[Best of Season] AMP 082: How To Drive 10x More Traffic With This SEO Technique From Brian Dean Of Backlink.io

03/22/22 • 24 min

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CoSchedule started the Actionable Marketing Podcast (AMP) in 2015 and has recorded and published more than 300 episodes. CoSchedule has worked with some of the smartest minds out there that share their stories with you through this podcast. This season, CoSchedule brings back some of the best of the best evergreen content.

These days, you need to create both a great Website and great content to rank on Google.

Today, we’re talking to Brian Dean, an SEO expert and founder of Backlinko, about how to fuel your 10x content using his research method called the Skyscraper Technique.

Some of the highlights of the show include:

Black Hat SEO: Stuffing keywords and creating fake signals to rank in Google
Google penalized sites using Black Hat SEO strategy
White Hat SEO: Show Google everything you did to optimize your site
Backlinko teaches people White Hat SEO strategies
SEO Elements: Keyword and topic research; create content around them
Two types of keywords: Information and commercial
Create and optimize content that gets the most searches around keywords/topics
Differences between well-researched and not researched content and topics
Provide one-stop shopping for all the information customers need
Skyscraper Technique: Research to figure out what content will perform well
Ways to improve content - go bigger and better, curate, storytelling, and more
Focus on quality over quantity; create less content, make it more valuable
Common missteps when implementing “less is more” strategy and ranking

Links:

Quotes by Brian Dean:

“You really have to create legitimately great content and a legitimately great Website to rank in Google.”

“Everything starts with a keyword with SEO.”

“They just regurgitate what’s already out there and that’s not the type of content that’s going to rank as well on Google.”

“There’s tons of ways to make your content more valuable than the competition.”

These days, you need to create both a great Website and great content to rank on Google.

Today, we’re talking to Brian Dean, an SEO expert and founder of Backlinko, about how to fuel your 10x content using his research method called the Skyscraper Technique.

Some of the highlights of the show include:

Black Hat SEO: Stuffing keywords and creating fake signals to rank in Google
Google penalized sites using Black Hat SEO strategy
White Hat SEO: Show Google everything you did to optimize your site
Backlinko teaches people White Hat SEO strategies
SEO Elements: Keyword and topic research; create content around them
Two types of keywords: Information and commercial
Create and optimize content that gets the most searches around keywords/topics
Differences between well-researched and not researched content and topics
Provide one-stop shopping for all the information customers need
Skyscraper Technique: Research to figure out what content will perform well
Ways to improve content - go bigger and better, curate, storytelling, and more
Focus on quality over quantity; create less content, make it more valuable
Common missteps when implementing “less is more” strategy and ranking

Links:

Quotes by Brian Dean:

“You really have to create legitimately great content and a legitimately great Website to rank in Google.”

“Everything starts with a keyword with SEO.”

“They just regurgitate what’s already out there and that’s not the type of content that’s going to rank as well on Google.”

“There’s tons of ways to make your content more valuable than the competition.”

Previous Episode

[Best of Season] AMP 057: How To Create Content That Ranks For 11,000+ Keywords With Julia McCoy From Express Writers

How much attention do you pay to keywords in your content?

For too many people, the answer is “none” or “nearly none.” While having engaging content that attracts human readers is vital, ignoring keywords is going to make it difficult for those human readers to find your content in the first place.

This bad advice to ignore keywords has made it so some marketers really don’t know how to use keywords effectively at all.

Today, we’re talking to Julia McCoy, the CEO of Express Writers. She’s not only an amazing writer but also considered a thought leader in her industry. She talks to us about using keywords well when creating content.

Some of the highlights of the show include:

How Julia got into freelance writing, what made her start Express Writers, and what she does there.
An overview of the content strategy at Express Writers.
How Julia helps older content maintain a high ranking in the search engines.
Why targeting low-competition keywords works.
How Julia finds the keywords and what tools she uses.
How Julia defines good content for Express Writers.
Tips on weaving keywords into great content.
Why long-form content is important when it comes to ranking.
Where to focus first if you’re a content marketer getting started with keywords.

Links:

Quotes by Julia McCoy:

“Just having engaging writing is number one. You have to write to be read. Number two, you have to be super thorough on the topic.”

“Once we have that keyword, it’s not just about the keyword, it’s about creating content where that keyword is the topic."

“Consistency is key. Whenever you start, give your audience something to look forward to.”

Next Episode

[Best of Season] AMP085: How To Use The Psychology Of Habit Formation To Be A Better Marketer With Best-Selling Author Nir Eyal

Has your smartphone ever beeped or vibrated to let you know that something, some piece of information or message, is waiting, just for you? Without even thinking, you read, listen to, or watch, and become completely absorbed in it. How have these pieces gained so much power over our behavior and attention? How do software companies hook us, and what can marketers learn from this phenomenon?

Today’s guest is Nir Eyal, who says today’s smartest companies have melded psychology, business, and technology into habit-forming products. Nir is the best-selling author of Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products. He’s an angel investor and expert in behavioral design. He unveils some psychological principles behind some of today’s biggest and most valuable companies.

Some of the highlights of the show include:

Skill of the century is the ability to cultivate focus
Behavioral Design: Engaging, habit forming products built with consumer psychology in mind
People use the Hooked model to engage with a product or service
Step 1: Internal trigger (reason why you use a product - to modulate your mood, to feel something different; products and services cater to emotional discomfort)
What’s the user’s itch? What’s their pain point that occurs frequently enough to build a habit around?
Step 2: Action (the simplest behavior done in anticipation of a reward and relief from discomfort; technology shortens the distance between the need and reward)
Lewin’s Equation: “People act in accordance to their personality and their environment” - the easier something is, the more likely people are to do it
Step 3: Reward Phase (the itch gets scratched, the customer’s need is satiated, and their problems are solved)
Element of Variability: Something of mystery, something of uncertainty
3 Variable Reward Types: Rewards of the tribe, the hunt, and of the self
If you can form a habit, you can engage people with your brand through a community/content habit, and monetization is the result of engagement
Step 4: Investment Phase (increases likelihood of the next pass through the hook by loading the next trigger and storing value)
Content, data, followers, and reputation get users to invest in your product
Companies should make a deliberate effort to understand consumers better; what makes people click and tick, so you can build services that they want

Links:

Quotes by Nir Eyal:

“Where we always start is what’s the user’s itch? What’s their pain point that occurs frequently enough to build a habit around?”
“The easier something is, the more likely people are to do it.”
“Monetization is a result of engagement.”