how to provide unique value in your content

SEO + Content

How to Provide Unique Value in Your Content

Table of Contents

- What Content Matters for SEO?

- Traditional On-Page Ranking Factors

- The Basics of Valuable Content

- How Do We Create Unique Value?

- Reality Check on Unique Content

- Where Can You Outperform Your Competitors?

What Content Matters for SEO?

What Content Matters for SEO?

Primary Content vs. Secondary Content

What Content Matters for SEO?

Primary Content:Content easily found by search engines

Web Pages- About Us, Product/Services, FAQ, Tutorials, Contact

Blog Articles- Industry Trends and Insights, Interviews

Landing Pages- Lead capture: downloadable offers, demo request

Customer Testimonials and Product Reviews

What Content Matters for SEO?

Secondary Content: Content must be carefully optimized for search engines

Images - Blog images, Products/Services, Bio photos

Videos- Behind the scenes, How-to, Recorded Webinars

PDFs- Free guides, White papers, Instructions, Case Studies

Traditional On-Page Ranking Factors

Architecture/HTML- URLs- H1/H2 tags- Meta description- Mobile friendly- Schema markup- Speed- Canonicalization- Image alt attributes

Content- Keyword selection and use- Title- Copy length- Ratio of keywords:copy- Semantic support

Source: Search Engine Land Periodic Table of SEO Success

Traditional On-Page Ranking Factors

The Basics of Valuable Content

The Basics of Valuable Content

That’s all great information but…

What makes content valuable to search engines?

Answer:

Content is rewarded that best resolves the user’s intent behind their search query

The Basics of Valuable Content

Comprehensive and Holistic Copy- Well researched with attribution- High word count: 700 to 2,400 words

Recent Publication Date- Timestamp and refreshed with new info- Done is better than perfect

Site Relevancy - High CTR from SERPs- Internal linking to other related content pieces- External authority: How do other sites see your site?

The Basics of Valuable Content

How Do We Create Unique Value?

Content must build off others’ workNOT repeat it

How Do We Create Unique Value?

Think like news agency: What happens duringa breaking news story?

How Do We Create Unique Value?

Review the SERPs for Your Keywords/Topics- Know what everyone else is saying = don’t repeat it

Take a Fresh Angle- Enhance the conversation- Offer new information (i.e. new data)

Ask and Answer Real Questions- Think critically about the intent behind search queries

Time Sensitive- Pay attention to real time/seasonal needs

The Basics of Valuable Content

Reality Check on Unique Content

Reality Check on Unique Content

Bad news:

A lot of sites are following the above methods. This is now the minimum bar to:

a.) Outrank the giants b.) Solidify staying power

Reality Check on Unique Content

"Really, where I want folks to go and where I always expect content from Moz to go is here, and that is 10x, 10x better than anything I can find in the search results today.

If I don't think I can do that, then I'm not going to try and rank for those keywords. I'm just not going to pursue it”

- Rand Fishkin, MozWhy Good Unique Content Needs to Die

Where Can You Outperform Your Competitors?

UX- Opportunity for mobile friendly results?

Format- Create more engaging content? (i.e. Data visualizations)

Ideas/Topics- Is there a lack of information? - Can I take this topic and add something new?

Authority & Relevance - Can I create content with new links from better sources?

The Basics of Valuable Content

This type of content requires a significant time investment:

a.) research your topic b.) analyze your competitors resultsc.) determine your own resources

How Do We Create Unique Value?

As you become more authoritative in content, as readers begin to trust your brand for advice (see Quinn’s guacamole post) then you begin to build inherent quality and value- MarketingLand- Moz- Search Engine Journal- Vertical Measures

How Do We Create Unique Value?

Thank You