It’s common for marketers to target individual keywords when creating and optimizing content. Still, topic clusters are an even more powerful way to do keyword research.
With topic clustering, you can get results from the individual terms you target plus build a robust collection of relevant, associated keywords to drive more traffic to your website.
On January 25, I moderated a webinar with Dave Snyder, CEO and Founder at CopyPress, and Sabrina Hipps, VP of Partner Development. They demonstrated how to build a better keyword universe for your marketing efforts.
Here’s a summary of the webinar. To access the entire presentation, complete the form.
The Problem With Search-Focused Content
Search-focused content production is still primarily focused on “traditional keyword research,” or “linear keyword research,” which includes:
Bad data.
Limited scope.
A focus on a single keyword rather than intent.
Waste and redundancies in your content strategy.
Inaccurate ROI modeling and forecasting.
A significant amount of labor to scale correctly.
Increased possibility of poor data accuracy from third-party tools.
As you can see, traditional or linear keyword research typically focuses on singular keywords. It doesn’t focus on things holistically, and it doesn’t focus on user intent.
How Topic Clustering Solves Search-Focused Issues
Taking a clustered approach towards related words could lead to something worth the expense of adding to your content.
Topic clustering:
Minimizes waste and gives clear ideas for grouping keywords into content pieces.
Gives a better forecast modeling that considers all the potential traffic each piece of content can generate.
Decreases the cost of keyword research significantly from a labor perspective.
Dilutes the possible effects of poor third-party volume accuracy.
There are advanced machine learning programs out there that can speed up your workflow, as well as manual methods you can try.
Low-Tech, Manual Approach To Topic Clustering
This approach will be somewhat labor intensive, but if you’re doing 10 or 20 blog posts a month, it’s an effortless way to cluster your concepts and get better forecasting.
Avoid the scaling issues of SEO and topic clustering by using machine learning.
The model we use in our on-demand webinar uses a learning model similar to what Netflix uses to help people find new movies and shows comparable to what they’ve previously watched.
Keyword data is collected based on the user’s seed terms and competitors. Then, the top SERP results for every keyword are gathered.
Top SERP results are run through models to determine how similar Google believes these data sets/terms are.
A secondary machine learning process is then used to bucket-related terms based on a scale that the user controls.
The high-tech approach to topic clustering saves time and frees up internal resources, especially in the long term.
[Slides] How To Supercharge Your Keyword Research With Powerful Topic Clustering
Here’s the presentation:
Join Us For Our Next Webinar!
Enterprise SEO: 7 Use Cases To Level-Up Website Optimization With Website Intelligence
Ali Habibzadeh, CTO at Lumar, and Ashley Berman Hale, VP of Professional Services at Lumar, will discuss innovative ways to help your website succeed in search, while giving your visitors a top-notch user experience.
Everyone is competing for popular keywords, and artificial intelligence is changing content creation.
It can be a bit daunting, especially if you’re new to content writing.
So, how can you cut through the noise and write more effective content in 2023?
We’ve asked 17 industry professionals to share the wisdom they’ve learned over the years, their advice to those trying to find their way into content marketing, and their favorite tools for writing and optimization.
Julia McCoy, VP of Marketing at Content at Scale, would have told her younger self to realize the opportunity.
“It was hard to see it back then since I was at ground zero,” recalls McCoy.
“But the industry of content marketing itself had ballooned by billions of dollars since when I started. This would have given me more hope and excitement that what I did truly mattered to building not just income, but a legacy.”
Without further ado, here are their top tips:
1. Focus On Your Audience
Jamie Press, Digital Marketing Specialist At Eurisko
The best tip I can give a copywriter is to think “audience first.” This advice is straight from Brian Clark, founder of Copyblogger.
Sometimes, we go straight for the keyword tools when we’re brainstorming a piece of content; however, if we don’t know who we’re writing for, our copy won’t resonate with the reader.
Dialing into our target audience and their pain points (specific problems our audience needs solving) is the first step.
Carlijn Postma, Brand Strategist, Speaker, and Author of “Binge Marketing”
One: Start bingeing.
Really? Yes. The first educational go-to database is your streaming service.
The best writers and content creators are the creators of films and series. They know how to attract and retain an audience by creating a compelling story.
And bring your notebook.
Two: Know the difference between a target group and an audience.
In content marketing, your goal is to communicate through text, video, or audio. Therefore, you need readers, viewers, and listeners. That is an audience.
There is a huge difference between a target group and an audience.
A target group is pointed out by you as the sender of the content (whether this target group likes it or not).
An audience decides for itself if it wants to be your audience. I prefer to reach and engage an audience over a target group.
Focusing on an audience will make you a better writer.
Image credit: Carlijn Postma, January 2023
Three: Always create content in series.
Now, if your goal is to attract and retain a loyal audience, you have to start creating content in series.
With only one episode, one piece of content, you just won’t be able to build an audience.
And if you are creating a series, learn from the masters: use cliffhangers at the end, and recaps at the start of an episode.
Ask yourself: “What does my audience need to know about what I wrote in previous episodes to understand this one?” This signals your audience to consume the other episodes, too.
Linda Pophal, Founder At Strategic Communications, LLC
Focus on your audience and their needs and interests – that’s all that really matters.
If you write for your audience and work to address the questions they might have, you will automatically create SEO-friendly content, because that’s what SEO is all about.
Even when my clients have specific SEO requirements, I first write the copy as I had always written it, long before SEO existed – to meet my audiences’ needs.
Then I’ll go back and “retrofit” the keywords that clients have requested; often, they’re already there and may just need to be tweaked or added to a bit.
Always write with the user in mind, even when optimizing for search engines.
You can optimize an article by using keyword tools, like KeywordTool.io or AlsoAsked, to find what queries people are searching to help you mold your article – but don’t let the quest for optimization undo the quality of your writing.
If you’re writing content to sell something, then embrace copywriting formulas to create compelling statements.
If you’re writing articles of interest, then write in a way that the end user can relate to and explain the subject as fully as possible.
Most of all, write for your audience.
If your end users are teenagers, write in a style that will appeal to them without sacrificing the image you want to present.
If the website’s main customers are business owners, then opt for a more professional, formal tone.
Making sure your content is search engine optimized doesn’t necessarily mean you have to write thousands of words.
The key is that it needs to be as long as required for you to explain your point clearly and comprehensively. This means that content can be just as effective by writing concisely.
3. Build Out Your Content With Search Intent In Mind
I would definitely urge my former self to write for humans, not robots!
I’ve learned that it’s important to take the time to craft meaningful sentences that are interesting and engaging to readers.
This means writing with more details and facts to provide context, as well as aiming for greater semantic richness.
For example, instead of simply stating a fact or opinion, try elaborating on why it’s true, or how others may feel about it, to draw readers in.
By taking this approach, I found that readers were more likely to connect with my content and leave feeling enriched by the experience.
Joe Karasin, CMO At CircleIt And Head Of Growth Marketing At DigitalWill.com
One: Don’t let the new focus on AI-driven content deter you.
AI content may get technical points and be produced more quickly, but creating compelling content is something that is still a human endeavor.
At the end of the day, the search intent of most users will favor the content that holds interest, which as of right now, AI hasn’t shown it can do.
Two: Balance is key.
You might be able to craft a beautiful story with your content, but if it isn’t written with SEO in mind, it won’t rank.
However, if you write a bunch of SEO-friendly content that is boring, no one will want to read it, and it won’t rank.
Being focused on the balance is the way you will gain readers and traction in your career.
Three: Write about what people want to read.
If you are writing content for a company, you want to look at the real-life applications of the company’s products and services.
By putting the customer or reader in the central piece of your narrative, you will get others to read it and identify with the “hero” of your story.
For example, if you have created a new technology, don’t just write a post about the features. Talk about the users and how the features you want to write about are improving their lives.
If you are just starting in the writing industry, I first recommend following Ann Handley and getting a copy of her “Everybody Writes” book.
Ann is an amazing writer that gives you writing tips that you can use whether you’re tasked with writing blog posts, website content, email newsletters, social media posts, ads – or anything in between. Plus, she has a great sense of humor – so she’ll make you laugh as you learn to be a better writer!
Now, when I began my writing career, I was very lucky to have a solid SEO foundation under my belt.
But looking back, I focused too much on writing for individual keywords when I should’ve spent more time writing about the topics people were searching for.
As a writer, create content about the topics people are searching for and then do more extensive keyword research about the questions people ask about the topic (and subtopics) you’re writing about.
Make sure you answer those questions thoroughly in your content. That’s the way to make your readers – and Google – happy!
4. Consider Using AI Writing Tools, But Use Them Wisely
We live in a completely new era versus the one I started in.
Today, the baseline of human content production can be assisted, if not nearly replaced, by AI tools built on top of OpenAI’s game-changing GPT language releases to write and create content.
With GPT4 on the horizon and about to launch, human content production will shift forever into an AI-assisted one.
That said, if you’re considering a writing career, don’t think there’s no need for the human. There’s a huge need for your writing skills.
It will just look different than when I started – when it was solely human-based.
My tips for you: Learn how to incorporate AI writing tools into your process. Learn how to edit, cut the fluff, and make the content that AI produces better. Learn strategy.
These skills will put you in a place where you cannot be replaced by AI.
Now is not the time to completely move over to AI writing tools.
