Letter #11: Studying SERPs [Free Checklist]
10 things to study when trying to beat out ranking blog posts
Hey hey!
Know those words/phrases you don’t like the sound of?
It’s sort of a personal preference thing but I don’t like the sound of the phrase ‘reinvent the wheel.’
It seems to have found a permanent home in my head over this weekend though. Interestingly, however, it sums up the takeaway that I’ve for you in this week’s issue: when it comes to writing SEO blog content, don’t reinvent the wheel 😄
Anyhoo, let’s dive into today’s topic: top 10 things you should be reviewing as you study the SERPs for writing content aimed at beating already ranking pieces.
I promised we’d discuss this last week when Joanne from uSERP shared the secret sauce for creating high-ranking content – which content types to produce and how to get them to rank.
So when analyzing ranking pieces, here’s what you’ve got to look at:
Content length. The content you create doesn’t have to be as long as the ranking pieces as long as you’re more in-depth.
Content structure. Study how the content is organized in H2s and H3s. For the top 2-3 positions, note down the structure for reference for outlining your draft.
Content depth. Writing style, word choice, what’s covered, and how it’s explained are all things that you need to study here. Then, whip up a plan to go deeper or explain the topic more simply.
Content freshness. Recall that Google loves fresh content. So old, high-ranking content is something you can easily beat with a fresh blog piece containing up-to-date research and statistics.
Content formatting. Identify how the ranking content encourages readability. Whatever your answer, you don’t have to copy it. Instead, you need to take steps to boost reading experience because that’s what is going to keep people on your page (reduced bounce rate) and encourage them to read.
Visuals. Look for how the top 2-3 pieces use visual aids to promote readability and content understanding.
Ranking site’s DA, traffic, and backlink count. While it’s challenging to get your content to rank in the face of a high-DA site, you can certainly create a distribution plan to get more backlinks for the blog post you publish.
Side note: Don’t gloss over the distribution and backlink-building plan – you need it to drive as much (or more) traffic to your page as the ranking pages. Luckily, I’ve a content distribution expert sharing his tips next week so stay tuned.
Compare the top 1-3 ranking results with those ranking 4-6 on the first page. This is a surefire way to identify what not to do as you write your post.
I’ll say this again: don’t reinvent the wheel (there it is again 😂). For example, if the top pages have short introductions as compared with the lower-ranking results, stick with writing a short intro instead of taking a different approach.
And that’s all.
Once you’ve studied the SERPs, make sure you write down exactly how you plan to beat the top-ranking posts (include it in your brief too if you’re outsourcing content creation).
Ask yourself: how can I make my content more comprehensive, authoritative/credible, and easy to read?
And, before I leave, here’s the free SERP study checklist containing all the things you need to do.
Signing off with love,
Masooma
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