Mukesh K. Singhmar

Mukesh K. Singhmar / July 21, 2022

How SEO Can Influence and Optimize Email Marketing

B2B Marketing

Personalization is one of the most influential marketing trends. The more you cater to users, the more likely they are to turn into leads and, consequently, into customers. That’s where email marketing comes into play. It’s been effective for years, since 1978, to be precise. It all started when Gary Thuerk sent 400 emails, and the campaign resulted in $13 million in DEC machine sales. Sounds impressive, right?

Nowadays, with billions of emails sent every day, it’s important to stand out. And, surprisingly, SEO can help you do it. Here, we’ll tell you everything about the indirect but effective connection between SEO and email marketing.

The Bridge Between SEO and Email

First of all, let’s recall what SEO is. Search engine optimization is a combination of actions aimed at improving the ranking of a website in search engines in order to gain more traffic.

Emails aren’t showcased in search results, obviously, so we can conclude that the connection between SEO and email marketing is indirect. For example, when building an email strategy, you have to find out what topics your audience is curious about. To do that, you can use keyword research, which is a part of every SEO strategy.

By knowing the most popular queries used by your target audience, you can build relevant newsletters that will resonate with readers, encourage them to click on links, and take offers.

And when you’re using SEO to get to the highest ranking in Google and make yourself noticeable to the audience, email marketing can help you on the way. This approach lets you share content with the people who are already interested and will click on links to your blog to learn more. This should help your SEO efforts.

Useful SEO Tips to Optimize Your Email Marketing Strategy

Here are practical recommendations on using SEO for email marketing.

Use keywords in the subject line and email body

There are over 100,000 Google searches performed every second. By monitoring the process and looking for the most frequent concerns of your potential buyers, you can create excellent newsletters that give people what they want.

Precise words may create a “Wow!” effect.

Imagine you find your recent query in the subject and the body of an email. 

Continuing on the topic of keywords, how are you going to get people on the email list? The conversion page has to be optimized for user queries so they can see it in the search results.

The key takeaway is: that you need focus keywords to be in the subject and the body of the emails, plus on the conversion page.

What keywords to use in the email subject and body

Img cr: https://instapage.com/blog/long-tail-keywords

For email marketing SEO, long-tail keywords work the best. They look conversational and can get more traffic both from regular and voice searches. They are also more precise, making your emails more engaging.

For example, reading a general letter about the rules of flower care may be boring. There’s info about it everywhere online. But reading about taking care of a particular flower that is frequently asked about will garner more interest from a curious audience.

Such keywords also have lower competition, which makes it easier to rank in the SERPs if you choose to use the same query on the conversion page.

Another recommendation is to track the search volume of the chosen keywords. When you see a volume increase, this means the topic is gaining popularity and you should use it ASAP or promote content where it’s already been used.

Use the SE Ranking keyword search tool to monitor the dynamics in real-time. The tool will help you analyze any keyword and see its competitiveness, difficulty score, search volume, and other metrics. You’ll also get lists of keyword ideas to complement or replace the initial ones.

So, to properly incorporate keywords into your emails:

  • Consider using long-tail keywords
  • Use digital tools to look for ideas
  • Follow search volume trends to find out trending topics

Optimize for mobile

SEO email strategies without mobile optimization risk losing half the traffic. Over 55% of worldwide traffic has been generated from mobile since 2020, and the number is rising. So, obviously, you should adjust your emails accordingly. Here’s how to do it:

  • Consider single-column digests.
    Since mobile devices don’t have as much space for content as desktop screens, not to mention the orientation is different, keeping all the info in one neatly structured column will do.

    Besides, such columns will look minimalistic and well-designed even if the reader opens them from a laptop or a PC, so it’s a win-win strategy.
  • Watch your subject line.
    It’s easy to over-do your subject line to the point where the reader can’t understand what the letter is about. Minimalism, a concise message, and no vague words will create a well-optimized subject line.