Although Google hasn’t come out and said that AI content is bad, we know that it prefers content that’s written by people for people.
With that said, it wouldn’t hurt to learn how to optimize AI content so that it’s a skill you can call on as and when needed.
We will likely see this as something that’s specifically needed from marketers in no time.
You could have a trial run of ChatGPT at home, focusing on the creation of content that’s helpful and user-first using the tool’s text as a starting point.
Other than that, the number one lesson for any new writer would have to be not to put themselves under too much pressure.
It takes time to learn how to craft the types of content that will engage and persuade.
It’s advisable to keep writing as a side hustle until you’re confident of meeting and exceeding client expectations.
Shubham Bajaj, Founder And SEO Scientist At Netsurge Technologies
With the onset of various AI writing tools and ChatGPT, it’s important for content writers who are just getting started to be able to write in a way that differentiates them from machines.
Adding your personality and character to your write-up and telling engaging stories that can keep the reader hooked are important aspects.
It is also important to note that, while it’s good to be quirky and conversational, make sure you have an NLP-friendly section that defines or provides an exact answer for the query in a format that Google or other search engines can directly use to display as a snippet.
If I could give my past self a piece of advice, it’d be to brush up on grammar and style rules.
For style, there’s nothing better than reading works by your favorite authors. How do they describe everyday things and situations? How do they craft sentences? What about their storytelling that hooks you in?
Like so many other things, we get better at writing the more that we do it (and reading).
It allows us to learn new things, experiment with new processes, and expand our skills for everything from creativity to accuracy and even speed and efficiency.
For those just getting started in their writing careers, reading widely can help you develop a strong writing style.
By reading various authors and genres, you can learn about different writing techniques and styles and find inspiration for your own writing.
Practicing regularly is also important, as it allows you to improve your skills and become more proficient in your craft.
Networking with other writers can also be beneficial, as it can help you learn about the industry, find potential collaborators or mentors, and stay informed about new opportunities.
And it’s also important to be open to constructive criticism because it helps improve your writing.
If I could go back to the beginning of my writing career, I would tell myself that I need to spend more time reading and practicing different types of writing.
Even if you only write one specific style of writing, practicing different styles and formats of writing will strengthen your primary style by association.
It is a great mental exercise to sharpen and use the other “tools” in your writing toolbox.
For example, if you only write B2B long-form keyword-rich blog content, practicing creative writing every so often might be useful.
By doing so, you can combat writer’s block, gain additional perspectives, and have more engaging and dynamic content.
Never forget that writing is (seemingly) one of the most basic ways for humans to communicate.
Of course, like most everything in life, there are good and bad examples of it.
Be mindful of the foundational guidelines we’ve been told most of our lives but also do not lose out on creativity to do so.
I often think back to something one of my favorite journalism professors taught me (and of which he claimed one of his favorite professors taught him as a budding journalist): “Write like jazz.”
It should have rhythm, but also irregularities and improvisation that allow it to stand out. It should be enjoyable and digested with ease.
7. Learn To Overcome Setbacks And Imposter Syndrome
Kaitie Frank, Digital Marketing Copywriter At Page One Power
Imposter syndrome is real. Kick it out the door and have confidence in your writing!
Read examples of great work, then put your spin on it.
Also, triple edit:
Edit on-screen.
Print it out and edit.
Have another set of eyes look at it.
Don’t let people bully you into submission. I spent too much time at a job where I was told I wasn’t good enough, and that made me lose confidence in my writing.
Instead, find a place where mentors help you grow and develop your skills, not knock you down because you don’t write exactly like them.
My advice to those who are just getting started in their writing careers would be:
Read and study as much as you can. Look at the work of famous copywriters and see what you can learn from them.
Write every day to develop your skills and build a writing routine. The more you write, the better you’ll get at it.
Get feedback. Show your work to other people and see what they think.
Learn SEO. Understanding SEO will help you to write copy that ranks well in search engines.
Network with other writers and industry professionals.
Know your audience. Understand who you’re writing for and what they need.
Be adaptable. Copywriting constantly evolves, so be prepared to learn new things and adapt to new trends.
Practice makes perfect. Keep practicing and experimenting until you find your voice and style.
Learn about the industry you’re writing for. This way, you’ll be able to understand their language and speak to their pain points and goals.
Be passionate. Copywriting is a creative field, so bring your passion for working, and it will shine through in your writing.
The advice I would now give myself at the start of my career would be to connect with other copywriters and content creators. Ask them to be my mentor for a week or two.
Also, I would tell myself to develop thicker skin and persistence, as rejection and criticism are a normal part of the writing process, which I learned, sometimes the hard way, along the way.
You’ll want to start collecting samples of your work as soon as possible; these will be invaluable when applying for jobs or searching for opportunities.
Make sure each piece is polished and showcases your best writing ability.
Experts’ Favorite Tools For Content Writing And Optimization
Grammarly And Hemmingway
Alex Valencia’s top writing tool is Grammarly, and he says that “every professional should use it (#notanad).”
“It’s taught me a lot about my writing style and how to improve it. For keyword research, I use Semrush,” Valencia shares.
Shubham Bajaj suggests Grammarly and Hemingway “for avoiding grammatical errors and ensuring that your content is structured properly, especially when starting and you have a low to zero budget to spend on tools.”
“Once you have some budget to spend, consider subscribing to advanced tools like ProWritingAid,” Bajaj recommends.
Surfer SEO
“When it comes to writing tools, there are oodles of SEO tools out there that have content tools built in. (Some are definitely better than others.) One of my favorite tools for optimizing content is Surfer SEO,” says Sherry Bonelli.
“Surfer SEO takes the keyword you’re trying to optimize your content for and analyzes your content against the top-ranking webpages.
Then it shows All words and Natural Language Process (NLP) words so you can see if you’re overusing some words – or not using words that you perhaps should use. (Like maybe you didn’t even think about including a word or topic in what you were writing!)
Surfer SEO can really take your writing optimization to the next level. I’d highly recommend you play around with it.”
Screenshot from Surfer SEO, modified by author, January 2023
“Don’t be afraid to use tools to your advantage,” advises Rudy Mawer.
“You are writing search engine-centric content; the internet has many resources and tools to help make your job easier and your writing more effective.”
Mawer loves using Surfer SEO as well. “Its content editor gives you a real-time score of your content’s strength for the keyword you are trying to rank for, NLP keyword suggestions, and a competitor analysis.”
Yoast SEO
Dvir Ben-Aroya’s favorite tools for content writing and optimization include Grammarly, Hemingway, Yoast SEO, and Google Analytics.
“Grammarly and Hemingway are writing tools that can help you improve your grammar, style, and readability.
Yoast SEO is a plugin that can help you optimize your content for search engines, and Google Analytics is a tool that allows you to track the performance of your content, including pageviews, bounce rate, and conversion rate.
These tools are very helpful in making your content more effective and engaging for your target audience,” explains Ben-Aroya.
Content At Scale
Julia McCoy saves up to seven hours per piece by using Content at Scale, “a long-form AI content writer that does everything for you – even SEO research and optimization.”
“It’s utterly insane to realize we’re here in an era where AI can replace hours and hours of grunt work at a fraction of the cost,” McCoy notes.
She also loves KWFinder for easy, simple, enjoyable keyword research and enjoys having ChatGPT for writing email outlines, topic ideas, and lists.
Otter.ai
Linda Pophal does a lot of interviews with subject matter experts and sources, and Otter.ai helps her accomplish the task.
“Otter.ai is great for recording and transcribing these interviews automatically so I can focus on what the sources are saying without worrying about missing anything,” says Pophal.
“I also like Grammarly, Hemingway App, and AP Styleguide online, and have begun experimenting a bit with ChatGPT, not to actually write my content but to help with outlining and getting a head start in fleshing out ideas,” she adds.
“If you’re writing on a niche topic, diving into that Subreddit is the best way to get authentic and unique insight quickly,” Ellis recommends.
Joe Karasin also uses Reddit and Quora for topic research and to learn what people are talking about surrounding your topics.
“There are probably questions your audience has that you haven’t even considered. Write about those topics, and you’ll experience success,” Karasin advises.
Google Search And Suite
Jamie Press goes for a simple Google Doc for writing and collaborating with colleagues and clients.
Kaitie Frank uses good ol’ Google for research and optimization.
She believes that the “SERPs (search engine results pages) will tell you all you need to know about which headers to use and which information to include.”
Sam Hollingsworth shares a similar outlook.
“Like many old-school journalists, I don’t rely too heavily on many tools to help me optimize content or even come up with ideas to write about, but it’s nice to have them when needed.
It’s amazing how much direction and ideas we can get from free resources like Google Keyword Planner, as well as traditional Google Search.”
“For help optimizing content, MarketMuse and Frase are great tools to have available in your efforts,” Hollingsworth adds.
Editor’s note: All interviews have been lightly edited for clarity, brevity, and adherence to our Editorial Guidelines. The views expressed by the interviewees in this column are theirs alone and do not necessarily represent the view of Search Engine Journal.
Here are five ways you can use Contentedge to streamline your workflow and step up your content strategy.
1. Get Complete Control Over Authoritative Long-Form Articles Written With AI & GPT-3 Content
Long-form articles can often be the most challenging type of content to create for your website.
They take more time to create, and articles that perform well typically have the expertise that comes from knowledgeable writers.
