Social Media Planner: How To Plan Your Content (With Template) via @sejournal, @jasonhennessey

Marketers and business owners are spoiled for choice when it comes to the many social media platforms available for growing an online audience.

From BlueSky to TikTok, LinkedIn to Patreon, social media marketing has never been more robust, or, arguably, time-consuming.

But it doesn’t have to be. Fortunately, you don’t have to be everywhere at once.

Where you choose to show up online should be based on where your target customers spend most of their time. Choose these platforms purposefully.

Also, streamlining your social media marketing is made easier with the right planning tool in your arsenal – and no, it doesn’t require fancy software solutions.

In this guide, I’m sharing a free, easy-to-use social media planning template, plus helpful steps on how to make it work for you.

It’s as simple or as customizable as you need it to be. No unnecessary bells or whistles.

Free Social Media Planner Template For Google Sheets

Planning your social media content doesn’t have to be complicated – or require the use of expensive tools.

With the free Planner Template, you’ll find an easier way to plan, organize, and schedule your social media content.

Whether you are an individual, business owner, or marketer, this template is designed to help you publish content consistently, stay organized, and make better decisions about your social media strategy.

With this Google Sheets template, you can:

  • Plan your content calendar in advance, see what you’ve published, and know what’s coming up next.
  • Schedule posts for multiple social media accounts from one calendar.
  • Track the progress of your content and use the information to inform your future strategy.
  • Collaborate with others by sharing access with your team.

Note: Click on File > Make a Copy to edit your template. You do not need to request edit access.

Make a copy: Social Media Planner Template for Google Sheets

How To Plan Your Social Media Content

The Google Sheet template makes it easy to see your schedule well in advance and save all of your social media assets in one place.

Here’s how to plan your social media content this year.

Step 1: Create A Copy Of The “Social Media Planner Template”

Once you have access to the template, click “File” and then “Make a Copy.” This will create a new copy of the template that you can edit.

How to make a copy of social media planner templateScreenshot from Social Media Planner Template, May 2025

Next, give your copy a descriptive name, such as “[Business name] – Social Media Plan Q1-Q4 2025,” and save it to Google Drive.

Step 2: Identify Your Current Quarter/Month

Depending on when you’re reading this article, you will want to identify the quarter and/or month in which you plan to start your social media planning.

The bottom of the template includes tabs spanning from “Q1: January” to “Q4: December” of 2025.

Open the tab for the month in which you want to start planning your content:

Open the tab for the monthScreenshot from Social Media Planner Template, May 2025

For simplicity, we started with “Q1: January” and began filling out the first few topics as an example:

Fill out first few columns: Social Media Planner TemplateScreenshot from Social Media Planner Template, May 2025

You will also see in the left-hand columns that there is a calendar for each month. This is simply a reference to the correct days of the week/month for 2025 so you can plan accordingly.

You can, of course, update this for 2026, 2027, and so on.

Step 3: Choose Your Social Media Platforms (“Platform”)

Column K includes a dropdown of various social media platforms to which you may be publishing your content.

You can select from this list of options (Blog, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter/X, TikTok, YouTube, or Other), or you can add your own by clicking the pencil icon:

How to fill out social media planner templateScreenshot from Social Media Planner Template, May 2025

This dropdown allows you to easily identify which platform you plan on publishing to. Whether it be Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), or any other platform, this will help you keep your content organized.

Step 4: Plan Your Topics

Now, it’s time to fill in your topic ideas.

There are quite a few ways to think of engaging social media topics, which we covered in our guide on how to create authentic social media content.

However, the research process doesn’t have to stop there. Here are a few ways to come up with social media posts:

  • Conduct competitor research: Look at what your competitors are doing on social media and use that as inspiration for your future social media posts.
  • Look at industry trends: Stay up-to-date on industry trends and news, and use this information to create relevant and timely posts for your audience.
  • Utilize user-generated content: Encourage your followers to share their own experiences and use that content as inspiration for your posts.
  • Look at hashtags: Research and use relevant hashtags to increase the visibility of your posts and reach a wider audience. This can also be a way to find content ideas.
  • Schedule regular promotions: Share your promotions and discounts to drive engagement and increase sales.

Once you think up some ideas, you can start filling out your social media planner.

Just fill out Columns J through R with your “Title/Topic,” “Description,” and the like.

Step 5: Add Content And Publishing Notes

Start editing the template by adding relevant information, such as your descriptions, content document links, hashtags, publish dates, and tracking links (if needed).

Fill out columns: Social Media Planner TemplateScreenshot from Social Media Planner Template, May 2025

Feel free to add rows, columns, or fields to suit your needs.

In the “Images” and “Video/Media” columns, you can add links to the visual assets you plan to use in your social media post. You can do this by adding a link to a Google Drive folder with images or your chosen Digital Asset Manager (DAM).

Step 6: Add Publish Dates

Next, use the template to schedule your posts in advance by adding the date and platform for each post.

Don’t forget to update the “Status” column (I) as you work through your social media plan.

You can also use the template to track the success of your content by adding metrics such as likes, comments, and shares.

Step 7: Share With Your Team

If you are working with a team, share the template with your colleagues and give them access to edit the template.

This will allow you to collaborate and work together to maintain a consistent social media presence.

The “Notes” column is for any miscellaneous notes about your upcoming content, including details about your upcoming content, drafts, due dates, etc. and you can use this to work with your team async.

Step 8: Plan Ahead And Repeat

Planning your social media content in advance offers numerous benefits that can greatly enhance your social media presence.

By taking the time to plan your content, you can ensure that you are consistently publishing relevant posts that engage your audience and drive results.

With a clear content plan in place, you can focus on creating high-quality content that is aligned with your overall marketing strategy and avoid the pitfalls of impulsive, unplanned posting.

I recommend using the social media planner to plan at least one quarter’s worth of content, so you’re not scrambling to write the copy, collect the assets, schedule the posts, etc.

Plan And Publish Social Media Content Like A Pro

Social media marketing doesn’t have to be a headache. With the right process, you can streamline your social media content planning and publishing schedule.

In as little as a few hours per quarter, you can plan your content well in advance, taking the guesswork out of your social media posting.

Using a planning template allows you to be proactive in your topic planning, get organized, and stay on schedule. Over time, planning your content will feel like second nature rather than a chore.

With social media planning, marketers gain:

  • A no-nonsense system for tracking content topics and scheduling.
  • Time efficiency and a streamlined publishing cadence.
  • Consistency in publishing timely, relevant posts.
  • Improved visibility into performance and results.

Also, when you plan your social media posts in advance, you can better allocate budget and resources to your efforts, ensuring you’re using your time in the most effective way possible.

So, take advantage of the free social media planning template, make it yours, and save time in your social media marketing efforts.

More Resources:


Featured Image: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal

How To Increase Google Discover Visibility Naturally Using These Ranking Signals via @sejournal, @rollerads

This post was sponsored by RollerAds. The opinions expressed in this article are the sponsor’s own.

Want more visibility in Google Discover?

Not sure how to get into Google’s personalized news feeds?

Discover isn’t like search. You don’t rank for keywords.

You get selected.

And that means the best way to get featured isn’t to optimize for keywords; it’s to optimize for specific algorithmic signals.

In this guide, we’ll cover the core ranking signals that help Google determine which content belongs in Discover feeds, and how you can naturally boost those signals using tools like push notifications.

Google Discover Optimization Tips: Which Signals Tell Google Your Content Belongs in Discover?

Google Discover uses a different algorithm from traditional search results.

While it still considers many of the same quality indicators, Discover visibility depends less on keywords and more on how your content performs in the real world.

Here are the most important content quality signals for Discover.

1. E-E-A-T: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trust

A good rule of thumb is to follow the “E-E-A-T” guideline:

  • Experience: Firsthand, real-world familiarity with the subject.
  • Expertise: Deep knowledge and skill in your content niche.
  • Authoritativeness: Recognition from other trusted sources.
  • Trustworthiness: Accurate, unbiased, and reliable information.

2. Engagement Metrics

These tell Google your content resonates with users and may be worth promoting more widely.

3. Strong Visuals & Headlines

Discover is highly visual, so if you don’t stand out immediately, the users are likely to scroll past your content.

Take your time to polish headlines to get attention, but make sure they accurately reflect the content of your article, post, or whatever you’re writing right now.

Engaging headlines, images, and videos perform better, especially when those assets are optimized for mobile.

4. Technical SEO & Mobile Optimization

While you don’t need to “rank” per se, you do need a well-optimized site, which includes:

  • Fast load times: Consider page speed and overall efficiency. Use PageSpeed Insights to ensure your web pages are optimized for user performance.
  • Mobile-friendly layouts: Google Discover is only available on mobile devices, as there is currently no desktop version.
  • Structured data: Google relies on structured data to categorize content and provide relevant suggestions for users. To attract more engaged and relevant users, you need to add tags and structure data so that Google can better recognize and categorize your content.
  • Internal linking & link building: It will help you create your own network of content. This concerns old articles, too, as they might serve as a gateway to newer pieces of content.
  • RSS or Atom Feed: Allow users to follow you to receive updates quickly. Google generates a feed for you automatically, but you can connect your own.
  • Google Web Stories: Similar to Instagram, these stories appear under the Visual Stories banner on mobiles and serve to expand your reach. Stories are easy to create, engaging, interactive, and fun.

    Track, test, improve. Use Google Search Console (GSC) to monitor your performance and statistics. Unlike Google Analytics, it has a dedicated tab for monitoring Google Discover traffic.

    5. Freshness & Topical Relevance

    Valuable content addresses and solves pain points.

    For content to have a better chance of showing up in Discover feeds, it should be:

    • Accurate.
    • Timely.
    • Trending.
    • Helpful.
    • Continuously updated.

    This is especially powerful if your content is tied to current events or spikes in interest, as shown in Google Trends.

    To discover what users search for, try:

    • Google Search: Enter a query and scroll down to view related and popular requests.
    • Google Search’s Autocomplete: Start typing a search and observe the suggested autocomplete queries; these are the queries that many others regularly search for.
    • Google Trends: Identify how popular a content direction is in any part of the world. This is also great for identifying seasonality.

    How Google Discover Works

    1. Google Discover suggests your content, which should include all the positive signals mentioned above.
    2. The Google app user engages with your content within Google Discover, adding to Google’s knowledge of how users interact with your website.
    3. These engagements (visitor volume, time on page, user experience, etc.) indicate to Google that your content is well-suited for similar readers.
    4. Google increases your reach and visibility on Google Discover.
    5. Those new viewers engage with your content in a similar pattern.
    6. The cycle repeats, spreading your optimized content to more Google Discover timelines.

    This is known as a positive loop because your content consistently passes positive ranking signals back to Google’s Discover algorithm, thereby continuing to increase in engagement.

    How Do I Create A Positive Loop & Show Up In Google Discover?

    Now that you know what Google is looking for, here’s how to naturally boost those signals.

