To share exactly how, I made an infographic mapping out not one, but six foolproof, can’t-miss strategies that real-life people (including me!) have used to top the charts for specific keywords.
These methods draw on advice and examples from Neil Patel, Brian Dean, the folks right here at Buffer, Noah Kagan, and a few others.
Check out the flowchart for a high-level overview of how to create the top content on any topic, then read on as I get down into specific how-tos for each method.
Flowchart magic by Laura Kranz (my wife and partner at GradLime).
A quick look at each option
I’ll overview each of these approaches, then drill down into how to choose the right one.
- Do the research and write the first article of its kind
Occasionally you’ll stumble across a search term idea and find that nobody’s tried to rank for it. There are no really satisfactory results in sight. When that happens, you have the rare opportunity to write the first piece of content on the matter.
- Write something far better than the #1 result
This is probably what you’ll end up doing most of the time. Someone will have an adequate piece out there that gets ranked first—but it could be more thorough, more current, more visually appealing, etc. That’s where you come in! Pull out the stops and write the end-all, authoritative, ultimate post on that topic.
- Write an authoritative article from an alternative perspective
Sometimes the #1 result is really, really well done—but you and the people in your niche have a different perspective or conclusion on the matter. In those cases, you write the article your audience needs to read.
Think of it this way: if #2 is all-around better, #3 is narrower.
- Write the ultimate list of awesome articles
When it’s clear that most of the space on the first results page is occupied by awesome content (some of which may be yours!), it’s time to go broader. Make the ultimate list of ultimate articles, giving people a detailed look at what’s out there.
You’re doing the work of pulling all the awesome content together, trimming the overlap, and saving the people searching for the term the time it takes to research all the awesome articles out there.
- Try a new format
Don’t rewrite already-amazing articles. Instead, find ways to add value by presenting them in new formats. Put the high-ranking awesome content into an infographic, make a video walkthrough, or host a webinar—add value by putting that awesome content into a different format.
- Outsource it
If you know you want to rank for a keyword and you don’t have time to create an original article, find a top-notch copywriter and/or designer to create it for you.
A step-by step guide to creating top-ranking content
We can pull this information off a lot better if we understand the rationale behind these steps. So let’s work through this infographic step-by-step.
Step 1: Determine the search term you want to focus on
Take a minute to think about a particular keyword that sums up what you’re all about or has proven to be how people might be searching for you or your brand online.
For example, for Buffer this might be a term like “social media scheduling,” “social media management tools,” or even “schedule my tweets.” Keep this keyword or phrase in mind as we walk through this together.
It helps to make sure people are actually searching for that word. To find out, jump into Google Adwords’ Keyword Planner (or one of these alternatives) to see just how often people are Googling that term.
Here’s an example: In my spare time I run a Bible literacy blog. Before I wrote my piece, “The 5 shortest books of the Bible, in order,” I looked up the search volume for keywords relevant to that topic. Here’s what Google says:
(Granted, the graph covered an earlier time span back when I wrote that article.)
One note on niche industries: If you’re trying to gain traffic in a really small market, or if you’re trying to create a new market, this isn’t going to be as helpful. There won’t be a lot of search data surrounding something that doesn’t exist yet, or something that only 100 people in the world will ever be interested in.
Not sure which search term to target?
There’s always the FAQ trick. Think of a question your customers ask you often. It might be as simple as, “How much does your product cost?” (This was a real money-making question for Marcus Sheridan).
Have your target search term in mind? Great! Let’s go to step 2.
Step 2: Google that search term (in an incognito window!)
The next step is to see just what content Google serves up when someone searches for that term. But don’t just open a new tab and Google this term.
Instead, Google that term while you’re in incognito or private browsing mode. In Chrome, just hit Ctrl+⇧ Shift+N for Windows or ⌘+⇧ Shift+N for Mac. (Not in Chrome? Use one of these methods.)
Why the extra step? Because incognito mode strips out some of the skewed results you might see when you’re logged in, based on your Google account. You want a more objective view, right?
Step 3: Evaluate the search results
This one’s not so straightforward, but it’s the most important step in this process. If you’re going to have a page 1 result, you need to know what you’re up against. Once we get a good view of the frontier, we’ll know where to stake our claim, so to speak.
The first thing to do is open up all the organic results on the first page. Don’t worry about the ads (that’s another post).
Now we evaluate each one.
This is where things get a little subjective. There are plenty of metrics you can use to evaluate a page’s quality: grade level, word count, images, social shares, etc. (I wrote another post entirely on this topic, and even made a template you can use to evaluate pages the way I do.)
But really this all comes down to one question: Are any of them satisfactory?
Or, is there at least one article that would completely satisfy someone searching for that term?
Sometimes the answer is a clear “No.” But you’re more likely to find at least one result that would satisfy the person Googling the search term in question. Once you’ve looked them all over, you’re ready to choose one of these 6 specific strategies.
Step 4: Pick a strategy
1. Do the research and write the first article of its kind
When there’s nothing satisfactory on page 1, you have a rare opportunity.
You can be the first person to write the article that answers the question the searcher has in mind. There’s no real competition: the only question is, “Who will write it?”
If you’re already an expert (or THE expert) on the subject, then the answer is, “You!”
But I find that often I’m not the one with all the necessary information I’d need to write a very helpful article. That’s when I have to ask myself, “Is it worth my time to research this material and write the article the world needs?”
If it is worth your time to do the research (heads-up: it could take 20+ hours), then you’re still the one who should be pulling this off.
And while we’re on the topic of research …
Do it well, and let it show.
Because if this really is a search term you want to rank for, odds are someone else will want to rank for it, too. They might even be writing that article now. So you need to make yours top-notch:
- Pull in screenshots that demonstrate what you’re talking about
- Quote experts
- Cite case studies
- Embed videos
- Use charts, graphs, and full-scale infographics to make your content more learnable
Knock it out of the park!
2. Write something far better than the #1 result
If there’s at least one piece of content that would reasonably satisfy the person searching, then we come to another question:
Is the first result absolutely awesome?
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