If you’re one of the many businesses that does not have a large pool of knowledgeable writers, Contentedge can help you quickly and efficiently generate the high-ranking articles you need to deliver organic results.
Contentedge uses highly advanced Natural Language Processing (NLP) technology to ideate and create long-form content that looks and sounds human-made.
“Remove the human element without sacrificing the human connection.”
By combining the power of AI technology and real-time search engine data, Contentedge is able to refine every detail and provide accurate, authoritative content.
With the advanced capabilities of GPT-3, you’ll produce writing that reads naturally and delivers information that’s fine-tuned to your audience’s needs.
“Our software crunches the numbers and analyzes millions of data points to provide valuable insights. Figure out what keywords impact your audience most, determine what readability levels are appropriate, and more.”
With this uniquely accurate content optimization tool, you’ll be able to maximize your productivity by:
Saving time by generating authoritative content within seconds.
Increasing engagement with relevant, contextual content.
Producing all the high-quality articles you need, regardless of budget.
How Can I Create Unique, Authoritative Content With AI?
With OpenAI’s GPT-3, a short prompt is all you need to complete an article.
Contentedge will replicate your exact speech pattern to continue your prompt, creating content no one will suspect was written with AI.
Articles created with this technology are modeled from high-ranking pieces, so you can attract your target audience with highly-relevant, contextual content.
Is AI-Generated Content Plagiarism-Free?
Yes. With the right tools, you can avoid accidentally replicating content from elsewhere on the internet.
Contentedge ensures that all content created with their tool will be completely unique and plagiarism-free.
Any articles you produce with GPT-3 technology will be catered to your specific niche and crafted to your precise parameters.
2. Streamline Your Website Copywriting Process By 10x With An AI Text Generator
Don’t have the resources to hire skilled copywriters?
Do your internal teams have time to dedicate to creating content themselves?
If you answered “no” to either of those questions, it’s time to try Contentedge.
Whether you’re creating completely new pages for your website or refreshing your existing content, this advanced AI writing generator can help you get it done 10 times faster.
Smooth Roadblocks & Clear Out Your Content Pipeline
Sometimes, small roadblocks can turn into lengthy project delays.
Even if you’re uncomfortable using an AI-content generator to create a full piece of content, you and your team can leverage this powerful tool to turn copy around faster and overcome:
Writer’s block.
Burnout.
Process delays.
Missed deadlines.
Instead of getting bogged down with website copy, you and your team can focus on improving your content strategy and taking on bigger projects.
“Contentedge can knock out just about anything in only 15 seconds. This allows content to be more consistent, it helps writers produce better content, and it clears out the content pipeline so things always stay moving.”
Ready to rank higher, drive more conversions, and take your digital marketing strategy to the next level?
3. Produce Captivating Blog Copy & Rank Higher In SERPs With Automated SEO Content Writing
According to SEO best practices, it’s important for websites to publish blog posts on a regular basis for consistent engagement.
However, only blogs of high quality and readability are likely to rank well on search engine results pages (SERPs).
So, when you’re aiming to improve your position on SERPs, you should focus on blog posts that are:
Optimized for search engines.
Well-written and easy to understand.
Engaging and relevant to users’ needs.
As one of the best AI blog generators available, Contentedge can help with those three tasks by checking those boxes on everything from short high-impact pieces to full-on how-to guides.
How To Use AI SEO Content Writing To Rank Higher On SERPs
With just a simple project brief and a few target keywords, you can create high-ranking posts in less than a minute.
All you have to do is:
Choose the parameters for your blogs.
Plug in a keyword headline.
Give your AI tool a short description to start with.
From the keywords and the short description, AI technology can create a unique blog in 15 seconds.
When you use Contentedge, you’ll also get a suite of powerful SEO tools to help you:
Track the performance of your blog posts.
View analytics to perfect your strategy.
See how you measure up against your competitors to make sure you’re ranking for the right things.
Access millions of data points to make sure your content serves your audience, drives traffic, and climbs the Google rankings.
Improve Content Engagement With Semantic Keywords
Contentedge generates content by using your primary keyword phrase, looking at the high-ranking search results for that query, and suggesting semantic keywords.
What Are Semantic Keywords?
“Semantic keywords are closely related to the original keyword and often have a lot of search volume. Sometimes the competition for these keywords is lower too, despite them having good search volume.”
With Contentedge, you’ll rank for more keywords than ever and draw in a more targeted audience, thus creating more conversions.
4. Use AI Copywriting To Create Highly Engaging Sales & Marketing Copy
Sales copy can be pretty difficult to pull off.
Plus, we’re all oversaturated by ads and sales pitches daily, so usually, only the most highly-engaging marketing copy tends to get through.
Capturing the attention of your target audience and continually coming up with top-quality sales copy can easily become a struggle.
So, how can you produce content that appeals to potential customers on a consistent basis?
“What if you could have both quality and quantity?”
Contentedge makes it simple to create marketing content that meets the needs of and answers the queries of your target audience, while also being engaging and interesting. This highly complex AI assistant is powered by GPT-3, so your sales copy always sounds like it was written by a skilled content creator.
“Simply provide Contentedge with a keyword headline, a short description, and then click to generate the content. That’s all it takes to get amazing, unique sales copy in just seconds. You can even optimize your marketing and sales copy for SEO, ensuring you get those target keywords integrated.”
This AI-driven tool also pulls keywords from the top marketing content on the web, helping you remain competitive.
It’s time to leave bland, generic copy behind and take your ads and webpages to the next level.
Try Contentedge today and start creating engaging sales and marketing content within a fraction of the time.
5. Write Summaries & Blurbs Effortlessly With The Help Of An Article Summary Generator
High-impact blurbs and summaries are essential to any content marketing strategy.
Summarizing a more expansive piece of work can be quite challenging.
With Contentedge, it’s never been easier to create the condensed text your brand needs to thrive online.
Cleverly written, short-form content can effectively drive traffic and boost results for your business – whether you’re generating metadata for SEO purposes, crafting short synopses to feature as search engine snippets, or giving your audience a quick preview of works to come.
If you’re looking to save time and money without sacrificing quality, Contentedge can help you simplify your writing process by harnessing the power of machine learning and artificial intelligence.
How To Write Summaries & Blurbs With AI
Using a tool like Contentedge:
Use the text content generator to set your parameters.
Input a title.
Provide a detailed description.
Let the AI do the rest to deliver high-quality overviews that sound human-made.
Try Contentedge for free, and experience firsthand how this AI tool can improve your workflow and upgrade your content strategy.
Start Outranking Your Competitors With Contentedge
Whether you’re looking to write better SEO content 10 times faster, or get more out of the content you’re already producing, Contentedge has just what you need to fill the gaps in your content creation process.
Start boosting your conversion rates, while increasing workflow efficiency today.
Try Contentedge for free and find out what advanced AI content writing can do for your business.
Pillar pages have been an effective way to group and present website content to users and search engines for some time.
In this post, I will define what a pillar page is, how it can help your SEO efforts, and share some examples of pillar pages in action.
So let’s start by defining pillar pages.
What Is A Pillar Page?
A pillar page is a landing destination on your website that focuses on a key topic, resource, product, or service area.
It enables users and search engines to access lots of topically relevant content, quickly.
The depth of pillar pages will vary based on their purpose.
Some may be more of a shallow introduction to get fast access to other content (a little like the role of a contents page), whilst others will be more comprehensive, giving deeper standalone value, supported by related content items.
If you listed down all of the core topics related to your business, each of these could logically warrant becoming a pillar page.
Pillar pages give people single-stop access to a host of related content in a user-friendly way.
They also provide search engines with logically organized content that can be quickly crawled, understood, and therefore ranked effectively in search.
You may have heard of cornerstone content, content hubs, content clusters, or pillar pages in various forums, and effectively, they all represent nuances of the same approach.
If you visualize a wheel of a bicycle, at the center, you have the hub.
In the case of pillar content, the hub is the pillar page (the central theme or topic), and the spokes are the related content areas pointing to and from the pillar page.
A single pillar page may have many pages and other content types all linking to the pillar page, either directly, or via other sub-topics that then link back to the main/pillar page.
The fundamental interaction remains the same – centralizing all related topical content from one main landing destination (the pillar page).
I’ll provide some examples shortly to help reinforce this principle so you can visualize pillar pages in action.
How Can Pillar Pages Help Your SEO?
Before moving on to some examples of pillar pages, it’s useful to understand a little more about how they can help your SEO performance.
There are many benefits to creating pillar pages on your website, and I cover a few of these next.
Put simply, Google uses E-A-T as a yardstick to decide if the content is considered of high quality – and if it is, it will likely rank consistently higher.
This is because it will be deemed:
Helpful and useful to people.
Created by demonstrable experts in the topic area.
Placed on a relevant site that has the necessary authority signals.
Showcase positive user experiences and expected trust signals.
Provides comprehensive topical coverage expected to fully satisfy the user’s search need.
By grouping content together in a simple hierarchy, you are making it easy for search engines to identify, understand, and rank your content.
Your topical signals are clearly being provided to help broader Google guidelines such as E-A-T.
This means that you can shine a light on the areas you want your business to be closely related to online, and make ranking for those topics more consistent and optimized.
By contrast, consider a website where the bulk of the content is all competing against itself.
