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There are plenty of misconceptions around emails. One of which is that emails are dead, having been replaced by social media. Another myth is that email has nothing to do with SEO.
Here’s a reality check: emails are crucial for your brand! They can increase engagement, draw in new customers, and raise brand awareness – oh, and they can improve your SEO score too.
You may have never thought that SEO and email marketing were related in any way, but these two components of your marketing strategy can actually complement each other.
In this article, we’ll show you:
How email marketing can boost your SEO score
What elements every email should have
How you emails can make a lasting impression – and not end up in the spam folder
What is Email Marketing?
Every brand should have an email marketing strategy. This means building a digital list of customers sending them emails on a semi-frequent basis. These emails usually have an underlying goal and an accompanying format. Here are some common examples:
Welcome emails, inviting new customers to explore your brand’s world
Newsletters, released on a schedule to bring info to your audience’s inbox
Sale and promotion emails, intended to excite your customers
Important updates, like if your store is moving locations
Yes, Email Marketing Still Matters
You might be thinking, “Wait, aren’t emails a thing of the past?”
It’s true that emails are no longer as prominent as a digital communication method, and social networking sites have fragmented the audience that used to do everything through their email service.
Email is still a popular service, though. In fact, OptinMonster reports that 99% of web users check their email at least once a day – some up to 20 times a day!
For that reason, email marketing is super important. It’s easy, cheap, target-specific, and mobile-friendly. Plus, it can boost your SEO results! Learn how below.
How Email Marketing Strengthens Your SEO Score
Boosts Engagement
We know that having more visitors on your site will increase its SEO score. How do you draw in more visitors? Pull them right out of their email inbox. Any email format can do the trick as long as you link back to your site within the email.
You should keep these tips in mind as you aim to rack up engaged visitors:
Don’t just cast out a line and expect everyone to visit your site; target a specific audience
Make sure the content in your emails is compelling – give readers something to look forward to in your emails
Don’t use language that evokes spam – both readers and spam filters will turn away from emails like these
Types of stats I can look for here: what THING brings in clicks or opens from email users; OR how often do emails go to spam boxes
Gives You Better Insights
There’s a lot you can learn from how your emails perform. It’s easy to track their success, too. There are plenty of easy-to-use email marketing tools that can pick up on useful metrics – for example, learn what language makes an effective headline versus a bad one. You can even test specific keywords, and then use your results to improve your SEO results.
Helps You Create High Performing Content Content for Search Engines
Here’s another great thing about tracking data from your emails: if an email performs particularly well, you can use it for content on your website too.
We recommend creating a bridge between your site’s content and your emails’ content. If a piece performs well on one platform, re-purpose or reuse it on the other.
Helps You Supercharge Your Content Strategy
Your emails and your site’s content are like brother and sister.
You can strengthen your site’s content by testing out different things over email. For example:
Try out different topics and see what draws people in
Increase engagement by asking for direct responses from readers
Create personas and craft emails specifically for them
Gives Your Wallet a Break with High ROI
Email marketing is practically free, and think of how often people check their emails. There are very few ‘barriers’ standing in the way between your emails and the intended reader, so you don’t have to worry about throwing piles of money at a strategy that might not land.
Increases Brand Awareness
Brand awareness is key, and emails do a great job sticking your brand to people’s thoughts. Even seeing your brand’s name among other emails reminds readers that you exist, but why stop there? Strong email content can give your audience a true sense of what your brand is capable of.
Offers a Chance for Link Building
You know that relevant backlinks can improve a site’s SEO score. Why not apply the same approach to your emails? In your messages, link back to your site or other channels of media whenever possible.
How to Make the Most Out of Your Brand’s Emails
Use HTML
Ultimately, there are two kinds of emails: plain text and HTML-based. Only HTML-based emails can display compelling photos, graphics and other kinds of media, and these are things you’d want to use to engage readers.
If the word ‘HTML’ makes you want to runaway, relax. These coded emails are easier to send than you might think. In fact, there are free email templates all over the web that make the process easy from start to finish.
Here are a few things to consider with your HTML emails:
Don’t overdo it – too many components will make your emails take longer to load, and readers will stop clicking them
Make sure your emails work on the web AND mobile, and that they can fit screens of any size
Timing is Everything
The day and time on which you launch an email makes a huge difference. You may have read ‘rules’ online, but ultimately, it all depends on your brand and your audience. Here are some tips:
Tuesday through Thursday is considered the ‘hot spot’ for emails, drawing in the most engagement
Friday is a hard day to gain your audience’s focus, unless your brand involves something they can partake in on the weekend
Email marketers and Garfield have one thing in common: they hate Mondays. That’s because audiences are usually too work-focused or dreadful to engage over email
Time based on your audience; target mobile-based or younger audiences in the evening, and desktop-based audiences in the morning
There is no universal ‘correct time,’ so think carefully about your brand and when your audience will likely open your emails.
Keep a Newsletter Archive
You may keep a campaign archive for various aspects of your marketing strategy.
Your emails should be no exception. This will help you:
Collect data over time to see what’s working and what should change
Refer back to older archive to reuse content
Avoid Spammy Language
Here’s something that search engines and email systems have in common: neither of them like manipulative ‘junk’ language. While it’s important to SEO that you don’t overuse a keyword or use repetitive text, email systems have strong filters that ruthlessly hunt down spam.
Avoid aggressive terms, oversimplified claims, and desperate pleas – otherwise your mail won’t make it to the inbox.
Track Your Results
We can’t stress this enough: track your email campaigns! There are so many useful metrics to check, including:
Conversion rate
Clicks per link
Unsubscribe rate
Bounce rate – we’ve elaborated on this below
Check Your Bounce Rates
This tip isn’t as much about SEO as it is about your audience, though it’s equally important. One of the most important metrics you should check from your marketing emails is the bounce rate.
The term ‘bounce rate’ might be confusing because it is used in other contexts. Your site’s bounce rate is NOT the same thing as your emails’ bounce rate:
On a website, the ‘bounce rate’ refers to how often users click on your page and exit right away
On emails, the ‘bounce rate’ refers to how often your email does not reach the intended target’s inbox
In other words, if you’ve ever gotten an error message explaining that an email you’ve sent was ‘returned’ to you, the email has bounced; this is what the bounce rate measures.
If your bounce rate is high – let’s say, 2% or higher – you need to give your email subscriber list a refresh.
Create Beautiful Emails That Are Still Functional
Should you focus more on making your emails look great or making them work well? You don’t have to choose, and you actually shouldn’t.
Your email’s design doesn’t compromise its purpose – strong design enhances it!
Make sure you include each of these important features in every email:
A subject line that sparks curiosity
Carefully chosen pre-header text, which will be visible in the subject line
Strong, bold images
A refreshing colour scheme
Calls to action, including links to your site
An info-dense footer
Bring on the Links
Your emails should be more than just a block of text. Give your reader plenty of links to click on! There should be clear paths from your emails to other channels of your brand: social media, website pages, subscriptions, and any others you can think of. Make sure to tell people WHY they should click on your links, rather than simply choosing to display them.
Another tip: Place social media links on your ‘unsubscribe’ page! While a reader may no longer want to see your emails, they still might want to check out your social media pages.
Put Your Best Content Forward
Emails are a great place to showcase your content, but make sure it’s actually good. You don’t want to end up in the spam folder or get swiftly deleted. Besides, what appeals to readers doesn’t always come down to an exact science. Quality content is the best organic way to reach new people.
The Takeaway
In this article, you learned:
Why email marketing is more important than ever
How good SEO and email marketing strategies can be combined
How to make high-quality emails that readers and marketing strategists both love
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