Content marketing is the creation of information and content and how this can be shared across different materials and formats, such as videos, blog and social media. The main idea is to entertain or inform the audience, whilst delivering a business goal. Here is an example of some of the variety of content marketing that is used across different businesses:
Blogging
Video
Podcasting
Infographics
Email
Visual content
E-books
Newspapers
Presentations
Quizzes’/tools
Checklists
Courses
Webinars
Free apps
Social media posts
When thinking of content marketing, the two most popular ways, which have grown hugely, are blogging and podcasts. The statistics for blogging have increased globally, but in the U.S. the number of bloggers between 2014-2020 increased by 10 million!! Similarly, the global growth for podcasting is expected to increase by 31% for 2028. With huge markets like these, is it understandable how content marketing has become so varied and can appeal to larger audiences.
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Here is a more in depth look at some of the most popular types of content marketing:
Blogging
After being around for such a long time, blogging still accounts for a large percentage of the content marketing that is out there. With most blogs being written about products or services relating to a business, it is easy to see the results made from creating the blog and why they are so popular. Alongside this, blogs also carry a non-expensive price tag – ideal for small businesses or those on a tight budget. You can find free options or choose platforms to post your blog that you know will reach a much larger audience.
Blogs are also a great form of content marketing to use whether your business is small or large. If you have a small business and you begin posting a blog, this will entice the following you are looking for or alternatively, if you are an established business, the personal touch of a blog will add a genuine nature to your business and show your audience you are a trustworthy brand.
Social Media
Like blogging, social media is also huge in the content marketing industry. There are now so many different channels to engage with your audience, and this element does set social media apart from other types of marketing. By creating a social media post, the ideal result is to be seen and engage with your audience with an almost instant reaction or feedback from them.
Like blogging, this is also does not take much funding, unless you are looking to push this further and track your results and analytics. By tracking the results on your social media content, you will be able to see what is working and generating the most traffic to your site.
Podcasts
With podcasts, the initial cost of equipment and set up is a little more to take on than blogging but the potential audience for this could be huge. It is important to plan what you are going to say in your podcast to make sure it is not just ‘off the cuff’ and meets the reason of why you are doing the podcast. After all, the main aim of the podcast is to raise awareness of your brand and target those areas that are harder to reach with other types of content marketing.
Like with social media, there are lots of celebrities who have also joined the world of podcasting as a way of creating a relationship with their fan, just like businesses can do with clients. Podcasts can be found on many popular apps like iTunes, Spotify, and many radios stations and websites. They are convenient for people to listen to on the move, and they can do this at any time.
Conclusion
Whichever type of content marketing you choose for your business, remember you need to create a clear and well-documented plan. When creating your content marketing strategy, you should:
Consider who your target audience is
Define your brands identity
Understand your buyers’ journey
Know the benefits of your products and services
Identify measurable goals
Create an action plan
Creating a content marketing strategy sounds like a daunting task, however if it’s done right, there is no reason why you shouldn’t start seeing some immediate results!
Grow your business online with content marketing solutions from Bubble SEO today.
I’m sure you will have heard many a time that ‘content in king’! It really is when it comes to attracting visitors to your website. If your site does not contain a blog consider adding this in, the more content your site has the more content available for Google (and other search engines) to index. Your written content should be relevant to your target audience, factual and interesting and ideally articles should be 500 words minimum (for Google indexing purposes). Ensure you are consistent and realistic with the number of pieces you can add to your blog, if one-piece a week is manageable be consistent, post every week.
In the fast-paced world of digital marketing, staying ahead of Google’s algorithm changes is critical for maintaining visibility and driving traffic to your website. With 2025 already promising exciting shifts in search engine optimisation (SEO), marketers and business owners must remain proactive to safeguard their online presence.
At Bubble SEO, we specialise in helping businesses navigate these changes with ease, ensuring their strategies remain effective and future-proof. Here are some practical steps to keep ahead of Google algorithm changes in 2025.
1. Prioritise High-Quality Content
Content remains king in 2025, but Google’s algorithms are becoming increasingly adept at distinguishing truly valuable content from low-effort attempts to game the system. To stay ahead:
Write for your audience first and foremost, ensuring your content provides real value.