Where there is no clear segmentation or hierarchy of topics (or pillars) and every time you add a new blog post, or article to your website, the amount of noise for search engines and users increases.
For many years, Google has been increasing the impact of a positive user experience for SEO gains.
Core Web Vitals (CWVs) are a more recent manifestation of this.
Another example of this in action is the devaluing of websites and content that puts in place barriers between the user, and their intended destination such as interstitials, or sites with perceived thin-value content.
Site speed and mobile-friendliness as ranking factors are other examples.
Through the use of pillar pages, you are able to land people at the heart of the topic they are interested in.
You can provide clear trust signals through comprehensive, more meaningful content delivery.
You can showcase your experts through the content they are associated with and house it in a central resource.
You can enhance user engagement signals by simplifying access to related content, and encouraging them to move through the information-seeking and buying cycle sooner.
On top of this, as you are focusing your resources on specific, main destination pages, you can ensure they are quick to load, intuitive to interact with, and simple to navigate.
You also simplify the ongoing, iterative changes you make to keep improving them through new data sets.
When providing a one-stop-shop for people to solve a myriad of related questions, wants, needs, and pain points, in a simple way, you can naturally gather external trust signals including links.
Think about all of the repeated social listening opportunities to share your comprehensive pillar pages with your audience.
With your pillar pages you are supplying, free, easy-to-access, share and promote content resources, perfect for link acquisition, brand building, and PR.
Added SEO Benefits Of Pillar Pages
There are many additional SEO benefits to using pillar pages, but typically this would include:
Identifying content gaps (and filling them) more consistently to appear for broader volumes of search terms.
Improving the internal structure of your site and the related link signals (and value) pointing to key content pillars.
Associating your brand and experts to dominant commercial topics that are likely to support conversions and traffic from SEO.
Reducing bounce rates and improving other metrics such as time on page/site, and other content quality signals.
Examples Of Different Pillar Pages
Pillar pages have many different applications and to finish this article, I thought it would be useful to share some here.
Single topic content page and access to dominant user themes.
Interactive content to support trust signals and value.
Wider brand signals.
Image from Foresters Friendly Society, December 2022
Topic Pillar Page
In these example snippets from the University of East Anglia (UEA) life at campus landing destination, you can see how a single pillar page gives the user and search engines:
Fast access to core content for a simpler user journey.
Distilled and visual content highlights for quick content digestion.
Mobile-friendly content segments for on-the-go fact-finding.
Topical content sign-posting to keep the user learning without having to search for information.
Storification to help the association between the user and the brand.
Image from University of East Anglia, December 2022
Image from University of East Anglia, December 2022
Image from University of East Anglia, December 2022
Conclusion
Pillar pages aren’t just an effective way to organize your website’s content, they can also have significant benefits to your SEO.
By leveraging pillar pages, you can create a faster, more streamlined, and generally more user-friendly experience on your website – making it easier for both users and search engines to interact with it.
If you want to boost your SEO efforts today, put pillar pages to use!
If you’ve ever written a blog post or online article, you’ve asked the question before: How long should this be?
In other words, what’s the optimal length of web content for SEO purposes?
Depending on the year and the source, you might hear the ideal word count for SEO is anywhere from 250 to more than 2,000 words per piece.
Proponents of lower word counts will argue it’s not the number of words but the quality of the information and the number of backlinks that matter most.
Those who advocate for higher word counts claim that too few words will be scored as “thin” content by search engines and, thus, not rank as highly as more verbose counterparts.
So, what’s the truth? Does word count really matter that much to search engines? And if so, what’s the best length for pieces of content?
According to Google’s John Mueller, the fount from which so much search engine knowledge flows, the number of articles is not included in Google’s quality scores.
So, that’s it, right? Case closed, the shortest article in the history of Search Engine Journal has confirmed that you don’t need to worry about word counts.
In the course of this piece, we’re going to discuss why it matters, how the length of your pieces can both indirectly help and hurt your rankings, and give you some pointers for helping you write pieces that are the ideal length for your needs.
“Go With 2,000 Words & An Optimized H1”
That’s SEO advice in a nutshell.
But is it the best practice, common knowledge, or an urban myth?
If you think about it, this makes a lot of sense. Google’s algorithm seeks to gauge search intent, and longer pieces help give it a better idea of what your page’s content is all about.
So, bigger is always going to be better, right? Not necessarily.
If you’re just fleshing out articles by adding extra phrases, unnecessary adjectives, and adverbs or purposely taking a circuitous path to the point, you’re going to turn off readers. And that will hurt your quality scores.
So, every article needs to be as long as it needs to be. Clear as mud, right? Don’t worry. We’ll explain further.
It’s Not Content-Length That Ranks An Article – But The Backlinks That Are Correlated With The Length
Yoast performed a study in 2022 that included information about the correlation between post length and SEO ranking. It determined that a minimum word count depends upon the page type.
As a general rule of thumb, Yoast suggests taxonomy pages (those used for classifying content and data) should be 250 or more words, regular posts and pages should be 300 or more, cornerstone content pages should land north of 900 words, and product pages require a measly 200+ words.
As you can see, that’s a lot of variety.
Taxonomy and product pages tend to work fine with fewer words because they’re highly specific. And users don’t generally land on them directly from search results and instead dive into them from higher up the website.
For example, if you’re shopping for a new set of kitchen knives, you’re likely not searching for [Wusthof Performer 8” Chef’s Knife]. Instead, you’re going to search for [Good Chef’s Knife] and drill down from the Wusthof or retailer’s general page.
On the end of the spectrum, longer content is usually more focused on providing useful information. This, in turn, tends to earn more backlinks.
Screenshot from Ahrefs.com, September 2022
A 2020 study by Ahrefs analyzed around 900 million webpages and found a strong positive correlation between word count and the average number of referring domains.
In another 2020 study, Ahrefs found almost 91% of all pages never get any organic traffic. And that seems to be predominantly because they do not have any backlinks:
“It looks like 66.31% of pages don’t have even a single backlink. And 26.29% of pages have links from less than three websites.”
So, the impact of content length on rankings seems a two-step process rather than an “if longer, then ranks better” equation.
The path to ranking success looks like this:
Longer content leads to more links.
More links lead to better rankings (and more organic traffic).
It seems what might be ranking the website is not so much about the content length itself but more about the number of links the page received.
Guides, skyscrapers, pillar pages, and content hubs make the most interesting link targets. Thus, it is recommended to create the most conclusive, interesting, and in-depth piece of content on the web and run an extensive outreach campaign for it.
Making it sexy might not even need more words. Instead, it might just be a matter of more accurate targeting, better graphics, or detailed market research results.
Answer Search Intent Effectively By Starting Your Article With The Most Important Information
Ahrefs’ advice on content length:
“Don’t shoot for a particular word count — just make sure you cover a topic in full. Whether that takes 500 words or 10,000, the key is that you are creating the best resource available for your target keyword.”
In other words, your content should be as long as it needs to be to give search bots enough information to determine what it’s about and long enough to satisfy user queries.
What Does It Take To Satisfy Search Intent?
For many years, SEO professionals have been trying to write longer content, no matter the cost of usability. This led to fluffed-up super-long pieces instead of the word count that is relevant to your goals.
It might have also inspired Google to push the featured snippets – and give answers instantly instead of providing a bad user experience with scroll marathons.
Screenshot from Google search, September 2022
It wasn’t so very long ago that a “how to lower bounce rate” query would return page one results that talk about the importance of bounce rate for 700 words before even revealing the first tip on how to decrease it.
But if we needed an introduction on bounce rate, we would have Googled it. These pieces clearly fail search intent.
Thankfully, Google has gotten smarter, and these types of returns are less common than they once were, but they should still serve as an invitation to rethink content creation and meet search intent.
I recommend turning your content structure upside down – and thus providing value to the user from the first second they arrive at your page.
Turn your SEO article into a newspaper article or executive summary:
Most important information first = Answer the question.
Start with the main message.
Then go into depth as the piece continues, and detailed-focused users continue reading.
Secondly, give users a clear path to convert and make the next clicks.
This matters for your business, revenue, and marketing goals, but also for the users who came to the website with a certain intention. Make it easy for them to find what they need.
This can include:
Links/read more to related articles.
Sign-up for a whitepaper or how-to guide.
Buy the product.
Fluffing Hurts The Content Ontology & Thus Your Keyword/Topic Targeting
The main reason I would like you to think about satisfying search intent is content ontology and the hierarchy between keywords and articles.
This is something that Google has been considering as well, as thin pages, duplicate content, and keyword cannibalization can all now negatively affect your SEO results.
Getting search intent right will also allow you to build a clean website architecture – making it easier for Googlebot to crawl and index your site.
If we are mindlessly aiming for 2,000 words to write about a topic such as “apples” (as per best-case practice), we will quickly realize that most writers and SEO pros tend to talk about “bananas” and “oranges” when running out of things to say about “apples.” They are trying to hit their target word count no matter what it takes.
This is diluting the keyword targeting of a page – and your ability to hit search intent.
Instead of making it clear to Google that this is the best page about “apples,” we are now confusing users and the search engine about the purpose and topic of the content piece.
We call this content cannibalization when we talk about “fruits” in general to forcefully extend our piece about “apples” to hit the target word count.
