INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
offer, over on Extra Crunch
Many are unwittingly using tactics from 4 years ago that no longer work today.This post cuts through the noise by sharing real-world data
behind some of the biggest SEO successes this year.It studies the content marketing performance of clients with Growth Machine and Bell
hundred others.What content do their clients write about, how do they optimize that content to rank well (SEO), and how do they convert
now reliably identify high quality articles
How By monitoring engagement signals: Google can detect when a visitor hits the Back button in their browser
This signals that the reader quickly bounced from the article after they clicked to read it.If this occurs frequently for an article, Google
It deems it low quality.For example, below is a screenshot of the (old) Google Webmaster Tools interface
Write articles for queries that actually prioritize articles.Not all search queries are best served by articles.Below, examine the results
articles.Sanity check this before you sit down to write.2
Write titles that accurately depict what readers get from the content.Are incoming readers looking to buy a product Then be sure to show
them product links.Or, were they looking for a recipe Provide that.Make your content deliver on what your titles imply a reader will see
Otherwise, readers bounce
Write in-depth yet concise content.In 2019, what do most of the top-ranked blogs have in commonThey skip filler introductions, keep their
Google is still happy to rank you highly
site.Remember: Google has Google Analytics, Google Search, Google Ads, and Google Chrome data to monitor how searchers engage with your site
Believe me, if they want to find out whether your content is engaging, they can find a way
the weeks after publishing your post, Google notices them then experimentally surfaces them at the top of related search terms
They then monitor whether searchers engage with the content (i.e
immediately convert.Medium: They read the initial post plus a few more before eventually converting.Long (most common): They subscribe to
design, and calls to action
Naturally segue to your pitchOur data shows you should not pitch your product until the back half of your post.Why Pitching yourself in the
Woodpath, a health blog with Amazon products to pitch, does this well.Finally, our best-performing clients focus less on their Google
This entails pitching them with ads for the products that are most relevant to the topics they read on the blog
(Facebook and Instagram provide the granular control necessary to segment traffic like this.) You can read my growth marketing handbook to
over volume: Make your hero metrics your revenue per visitor and your total revenue
the siteThen compelling them to convertIn short, your goal is to help Google do its job: Get readers where they need to go with the least
amount of friction in their way.Be sure to check out more articles from Julian Shapiro over on Extra Crunch, and get in touch with the Extra
Crunch editors if you have cutting-edge startup advice to share with our subscribers, at [email protected].