Incorporate structured data like FAQs or how-to guides to enhance visibility in search results.
Use tools like Google Trends to identify trending topics and tailor your content accordingly.
2. Focus on E-E-A-T
Google's emphasis on Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) continues to grow. Here’s how to align with these principles:
Showcase your credentials and expertise on your website.
Regularly update content to reflect the latest industry developments.
Earn backlinks from reputable sites to bolster your domain authority.
If you need help with building high-quality backlinks, check out Bubble SEO’s services for tailored link-building strategies.
3. Embrace AI and Machine Learning
AI is playing a major role in shaping Google’s algorithms. Leverage AI tools to:
Optimise your content for user intent.
Generate predictive keyword insights.
Automate repetitive tasks like on-page SEO audits.
Stay informed about the latest AI developments with Google’s AI blog, which offers updates and insights.
4. Optimise for Mobile and Core Web Vitals
Mobile-first indexing is now the norm, so your website must be fully optimised for mobile users. Additionally, Google continues to prioritise Core Web Vitals, which measure:
Page load speed.
Interactivity.
Visual stability.
Use Google’s PageSpeed Insights to identify areas for improvement and enhance your website’s performance.
5. Harness the Power of Local SEO
For businesses targeting specific geographic regions, local SEO is indispensable. To stay ahead:
Keep your Google Business Profile updated with accurate information.
Encourage customer reviews to build trust and authority.
Use geo-targeted keywords to capture local search traffic.
6. Monitor Algorithm Updates Closely
Being aware of upcoming changes allows you to adapt swiftly. Regularly check for updates on platforms like:
Google Search Central
Search Engine Journal
By staying informed, you can fine-tune your strategy before your rankings are impacted.
Conclusion
Navigating Google algorithm changes in 2025 doesn’t have to be daunting. By prioritising quality content, staying informed about updates, and leveraging expert guidance, you can ensure your SEO strategy remains effective. Whether you’re looking for help with link-building, content creation, or an overall strategy refresh, Bubble SEO is here to help.
Start 2025 strong by optimising your website today—because staying ahead of the competition begins with staying ahead of Google!
SERP stands for Search Engine Results Page. This is the page that a search engine displays to the user when they submit a search query. For example, if you go to Google and type in ‘what is martech?’ and press enter or click the search emblem, the search engine results page (or SERP) will be the pages that are returned to you.
Selling online is not getting any easier. Whether you run a small niche store or a large e‑commerce brand, you are competing against marketplaces, big retailers and a long tail of specialist sites. Most of you are targeting the same category and product keywords.
Good technical SEO and smart on‑page work will get you part of the way. But if you want to push key pages into genuinely competitive positions, you need backlinks. Quality ones. From real sites.
Google makes it very clear in the Google Search Central SEO starter guide that links help it understand which pages deserve to rank. For e‑commerce, those signals can be the difference between a page that sits on page 3 and one that drives sales every single day.
In this guide, we will walk through some realistic link building strategies that work particularly well for e‑commerce sites. We will look at products-led digital PR; influencers and creators; improving and promoting category pages; using competitor data to find quick wins; and making the most of seasonal interest
You can pick one to start with or combine them into a more complete strategy.
1. Using Product PR To Earn High Authority Links
E‑commerce brands have something a lot of businesses would love to have. You have products that people can touch, photograph, review and talk about. That makes you perfect for digital PR.
Pitch your products for media coverage
Journalists regularly put together gift guides, ‘best-of’ product roundups, seasonal features, and lifestyle and shopping content , and they are always looking for new items to include. You can find relevant opportunities on platforms like Press Loft, JournoLink and ResponseSource. Many PRs and founders also keep an eye on the #journorequest hashtag on X (Twitter) when journalists are sourcing products at short notice.
When your product is included in an article, the site will often link back to your product or category page. That is a highly relevant, high intent backlink.
If you want to see examples of this in action, have a look at the digital PR content on Search Engine Journal or some of the public relations guides on HubSpot’s marketing blog. They regularly break down campaigns that have driven hundreds of links for brands with fairly simple ideas.