It’s called keyword cannibalization when we confuse Google so much that it doesn’t know which piece to rank for the query “apples,” which causes it to alternate between the two – hurting your overall ranking performance.
The name of the game is:
One article per keyword (cluster) (e.g., one piece for “apple/apples”).
Respect the relationship between your articles (ontology or content hierarchy). Everything about “fruits,” in general, goes on that parent page/category page.
Make it clear to users and search engines what the one concept/topic for every article is: Only talk about “apples” in the “apple” piece.
The goal to create the best content piece on “apples” will determine the content length.
How Articles Rank: Satisfying Intent, Appropriate Word Count & Backlinks
If we then keep in mind what page one competitors are currently doing in terms of content length, satisfying the search intent, giving the best answer, and inviting users to convert – we not only have created a piece of content that will rank well itself – we have also created a piece that makes a great backlink target that will lead to successful rankings.
It’s Time To Move On From Word Count Obsession
In the early days of SEO, ranking highly for a keyword generally meant jamming that word or phrase into your content anywhere it would go. Those days are long gone, and gone with them are the hard and fast requirements for content length.
Yes, this article asserts that longer is often better for SEO purposes, but it’s for a more roundabout reason than you might think. And a higher word count alone will not help you rank higher.
Instead, you need to create quality content with the information searchers want.
Remember why users are coming to your page; satisfy their intent and give them what they seek.
By doing this, you’ll also make your content an appealing backlink for other content creators. And speaking of which, it’s a good idea to perform outreach initiatives to build incoming links and build your site’s credibility in Google’s eyes.
More Resources:
Featured Image: A Lot Of People/Shutterstock
In-post images #3-5: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal
2022 has been a whirlwind of a year for the SEO industry, and there’s no sign of slowing down.
This year alone, Google dropped eight confirmed and unconfirmed updates – leaving many businesses scrambling to keep up.
With so much volatility, how can you adapt your SEO strategy to keep it fresh and relevant?
How will this year’s algorithm changes affect your 2023 SEO strategy?
How can you prepare for Google’s next move and get ahead of the curve?
On December 14, I moderated a webinar with Pat Reinhart, VP of Customer Success at Conductor.
Reinhart recapped the biggest SEO insights of this year and shared some expert predictions based on 2022’s algorithm updates to uncover what next year may hold.
Here is a summary of the webinar. To access the entire presentation, complete the form.
Prediction #1: Google’s Volatility Will Continue To Intensify
There’s a lot of volatility rolling out, and this could be the new normal.
What makes this year, and possibly next year, so intense is that the time between algorithm updates is getting shorter and they’re starting to roll out on top of one another.
Image by Conductor, December 2022
Google is going to continue to test new features and result types.
What does that mean? More algorithm changes will be happening in less time, which equates to more volatility.
3 Things To Pay Attention To:
Updates are rolling out on top of one another & in tighter succession.
In the upcoming year, there will be more testing and data requests from Google because of what’s happening in the younger generations, leading us to the next prediction.
Prediction #2: Visual Search Will Become More Prominent
Gen-Z is going to TikTok and Instagram for their search needs, effectively bypassing Google.
Google is changing to keep up.
Younger generations connect with visuals better because it gives them a better experience.
Prediction #5: Everyone Is Going To Forget About Universal Analytics Going Away
Everyone will forget about Universal Analytics going away on July 1, 2023. And it’s going to get crazy for those who never set up GA4.
While most predictions have a lot to do with algorithms, at the end of the day, it’s about the content you create and the experience you provide to your customers, so make sure you’re able to effectively track it in 2023.
[Slides] Expert SEO & Google Algorithm Predictions For 2023
Here’s the presentation:
Image Credits
Featured Image: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal
To work freelance or to go in-house? That is the question.
And the question is trickier now more than ever – especially for content marketers.
According to our State of SEO 2022, freelancing is an increasingly attractive path, with almost 45% of freelance and contract respondents earning salaries above $75,000 per year.
But that doesn’t mean it’s the only viable career path for content marketers.
In fact, the future looks bright for in-house professionals as more businesses are finding ways to integrate SEO into broader marketing efforts.
So, which way do you go at the fork in the road?
Gain new insight from this Q&A-style interview with Aja Frost, who started her marketing career as a freelance writer making a monthly income of roughly $6,000.
Now, she’s the Director of English Growth at HubSpot, where she helped its Sales Blog break an 18-month traffic plateau by employing an “organic-first” strategy.
Read on as Frost shares her experience of becoming an in-house content strategist, go-to SEO techniques, and tips for building a rewarding SEO career.
Becoming An In-House Content Strategist
What has it been like transitioning from an established freelance writer to an in-house content strategist?
Aja Frost: “My transition from freelancing to in-house was six years ago, but I remember it was challenging.
I had to relearn a lot of my instincts – for example, your manager and teammates tend to want more frequent/detailed updates than your clients, who typically only care about the high level. I was far less autonomous than I’d been as a freelancer.
In addition, I had to figure out the dynamics of working inside what, at the time, felt like a big organization (~1,700 people). Now that sounds small, as HubSpot has 7,000+ employees.”
What unexpected skill or experience has helped you as a marketing leader and SEO strategist?
AF: “Active listening and observing is probably my most-used skill.
I spend five to six hours per day in meetings, and being able to interpret how someone is feeling, what they’re saying versus what they’re not saying, if they’re convinced or skeptical, etc., is incredibly valuable.
To facilitate this, I make Zoom full-screen, hide my own box so I can’t get distracted by my face, and turn off all notifications.
If I’m in a larger group, I keep scanning faces, so I’m gauging everyone’s reactions. And I consistently repeat back what I’m hearing so I can challenge my assumptions and make sure I’m interpreting clues correctly.”
Go-To Content Tools & Techniques
What is your favorite feature within the HubSpot platform, and why?
AF: “I’m so excited about the free website builder HubSpot launched a few months ago.
It’s actually a drag-and-drop website builder that’s super easy to use (I’ve built a few test sites for fun), and it offers free web hosting and no cost for connecting a custom domain.”
What trends are you seeing in how AI impact keyword research? How do you take and turn these trends into topic-cluster-driven search strategies?
AF: “AI-driven keyword research is helpful as a foundation.
It’s far faster to use a tool to come up with relevant longer-tail keywords than manually dig through the SERPs or even Ahrefs results.
However, nothing beats an SEO’s intuition and expertise for figuring out which keywords belong together in an article and how those articles should be grouped into clusters.”
How does globalization affect your planning for content strategy?
AF: “Content that has traffic and demand potential in multiple markets will be created in English first and then localized into Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, and/or Japanese for our regional blogs.
Our localization team is incredible; for every piece of content they localize, they’re translating not just the words and meaning but matching HubSpot’s style and voice to the target audience.
For example, when localizing an English post to German, the team will replace “greatest,” “best in class,” “incredible,” etc. with “it’s good, and it will help you.”
A lot of content is created in-language (meaning the keyword research is done in Spanish, and the content is created in Spanish). This ensures we answer the questions unique to our target market.”
What’s the most effective SEO technique you’d recommend to someone wanting to improve the results they are getting from organic search?
AF: “Focus on quality over quantity. It’s far more effective to publish one well-written, in-depth piece of content with unique insights and original research than 10 higher-level, derivative pieces.
If you’re not getting the results you should be when you look at your keywords’ target MSV (monthly search volume), slow down and spend (way more) time on each post.”
Helping Women Run The SEO World
Any tips for SEO freelancers who have a tough time selling themselves with no past clients under their belts for reference?
AF: “Create samples for hypothetical clients, ask another freelancer if you can do some free keyword research or content creation for them in exchange for training and your name on a project, and make sure your website looks professional and your own content strategy is impeccable.”
What advice do you have for a woman pursuing a career in SEO? For a woman aspiring to a leadership role in the industry?
My support group has been invaluable for helping me vent when I experience sexism, pushing me to take on new challenges, and brainstorming strategies to get more airtime in meetings, get people to take me seriously, and advocate for myself.
I highly, highly recommend building your network of peers (both inside and outside of your company) to call on.”
What empowers you as a strong female leader?
AF: “I’m empowered by the trust and respect I share with my wonderful (or, for German readers, “good”) colleagues and manager. And, of course, the live version of Beyonce’s Formation.”
This post was sponsored by Trisolute News Dashboard. The opinions expressed in this article are the sponsor’s own.
Wondering why some of your articles’ visibility seemed to suddenly dip this year?
Could this be part of a larger trend?
On August 25, 2022, Google started rolling out an update that could be quite interesting for news publishers and their visibility. On September 12, they rolled out yet another core update.
These core updates were named “Helpful Content Update(s)”.
Today, we’ll be showing you how news publishers around the world were impacted by them.
What Is The Helpful Content Update?
Google’s Helpful Content Update is an algorithm update that focuses on:
Weeding out content that is written for the sole purpose of getting a good ranking.
Deprioritizing articles that don’t contain any informational or helpful content for the reader.
Rewarding content that is helpful to readers.
Google frequently updates its algorithm in order to better match content to searchers, and sometimes, publishers’ visibility is heavily impacted.
Which Google Categories Has The Helpful Content Update Impacted?
In this article, we’ll be showcasing which publishers around the world were impacted by the Helpful Content Update.
We examined each of Google’s categories to see whether we would find something extraordinary around the time the updates were executed and picked out one or two countries per category where the changes were especially obvious.
