Hey, Rafiqul here. Welcome to the #106th episode of Content Marketing VIP, which delivers actionable insights, SEO case studies & free resources once a week. First time here? Read past episodes.
I apologize for not being able to send you last week’s newsletter. No excuses but I will try to be consistent with quality newsletters.
1. STOP Playing the ‘Higher Word Count’ Game in SEO
Google the search term ‘SEO case study’ and you will likely see Ahrefs’ webpage within the top 3 position.
This single SEO case study webpage is getting 1.79k organic visits every month (a/c to Ahrefs data).
This page has 179 words of content (only).
Let me share another example 👇
Google ‘Is SEO a Good Career’ and one of the top three results is this article written by (Nathan Gotch).
And, guess what? This article has 542 words of content.
The above two examples highlight a point that:
Higher word count ≠ better content quality AND higher ranking
Obviously, there will be some niche or topic where you need detailed guides to compete.
However, the SEO mindset should match the search intent and improve content depth (not word count).
Content depth = How well you’re covering a topic (maybe answering all relevant questions, covering related subtopics in detail, adding expert insights, etc.)
So, instead of just focusing on giving writers a specific word count target, instruct them to improve content depth.
Here are some ways to do that:
Check headings of top-ranking pages (to find what subtopics are covered)
Get question suggestions from Google auto-suggest and PAA
Get real-world problem ideas from Reddit
Check YouTube comments and e-commerce product reviews (if relevant to your topic)
👉 Check out my quick tips on improving your content depth level
2. Improved information structure = Improved content readability
The way you create content briefs and structure the information on your page matters a lot for content readability and UX.
Here’s a real example:
I searched with the keyword ‘Data science job types’
This article is ranked within the top 10 positions.
There are 10 data science job types mentioned in the article and the structure of each job path looks like this:
This might seem normal, as most articles follow a similar content structure— but some small improvements to this structure can lead to huge content readability improvement.
Here’s how I’d structure each job path:
The information might be similar in both cases. However, the categorization of each job title (by salary, skills, roles, and jobs) is what the reader actually wants to know about.
Action items:
Find opportunities to make the content more organized and easy to digest for the readers.
Identify the search intent and focus on highlighting the most important information using bullets, subheadings, bolded text, etc.
MY SUGGESTION: While creating content briefs, give this detailed structure for each section— this makes the writers’ job much easier.
A NOTE FOR YOU:
I am not relying on affiliate links or sponsored products to generate income via this newsletter. So, if you want to support my newsletter, do consider sharing this newsletter with other SEOs and content folks.
I will be grateful to you.
(Continue reading…)
3. Pros and Cons of publishing content at scale
In one of my sites, I followed a content template targeting a low-competition keyword pattern and published multiple articles.
Last month, I noticed a declining traffic trend as many of these article topics were time-sensitive.
Examples of time-sensitive topics:
Best X products for {Year}
Best AI documentaries to watch in {Year}
So, the possible solution is to update the content of these articles and the latest information, facts, research data, etc.
Here’s a result from one of the articles from the template pages.
So, when you’re publishing content at scale (especially if most of the articles require an update every 6/12 months) — you need to be aware of the fact that there will be a lot of work required just to maintain the ranking and traffic.
However, one positive side is that over time your page gets more links and stronger. As a result, you could see huge improvements within a few days after updating your existing page.
Here’s what you can do to find and update your old articles:
Step 1. Go to GSC and open the page performance report(at least the last 3 months). Export the CSV file.
Step 2. Remove all URLs that have less than 300 impressions (you can set your limit).
Step 3. Filter the data by Low CTR (high impressions, less clicks)
Step 4. Now, analyze the list of page URLs and identify whether these pages lack content freshness.
Step 5. Repeat this every 6 months and find pages with declined traffic.
MY RECOMMENDATION:
If you don’t have many resources in the beginning, it’s better to target evergreen articles that require less freshness over time.
4. These 30+ FREE UX playbooks from Google are must-reads for SEOs
Content quality, Technical SEO, Backlinks, EEAT, and content experience/UX— are key pillars of any SEO strategy.
However, the UX part is mostly ignored in SEO campaigns. But a ridiculously good UX can not only improve the readability but also increase conversions.
From affiliate niche sites to SaaS business, if you know how to design your blog content and landing pages- you can make a huge improvement in conversion.
Start your UX learning journey with these valuable playbooks published by Google itself.
You will also find the UX playbooks by industry and features such as finance, retail, above-the-fold, and many more.
👉 Access Google’s UX playbooks here
Credit: I learned about these hidden gems from Dan Shure first on Twitter.
Liked this episode?
If so, please do share your feedback about what you like and dislike about this newsletter.
I am looking forward to reading your feedback and replying to your emails.