    We know that Google Discover places your content based on:

    • High-clickthrough rates.
    • Long time-on-page.
    • Repeat visitors.

    So, how can you increase those metrics?

    By getting a dedicated reader base that is always ready to consume your new content.

    Push notifications are a great way to alert your dedicated readers that new content is out.

    And they will feed your Google Discover algorithm data.

    How To Use Push Notifications To Boost These Google Signals

    Many publishers avoid push notifications, believing they’re too promotional or might harm user experience (UX).

    However, modern push notification platforms allow you to take a more hybrid approach, combining editorial updates with monetization to boost visibility.

    Why Hybrid Push Notifications Help Boost Discover Visibility

    Done right, push notifications help your content get discovered organically by:

    • Increasing CTR with a second wave of distribution.
    • Driving fast engagement shortly after publication.
    • Bringing back repeat readers to increase session depth.
    • Boosting behavioral signals that Google uses to judge quality.

    In other words, push notifications support the very engagement metrics that can lead to more Discover visibility.

        When users receive a mix of informative and promotional pushes, each message feels fresh, encouraging clicks and boosting your CTR.

        Higher engagement signals to Google that your content is valuable, increasing the chances of it being featured on Discover.

        And since Discover traffic is largely made up of new visitors, each one becomes a fresh opportunity to grow your subscriber base.

        Once users opt in, you can keep re-engaging them, creating a cycle of rising visibility, CTR, and traffic.

        Image created by RollerAds April, 2025

        How to Implement Hybrid Push Format to Get on Discover Faster

        In a recent case study, one RollerAds publisher increased their revenue from $0 to $60,000 per month by pairing great content with hybrid push notifications and Discover-optimized distribution. The key was creating content that signals quality and leveraging distribution to show it.

        With a tool like RollerAds, you can gain a streamlined way to:

        • Send personalized push notifications for your latest content.
        • Mix promotional and editorial messaging without spamming your readers.
        • Increase engagement, retention, and revenue simultaneously.

        Simply register your site, get a custom strategy from your account manager, and start boosting content visibility, without compromising user experience.

        Even better? You can monetize this traffic directly with ad formats designed for Discover audiences, no intrusive pop-ups or poor user experience. Just clear, engaging content with a side of revenue.

        For SEJ readers, use the code SEJ30 to add +30% to your funds before July 1st, 2025.

        Just show the code to your account manager on RollerAds before your first payment.

        Getting featured on Google Discover isn’t just about luck; it’s about strategy.

        From creating high-quality, relevant content to optimizing visuals, headlines, and mobile performance, every step counts. However, to truly stand out and amplify your chances, pairing content strategy with smart tools, such as hybrid push notifications from RollerAds, can make all the difference.

        Engaging your audience through push updates not only drives more clicks but also signals content quality to Google, boosting your Discover reach. With the right monetization tools, you can convert that traffic into substantial revenue.


        Image Credits

        Featured Image: Image by RollerAds. Used with permission.

        In-Post Image: Images by RollerAds. Used with permission.

        Free Content Plan Template To Adapt To Your Needs This 2025 via @sejournal, @donutcaramel13

        Consistency is crucial when posting content to ensure your customers remain engaged with your business and its products.

        To maintain consistency, it’s essential to develop a structured posting schedule aligned with your company’s marketing objectives for optimal results.

        Our content plan is designed to support this process.

        But, what exactly does a content plan need? And what differentiates an effective one from an ineffective one?

        This article provides an overview of productive content planning, outlining essential components, and offers a customizable free template for your content team.

        What Is A Content Plan?

        A content plan is a strategic roadmap that defines the what, when, and where of your content, as well as its purpose in achieving specific objectives.

        It spans various content types, from snappy Instagram Reels to 2,000-word blog posts, across platforms that support your marketing funnel.

        Ideally, the content should align with one of the funnel stages: Awareness, Consideration, or Conversion.

        Why Do I Need A Content Plan?

        A content plan helps ensure alignment and consistency within your team while smoothing out the posting schedule to keep your audience engaged.

        It also supports SEO and marketing efforts by maintaining focus on key priorities. These include targeting the best keywords, creating high-quality content that satisfies search intent, and enforcing consistent publishing schedules.

        By creating and implementing a content plan, you make it easier for your team to collaborate and execute effectively.

        A well-structured plan ensures efficient resource allocation, minimizing delays and costs while maintaining organization and preventing redundancies.

        Content Strategy Vs. Content Plan: What’s The Difference?

        Although they sound interchangeable, they are not.

        Content strategy refers to your overall vision and goals for content – a content marketing masterplan, if you will.

        A content plan is a tactical tool that helps to implement your strategy.

        You’ll need both to succeed in content marketing.

        Your content strategy outlines the overarching goals and purpose of your content within the broader marketing plan.

        The content plan, on the other hand, focuses on the specifics, like detailing what content will be created, when it will be published, and where it will be distributed to support the strategy and achieve your objectives.

        Leverage your content plan to achieve specific goals outlined in your content strategy, such as driving organic traffic, boosting on-page engagement, and increasing conversions.

        Your content strategy needs to be crafted first, with the content plan serving as a tool and blueprint to execute.

        What Information Is Included In This Content Plan?

        The structure of a content plan is largely determined by your specific goals and the needs of your team and organization.

        For content managers, it’s essential to track who is responsible for what tasks and identify opportunities for high-quality content within the given timeframe, whether monthly or annually.

        For the team, an effective content plan should provide all relevant information in a clear and easily accessible format, enabling them to efficiently create or oversee the production of content.

        In our experience, every content plan includes core elements, though they may be labeled differently. These are the columns in our content plan:

        • Status: Simply put, the current stage of your content. Whether it has not yet started, is in progress, is under revision, has been completed, etc., you can keep track and provide updates to stakeholders or team members during meetings.
        • Title + Creator/Owner: A clear title crafted with the primary topic/keyword and reflecting the content is essential on every plan so you can reference it easily. The creator/owner is the point person for producing that specific title.
        • Primary Topic/Keyword: This is the focus of your content based on keyword research. These help ensure your content is relevant, searched for, and aligned with SEO goals.
        • Marketing Funnel Goals/Customer Journey Stage: Understanding the stages of awareness, consideration, and conversion (others have a fourth stage: loyalty/retention, depending on your company’s goals) allows you to tailor content to your target audience’s needs and craft the most effective messaging to engage them.
        • Prioritization: With 1 being the highest and 5 being the lowest, you can prioritize which content requires more attention and budget allocation from your team.
        • Content Formats And Types: Is it a blog post, white paper, infographic, or video? This is where you specify what your content will look like and what it’ll contain. The choice should be influenced by your target audience’s position in the funnel.
        • Distribution Platforms: Take your pick from social media platforms, company sites, etc.
        • Promotion Strategies: Whether a combination of social media push and email marketing, paid ads, or entirely organic, having a plan maximizes the visibility of your piece of content.
        • Publishing Schedule: A target schedule for when it’s created until when it goes live. For the latter, it may or may not be the deadline for the writer to submit the content.
        • Notes: Context for anything that doesn’t necessarily fit the above, like suggestions from stakeholders, insights from analytics, or other instructions important to creating that content.

        For additional details on tone, structure, layout, word count, categories, and URLs, we recommend utilizing a content brief to maintain clarity and avoid clutter in your content plan.

        Different Types Of Content To Include

        We mentioned this above, but we cannot emphasize enough how every piece of content should tie in with the marketing funnel and align with your customer’s needs.

        Now as a quick refresher, let’s look at each stage and discuss the types of content that work best for each stage of the customer journey.

        Awareness

        This type of content is going after the top of the marketing funnel (TOFU). The goal is to introduce your brand to customers and quickly capture interest.

        Ideally, TOFU content should be easily consumable and easy to share. For some companies, that could be visually desirable home decor ideas or top trends on TikTok.

        Common types of awareness content are:

        • Social media content.
        • High-volume keywords for SEO.
        • Short-form videos and live streams.
        • Non-branded blog posts and articles.

        Learn More: How To Use SEO To Target Your Audience Throughout The Funnel

        Consideration

        At this point in the funnel (a.k.a. the middle of the funnel or MOFU), the customer is evaluating your brand and factoring in other solutions to their problem.

        You’re already on the customer’s mind, but they need more convincing to choose you over your competition.

        They need more information, and this is your chance to present your product as the solution to their pain point. Given this, your content should be more in-depth and provide evidence of solutions.

        Content that works well for the consideration stage includes, but isn’t limited to:

        • Blogs establishing your authority.
        • How-to guides.
        • Comparison content.
        • Webinars.

        Learn More: How To Write Content For Each Stage Of Your Sales Funnel

        Conversion

        This is the last stage at the bottom of the funnel (BOFU), where your customer knows your brand and has already compared all the options. They’re now ready to take action.

        Aside from purchasing the products or service, this could look like a free download, subscribing to newsletters, or calling someone on your sales team.

        The goal is now to encourage customers to take action and remove any blockers for a smooth process. Content types that can help in this stage include:

        • Sales, promos, and coupons.
        • Case studies and white papers.
        • Customer feedback and user-generated content.
        • Consultation offers, product demos, free trials, comparison content.

        Learn More: What Is The Content Marketing Funnel

        Creating Your Own Content Plan: Template + Tips

        Download the content plan template here and edit it for your brand’s content team.

        You can also customize it to best fit your team’s requirements. Here are some suggestions:

        Tips On Tailoring Your Content Plan

        1. Refine Your Content Goals And Make Them SMART

        Each piece of content must serve a clear purpose from the moment it’s listed there – it should align with user intent, title formulation, format, target audience, and other elements of your strategy.

        As you look at each column, continuously assess and make sure that each piece is aligned with its intended objective.

        When trying to achieve more defined goals under the marketing funnel, keep SMART goals in mind (specific, measureable, actionable, relevant, and time-bound).

        2. Know Where The Target Audience Is

        Understanding your audience’s position in the marketing funnel and selecting an appropriate format is crucial, but it’s equally important to choose the right social media platform to engage them effectively.

        Identify your target audience, explore all available platforms (both social and non-social), and decide the optimized placement for each piece of content.

        Note that certain content types perform better on specific platforms: Short-form videos thrive on TikTok, Instagram Reels, and Facebook, while webinars are more sought after on LinkedIn.

        3. Factor In Your Budget

        When creating and publishing content, you can use the plan to carefully manage your budget.

        For instance, if you’re managing a travel blog and preparing resource-intensive Christmas content for a major event, you would want to reduce your budget in other months to ensure you can invest in your event.

        The plan can help you visualize where you can scale down and better allocate your budget where it’s best spent.

        The great benefit of a content plan is that it gives you information about ongoing and upcoming projects at a glance.

        4. Establish Your Publishing Schedule

        Add or subtract as many rows as you need to when you tweak this content plan.