How We Discovered The Impact Of The Helpful Content Update
We wanted to make sure to look at the most visible publishers for the generally freshest, most newsworthy keywords based on Google News and Trends to get the most impactful results for the publisher landscape.
All rankings are based on a near real-time 15-minute crawling interval, so, we used the following filter settings on the KPI Dashboard → Mobile News Box:
Date Range: July 25, 2022 – September 25, 2022 (Week 30 – Week 38).
Top 10 Competitors.
All Ranking Types.
General Keyword Set.
With those filter settings, we took a look at different countries from all over the world individually.
Let’s have a look:
Top Stories
Mexico
Here, we can observe that the two publishers, El Financiero and Infobae, have obviously been affected by the updates:
While El Financiero showed a rise in its visibility following the August update, Infobae dropped in visibility afterward.
After the September update, El Financiero then showed a visible drop as well.
Screenshot from Trisolute News Dashboard, October 2022
The two vertical dashed lines mark the two updates respectively.
The Verdict:
Publishers seem to have been affected slightly more by the August update than by the September update, both positively and negatively.
Country-Specific News
Switzerland
20 Minutes and Blick both rose in visibility after the August update.
Then, in week 36 (September 5 – September 11), 20 Minutes had its peak in visibility, while Blick had already started to drop.
From week 36 to week 37, the week when the second update happened, both publishers displayed an extreme drop.
Screenshot from Trisolute News Dashboard, October 2022
The Verdict:
While publishers seemed to have benefitted from the August update in this category, the September update led to a drop in their visibility.
World News
Colombia
For Columbia, there was an increase in visibility after the August update, especially for El Tiempo and Semana, while the visibility of El Espectador nearly stagnated.
However, the visibility dropped for all three publishers before the September update and remained at an almost constant level after it.
Only El Espectador was able to regain visibility after the second update.
Screenshot from Trisolute News Dashboard, October 2022
The Verdict:
Both updates have caused a lot of turbulence in visibility for publishers.
Business News
Peru
Here, we can observe that between the two updates, CNN saw losses in visibility, but these evened out again towards the September update.
RPP was also able to build up visibility at first, but lost it leading up to and after the September update.
For El Comercio, there was a short-term upswing after the August update, but it flattened out again.
Screenshot from Trisolute News Dashboard, October 2022
The Verdict:
The first update seems to have had a stronger and more negative effect on publishers in Peru than the second one.
Science & Technology News
France
In the Science & Technology category, publishers in France have largely been able to maintain or even build their visibility after the August update.
However, both Jeuxvideo and Gamekult lost visibility after the September update – only Le Monde increased its visibility after both updates.
Screenshot from Trisolute News Dashboard, October 2022
The Verdict:
For most of the French publishers, the two Google updates in the Science & Technology category resulted in a loss in visibility.
Entertainment News
Australia
In the Australian Entertainment category, News.com.au’s visibility increased leading up to the August update, only to then show an extreme drop that lasted until the week of the September update.
This led to the visibility curve flattening again.
Screenshot from Trisolute News Dashboard, October 2022
The Verdict:
The first update in August seems to have had a significantly negative impact on Australian publishers in the Entertainment category, while the second update in September had a more positive impact.
United Kingdom
For publishers in the U.K., the two updates showed significant influences on visibility, as can be seen below for the Daily Mail and the Mirror.
Both publishers showed an increase in their visibility leading up to Week 34.
Then, when the August update took place, both of their visibilities dropped significantly.
For the Daily Mail, the graph drops continuously, even through the September update, but for the Mirror, this second update made them drop even more in terms of visibility.
Screenshot from Trisolute News Dashboard, October 2022
The Verdict:
Here, the first update in August had a significant effect on the publishers’ visibility; the second one only had a moderate effect.
Sports News
Canada
In the Canadian Sports category, TSN held visibility during the August update, but lost it slightly in the week before and during the September update. However, they gained it back after the update.
CBC’s visibility, on the other hand, went the other way: Before the August update, their visibility increased significantly, and then dropped off slightly at the time of the September update and in the following week.
Screenshot from Trisolute News Dashboard, October 2022
The Verdict:
The August update had a larger impact on publishers’ visibility in the Sports category, for some immediately at the time of the update, and for others in the following weeks.
Health News
Austria
In the Health category, Austrian publishers Der Standard and ORF were able to significantly increase visibility after the August update and also brought this increase through the September update with slight fluctuations.
In contrast, both Kurier and Vienna.at lost visibility after the August update, but were also able to make up for this after the September update.
Screenshot from Trisolute News Dashboard, October 2022
The Verdict:
For publishers in Austria, the August update seems to have had the largest impact on their visibility in the Health category, with it being negative for some publishers and positive for others.
United States
In the U.S. Health category, the progressions seem to have been identical between NPR and The New York Times, because initially, both lost visibility after the August update.
However, NPR continued to lose visibility until the September update and after that, their visibility increased slightly again.
For The New York Times, on the other hand, things got a bit more turbulent: First, they regained visibility between the two updates, only to lose it significantly in the week of the September update, and regain it in the week after the update.
Screenshot from Trisolute News Dashboard, October 2022
The Verdict:
The August update seems to have had a negative impact on the publishers’ visibility in the Health category, while the second update in September had a positive effect.
COVID-19 News
Brazil
In the COVID-19 category in Brazil, the three publishers Globo, Abril, and UOL showed little to no changes in their visibility in the week of the August update.
In week 36 though, which marks the week immediately before the September update, both Abril and Globo dropped in their visibility, while UOL rose.
For Globo, this drop continued throughout the September update as UOL continued to rise; only Abril was able to catch itself again and flatten the curve.
Screenshot from Trisolute News Dashboard, October 2022
The Verdict:
Brazil’s top publishers seem to have been significantly more impacted by the September update than by the August update.
Germany
In the German COVID-19 category, DER SPIEGEL particularly gained visibility in the week leading up to the August update and then slowly lost it again throughout it.
Through the September update, the trend for DER SPIEGEL then went up again.
The picture is different for Die Zeit: Here, the publisher lost visibility in the week before the August update and regained it throughout. They were also able to maintain this visibility with slight reductions in the time between the updates.
However, they then lost visibility dramatically through the September update.
Screenshot from Trisolute News Dashboard, October 2022
The Verdict:
Here, both updates seem to have had an impact on visibility simultaneously.
Key Findings For How Google’s Helpful Content Update Affected Publishers
For top publishers in most countries, the first Helpful Content Update in August seems to have had a more significant impact on their visibility than the second one in September. It cannot be clearly said that publishers’ visibility was only negatively impacted by the updates, since some clearly benefitted from them.
Here are some other interesting takeaways we noticed:
Publishers from Argentina, Australia, Canada, and Germany showed noticeable changes in visibility around the updates in all of Google’s categories.
The Country-Specific News category was the only category where publishers from all countries showed anomalies in some way.
In the Business News category, Brazil was the only country that showed no noticeable changes in top publishers’ visibility.
The categories Country-Specific News, Business News, Science & Technology News, Entertainment News, and Health News were most affected by the update.
The BBC was affected by the top 10 rankings of the World category in four countries (Australia, Canada, Mexico, and Peru) and was therefore the most affected publisher in this analysis.
Want to learn more about your visibility in Google News? Schedule a free demo.
For marketers, content is still king. It provides value to your targets, helps establish you as an expert in your field, drives traffic, and tells search engines why your website should be ranked highly.
But what’s the best type of content? You would likely get 12 different responses if you asked a dozen marketers.
Some will swear by blogs, while others will claim infographics are the best way to generate exposure. Ebooks can be a great way to establish your authority, while memes encourage organic shares.
Every type of content has different strengths and weaknesses. By understanding each offer’s unique benefits, you can develop a cohesive content marketing strategy unique to your needs.
In this piece, we’ll take a look at 17 types of marketing content, explain how you can use them to achieve your goals, and give you the knowledge you need to make a bigger splash with your marketing.
Why Content Marketing Is Important
The world has gone digital. As of July 2022, there were 5.03 billion people worldwide using the internet. That means 63.1% of the global population could potentially land on your website.
Thanks to smartphones, the internet has become the go-to source for entertainment, shopping, or settling arguments about Florida’s state bird (the northern mockingbird), no matter where you are.
With this in mind, it’s no surprise that a study by the Pew Research Center found 31% of American adults reported being online “almost constantly.”
The heart of any successful digital marketing campaign, content marketing offers several benefits, including:
Building trust with your audience.
Improving SEO efforts.
Showcasing your expertise.
Helping maintain your brand’s reputation.
Encouraging social shares.
Improving conversion rates.
And on top of this, it’s one of the most cost-effective ways to attract new leads, as you can often repurpose your content to get added exposure without a lot more work.
Of course, not all types of content will reap the same level of rewards. Your mix will depend on the specifics of your business and your goals, but some types are essential.
17 Essential Types Of Content
1. Blogs
Since 1994, when Justin Hall created the very first weblog, or blog, as it would come to be known, blogging has been a cornerstone of successful content marketing.
A great way to regularly add new content to your website, blogs are a versatile, low-cost, and often evergreen way to boost organic traffic.
Their long-form format lets you focus on your target keywords and the important topics to your audience.
Blogs can also play an important role in your SEO strategy.
