use it in a sentence etc? Answers to these questions provide context that helps portray a clearer picture of the question he’s trying to give the answer.
And it’s important to answer these questions as the word male is different from words like “mail or mill”. Without the relevant context behind the word, how could someone give an answer to it? Giving more context revolving the word would be useful for readers to get and understand the actual value of the word.
Why Is Context Marketing Important?
The two most important reasons why context marketing is important.
- When you have a context you can provide more personalized content to your readers along with relevant marketing strategy. Personalized marketing is the key to success. People actually love personalization and relevance according to their personal needs and wants.
- When you are running a campaign for the targeted people it will bring more potential customers for you. Now by using the insights you can know the working and behavior of a particular say B2B company. You know that on 1st April they pass their budget for various sections of business and you know that the company’s management has downloaded various offers or bookmarked some products and visited many pages on your website about a particular category of product. Then when their new budget is passed, you can send them personalized content according to their prior behavior and needs that include some offers, discounts, and free samples. That was the right time to reach the right person. This increases the conversion rate and revenue.
What is contextual targeting in SEO
Now you have got a deeper understanding of context. But how to use it in targeting the right people is a matter of concern. This is called contextual targeting.
Contextual targeting is a form of personalized content that targets specific potential buyers. Contextual marketing is a tool to fuel-up the individual buyer’s journey when they are at the precise moment of their buying journey. The context copy encourages them to go on the next stage until they make a conversion.
Who
It is highly personalized or relevant to the individual person. Contextual marketing is immensely targeted to a specific person” who” (for instance- messages with their name, gender, past purchasing, behavior, action, etc) during targeting. Context targeting is beyond personalization including location, history and device of a buyer.
When
Context and timing are inevitably linked. When should an offer be sent? and When should the information be offered? When is the information required or valuable? “When” is important and actually accurate according to the consumer’s online journey. Timing is actually the most critical component of effective contextual marketing.
Difference between content and context in SEO
Where content means just giving random information context means giving the content a direction and value according to the reader’s interest and the topic of concern. Context provides the writer an opportunity to understand and anticipate the reader’s news, expectation, and wants which further helps to develop better marketing strategies for all the channels.
Context is critical as well as an essential part of your content strategy as it allows you to provide a deep and personalized experience to your readers.
Value of the text
The major difference between content and context is value. Where content is just providing information and knowledge about the topic the context refers to the components of the contents, its meaning, value, which should be understood by readers. Context clarifies the meaning of content and provides value to it.
Body of the text
Context is actually the events, background, circumstances, situations, and meaning that help to prepare a piece of work or text. Content is simply what is included in the work, generally its topics briefly. It is context, not content that is valuable to the reader. Look at the example below to understand its meaning-
- Content- Digital marketing is the present need of every business.
- Context- Digital marketing is the present need of business to widen its reach, cope up with competitors, increase sales, reach the audience, generate revenue and enhance brand awareness.
The thing called content is just a brief description of the topic but its contents are called context. The context is the new king of SEO surpassing content to become an important component in digital marketing.
This clears the meaning and situation of the topic
Meaning refers to the actual purpose of the content. And situations depict the circumstances in which the content is written. Content alone is not sufficient to provide value.
Understand this with a simple example.
A sentence is written as Why my SEO is bad for the website? Reading this at a glance concludes that SEO is bad for some websites but that’s definitely not true. SEO is an important element of digital marketing and it is a necessity for every website to be SEO optimized.
Then why should a person write this” Why is my SEO bad for the website?”
The actual meaning of this is Why my SEO is bad for the website as it’s not bringing results nor improving my website’s ranking. The context behind this could be some black hat seo tactics, irrelevant practices, poor optimization or the value of content written is bad.
After reading the first sentence it’s not clear that in what situation the line is written. It’s the context that defines its purpose and situation. This helps users to understand a deeper meaning of content.
Conclusion
Content and context both are important for SEO to provide a great user experience. Where content provides the user a piece of good information, context boosts up their conversion journey. The focus should be made on both content and context to make a full-fledged effective content writing strategy.
Personalize your messages and targeting with a highly valuable context and increase your conversion rate.