According to Forbes Advisor, fewer than 1% of Google’s users arrive at the second page of search results. So if the blog articles you paid good money for are languishing outside the top page of Google, just remember: nobody discovers number two.
Even with the perfect product, your marketing strategy can get sidelined by blog content that is not good enough for page one. The writing might not even be of poor quality. Instead, you could be running into any of the following problems:
Here’s the worst part, you, or a content writer, could do all those things right and still come up short. Why? Because your writing did not effectively target the decision-makers who can buy your product.
Clearly, there are a whole host of potential problems with your content. We’ve identified the main ones in our work at Cerebrum. In this article, we’ll share our process for identifying and correcting those problems with content update sprints.
At Cerebrum, our content updates are typically 500-1000 words,
Typically, at the start of our SEO campaigns, we identify a range of articles that require updates, between 5 and 20 depending on the volume of content the client has already published. Typically, you should update an article if it ranks somewhere between the second page to the fifth page of Google.
Thankfully, if you have content that didn’t perform as you expected, it is still salvageable. Even if you’re off the first page, you’re still in contention. That’s because the way Google’s algorithm works, they’re constantly checking for updates to your blog pages. Case in point: SEO experiments have cited content freshness as a significant new ranking factor in 2024.
That means you can revise and update your suboptimal content and potentially rank higher for search engine queries that same day.
The only question is, how can you revise your content to rank higher? I will spend the rest of this article explaining how.
The first step to improving your content is understanding how Google interprets your content and where your weaknesses lie.
In 2023, SEOs across the world panicked as Google introduced new updates to its search algorithm. Many watched helplessly as their pages tumbled down Google’s rankings, only to be replaced by ostensibly less helpful pages such as Reddit threads, and review sites like Capterra.
With the surge in AI-fuelled writing over the past year, Google’s decision to promote user-generated content, like that from Reddit or Capterra, is understandable. Such forums adhere closely to Google’s content rating philosophy: E-E-A-T.
E-E-A-T stands for the following:
The most important word here is “Experience”. Upon seeing a Reddit thread, it’s clear that the content being shared comes from personal experience. Google is prioritizing the real over the fake.
Fortunately, social media websites aren’t the only places that signal experience or any other 4 components of E-E-A-T. However, many websites – even those that don’t use AI-generated content – have some catching up to do if they want to become a true thought leader in their niche.
Every article is different, no doubt. When we start analyzing your content and looking for updates, we consider the needs of your article based on the content that already ranks at the top. To achieve this, we analyze how to best respond to the questions associated with that query while prioritizing your products.
In brief, here’s an action plan to help you execute this interview-enriched content strategy.
Sounds like a lot of work, right? That’s because it is. As a result, you benefit from:
Let’s see what this could look like in practice.
Product review articles are the bread and butter of many SaaS SEO strategies. Why wouldn’t they be? They provide the perfect chance for you to frame your product as superior to your competitor.
However, I found a critical addendum to this. Google says the following in their search quality evaluator guidelines: “Which would you trust: a product review from someone who has personally used the product or a "review" by someone who has not?”
Yeah, most review articles don’t give you the impression that the author actually used the product. Is it any surprise that Reddit threads rank instead?
So, to demonstrate Experience and Expertise, you should:
Now, for the experience element on the competitor product. First, look up user reviews and add screenshots and quotes, letting people know you understand the general consensus on the product. This allows readers to feel like they see the big picture. Make note of the good and the bad.
Of course, there are many other types of articles and many different types of interview content too. But as you can see, an interview case study enriches a review article substantially if it’s relevant to the target user.
Every day, Mark Zuckerberg asks himself the following question to keep himself in check: “Am I doing the most important thing I could be doing?"
If you’re busy managing your business, writing content and making cold calls likely isn’t an optimal use of your time. Your job is to focus on the product. Marketing, while necessary, is going to tie up more of your time than you can afford if you try to DIY it. Especially if you try to do it properly.
You should hire an SEO content professional who understands your niche, how to attract your ideal clients, and the appropriate writing style. Choosing the correct strategy is essential.
If you want assistance understanding and implementing the content update and interview strategy I outlined above, shoot me an email at nicolas@thecerebrum.co. We can start planning your rise as a thought leader in your niche so you can reach your ideal high-LTV clients at a higher frequency.