    For example, instead of “❗❗❗ONLY OPEN IF YOU WANT A 30% DISCOUNT FOR THE S/S COLLECTION, EXPIRES IN 24 HOURS❗❗❗”, which is way too long and looks like spam, opt for “❗30% discount inside”.
  • Don’t use heavy images.
    Choosing smaller, lighter images will speed up the loading time of your letter.
  • Leave space.
    Don’t crowd the email with text, emojis, and media. Leave space for clicks and scrolling.
  • Keep CTAs in the center.
    Centralizing everything when adjusting emails for phone view is a good idea, especially if we’re talking about CTAs. Make them a little brighter, and bigger, and place them somewhere noticeable.

Use the best SEO practices

Email SEO has a list of practices that can be applied to ensure your newsletter and the website it leads to getting plenty of attention:

  • Optimize the HTML template.
    Use H1 and H2 tags, titles, subject lines, and the body of the message. Make sure there are no errors and the template looks neat and relates to your brand style.
  • Use keywords.
    As we mentioned earlier, seeing your exact question in the title and the body of a newsletter builds a special connection between the brand and its readers. So, don’t forget to optimize your titles and body content.
  • Use proper anchors.
    Research keywords for the anchors to the links in your newsletter.
  • Link to the most relevant pages. The most relevant, useful, and engaging content from the website should appear in the newsletter.

It may not be perfect on the first try. Some emails will work like a charm and some will flop, and it’s important to understand that that’s OK, even good. You get to find out what your audience really cares about.

Create an email newsletter archive

Search engines can’t crawl emails. But you can post them as an archive and attain more email marketing SEO benefits. This works as a database of content optimized for certain keywords, plus expands your email list by highlighting that the emails are exclusive.

People don’t like it when they miss something. So, this will work as a reminder to them to submit their email address to become a part of that exclusive club. Besides, not everyone is ready to sign up for a newsletter if they don’t know what articles they will receive.

An increased mailing list means more leads, more brand awareness, and more revenue. Plus, it will help you rank higher and for more keywords, which is another benefit of email marketing in SEO.

To make sure this strategy works:

  • Research keywords for every newsletter
  • Optimize titles and content to those keywords
  • Create a master archive by adding links to every newsletter on the website

Add a website search bar to the newsletter

Adding a website search bar right to the newsletter will lead more people to your pages. It is very convenient since the readers can find everything they need right from the email platform they are using.

Moreover, people that like the content you share can look for more articles and info on your products and services.

This can also be very beneficial from a branding standpoint to help build trust and authority.  For instance, let’s say that you host a podcast that has hundreds of episodes that your audience probably hasn’t heard.  

By adding a search bar, you’re allowing your audience to discover the content directly within the email itself.  This lowers the barrier to entry and allows them to quickly and conveniently learn more from you. 

How to add a search bar to an email?

There’s a relatively easy code piece you can use in the template.

<form action=”https://website” method=”get”>

<input type=”text” name=”s”/>

<input type=”submit” value=”search” />

</form>

Img cr: https://seoforgrowth.com/email-marketing-seo/

You can add more code to adjust the design of the basic search bar, and change its color and build to match the newsletters you send.

Incorporate video content

Video content is loved by both search engines and Internet users. It’s an easy way to perceive information because it’s interesting and entertaining. Incorporating such content in your emails is another great way to make them more creative.

Of course, it only makes sense if you are able to create a gorgeous picture and upload it in high quality. 

Engaging, aesthetically pleasing videos will keep people on the website and encourage them to want to find other video and text content you have posted. Optimal bounce rate, longer session time, and other metrics will help you rank higher in Google.

This, in its turn, will bring more traffic to your pages and, potentially, more people to your mailing list.

Here are some recommendations on making video content that will engage viewers:

  • Add evidence if you’re trying to make a point. This could be either a picture, a video, or a link in the description.
  • Use titles and thumbnails to make people curious about the contents of the clip.
  • Try using popular culture elements like memes and GIFs to make the videos more entertaining.
  • Make sure the first 3 seconds of the video are entertaining so that people don’t bounce.
  • Make sure the content is valuable and causes emotion.

Summary

The bridge between SEO and email marketing seems more obvious now, right?

Search engine optimization will help you create a newsletter archive, relate to people who are using the same queries, and choose the most appealing types of content for the campaign.

Email marketing will help you get the right information to the right people, personalize user experience, and encourage people to become loyal buyers and brand advocates.

The two approaches complement one another and boost brand awareness, increase leads, and make your site rank higher, bringing more traffic every day.

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