        Your frequency of posting will depend on many factors relevant to you, so once a week might work for one brand, and five times a day is right for another news publisher.

        As for social media, you could post multiple TikTok videos every day or publish static assets on Instagram as few as three times a week on social media, depending on the platform and several other factors.

        Gaining credibility and growing your audience requires regularly releasing fresh content at the best times to post.

        Have a rough estimate of how long it takes to craft various content types, as well as the resources needed for planning, production, and publication.

        Then, try to gain insights from your customers as to how frequent they’d love to see your brand, perhaps via survey and feedback sessions.

        Finally, decide the frequency based on your primary content goal.

        For example, if you’re trying to grow your audience, you should probably post more frequently. But if you’re trying to gain authority, taking the time to produce higher quality content would be even better.

        5. Tailor To Incorporate Into Your Workflow

        You need to know who’s responsible for each piece of content.

        For a smoother workflow, you need to determine what content a team member is responsible for at each step. Then, establish a process for submission, approval, publishing, and social media crossposting.

        Try to structure your free content plan around your team to integrate it without much friction.

        You could rearrange the columns, add a color-coded system for each member of the production team, and include COUNTIF formulas, add/subtract types, etc., if you have target numbers for each type of content.

        You may also merge the top cells and leave instructions for people to tag, input URLs, etc.

        Make it as granular or as broad as you need to for seamless integration.

        Content Planning Reminders

        So, you’ve downloaded the template, edited it to your team’s requirements, and are ready to fill out the months.

        But, before you start outlining every piece of content you’ll produce this year, here are some other reminders and recommendations:

        Keep SEO In Mind

        It’s crucial to ensure your customers can find you, and organic search is a critical part of this.

        Every piece of digital content you create should be built around your SEO strategy and be optimized to maximize visibility and reach.

        Consider your keywords and strive to make helpful content that matches search intent.

        Also, always be looking at your competitors through competitive analysis and content gap analysis to see if you are missing any opportunities.

        Consider Crossposting And Repurposing

        Get the most out of your investment in content and repurpose where you can.

        For example, if you have a lengthy how-to video tutorial, you can cut that into shorts, or summarise the highlights into a post.

        You can also create templates for multiple trendjacking opportunities, like the Super Bowl and Valentine’s Day.

        Keep A Tab On Ideas

        Content ideas tend to strike while you’re planning other ideas in your spreadsheet, so make a note that you can return to.

        Consider adding another tab to your content plan spreadsheet called “Ideas” or “Idea File,” where you can list ideas for future content.

        Keywords can give you extra material for generating ideas. Marketing holidays and major U.S. events are great sources for inspiration, too.

        Conclusion: Make Your Content Plan Work For You

        Creating a good content plan doesn’t automatically mean your brand will go viral and achieve immense success.

        But, organization and workflows are essential in managing content production and implementing content strategies. It is all about planning.

        Using the template provided, you might adapt it over time to suit your needs.

        So, download the content plan template and start planning for the year to create your best content yet.

        Happy planning!

        More Resources:


        Featured Image: David Gyung/Shutterstock

        The Role Of E-E-A-T In AI Narratives: Building Brand Authority For Search Success via @sejournal, @cshel

        For over a decade, E-A-T (expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness) has played a role in search rankings, first introduced in Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines in 2014.

        But with the rise of AI-generated content and AI-synthesized answers, E-E-A-T (now including experience) is no longer just a good idea. It has become the defining factor in determining which sources AI-driven search results consider authoritative enough to cite and include in their synthesized narratives and responses.

        AI Overviews and other AI-generated search features don’t just favor sites that “align with E-E-A-T principles” – they favor recognized experts.

        To be cited in AI-driven answers, a brand needs to demonstrate undeniable expertise and establish itself as the authority in its field.

        This means consistently producing original research, providing real-world insights, and gaining industry-wide (or broader) recognition.

        In this article, we’ll explore how E-E-A-T determines visibility in AI-driven search and AI-generated answers, what challenges brands face in maintaining credibility, and strategies for ensuring that AI models and search engines rely on your content as a trusted source.

        The Intersection Of E-E-A-T And AI-Generated Answers

        The rise of AI-generated search results presents both opportunities and challenges for brands.

        AI-powered features like Google’s AI Overviews, ChatGPT search integrations, and Perplexity AI are synthesizing answers instead of just returning traditional blue links.

        This means that appearing in AI-driven answers requires more than just good SEO – it requires E-E-A-T-backed authority.

        Key considerations for ensuring visibility in AI search features:

        • Experience: AI models favor content backed by first-hand knowledge. Brands that demonstrate real-world expertise through case studies, original research, and hands-on experience have a greater chance of being cited.
        • Expertise: AI-generated answers prefer sources with clear subject matter expertise. Author bylines, credentials, and expert contributions all signal trustworthiness to AI-driven search.
        • Authoritativeness: AI Overviews and LLM-generated answers prioritize brands that own their knowledge graph, are widely referenced, and are recognized leaders in their industry.
        • Trustworthiness: AI-generated content is acceptable to use (in that it is not inherently “bad” or penalized) but must be factually accurate and verifiable. Content backed by reliable sources, citations, and transparent authorship is more likely to surface in AI-generated search features.

        Read More: A Candid Assessment Of AI Search & SEO

        AI Overviews And E-E-A-T: What Google’s Latest Research Reveals

        Google’s recent post on AI Overviews and AI Mode highlights how AI-generated search experiences are evolving and underscores the importance of E-E-A-T in shaping AI-driven responses.

        Here are key takeaways that reinforce the role of E-E-A-T:

        Google Integrates E-E-A-T Into AI Overviews

        • AI Overviews leverage Google’s ranking systems and Knowledge Graph to determine which sources are most authoritative. (Hint: Ensure your Knowledge Graph exists and is accurate!)
        • E-E-A-T signals directly influence which websites AI Overviews pull from, reinforcing the need for brands to establish themselves as leading authorities.

        High-Quality Sources Are A Requirement

        • AI Overviews corroborate AI-generated summaries with top-ranked content, (theoretically) ensuring the information is reliable.
        • For Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) queries, the bar for trustworthiness is even higher, emphasizing the importance of expert-driven content. (This is why author biographies with CVs, other credentials, and proof of expertise are necessary.)

        AI Overviews Increase Engagement With High-Quality Content

        • Google reports that users who interact with AI Overviews visit a greater diversity of websites and that click-throughs from AI Overviews are of higher quality.
        • This presents an opportunity for brands with strong E-E-A-T signals to attract engaged visitors who trust the AI-curated results (but click through to verify).

        Manual And Algorithmic Safety Checks Reinforce E-E-A-T’s Importance

        • Google’s Search Quality Raters, adversarial testing, and fact-checking systems ensure AI Overviews prioritize reliable information.
        • Brands that lack E-E-A-T credentials (specifically Knowledge Graphs and other key indicators that your brand is considered authoritative) may struggle to appear in AI-generated search experiences.

        Future AI Search Innovations Will Reward E-E-A-T Signals

        • Google’s experimental AI Mode in Search expands AI-generated responses using multimodal data and real-time corroboration with authoritative sources.
        • Brands with verified expertise, structured citations, and widespread recognition will have an advantage in AI-driven search.

        This reinforces the need for brands to proactively establish E-E-A-T authority to maintain visibility in AI-driven search features.

        Read More: AI Search Optimization: Data Finds Brand Mentions Improve Visibility

        Challenges In Applying E-E-A-T To AI-Generated Search

        Despite its benefits, AI-driven search presents several challenges for brands trying to maintain visibility:

        1. AI Prioritizes Recognized Authorities: Simply optimizing for E-E-A-T is not enough. Brands must become the trusted source that AI search engines consistently reference.

        It’s easy to optimize for or align with E-E-A-T in principle, but much more difficult to achieve in reality because some of the requirements simply aren’t within your control.

        2. Potential For Misinformation: AI-generated search results can fabricate statistics, misquote sources, or create misleading narratives. Brands must actively monitor AI-generated mentions for accuracy.

        3. Duplicate And Unoriginal Content: AI often pulls from widely cited knowledge bases, meaning brands that don’t produce original insights and research risk being ignored.

        4. Algorithmic Bias And Filtering: AI search models prioritize widely referenced sources, which can disadvantage emerging brands. Overcoming this requires strategic partnerships, citations, and broad industry engagement.

        AI’s Tendency To Be “Confidently Wrong”

        A March 2025 study by the Columbia Journalism Review found that AI-powered search tools frequently provide incorrect answers with “alarming confidence.”

        The study tested eight major AI search engines and found that chatbots collectively provided inaccurate answers more than 60% of the time, nearly always without acknowledging uncertainty.

        Most interesting finding: Premium AI models were even more prone to confidently incorrect responses than their free counterparts, contradicting the assumption that paid AI services are more reliable.

        ChatGPT, in particular, only indicated uncertainty in its wrong answers 7.5% of the time. Which means that 92.5% of the times it was wrong, it was confident it was correct.

        If ChatGPT’s success rate at indicating uncertainty were a batting average, it would be .075.

        John Vukovich, known for recording the lowest ever MLB batting average (for non-pitchers with more than 500 at bats), had a career BA of .161 – which is still 100% better than ChatGPT’s ability to acknowledge it might not be right.

        The findings in this report only underscore the need for careful, attentive human oversight when producing content and active reputation management to ensure accuracy in AI-generated search environments.

        Read More: The Impact Of AI And Other Innovations On Data Storytelling

        Strategies For Strengthening E-E-A-T In AI-Driven Search

        To ensure visibility in AI-generated search results, brands must prioritize establishing true authority, not just optimizing content.

        1. Own And Optimize Your Knowledge Graph

        • Ensure Google’s Knowledge Graph accurately represents your brand.
        • Claim your entity in Google Search and establish schema markup for credibility.

        2. Demonstrate Real-World Expertise

        • Publish original research, case studies, and expert insights.
        • Engage in media interviews, guest contributions, and speaking engagements.

        3. Become The Primary Source Of Industry Insights

        4. Monitor And Influence AI Search Results

        • Actively track how AI-generated answers represent your brand.
        • Engage with AI search models via feedback loops and corrections.

        5. Leverage Thought Leadership Beyond Your Website

        • Be featured on authoritative platforms, podcasts, and news outlets.
        • Participate in peer-reviewed research and industry collaborations.

        Read More: What 7 SEO Experts Think About AI Overviews And Where Search Is Going

          Becoming The Source AI Can’t Ignore

          E-E-A-T is the key to visibility in AI-driven search – but it’s not just about optimization.

          Brands must become the expert sources AI models trust, reference, and cite.

          Those who invest in credibility, expertise, and real-world authority will survive in AI-powered search landscapes, and those who don’t will fade into irrelevance.