Their length (the average blog post is 1,500 to 2,500 words) provides Google’s search bots with a lot of information about their content, which in turn helps it determine how it helps answer search queries.
To ensure your blog posts are generating as much traffic as possible and getting the results you need, make sure they are:
Written for humans – not search engines.
Use your targeted keywords.
Optimized for loading speed.
Linked to sites with high authority.
Use headers for effective skimming.
And don’t forget your long-tail keywords. Remember, the more detailed a blog post is, the more likely it will attract the traffic you want.
Plus, it’s a great way to show off your brand’s personality.
2. Case Studies
Your target customers have a specific problem. Your goal as a marketer is to show them why your business is the best answer to said problem.
To do this, you have to demonstrate not just that you’re an expert in the field but also that your solution actually works. And one of the best ways to do this is through case studies.
Case studies give your audience a real-life scenario in which someone like them used your offering to solve their problem. They see the buying journey from start to finish, helping them visualize how your product or service works.
They allow you to portray yourself as an expert, which helps reduce perceived risk, particularly for high-cost products and services.
And like blogs, they offer a longer format in which you can effectively add keywords without feeling like they were shoehorned in.
To maximize their impact, you should make sure your case studies:
Focus on an issue your target audience can relate to.
Feature a cohesive narrative from start to finish.
Include real statistics wherever possible.
Accurately portray how your business solved the issue.
3. Checklists
Santa Claus is not the only one making a list and checking it twice. Many people love a step-by-step guide to performing a task or solving a problem.
By dividing tasks into smaller, more manageable ones, checklists can make even the most complex jobs less daunting. And from a marketing perspective, they’re a great way to generate leads.
Audiences use them as a simple, easy, and free way to make sure all the right steps are being followed. They create ownership, establish expectations, and set deadlines, all of which contribute to productivity.
In addition to creating a useful tool for customers, checklists also let your targets know you understand what they’re facing. Good checklists will include:
A title establishing the purpose of the list and why it’s useful.
Step-by-step tasks that outline the overall process – including subtasks.
Timeframes for each step – this could be a hard date or a range.
Status indicating whether a step is completed, in progress, or not started.
4. Customer Reviews And Testimonials
You know your business is great, but let’s face it: saying it yourself doesn’t count for much. What does matter, however, is what your customers are saying.
Word of mouth for the digital age, customer reviews, and testimonials give you a level of credibility no amount of paid marketing can ever achieve.
Studies have shown 93% of consumers say online reviews impact their shopping choices, which makes them extremely valuable.
Reviews and their less-celebrated-but-no-less-important-counterpart testimonials help reduce the feeling of risk and provide a useful way to overcome potential objections. Plus, because they’re customer-generated, they cost you nothing.
There are several ways to encourage them, including:
Directly asking for reviews and testimonials.
Incentivizing customers to create them.
Creating automated replies that make creating reviews easy.
These do not have a direct impact on search rankings but do help ensure your pages meet the minimum quality threshold the search engine demands.
You should prominently feature testimonials and reviews wherever they logically fit, including on webpages and in emails.
5. Ebooks
One of the best ways to present yourself as an authority is to demonstrate thought leadership. And one of the best ways to do that is by creating an ebook.
These long-form texts are not advertisements, at least not in the traditional sense, but instead, they offer value to potential customers.
By deep diving into a subject particular to your field, you demonstrate your expertise while simultaneously providing value to your targets.
If your ebook covers a particularly under-covered topic or presents information in a new light, it can lead to significant interest in your company. And even better, because these long-form texts are generally hidden behind an email or contact form, they offer a great way to generate new leads.
6. Email Marketing
The bread-and-butter of marketing in the 21st century, email marketing is a fast and flexible way to reach a highly targeted audience.
Whether you’re trying to stay top of mind for existing customers, reach new ones, or build brand awareness, email marketing gives you a measurable way to engage with targets.
You should be using email to contact people regularly at each stage of your sales funnel.
Limited-time offers can help persuade that hesitant lead to finally give you a chance. Birthday messages to existing customers help keep your brand at the forefront, and abandoned cart emails can entice people back to complete purchases.
No matter what your business goals are, there’s an email strategy to help you achieve them.
Make sure you keep your strategy centered on those goals, segment your audience to speak to specific audiences, and measure your results. Then, take what you have learned from this campaign and apply it to the next one.
7. Guides And How-Tos
In-depth guides and how-tos are necessary for any company offering a complex product or service.
Another way to demonstrate how knowledgeable you are, they are a great way to expand your online presence.
For example, if you are a software company, providing how-to content in the form of printable guides or online training courses will help your clients get the most from your product.
They can also help eliminate frustration and minimize learning curves – both things customers love.
8. Infographics
Everyone knows a picture is worth a thousand words. Infographics are this adage applied to marketing.
By allowing you to present a significant amount of information in a quick and easy-to-understand format, they provide an easy way for viewers to understand information.
Great for catching the eyes of people who only scan the text on your webpage (which is almost everyone), infographics give marketers control over which information is highlighted.
Create infographics that call out statistics, events, or timelines that help pitch your business. Quick and low-cost, they often act as standalone content that can be shared on social media.
To ensure you’re getting all the credit (and backlinks) you deserve from your content, include a snippet of HTML code that allows other webmasters to embed them on their sites.
9. Interactive Content
In the old days (i.e., before the internet), marketing usually talked “at” an audience. But now, the power of technology has given marketers the ability to speak “with” people.
Interactive content is a great way to harness this functionality to gather information, boost engagement, or find new customers. Plus, they’re a great way to provide value and/or showcase your creativity.
Create quizzes to help people decide on which product is perfect for their needs, build games to distract them while increasing your brand’s exposure, or create an app that adds value to their lives.
While this type of content may require a bit more technological knowledge (or outsourcing) than some of the items on this list, it can also be one of the highest-performing.
10. Interviews/Q&As
Want to massively expand your audience with just one piece of content? All you need to do is secure an interview on Joe Rogan’s podcast. Simple, right? Well, maybe not, but don’t let that discourage you from putting the power of interviews and question-and-answer segments to work for you.
A great way to build relationships (and links) with other websites, these are a great way for your internal thought leaders to showcase their knowledge to external audiences.
By going “on the record,” you’re showing the world that you stand behind your offering. This implies quality customer support, helps with reputation management, and can improve overall engagement.
11. Listicles
Unfamiliar with the word “listicle?” You’re not alone. But they refer to something you’ve definitely seen before. In fact, you’re reading one right now – it’s an article structured as a list, hence the name.
While the most popular of these are often Buzzfeed-esque pieces like “15 Hedgehogs With Things That Look Like Hedgehogs,” they don’t have to be mindless entertainment but instead can be used as powerful pieces of marketing content.
People love listicles because they are easy to skim, you know what to expect, and they break information down into digestible chunks.
Marketers love them because they’re easy to plan and write.
Create your own marketing listicles following these steps:
Choose a topic and angle.
Select a keyword.
Write the list points.
Wrap up with a solid conclusion.
12. Podcasts
No longer solely the domain of true crime junkies, podcasts are a great way to build your brand with effective content marketing that people can consume on their commute, on a walk, or at any other time they find convenient.
Podcasts allow you to share your stories and experiences directly with your audience, building relationships by speaking to your targets on a personal level.
To maximize the impact of your podcasts, ensure you’re providing useful information in an entertaining format. You can also use guest hosts or interviewees as a way to expand your audience.
13. Social Media Posts
Everyone from your grandmother to the teenager next door is using social media these days.
While it’s true they might not be on the same platform, they’re all using it for the same purpose – to stay in touch. And there are literally billions of users worldwide.
Providing a way to initiate and maintain conversations with targets, social media has become an important part of every marketing mix.
Of course, how you use it will vary dramatically from one company to the next.
For example, a candy manufacturer may have good luck with recreating viral videos on TikTok, but that approach will probably fall flat for a software developer.
To ensure your social media efforts are reaping maximum rewards, you need to identify which platform or platforms your audience is using, then create content that will speak to them.
Seek to build relationships with both your audience and any influencers who can help expand the impact of your content.
And don’t forget, social media is also a great place to repurpose content you’ve already created.
Have a great infographic? That would be perfect for your Facebook. That tutorial video about your product’s hidden features should be on your YouTube page. Linking to your ebook on Twitter can help you land new leads.
Find where your content fits, then put it on your social channels.
14. User-Generated Content
Much like testimonials, content created by your users gives you an authenticity no amount of self-promotion can match. Even better, because it’s generated by a third party, it doesn’t take much investment on your part.
User-generated content, or UGC, could be anything from someone tagging your brand in a selfie to a recording of them using your product. It provides social proof while simultaneously providing word of mouth and encouraging engagement.
Encourage your fans and customers to make content by:
Regularly posting UGC on your social media channels.
Inviting user-submitted content, with or without rewards.
Creating and using your own branded hashtag.
15. Videos
If you’re looking for a way to engage your audience, there’s nothing quite like video.
Platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Meta’s Reels have made videos a ubiquitous part of digital marketing. And with good reason – video content works.
While this type of content generally requires more time and resources to produce than text or static content, video content has been shown to increase dwell time, improve customer understanding of your product or service, and lead to higher lead volume.
Part of the strength of video content lies in its versatility.
From short demo videos and social media clips to interviews and long-term videos that tell your story, video can help you connect with your audience in a way most other forms of content can’t.
