SEO Article: Advertorials and SEO

The Link Between Advertorials and SEO

I assumed that you have heard the Interflora incident in which Big G penalizes the UK-based flower website regarding their advertorials (if not you can click on the link for the full story). But what got our attention is the fact that some of us doesn’t know what are advertorials and how they can be used to gain rankings. Below is a short article that would describe what advertorials are and how it is related to SEO.

What is Advertorial?

Derived from the words “advertisement” and “editorial”, advertorials mainly refer to a method of print advertising that has an uncanny resemblance to editorial content. This takes in the shape of an opinion story that at first glance could easily pass off for a news story about a service, product, firm or any other thing that you wish to create a market for. The advertorial can be printed on various platforms including newspapers, magazines.

An advertorial can be a great way to boost the visibility of your business without ramming your sales pitch down your reader’s throats. An advertorial is an editorial with leanings towards advertising. The idea behind advertorials is that rather than overtly selling, they seek to inform the reader about a subject matter related to the product the company is selling.

This is probably one of the most powerful tools in marketing, as it does not only aim to sell the product to the reader but does so in a manner that is educational, informative and scientific. Typical cases can have a page or two but in some instances, the pages may reach up to 15 pages depending on the subject matter. This proves to be advantageous for you as the advertiser as well as the leaders in many ways, as explained below.

Advertorials perform two main functions. Firstly, as we know it is important to have a web presence, and with an increased level of content optimized with key words you are more likely to have a search engine presence thus also more likely to receive a greater level of hits on your web content. Secondly, if you are able to write your advertorial in a persuasive enough way it may lead users to your website to purchase your products or ask for more information

The Connection

The old type of marketing involved writing an SEO article and cleverly hiding links in between the text but of late the practice has been frowned upon by many search engines like Yahoo, Google and plenty others available on the Internet. It is therefore essential that you get a well and carefully designed advertorial for the service, product to ensure that your presence is recognized on the Internet.

Other things you need to consider to make a strong SEO advertorial are to have a great headline, strong first paragraph, not forgetting valuable content. Remember to have interesting subheadings, product tie in paragraphs at the end and maintain an educational tone without over selling the product. Have a call to action and spice it up a bit with graphics, photos or quotes to back up the claims you have made in the advertorial. At the end of it all no matter whether you are selling direct or through retail stores, SEO advertorials are a way to get greater growth in sales and exposure.