          More Resources:


          Featured Image: insta_photos/Shutterstock

          The Future Of Content Distribution: Leveraging Multi-Channel Strategies For Maximum Reach via @sejournal, @rio_seo

          Content is everywhere. Consumers are inundated with it throughout the day – catching up on social media happenings, scanning the news, consuming articles, or listening to podcasts.

          Given the staggering breadth of content available across the digital landscape, content marketers’ jobs have become increasingly difficult.

          Breaking through the noise is a hefty feat, one that requires substantial amplification to ensure your messages are being seen.

          Since consumers quickly shift their attention and are targeted by high-quality content across various platforms, marketers must focus their efforts on distribution strategies.

          Simply outlining, drafting, editing, and publishing content is no longer enough.

          The opportunity for brands to emerge from the clutter as the top content consumption choice is there, given this disconnect.

          Now is the time for content marketing leaders to seize the chance to expand their content’s presence across all the channels your customers frequent.

          With only a few businesses taking advantage of expanding their reach, amplifying your brand’s presence through effective content dissemination will help you more effectively target and captivate your audience.

          Meet your customers where they’re looking.

          By the time you finish reading this article you’ll have a clear-cut framework for how to create a multi-channel content distribution strategy that actually works.

          We’ll explore how consumer behavior has shifted over the past several years, the benefits of distributing content across diverse channels, and the next steps to take to elevate your current distribution strategy.

          Let’s start by first examining why changes in consumer behavior dynamics necessitate a revised content strategy.

          The Shift In Consumer Behavior Driving Multi-Channel Strategies

          To say consumer behavior shifts frequently is more than evident for marketers.

          As a marketer, you’re well attuned to how often consumer behavior changes and need to adapt to it.

          Falling behind consumer behavior trends leads to lost revenue, lower retention, and being overlooked.

          Technology is largely to blame for shifts in consumer behavior.

          Every year, an abundance of new technology is born, most of which is designed to enhance our lives. In turn, so too has the proliferation of digital touchpoints.

          People are no longer turning to only a business’ website for information. They’re scouting the brand’s social media channels, emails, podcasts, and more to gain the information they’re craving.

          Consumers expect to be met with a consistent experience across every channel.

          Consider you’ve invested ample time and resources in creating a steady stream of written content in the form of blogs, ebooks, and studies. You’ve worked hard to ensure your written content is helpful, clear, and matches user intent.

          What if your podcast offered a completely divergent experience? Your audio quality is choppy, your podcast host doesn’t have experience in public speaking, and your podcast topics are disjointed.

          This would lead to a negative customer experience and could cause consumers to disengage with your content. It’s imperative every piece of content you write and distribute maintains the same quality across channels.

          Increased Use Of Multiple Platforms

          Consumers aren’t just visiting your blog. They’re heading to your YouTube for in-depth product tutorials, digesting your monthly newsletter for company updates, and downloading an ebook for long-form content consumption – all in a single browsing session.

          The stakes are higher than ever for brands to maintain an active presence across numerous platforms to stay top of mind.

          For example, a gym might share weight loss success inspiration on its Instagram stories and offer personalized personal training via email communication.

          People-First Personalization

          Personalization is the current rage right now, and for good reason. Personalization isn’t a nice to have – it’s a must.

          Consider that a whopping 71% of consumers expect companies to deliver personalized interactions, and 76% get frustrated when it doesn’t happen.

          Technology like artificial intelligence can assist businesses in hyper-personalization, ensuring messages are sent to the right audience at the right time.

          For example, AI and retargeting can showcase content that’s relevant to end users based on previous browsing behavior.

          Consider a consumer who’s interested in snowboarding and has been shopping around for new ski pants.

          If the consumer has signed up for a company newsletter to become aware of promotions or savings, the business could send a 15% off new customer promotion or a promotion for the specific ski pant they’ve been eyeing.

          Mobile Continues To Dominate

          Gone are the days of optimizing solely for desktops. Mobile has made a significant splash over the past decade and shows no signs of slowing down.

          In January 2025, for example, mobile devices accounted for the largest share of ecommerce site visits at 76% compared to 23% from desktop.

          For most consumers, mobile is their device of choice for consuming content, which is why businesses must maintain a mobile-friendly experience.

          This includes ensuring your website is optimized for mobile users, vertical video content is created, and emails render correctly for mobile devices.

          Benefits Of A Multi-Channel Content Distribution Strategy

          Knowing consumers are navigating multiple channels, seeking personalization, and consuming content largely on mobile devices, it’s clear a one-size-fits-all solution will suffice any longer when it comes to content distribution.

          A comprehensive, cross-channel strategy is the quickest way to succeed and ensure your brand is as visible as possible. Other benefits of a multi-channel content distribution strategy include:

          Foster Trust

          When customer experiences are consistently pleasant across every channel a customer can find you, they’re more likely to have faith in your business.

          Building trust is one of the foundational steps to building long-lasting customer relationships.

          Improve Visibility

          Being found wherever customers look requires ample effort and SEO.

          The first step toward increasing your reach is to ensure you have an accurate presence across multiple platforms, especially the platforms your target audience uses most frequently.

          It’s crucial to understand your audience. What motivates them? What frustrates them? How can you solve their needs? And where do they spend their time online?

          Diversify Content Formats

          Written content remains a preferred consumption method, but customers are also interested in other formats.

          Video content has been on a steady upward trajectory and is often surfaced as the top search result for certain queries.

          Additionally, podcasting has been on the rise as well. Diversifying your content formats ensures you’re meeting the needs of all consumers, including those that prefer audio and visual content.

          Mitigate Risk

          The saying, “Don’t put your eggs in one basket,” holds true for content distribution.

          If you’re relying on a single platform to drive revenue and traffic, you risk losing potential sales.

          For example, an apparel company that targets a Gen Z demographic may risk missing potential customers if they don’t have an established TikTok presence.

          Conversely, a business that sells medical supplies may also miss the mark on reaching its target demographic if it maintains a social media presence on TikTok but doesn’t post content on YouTube or Facebook.

          More Opportunity

          Multi-channel marketing strategies are gaining traction. In 2024, 30% of brands consider their multi-channel approach very successful – up from just 17% in 2023. Meanwhile, 65% rate their strategy as somewhat successful, showing steady progress in reaching customers across multiple touchpoints.

          There are more opportunities than ever to guide a consumer down the sales funnel.

          Additionally, with the rise of social commerce, it’s now easier than ever for consumers to purchase without even having to visit a company’s website.

          A simple one-click is all it takes to make a purchase. Businesses should tap into all the emerging revenue opportunities to ensure they never miss out on a sale and to further streamline their sales process.

          A Framework For Multi-Channel Distribution Strategy

          Developing an effective multi-channel strategy requires careful planning and thoughtful execution. It’s not just about being present on every platform – it’s about doing it well and with the resources you have.

          For example, if a marketing team is tight on resources, initiating resource-intensive efforts like podcasting may not make sense.

          On a similar note, if your target demographic likely doesn’t spend time on Facebook, it wouldn’t be worth your effort to allocate resources there.

          To get the most of your multi-channel content strategy and focus your efforts on what will work for your business, the following step-by-step guide can help you get your content distribution efforts off the ground and on the path towards tangible results.

          Know Your Audience

          Marketers must have an in-depth understanding of their target audience.

          When you know your audience, you understand how they behave, what types of content they prefer, the devices they use most frequently, and more.

          Use tools such as Google Analytics, Google Business Profile, social media insights, and customer feedback to gain a deeper understanding of your target audience.

          For example, a software company might find that its audience browses LinkedIn more often than any other social media platform.

          Focus on the platforms that align with your audience’s preferences and invest resources there.

          Repurpose Your Content

          Creating content can be a cumbersome task, let alone creating content for different platforms and in different formats.

          Get the most out of your current content by repurposing your existing content into formats for different channels.

          For example, you may want to break out a long-form ebook into multiple blog posts or create a series of LinkedIn posts to encourage consumers to watch your recent webinar.

          Ensure your message is consistent across every platform and adheres to your brand’s voice and tone.

          Integrate Technology

          Technology has undoubtedly revolutionized the marketing industry. It has offered significant time savings with the use of AI-powered tools and automation in general.

          AI can help you create comprehensive content outlines for writers, spark ideas for ebook topics, maximize your on-page SEO, suggest optimal dates and times for publishing, and so much more.

          If you’re not already capitalizing on the AI wave, now is the time to start.

          Analytics have also come a long way, offering more insights than ever before into consumer behavior.

          Technology, like Marketo and HubSpot, enables businesses to seamlessly manage email campaigns, social media posts, and analytics in one centralized platform.

          Google Business Profile insights for multiple locations become more transparent and simplified with local experience platforms.

          Investing in technology simplifies mundane, data-heavy tasks and allows marketers to focus on what matters most – motivating consumers to act.

          Allocate Resources Effectively

          Many businesses experience resource limitations.

          As earnest as your efforts are, it can be daunting to accomplish everything you wish you could with limited resources. That’s why it’s essential to determine which channels to prioritize and which deserve your attention.

          Invest your resources wisely to ensure that employees don’t feel overwhelmed and burdened with their job responsibilities.

          Burnout leads to churn and, inevitably, the loss of good employees. When it comes to content distribution, it’s better to be a master of some than all.

          A/B Testing

          It’s unlikely that your content distribution strategy will be perfect from the start. As with any marketing effort, it takes time and experimentation to get it right.

          Use A/B testing to identify what works best. Test different messaging, posting schedules, content types, and visuals to gauge what captures the most attention.

          Refine your strategy based on tangible evidence of what’s working and what isn’t.

          Practice Ethical Marketing

          Consumer privacy is a growing concern for many. Consumers are wary of giving their information to businesses they don’t trust.

          Be transparent about how customer data is stored and how it will be used. Adhering to ethical business practices will establish you as a trusted resource with socially responsible values and give you a competitive edge over less ethical competitors.

          Next Steps For Content Distribution

          The future of content distribution is straightforward: Track consumer behavior, create effective content in different content types, and distribute your content where it makes sense.

          It’s likely that even a year from now, a new social media channel or content type will pop up, disrupting your existing content distribution strategy and redirecting your attention elsewhere.

          As marketers, staying agile and being ready to meet audiences where they are is what wins the game.

          Being a late adopter won’t suffice; customers are digitally savvy and have become accustomed to following the masses when a new content consumption opportunity pops up.

          They’re also shifting away from consuming written content and moving towards visual, video, and audio content.

          Now is the time to audit your current approach, experiment with new channels, and embrace emerging technologies.

          Dig into your analytics to gain a true understanding of your client base and what causes them to convert.

          The future is multi-channel – are you ready for it?

          More Resources:


          Featured Image: Gorodenkoff/Shutterstock

          10 Top Converting Landing Pages That Boost Your ROI [With Examples] via @sejournal, @unbounce

          This post was sponsored by Unbounce. The opinions expressed in this article are the sponsor’s own.

          Want to increase sign-ups, sales, or demo requests from your landing page?

          How can you ensure your landing page is optimized for conversions?