Make your products easy to feature
Journalists are busy. The more work you do for them, the more likely they are to use your product instead of someone else’s. As a minimum, prepare good quality, high resolution product images; a clear description, including materials and key features; retail price and availability; and a short brand or founder quote for individuals to copy and paste.
This is simple, but it truly matters. A journalist choosing between ten similar products will nearly always choose the one with complete, usable information.
2. Build Links Through Influencer and Creator Partnerships
Influencer marketing is usually discussed in the context of awareness and social reach. For e‑commerce, it can also be a very direct way to build links, especially if you work with creators who own their own websites.
Product reviews that live on blogs, not just social
Many creators still maintain blogs, review sites or personal magazines alongside their social channels. When they genuinely like a product, they will often write a full review that includes a contextual link to your homepage or category, one or more links to specific products, and/or images and personal notes that build trust with a key audience.
That kind of long form, editorial link is exactly what you want more of in your backlink profile. Research shared on MarketingWeek and in the guides on Backlinko both highlight how creator content can feed into brand discovery and search performance, rather than sitting in its own silo.
Long term relationships, not one‑off freebies
The strongest links often come from repeat collaborations. If a creator regularly features your brand, you start to build multiple references across different posts, consistent brand mentions, and a more natural link pattern over time.
You do not need to work only with big names. Micro influencers can be brilliant partners, especially in specific niches. They tend to have more engaged audiences and are often more open to detailed written reviews.
If you want ideas for how to approach outreach and collaboration, the team at Ahrefs share plenty of practical examples on their blog.
3. Turn Your Category Pages Into Resources Worth Linking To
For most e‑commerce sites, category pages carry a lot of commercial intent. If you rank well for “women’s hiking boots” or “vegan protein powder”, for example, those visitors are usually ready to buy.
The problem is that many category pages are just a grid of products. That is fine for users who already know exactly what they want, but it gives other sites very little reason to link to you.
Add content that actually helps people choose
You do not need to turn every category into a blog post, but you can build in genuinely useful content around the product listings, such as a short buying guide or quick checklist; size, fit, or material guidance; answers to questions customers regularly ask; and links related to ‘how to’ guides.
This helps users make better decisions and gives editors, bloggers and journalists something more substantial to reference when they link.
Support category pages with helpful content
You can also create articles that sit near your categories in the site structure, then link internally. For example:
“How to choose the right running shoes for beginners” linking to your running shoes category
“What to pack for a European city break” linking to luggage and travel accessories
“Beginner’s guide to skincare ingredients” pointing to your skincare ranges
Internal linking is covered in detail in the Moz Learn SEO hub and on the Semrush blog. The key idea is simple. Helpful content attracts links, and those links can then be passed through to your money pages via smart internal linking.
4. Use Competitor Backlink Data To Find Real Opportunities
You do not have to guess where to build links. Your competitors are already showing you what works.
Work out who you are really competing with in search
Your main SEO competitors are the sites that rank where you want to rank. That might be a marketplace, a DTC brand or a specialist blog. Start by searching for a few of your core category and product terms and make a list of the domains that appear again and again.
Check where their links are coming from
Tools like Ahrefs, Semrush and Moz Link Explorer allow you to plug in a domain and see who is linking to it. When you scan that data for a few key competitors, you will often find gift guides that feature their products; “Top 10” style product roundups; niche blogs that review items in your category; resource pages or directories relevant to your industry; and broken links pointing to old or discontinued product pages.
Each one of these is a possible opportunity. If a site has already linked to similar products or brands, there is a reasonable chance they will be open to adding or updating content to feature you too.
For a deeper dive into this kind of research, Backlinko’s content on competitor analysis is a good starting point.
5. Use Seasonal Content To Win Timely, Relevant Links
Retail runs on seasons. Search behaviour does too. People look for different things at Christmas, during Black Friday, in summer, at the start of the school year and so on. If you plan for that, you can put yourself in a strong position when journalists and creators start looking for products to talk about.
