Key takeaway: Google RankBrain favors content that readers love, so topic selection is critical. Find out which topics are trending, review what content already exists, and create something your customers will enjoy.
Create specific content for a specific audience
One of the best strategies for creating a foolproof content marketing strategy for Google RankBrain is to get more specific with your content marketing. For example, several years ago you may have created content that was titled “7 Strategies to Create Amazing Marketing.” But you’ll find that with the changes to Google RankBrain, content like this is simply too general. Here are a couple tips for getting started.
When looking at the content that’s trending the highest in the past 24 hours for the keyword “content marketing,” one thing becomes clear: Content that performs best is specific. Take a look at some of the blog titles that went viral.
“5 Best Practices That Will Help You Rank on Page One of Google”
“How to Market Your Brand Using Interactive Native Content”
“How to Get Your Content to Rank for Seasonal Keywords”
Create content for a specific audience that answers problems people are struggling with, and you’ll be in better shape with RankBrain.
Key takeaway: Google RankBrain loves content that is specific rather than general because it better meets the long-tail, narrow phrases people are searching. Before moving forward with that next piece of content, ask yourself, “Is this specific and detailed enough to give my audience exactly what they need?” If the answer is maybe, or even no, then keep searching for a new topic.
Leverage the power of long-form content
You’ve heard it before: “Readers have an attention span that is shorter than that of a goldfish” or “People don’t have time to read long content online.” But the truth is not only will readers consume long content (as much as 3,000 words!), they love it. BuzzSumo’s analysis of 100 million articles revealed that in-depth articles get shared the most. In addition, Quick Sprout reports that blog posts longer than 1,500 words get 68 percent more tweets and 22 percent more likes than shorter ones do. However, the majority of blog posts published are 500 words or shorter, which provides a prime opportunity for your brand to stand out.
Plus, it’s important to know the number of long-tail searches performed increases daily. When typing in a phrase, the content the user is searching for is more specific than ever. If the readers find a match between your content and their needs, and the content is excellent, they’ll read everything that you write.
It’s also interesting to note that Steve Baldwin of Didit.com explained that RankBrain uses “co-occurrence” for delivering more relevant content to users. This means the more frequently specific terms or a related group of words appear within the material, the better they rank. Writing long-form content naturally enables relevant terms to appear more frequently and creates this co-occurrence without being redundant (note: this is not keyword stuffing!).
Key takeaway: Long-form content is good for Google RankBrain so long as the content is useful, relevant, and includes details your readers can “plug in and play” immediately.
Moving forward with greater impact
Benjamin Franklin said, “When you’re finished changing, you’re finished.” Marketers who remain fluid, changing with updates such as Google RankBrain, will not only achieve better search engine results, they’ll also delight customers with amazing content. But first you must change the way you think about SEO.
New strategies should move away from thinking of SEO as a game to master and instead think of it as a goal focused on “overdelivering” amazing value to the reader. Optimization is no longer a laundry list of to-do items ― it’s a new way to think about content.
Have you created successful content that does well with the RankBrain update? Is so, please share your best strategies and results.