          Landing pages can make or break your conversions.

          A well-designed landing page doesn’t just look good; it also seamlessly guides visitors toward action, such as signing up, purchasing, or booking a demo.

          A high-performing landing page should align with your goals:

          • Capturing leads.
          • Driving sales.
          • Promoting an event.

          The best landing page templates are designed with conversion in mind, featuring strategic layouts, persuasive copy, and clear calls to action.

          So, let’s look at a few top-performing landing page examples to learn about why they work and how you should implement them.

          1 & 2. FreshGoods & Radiant Yoga Studio: Great For A Clear & Compelling Unique Selling Point

          The secret to beating the competition is positioning your brand so you’re the only one in your specific space.

          How? By honing in on your Unique Value Proposition (UVP):

          • What is the one reason to choose you, your products, or services?
          • Where does your competition fall short?
          • How do you make your UVP stand out?

          FreshGoods Landing Page

          Landing pageImage by Unbounce, 2025

          Radiant Yoga Landing Page

          yoga landing pageImage by Unbounce, 2025

          Why They Work

          These conversion-optimized landing page templates effectively highlight a USP throughout the design.

          • A clear and bold headline that immediately communicates the core benefit.
          • The supporting subheadline allows brands to reinforce the core USP message by expanding on the offer in a way that adds clarity without overwhelming visitors.
          • The strategic use of whitespace and strong typography ensures that the USP remains the focal point, making it easy for visitors to grasp the value of the offer at a glance.

          How To Recreate These Landing Pages

          Step 1: Define Your Unique Selling Proposition

          A strong USP makes visitors feel like they’ve found exactly what they need. Instead of blending in with competitors, it positions your brand as the only choice.

          • Ask yourself: What is the one reason customers should choose you over others?
          • Example: FreshGoods & Radiant Yoga Studio’s landing pages showcase a crystal-clear UVP in their messaging and design.

          Step 2: Craft a Compelling Headline & Supporting Headline

          Your headline is your first impression, so you have to make it count. The supporting headline expands on that core message.

          • Best Practices:
            • Be specific: Instead of “The Best Marketing Tool,” try “Turn Clicks into Customers with AI-Powered Marketing in Minutes.”
            • Reinforce value: “No coding, no guesswork. Just smarter campaigns that drive real revenue.”

          Step 3: Address Concerns with Reinforcing & Closing Statements

          • A reinforcing statement builds trust (“Trusted by over 10,000 businesses…”).
          • A closing statement eliminates hesitation (“Every second you wait is a sale you’re losing. Start your free trial now.”)

          3 & 4. Vita Health & Orbit SaaS: Great For Hero Images & Visual Storytelling

          Before visitors read a single word, visuals will capture their attention and convey meaning.

          A strong hero image isn’t just decoration,  it sets the tone, builds trust, and instantly reinforces your message. The right imagery makes your offer feel more tangible, relatable, and desirable.

          Vita Health Landing Page

          health wearables landing page exampleImage by Unbounce, 2025

          Orbit Flow Landing Page

          SaaS landing page example and inspirationImage by Unbounce, 2025

          Why They Work

          A landing page’s imagery is a strategic tool that helps communicate your offer, build trust, and nudge visitors toward conversion. Choose visuals that don’t just look good but work hard to sell.

          A well-chosen visual:

          • Supports the UVP.
          • Evokes an emotion that drives action
          • Showcases the product, service, or outcome in action
          • Makes the page feel polished, professional, and credible

          In addition to the visual, the full landing page benefits from:

          • Strong hero image placement
          • An opportunity to reinforce the messaging conveyed with the hero image throughout the page
          • White space highlights supporting visuals
          • Visual hierarchy guides site visitors down the page to the parts that matter.

          How To Recreate These Landing Pages

          Step 1: Choose the Right Hero Image

          Before visitors read a word, visuals capture attention. A great hero image should:

          • Support the USP
          • Evoke emotion & drive action
          • Showcase the product, service, or outcome

          Step 2: Guide the Visitor’s Eye

          Strategic use of visuals can nudge visitors toward your CTA:

          • Eye gaze: People follow where others are looking in an image.
          • Angles & positioning: Lines or arrows subtly direct attention to the CTA.
          • Contrast & color: Key elements should stand out.

          Step 3: Reinforce Messaging with Supporting Imagery

          Don’t rely on just one image. Use:

          • Icons & illustrations
          • Graphs & charts
          • Customer photos & testimonials
          • Short videos or GIFs

          Bonus Tip:

          Use A/B testing to find the ingredients for maximum impact.

          The right image can make or break conversions, so test different options. Some images resonate better with your audience, drive more engagement, or feel more aligned with your brand.

          Some elements to test include:

          • People vs. product-focused visuals.
          • Static images vs. motion (GIFs or videos).
          • Close-ups vs. wider perspective shots.
          • Different background colors or lighting.

          5 & 6. Serene Vista & Digital Foundry: Great For Clearly Conveying Benefits

          Visitors specifically care about what it does for them.

          That’s why benefits should take center stage on a conversion-optimized landing page, not just a list of features.

          Serene Vista

          Travel website landing page inspirationImage by Unbounce, 2025

          The Digital Foundry Landing Page

          Marketing agency landing page inspirationImage by Unbounce, 2025

          Why They Work

          • The benefits are concise and audience-focused
          • Each feature section is well-spaced to garner attention
          • Benefits are integrated well into the page structure with the subheadings and images to help visitors scan

          How To Recreate These Landing Pages

          Step 1: Translate Features into Benefits

          • Feature: “AI-powered keyword research tool”
          • Benefit: “Find high-converting keywords in seconds—no guesswork needed.”

          Step 2: Address Pressing Concerns

          • What pain points does your audience face?
          • How does your product solve them better than competitors?

          Step 3: Qualify Your Audience

          • Use benefit-driven copy that attracts the right people:
          • Example: “Perfect for fast-growing teams who need to scale without the chaos.”

          7 & 8. Revive Aesthetics & Smile Dental: Great For Social Proof That Builds Trust

          Not all social proof is created equal.

          The best reinforces your UVP, addresses concerns, and speaks directly to your audience.

          See what we mean here.

          Revive Landing Page

          Health and spa landing page inspirationImage by Unbounce, 2025

          Smile Kids Landing Page

          Dentist landing page inspirationImage by Unbounce, 2025

          Why These Landing Page Templates Work

          • The headshots paired with the social proof enhance trustworthiness and make a connection with site visitors because they can see themselves in the experiences being described.
          • The rounded shape and contrasting colors make the social proof stand out.
          • Located near the point of conversion.

          How To Create This Landing Page

          Step 1: Choose the Right Type of Social Proof

          • Customer testimonials & reviews
          • Case studies & success stories
          • Logos of recognizable brands
          • Ratings & review scores
          • Media mentions & awards

          Step 2: Strategically Place Social Proof

          • Near the CTA: Reinforces trust before action.
          • Midway down the page: Nudges hesitant visitors.
          • In the hero section: Puts endorsements front and center.

          9 & 10. Livewell Lifestyle & Inner Handyman: Great For Turning Interest Into Conversions With Calls To Action

          A landing page without a strong CTA is like a roadmap without a destination.

          Your CTA is the single most important element that tells visitors what to do next.

          And if it’s unclear, compelling, and easy to find, you’ll lose conversions.

          A compelling CTA is a combination of copy, design, and placement that removes hesitation and drives action.

          Livewell Landing Page

          Healthy living landing page exampleImage by Unbounce, 2025

          Inner Handyman Landing Page

          Local business landing page and website inspirationImage by Unbounce, 2025

          Why They Work

          • CTAs can be customized to stand out and get attention
          • CTA sizing and positioning make them clear focal points despite having multiple elements on the page. It ensures you get the most conversion power in every pixel
          • The CTA buttons are placed where it matters throughout the page, making sure the page attempts the conversion when and where it matters most

          How To Recreate These Landing Pages

          Step 1: Craft a Clear, Compelling CTA

          A high-converting CTA should be:

          • Action-oriented: “Start Growing Today” vs. “Submit”
          • Benefit-driven: “Unlock Exclusive Access” vs. “Sign Up”
          • Urgent (if appropriate): “Claim Your Spot Today”

          Step 2: CTA Placement for Maximum Impact

          • Above the fold: First CTA visible immediately.
          • After key information: CTA follows value explanation.
          • Near social proof or benefits: Reinforces trust.
          • At the end of the page: Captures hesitant visitors.

          Step 3: CTA Design That Stands Out

          • Color contrast: The CTA should pop from the background.
          • Size & positioning: Large enough to be noticeable but not overwhelming.
          • Whitespace & directional cues: Ensures the CTA is the focal point.

          Bonus Tip:

          A/B test your CTAs for better conversions.

          CTAs aren’t one-size-fits-all. Even small tweaks can make a huge impact on conversions, so A/B testing different variations is essential:

          • Wording – Try “Get Started” vs. “Try It Free”
          • Color – A bold button color vs. a softer, branded one
          • Placement – Above the fold vs. midway down the page
          • Size and shape – Larger buttons vs. compact ones
          • Personalization – “Start My Free Trial” vs. “Start Your Free Trial”

          Build High-Converting Landing Pages Faster

          A great landing page isn’t just about design.

          It’s about strategy.

          Every element, from your USP and hero images to your social proof and CTAs, is critical in guiding visitors toward conversion. When these elements work together, your landing page drives action.

          But building a high-converting landing page from scratch can be time-consuming and complex. That’s why using proven, conversion-optimized templates can give you a head start.

          With Unbounce, you get access to 100+ professionally designed landing page templates built for maximum conversions. Whether capturing leads, promoting a product, or running a campaign, these templates help you launch faster, test smarter, and convert better—without needing a developer.

          Ready to build an optimized landing page that converts?

          Explore Unbounce’s best-performing templates and start optimizing today!


          Image Credits

          Featured Image: Image by Shutterstock. Used with permission.

          How To Write Content For Each Stage Of Your Sales Funnel via @sejournal, @krisjonescom

          Creating content for your audience involves much more than sprinkling the right keywords throughout your website.

          To truly resonate with potential customers and drive conversions, you need to understand your audience’s journey and tailor your content to align with each stage of your sales funnel.

          By developing an editorial calendar that not only meets business objectives but also addresses your audience’s specific needs and questions at every stage, you can enhance conversions and boost your lifetime customer value (LCV).

          In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore and highlight the types of content that are most effective at each stage of the sales funnel.

          We’ll provide practical examples and back up our recommendations with data to help you craft a content strategy that not only attracts but also retains customers.

          Understanding The Buyer’s Journey

          Before we dive into the specifics, it’s essential to understand the buyer’s journey – a framework that outlines the stages a customer goes through before making a purchase.

          The typical stages are:

          1. Awareness: The customer realizes they have a problem or need.
          2. Consideration: They research and consider possible solutions.
          3. Decision: They decide on a solution and make a purchase.
          4. Retention: Post-purchase, the focus shifts to maintaining and enhancing the customer relationship.