Create seasonal pages with a long shelf life
Instead of treating every promotion as a one off, consider building seasonal pages you can update each year, such as:
Christmas gift ideas by price or recipient
Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals
Mother’s Day and Father’s Day gift suggestions
Summer holiday essentials
Back to school checklists
If those pages are well structured, genuinely useful and updated regularly, they can pick up links over multiple years rather than losing everything when a sale ends.
Watch for journalist requests around key dates
Ahead of major events, journalists and freelancers put out a lot of requests for gift ideas, product recommendations, expert quotes, and deal roundups.
You can find some of these on Qwoted, SourceBottle and, again, through the #journorequest thread on X. Responding quickly with a clear pitch, strong imagery and a link to your relevant seasonal page gives you a good chance of being included.
If you want a more formal steer from Google on building useful content that can be refreshed, their guidance on creating helpful content is worth a read.
Final Thoughts
Link building for e‑commerce does not need to be mysterious. It is mostly about putting the right content in front of the right people at the right time.
If you make your products easy to feature in the press; work with creators who publish proper reviews and guides; turn your category pages into helpful resources; learn from the backlinks your competitors already have; and plan for seasonal demand rather than reacting at the last minute, you will naturally build a stronger backlink profile. Over time, that means better rankings, more trust and more sales.You do not have to do everything at once. Start with the tactic that feels most achievable this quarter, get a simple process in place, then layer in other strategies as you
Many marketers use Google Trends once in a while, usually to check whether a keyword is popular, then move on. It’s easy to miss how much insight the tool can actually offer. When you take a bit more time to explore it properly, Google Trends becomes incredibly useful for shaping content ideas, spotting new interest early and understanding how searches shift during the year.
Search behaviour changes constantly. Relying on data rather than instinct helps you plan content that reaches people at the right moment. Here are a few straightforward ways to use Google Trends to guide your strategy.
Spot early interest before everyone else notices
One of the strongest features of Google Trends is its ability to show what is gaining attention right now. Tools like Ahrefs and Semrush are excellent for keyword research, but their numbers are based on monthly averages. Trends shows movement instead. You can see which topics are slowly growing or starting to spike.
Enter a broad keyword into the tool and scroll down to Related Queries. Anything labelled Rising or Breakout is worth a closer look. Breakout terms often point to something that is becoming popular very quickly. Creating content around these topics early gives you a far better chance of ranking before everyone else starts writing about them.
If you’re curious about how Google handles fresh content and emerging topics, the official Search Central documentation is a helpful resource.
Make seasonal planning easier and more accurate
Many industries see big changes in search behaviour throughout the year. Google Trends helps you check whether this applies to your audience. Switch the date range to the past five years and look for repeating patterns. You might notice that certain searches peak every January, or that interest rises in late summer.
Once you see these patterns, you can plan ahead with far more confidence. Publishing just before a seasonal spike gives your content time to settle and rank. This usually works better than guessing when people might start searching.
If you want more insight into how search patterns change over time, Moz publishes reliable research that can support your content planning.
Compare topics to decide where to focus
The comparison feature inside Google Trends is often overlooked, yet it’s genuinely helpful when you’re choosing between a few content ideas. You can compare up to five keywords at once and see how their interest levels rise or fall over time.
Look for topics that show steady growth. A keyword doesn’t need huge interest today to be valuable. Slow upward movement often means it will become stronger over the next few months. Matching this insight with research from places like Search Engine Journal or Backlinko helps you invest your time in content that has long‑term potential.
Build stronger topical authority
Topical authority has become essential for ranking well. Google wants to see depth, structure and clear expertise. Google Trends can help you build that depth by revealing smaller, related topics you might not have considered.
Enter a broad keyword and check the rising and top queries. These often give you ideas for supporting articles that can sit within a wider cluster. Once you create a handful of these pieces, you can link them to a main pillar page that acts as the hub. If you’d like a clear explanation of how cluster content works, HubSpot’s guide to topic clusters is a great place to start.
Final thoughts
Trends help you to understand what people are searching for, how their interests shift and which topics are gathering momentum. When you combine Trends data with reliable industry insight from sources like MarketingWeek and the Neil Patel blog, you can build a content plan that feels grounded in real behaviour rather than guesswork.
If you want your content to remain relevant and continue performing well over time, Google Trends deserves a spot in your regular workflow.