16. Webinars
When you think of content marketing, webinars are probably not the first thing that springs to mind. However, they can be a very valuable part of your strategy.
Whether you’re using on-demand webinars to provide round-the-clock value or live sessions to create personal connections, these online education sessions are a great way to educate existing and potential customers, attract new leads, and establish your authority in your field.
To create successful webinars, first, identify an area of need. Maybe there’s a new law that impacts your industry, and there are many questions surrounding its implementation.
Maybe there’s a certain aspect of your offering that customers don’t seem to understand clearly. Or perhaps you just want to offer expert insights on a relevant topic.
Whatever it is, your webinars should provide unique content that adds value. Require an email list for registration, and they provide a great way to build new contact lists.
17. Whitepapers
Not to be confused with ebooks, whitepapers are lengthy papers filled with data, statistics, and information – sort of like business research papers.
The information they include can be the results of your own studies or a compilation of information compiled from other sources. Either way, they should offer key takeaways and provide credible insights.
Keep your design clean and visually appealing for easy scanning, and allow others to link to it to help generate backlinks.
Takeaway: Why Use Different Types Of Content
Though they may have common features, every prospect, lead, and customer you’re targeting differs.
Some people are visual learners and like videos and infographics. Others prefer to be taught new information and retain information from webinars best. And yet, others prefer downloadable texts they can peruse on their own time.
If you’re only creating one type of content, you’re not reaching as many targets as possible with a more varied approach.
It’s often tempting for busy marketers to take the easiest approach, but this isn’t the best recipe for long-term success.
Instead, determine what your goals are and how you will define success. Then, use this to create a multi-channel content plan that will help you reach it.
Regardless of which content mix you opt for, there are certain things every element, regardless of format, must do:
It should provide value.
It should promote your brand and product/service.
It should be targeted to your specific desired audience.
It should actively move customers along the purchasing journey.
It should be shareable.
Don’t be afraid to experiment and take risks. Not every type of content works for every brand, but if you put in the work, you’re sure to see rewards.
Many law firms are simply leasing space when it comes to their online marketing.
Whether it’s Google pay-per-click (PPC) ads, Facebook Ads, or social media, these channels often yield only temporary wins. Once you pull the investment, your results go away entirely.
Your website, on the other hand, can be a 24/7 selling tool for your law firm practice. It can effectively become your greatest asset, getting leads and cases while you sleep.
In this guide, we’ll talk about how to turn your website into the ultimate marketing tool for your law firm practice and generate seven figures in revenue for your business.
A Well-Optimized Law Firm Website Can Yield Huge Results
With your law firm’s website, you can use content marketing to your advantage to generate lucrative results for your business. Content and SEO allow you to attract users organically and convert traffic passively into new cases for your law firm.
As an example, a high-ranking webpage in a competitive market getting 1,000 users per month can get huge results:
Convert visitors at 2-5% = 20-50 leads.
Convert even 10-20% of leads = 2-10 cases.
Average $8000 revenue per case = $16,000-$80,000 monthly revenue from one page.
Over the course of a year, this could lead to high six-figures to seven-figures in revenue!
The Foundations Of A Revenue-Generating Law Firm Website
At its core, your law firm website should serve to speak to the needs, struggles, and interests of your target audience. It should be laser-focused on your practice area, who you serve, and what you have to offer.
With this in mind, a well-crafted website content strategy should define:
Your business goals (the cases you want).
What competitors are doing.
What pages to write and keywords to target.
How to use your content budget.
Your editorial calendar.
The purpose/intent of each page.
PR and backlink strategy.
Below, we’ll dive deeper into how to develop this strategy, build out amazing content, and achieve your seven-figure revenue goals.
1. Define The Cases You Want
The first step to developing a successful website marketing strategy is to define the types of legal cases you want.
This activity will help you determine the types of people you want to reach, the type of content you should create, and the types of SEO keywords you need to target.
That way, you end up marketing to a more specific subset of potential clients, rather than a broad range of users.
Not sure where to set your focus? Here are a few questions that might help:
Which of your cases are the most profitable?
What types of cases are you not getting enough of?
In what markets are you strongest?
In which markets do you want to improve?
Are there any practice areas you want to explore?
At the end of this activity, you might decide that you want to attract more family law cases, foreclosure law cases, or DUI cases – whatever it is, getting hyper-focused on the types of cases you want to attract will only make your website marketing even stronger.
2. Identify Your Top Competitors
One of the best ways to “hack” your website marketing strategy is to figure out what’s working for your competitors.
By “competitors” we mean law firms that are working to attract the types of cases you’re trying to attract, at the same level at which your law firm is currently operating.
I say this because I see many law firms trying to out beat and outrank the “big” fish and this can feel like a losing battle. You want to set your sights on your closest competitors, rise above them, and then get more competitive with your strategy.
Here are a few ways to identify your closest competitors:
Conduct a Google search of your legal practice area + your service area (e.g., “family law Kirkland”, “DUI lawyer LA”, “Denver probate attorney” etc.). Take note of the top-ranking domains (i.e., websites).
Use SEO tools like Semrush or Ahrefs to search your domain name. These tools will often surface close competitors to your domain.
Using the same tools above, conduct organic research on your domain to see what keywords you are already ranking for. Search these keywords in Google and see what other domains come up.
Use these tools to determine the domain authority (DA) of your domain. Compare this to the other top-ranking domains to see which domains have an authority score that’s similar to your own.
Be sure to look at your known business competitors as well.
These may or may not be ranking well in Google Search, but it’s still worth a peek to see if they are targeting any high-priority keywords that your website should be targeting.
3. Conduct A Content Audit Of Your Website
Your next step is to conduct an audit of your current website. This will allow you to take stock of what content is performing well, and what content requires improvement.
First, start with your main service pages.
Use SEO tools like Semrush or Ahrefs again to review the rank (position), performance, and keywords of each page. Identify any pages that are ranking low, or not at all.
Then, find “low-hanging fruit” pages. These are the pages that are ranking around position 5-10. They require less effort to optimize to reach those higher rank positions – compared to pages ranking at, say, position 59.
This compares your website’s performance to that of your closest competitors. It will show you a list of keywords that your competitors are ranking for that your website is not ranking for at all.
Finally, create an inventory of what pages you already have, which need to be revised, and which you need to create. Doing so will help you stay organized and stay on task when developing your content strategy.
4. Plan Your Content Silos
By this step, you will have a pretty good idea of what pages you already have, and which pages are “missing” from your strategy (based on the list of keywords you are not yet targeting).
From here, you will plan what’s called “content silos”.
Here is the basic process:
Review an existing service page (if you have one) and optimize it as best you can. Ideally, this is a page that’s already performing well and is otherwise a “low-hanging fruit” page.
If you don’t have any existing service pages, create one based on one of your high-priority keywords. Again, these should be a keyword that is meant to attract your preferred type of cases.
Next, build a “silo” of content around your main page. In other words, create new pages that are topically related to your main service page, but that target slightly different keywords (ideally, “long-tail”, lower competition keywords).
Add internal links between these pages and your primary service page.
Over time, build backlinks to these pages (through guest posting, PR, content marketing, etc.)
Below is an example of a content silo approach for “personal injury:”
Image from author, November 2022
5. Identify Supporting Topics
As part of your website content strategy, you’ll then want to create other supporting content pieces. This should be content that provides value to your potential clients.
FAQs, blogs, and other service pages can support your main pages.
For example, if you are a DUI lawyer, you might want to publish an FAQ page that addresses the main questions clients have about DUI law, or a blog post titled “What to Do When You Get a DUI.”
There are a few tools you can use to research supporting topics:
Semrush – Use this tool to identify untapped keywords, content topics, and more.
AlsoAsked – Identify other questions people have searched for relevant to your primary topic.
Answer the Public – Use this search listening tool to identify topics and questions related to your practice area.
Below is an example of how the full content silo can come together for “Los Angeles Car Accident Lawyer:”
Image from author, November 2022
6. Build An Editorial Calendar
Once you have all of your content ideas down on paper, it’s time to develop your editorial calendar.
This is essentially a plan of what content you need to create when you want to publish it, and what keywords you plan to target.
This can be as simple as a Google Sheet or as fancy as a project management tool (like Monday.com or Asana).
Here are a few tips to get you started:
Always prioritize main pages. These should be the first content pieces you create on your website.
Create or revise your main pages and monitor their performance.Use Google Analytics and other SEO tools to keep your eye on how your content is performing.
Depending on budget and urgency, you might start with all main pages, or go silo by silo. Determine which service pages are most important to you. You can create all of your main pages at once, or develop the entire silo as you go.
Keep a record of your target keywords. Just because you “optimize” for them doesn’t mean your content will automatically rank for your target keywords. In your editorial calendar, keep track of the keywords you wish to target – by page – so you have a record of your original SEO strategy.
What Makes A Winning Law Firm Website Strategy?
The key to achieving seven figures with your law firm website is content.
Content allows you to target your ideal clients, attract your preferred cases, engage your audience, and so much more.
A well-thought-out content strategy will empower your website to achieve more for your business than any other marketing channel could!
Above, I outline a few steps to developing this type of winning strategy. But, achieving excellence takes time.
I recommend keeping your eye on the prize, monitoring performance, and making updates as you go along.
Copypress, January 2023