          Each stage requires a different content approach to effectively move the customer closer to a purchase and encourage repeat business.

          Sparking Interest (Top Of Funnel)

          The Awareness Stage

          At the top of the funnel, your goal is to attract potential customers by addressing their needs and pain points.

          This is often the first interaction they have with your brand, so making a strong, positive impression is crucial.

          What Users Are Looking For

          • Informative Content: Users are seeking answers to their questions.
          • Authoritative Resources: Content that establishes your brand as a trusted expert.
          • Engaging Formats: Content that is easy to consume and share.

          Effective Content Types

          • Blog Posts and Articles: Provide valuable insights on industry topics. For example, a company like HubSpot offers extensive resources on marketing strategies.
          • Ebooks and Whitepapers: In-depth guides that users can download. According to the Content Marketing Institute, 43% of marketers said ebooks produced the best results for their content marketing.
          • Videos and Webinars: Engaging visual content can increase information retention by 65%, as per Brain Rules.
          • Infographics: Visually appealing and shareable content. According to Venngage, 43% of marketers found infographics to be the best performing type of visual content.

          Promotion Channels

          • Social Media: Utilize platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram to share content. Paid promotions can amplify reach; for instance, Facebook Ads can reach over 3 billion users.
          • SEO and Organic Search: Optimize content for search engines to appear in relevant searches. According to BrightEdge, organic search drives 53% of website traffic.
          • Guest Posting and PR: Publish content on reputable external sites to tap into new audiences.

          Keyword Optimization

          Focus on keywords that reflect informational intent:

          • “How to improve email open rates.”
          • “What is content marketing?”
          • “Guide to SEO best practices.”

          Example

          A company offering project management software could create a blog post titled “10 Tips for Streamlining Your Team’s Workflow,” targeting managers looking for efficiency solutions.

          Nurturing Leads (Middle Of Funnel)

          The Consideration Stage

          In the middle of the funnel, users are evaluating their options. They are aware of their problem and are now looking for the best solution.

          What Users Are Looking For

          • Detailed Information: Specifics about how your product or service solves their problem.
          • Credibility: Proof that your solution works.
          • Comparisons: How you stack up against competitors.

          Effective Content Types

          • Case Studies: Showcase real-life success stories. For example, Salesforce shares detailed case studies highlighting customer successes.
          • Testimonials: User reviews can significantly impact decisions; 72% of customers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.
          • Webinars and Live Demos: Interactive sessions where potential customers can see your product in action and ask questions.
          • Product Guides and Datasheets: Detailed documents that provide in-depth information about features and benefits.

          Building Trust

          • Social Proof: Display the number of users, positive reviews, or endorsements from influencers.
          • Certifications and Awards: Highlight any industry recognition your company or product has received.

          Example

          A cybersecurity firm might offer a webinar titled “Protecting Your Business from Ransomware: A Live Demo,” providing valuable insights while demonstrating their software’s capabilities.

          Getting The Sale (Bottom Of Funnel)

          The Decision Stage

          At this stage, the customer is ready to make a purchase decision. Your content should facilitate an easy and compelling transition from consideration to action.

          What Users Are Looking For

          • Clear Value Proposition: Why should they choose you over competitors?
          • Incentives: Promotions, discounts, or free trials that sweeten the deal.
          • Ease of Purchase: A seamless buying process.

          Effective Content Types

          • Product Pages: Optimized with compelling copy, high-quality images, and clear CTAs.
          • Customer Testimonials: Reiterate positive experiences from satisfied customers.
          • Limited-Time Offers: Create a sense of urgency. The principle of scarcity can increase sales by up to 332%.

          Calls To Action (CTAs)

          Use strong, action-oriented language that encourages immediate action:

          • “Start Your Free Trial Now.”
          • “Get 50% Off Today Only.”
          • “Schedule Your Free Consultation.”

          Example

          An online course provider might offer a limited-time discount: “Enroll in our Digital Marketing Mastery Course today and save 30%! Offer ends at midnight.”

          Creating & Measuring Content KPIs

          Importance Of Metrics

          Measuring the performance of your content is essential to understand what’s working and where improvements are needed.

          According to the Content Marketing Institute, 53% of marketers attribute their content marketing success to measuring and demonstrating content performance effectively.

          Top-Level Funnel KPIs

          • Brand Reach: Track impressions and overall visibility.
          • Website Traffic: Monitor the number of visitors and page views.
          • Bounce Rate: A high bounce rate may indicate irrelevant content.
          • Engagement Metrics: Shares, likes, and comments on social media.

          Mid-Level Funnel KPIs

          • Time on Page: Indicates how engaging your content is.
          • Lead Generation: Number of sign-ups for newsletters, webinars, etc.
          • Click-Through Rate (CTR): From emails or CTAs within content.

          Bottom-Level Funnel KPIs

          • Conversion Rate: Percentage of visitors who complete a desired action.
          • Average Order Value: Helps assess the profitability of conversions.
          • Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): Total cost divided by the number of new customers.

          Tools For Measurement

          • Google Analytics: For website traffic and behavior analysis.
          • CRM Systems: Like Salesforce for tracking leads and sales.
          • Marketing Automation Platforms: Such as HubSpot for comprehensive analytics.

          Regular Audits and Adjustments

          Conduct quarterly content audits to:

          • Identify content gaps.
          • Refresh outdated information.
          • Optimize high-performing content further.
          • Adjust strategies based on changing trends and data insights.

          Focus On Retention & Loyalty

          The Retention Stage

          A 2022 study by SimplicityDX reported a 222% increase in customer acquisition costs. Therefore, nurturing existing customers is crucial for sustained business growth.

          Strategies For Retention

          • Personalized Follow-Ups: Send emails thanking them for their purchase and suggesting related products.
          • Exclusive Content: Offer access to premium content, such as advanced tutorials or insider tips.
          • Loyalty Programs: Reward repeat purchases with discounts or points redeemable for products.
          • Feedback Mechanisms: Use surveys to gather customer insights and show that you value their opinions.

          Remarketing Campaigns

          Utilize targeted ads to re-engage customers who have interacted with your brand but haven’t made a recent purchase.

          According to SharpSpring Ads, website visitors who are retargeted are 70% more likely to convert.

          Example

          An ecommerce retailer might implement a loyalty program where customers earn points for every purchase, which can be redeemed for discounts on future orders.

          Drive Conversions With Strategic Content

          By aligning your content strategy with each stage of the sales funnel, you create a cohesive journey that guides potential customers from initial awareness to brand loyalty.

          Regularly measuring performance and being willing to adjust your approach based on data ensures that your content remains effective and relevant.

          Remember, the goal isn’t just to make a sale – it’s about creating connections with your customers.

          By providing value at every stage and continually optimizing your strategy, you’ll improve your ROI and foster a loyal customer base that plays a big role in your business’s long-term success.

          More resources:


          Featured Image: fizkes/Shutterstock

          Content Decay And Refresh Strategies To Maintain Site Relevancy via @sejournal, @ronlieback

          Before I launched my agency, I worked for several others and noticed a troubling trend.

          Many focused solely on creating new on-site content for their clients, often neglecting older posts and pages. This was especially common with blogs at a time when the trend was to prioritize quantity over quality.

          The situation always reminded me of the “pump-and-dump” strategies in the stock market – short-term mindsets that result sometimes in wins and sometimes in massive losses.

          I knew this approach was flawed and ended in what I call “content decay.” When I launched my agency in 2017, I focused on refreshing older content as much as creating new content.

          The results immediately impressed – and continued to impress.

          For example, earlier this year, one of our commercial pest control clients had an underperforming blog post that was created by a previous agency. The content was decent but lacked many on-page SEO elements, especially header tags and internal links (two were actually dead!).

          We updated internal links and all other on-page SEO elements and rewrote around 30% of the content. That single blog post jumped to the top position for target keywords in the target location within six weeks.

          After amplifying it on social media, which naturally attracted other shares, quality links, and a Google Business Profile, we were able to attribute nearly $100,000 in new revenue to that one piece of content.

          This experience convinced me that content decay is a serious problem for many businesses and needs to be addressed ASAP. This issue also inspired me to restructure our service offerings, making content refresh a core service for our clients.

          What Is Content Decay?

          Content decay happens when a webpage experiences a gradual decline in traffic over time. This can be due to several factors.

          Search engine algorithms are constantly updating, and what worked a year ago may not work today.

          New competitors are constantly popping up, creating newer content that may be more aligned with current audience preferences. Additionally, your content may simply become stale.

          This problem has worsened with the rise of AI-generated content. Many brands use AI to churn out as much content as possible without a content strategy to keep it fresh and relevant.

          With the right content decay strategies, you can combat content decay and ensure your content remains relevant long after you hit “publish.”

          Recognizing The Signs Of Content Decay

          First, you need to be able to identify content decay before you can fix it.

          Pay attention to your engagement metrics and watch for these signs of decaying content:

          • Decrease in organic traffic to that page/post.
          • Lower overall search engine rankings.
          • Outdated information.
          • High bounce rate.
          • Low average time on page.
          • Fewer social shares.
          • Negative user feedback.

          Content Decay Strategies That Will Revitalize Your Content

          So how do you combat content decay and improve user experience?

          Here are a few content decay strategies to revitalize your content and keep it performing well.

          Conduct Regular Content Audits

          Periodic content audits help you identify underperforming pages or those needing an update.

          Tools like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Semrush, and Ahrefs track page performance and pinpoint content that would benefit from refreshing.

          This will improve your content marketing strategy and boost your online presence. When conducting a content audit, I recommend focusing on key metrics like:

          • Organic traffic.
          • Bounce rate.
          • Conversion rate.
          • Time on page.

          Update And Refresh Your Existing Content

          Remember, you don’t just have to create new content. Sometimes, refreshing older content is a better use of your time and resources. And when combined with new content on a consistent basis, you’ve maximized your potential results.

          If you have content that is performing well but could use some tuning, simply update it slightly and republish it with a new date. Content updating doesn’t have to be a daunting task.

          Focus on making a few key changes that will make a big difference.

          Content updating can be as simple as adding a few sentences or as complex as rewriting entire sections or refreshing internal links that point to better-performing pages (and making sure those better-performing pages also point back!).

          No matter the approach, be sure to let Google and other search engines know that you’ve updated your content.

          This will help them crawl and index your content more quickly. Here are a few specific content update ideas that reinforce why you or your agency must stay educated on all the latest – I argue weekly because of how fast industries change nowadays.

          • Update outdated statistics.
          • Add new information based on the latest research and developments in your field.
          • Cut the fluff and use shorter sentences and paragraphs to improve the content’s readability and open up “psychological space” that readers can digest more easily.
          • Add more visuals to your content, like images, videos, and infographics. Regarding videos, we constantly try to get company leaders to produce a short video discussing the focus of a blog or service page. The goal is to upload that to YouTube and link back to the article, then embed the video in the actual article itself. This helps in numerous ways, keeping people engaged and helping them become brand loyalists quickly.
          • Ensure your content is optimized for current SEO best practices. This includes using relevant keywords throughout your content and ensuring your website is mobile-friendly.
          • Check for and fix broken links. Broken links can frustrate users and hurt your search engine rankings.
          • Make sure your content is still relevant to your target audience. Your target audience may change over time, and your content needs to reflect that.

          Repurpose Outdated Content

          Instead of letting older pieces of content gather dust in your archives, give them new life by repurposing them into other formats. This is a great content strategy for getting more mileage from your existing content.

          For example, you could turn a blog post into a video, infographic, or even a podcast episode.

          When you repurpose content, you make the most of your existing content while also reaching a wider audience. Repurposing content is an effective way to breathe new life into your content and reach a wider audience.

          Content Format Repurposing Ideas
          Blog post Create an infographic, video, or social media post based on the information. Turn it into a downloadable checklist, template, or worksheet.
          Infographic Break it down into smaller, individual visuals for social media. Expand on each point in a series of blog posts or email newsletters.
          Video Transcribe the video into a blog post or create short, shareable clips for social media. Extract the audio and create a podcast episode.
          Podcast Episode Transcribe the episode and turn it into a blog post or create short, shareable audiograms for social media. Pull out key quotes and create social media graphics.

          Sunset Content That’s Past Its Prime

          It’s a good rule of thumb to keep high-performing content for as long as possible. However, not all content is worth saving. Content sunsetting is the practice of removing outdated or irrelevant content from your website.

          Not all content needs to be updated. If you have a piece of content that’s factually incorrect or no longer relevant to your target audience, it’s usually best to remove it entirely.

          However, you can also choose to redirect that URL to a more relevant page on your site rather than deleting it completely.

          Make Use Of User Feedback

          User feedback can be incredibly valuable when it comes to identifying content decay.

          You can gain valuable insights by using tools like Google Analytics and your Search Console, but don’t stop there. Use comments and social media to your advantage, too.

          See what people are saying (or not saying) about your content. What resonates with them? What falls flat? This feedback is like gold when figuring out what content to update and refresh.

          Consider sending out surveys to your audience, asking what topics they’d like to see covered or what content they find most helpful.

          Create A Content Review Schedule

          The best way to stay on top of your content refresh efforts is to create a content review schedule and stick to it. Life gets busy, and a schedule will ensure that your content remains relevant and engaging and doesn’t get lost in the shuffle.

          For example, you could review all of your website content every quarter and flag any that needs updating. This ensures that you never let a piece of content go stale.

          My agency monitors individual pages/posts weekly. Depending on the size of the website, from those producing 25 new pieces of content monthly to three pieces monthly, we overhaul older pieces on different timelines.

          For example, for our large website campaign clients with 200+ pages/posts, we overhaul them monthly, say 5 or so. For a smaller website, the pages/posts will be overhauled quarterly.

          Regularly Review Your Content, And Make It A Priority

          Content decay is a real problem for websites of all sizes.

          By implementing these content decay strategies, you can breathe new life into your old content. You’ll make it more relevant to your audience.

          Not only that, but you will also improve your search engine rankings and boost traffic to your site. Regularly review your content, and make it a priority to keep things fresh, updated, and engaging.

          More resources:


          Featured Image: Vitalii Vodolazskyi/Shutterstock

          Why Content Is Important For SEO via @sejournal, @lorenbaker

          Content is SEO. More specifically, it’s one side of the SEO relationship. One core function of search engines is to connect users with the information they’re looking for. That information might be a product listing, a review, a news story, an image, or a video.

          The other core function of search engines is to retain users.

          Search engines retain users by ensuring their confidence and trust in the displayed results. Over time, they build expectations that using their platform is a safe, streamlined experience that quickly leads users to what they want.

          SEO success depends on being found by your target audience for what they are looking for and consistently providing a satisfying user experience based on the context of the queries they type into search engines.

          Search Is Built On Content

          The core function of search engines is to help users find information. Search engines first discover webpages, they parse and render and they then add them to an index. When a user inputs a query, search engines retrieve relevant webpages in the index and then “rank” them.

          Search engines need to know what pages are about and what they contain in order to serve them to the right users. In concept, they do this quite simply: They examine the content. The real process behind this is complicated, executed by automated algorithms and evaluated with human feedback.

          Google constantly adjusts and updates it algorithms with the goal of ensuring the most relevant content is served to searchers.

          This relationship between searchers, search engines, and websites, has come to define the internet experience for most users. Unless you know the exact URL of the website you intend to visit, you need must find it via a third party. That could be social media, a search engine, or even discovering the website offline and then typing it in. This is called a “referral,” and Google sends 64% of all website referrals in the U.S. Microsoft and Bing send the next largest amount of referrals, followed by YouTube.

          Getting discovered by people who don’t already know you depends on search engines, and search engines depend on content.

          The SEO Value Of Content

          Google has said it prioritizes user satisfaction.

          It’s confirmed that user behavior signals impact ranking.

          At this point, whether this relationship is causal or correlative doesn’t matter. You must prioritize user experience and satisfaction because it’s a key indicator of SEO success.

          Written language is still the primary way users interact with search engines and how algorithms understand websites. Google algorithms can interpret audio and videos, but written text is core to SEO functionality.

          Enticing clicks and engaging users through content that satisfies their queries is the baseline of SEO. If your pages can’t do that, you won’t have success.

          High-quality content and user experiences aren’t just important for SEO; they’re prerequisites.

          This is true for all advertising and branding. Entire industries and careers are built on the skills to refine the right messaging and put it in front of the right people.

          Evidence For The SEO Value Of Content

          Google highlights the importance of content in its “SEO fundamentals” documentation. It advises that Google’s algorithms look for “helpful, reliable information that’s primarily created to benefit people,” and provides details about how to self-assess high-quality content.

          • Content, and how well it matches a user’s needs, is one of the core positive and negative factors in Google’s ranking systems. It updates systems to reduce content it deems to be unhelpful and prioritize content it deems to be helpful.
          • In fact, Google’s analysis of the content may determine whether a page enters the index at all to become eligible to rank. If you work hard to provide a good experience and serve the needs of your users, search engines have more reason to surface your content and may do so more often.
          • A 2024 study in partnership between WLDM, ClickStream, and SurferSEO suggests that the quality of your coverage on a topic is highly correlated with rankings.

          Content And User Behavior

          Recent developments in the SEO industry, such as the Google leak, continue to highlight the value of both content and user experience.

          Google values user satisfaction to determine the effectiveness and quality of webpages and does seem to use behavioral analysis in ranking websites. It also focuses on the user intent of queries and whether a specific intent is served by a particular resource.

          The satisfaction of your users is, if not directly responsible for SEO performance, highly correlated with it.

          Many factors affect user experience and satisfaction. Website loading speed and other performance metrics are part of it. Intrusive elements of the page on the experience are another.

          Content, however, is one of the primary determiners of a “good” or “bad” experience.

          • Does the user find what they’re looking for? How long does it take?
          • Is the content accurate and complete?
          • Is the content trustworthy and authoritative?

          The answers to these questions reflect whether the user has a good or bad experience with your content, and this determines their behavior. Bad experiences tend to result in the user leaving without engaging with your website, while good experiences tend to result in the user spending more time on the page or taking action.

          This makes content critical not only to your SEO efforts on search engines but also to your website’s performance metrics. Serving the right content to the right users in the right way impacts whether they become leads, convert, or come back later.

          Leaning into quality and experience is a win all around. Good experiences lead to desirable behaviors. These behaviors are strong indications of the quality of your website and content. They lead to positive outcomes for your business and are correlated with successful SEO.

          What Kinds Of Content Do You Need?

          Successful content looks different for each goal you have and the different specific queries you’re targeting.

          Text is still the basis of online content when it comes to search. Videos are massively popular. YouTube is the second-most popular search engine in the world. However, in terms of referrals, it only sends 3.5% of referral traffic to the web in the U.S. In addition, videos have titles, and these days, most have automated transcripts. These text elements are critical for discovery.

          That isn’t to say videos and images aren’t popular. Video, especially “shorts” style videos, is an increasingly popular medium. Cisco reported that video made up 82% of all internet traffic in 2022. So you absolutely shoulder consider images and video as part of your content strategy to best serve your audiences and customers.

          Both can enhance text-based webpages and stand on their own on social platforms.

          But for SEO, it’s critical to remember that Google search sends the most referral traffic to other websites. Text content is still the core of a good SEO strategy. Multi-modal AI algorithms are getting very good at translating information between various forms of media, but text content remains critical for several reasons:

          • Plain text has high accessibility. Screen readers can access it, and it can be resized easily.
          • Text is the easiest way for both people and algorithms to analyze semantic connections between ideas and entities.
          • Text doesn’t depend on device performance like videos and images might.
          • Text hyperlinks are very powerful SEO tools because they convey direct meaning along with the link.
          • It’s easier to skim through text than video.

          Text content is still dominant for SEO. But you should not ignore other content. Images, for example, make for strong link building assets because they’re attractive and easily sharable. Accompanying text with images and video accommodates a variety of user preferences and can help capture attention when plain text might not.

          Like everything else, it’s down to what best serves users in any given situation.

          SEO Content: Serving Users Since Search Was A Thing

          Search engines match content to the needs of users.

          Content is one-third of this relationship: user – search engine – information.

          You need content to perform SEO, and any digital marketing activity successfully.

          The difficulty comes from serving that perfect content for the perfect situation.

          So read “How To Create High-Quality Content” next.

          Read More:


          Featured Image: Roman Samborskyi/Shutterstock

          11 Ways To Do SEO Content Research Beyond Competitor Analysis via @sejournal, @himani_kankaria

          Early SEO milestones might be easy, but scaling the results needs an upgraded approach.

          What could that look like?

          Like startups that come up with a solid niche idea and compete significantly with larger companies, we SEO pros and content strategists need to work harder to develop unique, fresh, niche strategies.

          However, whenever we think of creating strategies, we start looking at what competitors are doing. We start feeling that we can win this game by outperforming our competitors.

          Remember: we win when our focus is on winning the game and not on how to make our competitors lose.

          So, here comes an upgraded approach to our SEO strategy – going beyond competitor analysis.

          However, since our SEO strategies heavily rely on content, we’ll discuss content research beyond competitor analysis in this blog.

          Now, What Is Content Research Beyond Competitor Analysis?

          Most of us analyze our competitors to develop content ideas. It’s easy and quick.

          But…

          What if your competitors are ranking in the top positions but are not serving users’ intent?

          What if your competitors might not be yielding enough traffic despite better rankings?

          What if your competitors are driving massive organic traffic but not enough conversions?

          Also, there may be some competitors that are doing extremely well regarding content KPIs serving SEO growth.

          You may feel that if the competitors can achieve such results in one year, you can achieve them in six months by copying their strategies.

          But that’s where you limit yourself in growth. Your competitors’ SEO and content teams might also be struggling; who knows?

          This is why your content research must go beyond competitor analysis.

          In this approach, we don’t look at what content competitors have written.

          We don’t want to copy them or repeat their mistakes. We want to work in ways that truly resonate with our target audiences, geographies, business models, and industries.

          So, the “content research beyond competitor analysis” approach helps us bring unique and fresh perspectives to our content research, creating incredible value for our audience and clients and scaling our SEO results extensively.

          11 Ways Of Content Research Beyond Competitor Analysis To Scale SEO ROI

          We have 11 ways to use this approach. Let’s uncover them one by one with step-by-step processes and examples.

          1. Use Semrush

          This is our basic step of content research since most of our initial goal is driving organic traffic.

          And because Semrush is handy for most of our team members at Missive Digital, we log in immediately to start our content research instead of looking at competitors.

          We put seed, actual, long-tail, and more keywords to do our content research, depending on the search volume, keyword difficulty, and search intent.

          For example, we have put “diamond jewelry” into Semrush and will add the filters according to our SEO strategy.

          Screenshot from SemrushScreenshot from Semrush, August 2024

          Another content research feature of Semrush that we use extensively is Topic Research. We choose the content topics based on which ones relate directly or indirectly to our website.

          Screenshot from SemrushScreenshot from Semrush, August 2024

          2. Use Ahrefs

          To do the content research on Ahrefs, we follow the same steps as Semrush, but here, we also use Content Explorer.

          We filter based on the Page Traffic and reference domains to identify queries that can bring us traffic and conversions.

          Screenshot from Ahrefs 2024Screenshot from Ahrefs, August 2024

          Then, we also examine the frequency of republishing, which gives our team an idea of when to schedule it next for content optimization, considering the performance.

          Screenshot from Ahrefs, August 2024Screenshot from Ahrefs, August 2024

          3. Use Google News

          While auditing the content, if we realize that the client is already writing a lot of content, we try researching content ideas through Google News.

          Also, for some D2C industries like jewelry, the trend also comes from celebrities wearing them – so we keep a close eye on Google News.

          Screenshot from search for [diamond necklace], Google, August 2024

          Sometimes, we prefer covering the news depending on the topics, while other times, we’ll check if these topics have any search volume and can be evergreen to continue driving us some value throughout.

          For example, the screenshot below shows a ‘B’ necklace worn by Selena Gomez in reference to her boyfriend.

          Screenshot from search for [diamond necklace]Screenshot from search for [diamond necklace], Google, August 2024

          We immediately check if there’s any search volume for “b necklace” on an SEO tool and see the screenshot below:

          Screenshot by author, August 2024Screenshot by author, August 2024

          Bingo! Now, we have to discuss with the client’s team for our next content piece.

          4. Use People Also Ask, AlsoAsked

          Since most B2B IT and SaaS clients are highly technical, we sometimes struggle to understand the topic and create a content strategy.

          People Also Ask on Google Search and AlsoAsked.com by Mark Williams-Cook works like a savior during our content research.

          Screenshot from search for [kubernetes architecture]Screenshot from search for [kubernetes architecture], Google, August 2024

          The only limitation we have with People Also Ask is that it provides a few Q&As for a topic until you click on one, while AlsoAsked provides an entire list in one go, which saves you time.

          Screenshot from search for [kubernetes architecture]Screenshot from search for [kubernetes architecture], Google, August 2024

          We now have too much to learn about a topic and create content on, right?

          5. Check Google Trends

          No matter what industry you are in, you’ve got something or the other trending.

          In our SEO industry, SearchGPT is trending.

          Google TrendsScreenshot from Google Trends, August 2024

          So it’s worth writing about it to take the early advantage and grab the traffic share.

          See, a lot of people are writing about it:

          Screenshot from search for [searchgpt]Screenshot from search for [searchgpt], Google, August 2024

          It’s not just about writing; people are sharing it on social media, too.

          So, it’s worth constantly watching what’s trending via Google Trends.

          6. Hop On ChatGPT Or Gemini

          Remember, we are here to do content research on ChatGPT or Gemini, not to choose the titles they suggest.

          Here is a sample content research prompt that we have put for a contact center software company on ChatGPT:

          Screenshot from ChatGPTScreenshot from ChatGPT, August 2024

          And here are the responses below:

          Screenshot from ChatGPT, results for blog postsScreenshot from ChatGPT, August 2024

          Since the topics are not up to the mark considering the audience (“BPO” in this case), based on the above content ideas, we’ll pick up the seed keywords or topics such as:

          • Lessons from a Legacy Contact Center Software Company.
          • The Contact Center Software Market In The BPO Segment.
          • Optimizing Your Contact Center Operations.
          • How to Drive Innovation in Your Customer Support Department?
          • And more.

          7. Monitor Social Media

          Yes, we are all active on social media, so we can use it for our content research. Still, we are not considering competitors on social media at the moment.

          This viral X thread inspired us to write a blog:

          X tweetScreenshot from X, August 2024

          Similarly, this article on content research was inspired by my recent post on LinkedIn:

          LinkedIn Screenshot from LinkedIn, August 2024

          These are examples of self-created social media content that can be turned into blogs.

          However, you can keep monitoring the types of content that get the most visibility and engagement on social media – be it LinkedIn, Instagram, X, or any other platform.

          Turn them into your blogs or webinars, but don’t forget to mention them since it’s their original content idea.

          8. Dive Into Industry-specific Research Studies

          The most unique way to research content ideas is to read your industry-specific research studies extensively. And there’s no one way to do it.

          For example, for one of the ecommerce consulting companies, we can get various content ideas from HBR’s eCommerce pricing test:

          • Why Should Ecommerce Brands Stop Offering Free Shipping?
          • X Benefits of No Free Shipping or Conditional Shipping.
          • Free Shipping vs. Conditional Shipping.
          Don't just give away free shipping: infographic from HBRImage from HBR, August 2024

          In the below study by Broadridge on Digital Transformation, the below can become the topic clusters, and each can have its own spoke-like content topics.

          Image from study by Broadridge on Digital TransformationImage from study by Broadridge on Digital Transformation, August 2024

          For example, if we take Unleashing Artificial Intelligence, we can pick up so many topics out of just one graphic:

          Priority areas for AI investments Image from study by Broadridge on Digital Transformation, August 2024

          9. Check Industry-Specific Forums/Communities

          Most of our clientele includes IT companies, and we have used IT forums and communities like StackOverflow for content research.

          For example, we can come up with the below topic clusters when covering Flutter for the non-technical and technical target audiences:

          • Flutter animation widgets.
          • Flutter dependency management.
          • Why add Firebase to your Flutter app?
          • And more.
          Stack OverflowScreenshot from Stack Overflow, August 2024

          Similarly, there will be many such forums or communities of your client or employers available to peek into for such content ideas, except for competitive analysis.

          10. Google site:reddit.com “my topic”

          One such unique idea by Kunjal Chawhan is to Google site:reddit.com “my topic,” and let’s see what content ideas look like for a couple of topics:

          Looking at the above screenshot, below are the topics that we can definitely create:

          • X Most Popular Social Media Platforms for Ecommerce.
          • How to Use Video Podcasts to Drive Ecommerce Sales?
          • How to Boost Ecommerce Sales When Digital Marketing Seems Expensive?
          • And more.

          So yes, Kunjal’s way of content research is amazing, and from that, you can similarly Google:

          site:“your industry’s leading site” “topic”

          For example:

          • site:searchenginejournal.com “ai content”
          • site:quora.com “ai content”
          • site:practicalecommerce.com “sales”

          Let’s move on to the last but not the least method of content research, except for looking at competitors.

          11. See What Competing Sites Have NOT Covered

          Now you might wonder, “Weren’t the above content research ways except for competitors analysis?”

          Yes, they are the ways to research content ideas except for what competitors have written.

          But here, I’m trying to make a point where you have to see exactly what indirect competing sites are NOT writing about despite targeting the same industry, keyword clusters, and audience.

          What is an indirect competing site?

          An indirect competing site is a website that ranks for the industry and search queries of your target audience but is not exactly your product/service competitor. This can be a marketplace, publishing site, or product review site.

          Let’s take a website, “leadsquared.com,” for indirect competitive analysis and pick the queries that rank after 50th positions and have a keyword difficulty of less than 29.

           Screenshot by author, August 2024

          Pick those queries and search on Google: site:leadsquared.com “sales funnel vs sales pipeline”.

          site:leadsquared.com Screenshot from search for [site:leadsquared.com “sales funnel vs”, August 2024

          Now, you’ll see that the website has no content on that topic; you can create that if that falls under your product/service offering and can target your audience and industry.

          In short, you can cover the below topics:

          • Sales funnel vs. sales pipeline.
          • Sales funnel vs. marketing funnel.
          • Sales funnel vs. flywheel.
          • And more.

          Just ensure these content topics align with your offerings to bring maximum ROI.

          How Will Content Research Beyond Competitor Analysis Contribute To SEO Efforts?

          When you go beyond competitor analysis for content research, you discover a few benefits:

          • You innovate – With innovative content ideas, you can experiment and build better strategies that can bring unbelievable results. Also, with AI taking the space predominantly, businesses are looking for innovation in their business and marketing. So when you innovate, you may get better attention and even resources.
          • You get niche opportunities – Instead of just focusing on what competitors are doing, you go deeper into understanding your target audience and explore new content ideas that your competitors might have missed. In such scenarios, you get better results since competition is reduced.
          • You create unique, audience-specific content – My LinkedIn post saw great engagement because it resonated with its audience. This opened us to something unique and specific to the pain point of SEOs and content strategists: content ideation to scale SEO results with a not-so-usual approach. Such content helps us build authority in the market, which is essential today to becoming market leaders.
          • You capitalize on emerging trends – Being an early adopter of something has huge potential for success. When you create your content strategy focused on what’s new or trending in your industry before it becomes mainstream, you get the most eyes right from the beginning and even repeat eyes going forward.
          • You build better engagement and loyalty – You can extend beyond blogs, a traditional way of driving SEO results. Videos, whitepapers, case studies, user-generated content, and many more content formats can take the lead in building user engagement and brand loyalty through SEO.
          • You earn backlinks – Yes, such unique content may require less effort to build backlinks since it can earn them.

          Stop looking at competitors for content research; try using these fresh and unique ways to drive better content ROI.

          Just remember two things: Competitors are not always right, and you are not necessarily required to look upon them when developing your SEO content strategies.

          You can copy and paste your competitors’ strategies to achieve certain SEO milestones, but creating history requires an upgraded approach. What say?

          More resources: 


          Featured Image: Natalya Kosarevich/Shutterstock