#087 Content Marketing VIP Newsletter
Get SEO case study breaking down Masterclass's SEO strategy, turning your blog into lead generation machine, and free tools.
I just wanted to share some personal (good) news with you 😇.
Recently, I got my knowledge panel on Google verified. Not a big deal for many but this might boost my credibility as an SEO consultant 😁.
That’s all.
Now, let’s get back to today’s SEO and content marketing insights you’ve been waiting for.
🎯 Actionable insights
💡 1. Turn your blog posts into a lead-generation machine
Whether you want more product sign-ups or to generate leads, this tactic can 2x your conversion from blog posts.
Let's break it down 👇
In general, the "above-the-fold (ATF)" section of an article displays:
blog title
featured image
and sometimes a short overview
An example:
There's nothing wrong with this approach.
However, optimizing the ATF section for conversion can increase engagement and conversions.
An example:
Brainstation.(io) is an online training platform for students who want to build their career in tech.
They optimize their blog post by optimizing the above-the-fold section with a personalized lead generation form.
One of their blog posts, 'How to become a machine learning engineer,' offers a machine learning course inquiry form.
Here’s the blog post screenshot:
Adding a personalized lead generation form/messaging like this brings readers to the middle and bottom of the funnel.
In short: you're turning blog posts into landing pages by optimizing the ATF section.
Action items:
Find 3-5 blog posts with maximum organic traffic
Optimize the above-the-fold section
Ensure that the blog topic and lead generation form/messaging are super relevant
Compare the performance of optimized blog articles with normal posts.
👉 Insights from Content Marketing VIP
💡 2. How Masterclass drives $3.9 million worth of organic traffic from SEO (case study by MarketingExamined)
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Masterclass launched in 2015.
Seven years later, Masterclass built an education empire worth $2.7B.
One of its main drivers for growth is SEO.
Here's how they did it:
First, the SEO stats behind this empire:
12.2M Monthly Visits
$3.9M In Monthly Organic Traffic Value
606K Backlinks
51.5K Referring Domains
This makes search their number one source of traffic.
But the key is how they optimize this traffic based on search intent.
Search intent is the “why” behind any search query.
By understanding the "why", you can map out "how" to drive action.
But every person who performs a search on Google is searching for one of four things:
Information
Navigation
Transaction
Comparison
Behind the “why", there are specific keywords.
Use the following table to understand which keywords fuel the individual’s intent:
So, any article that matches the informational intent is met with a quick answer, a directory of links to expedite you finding the answer, and related questions.
And a look at their top pages on Ahrefs shows that outside of their Home Page, every top page meets the informational intent of the user.
To optimize this, Masterclass creates articles that help users get things done with articles that provide them with the right information to do so.
And they have 10,000+ articles doing this.
Masterclass bridges each article to a specific course, taught by a specific instructor, centred around the topic related to the information they were looking for.
Because the extension of the right information is the right product.
So, every information-dense article is linked to a scaled version of information — a Masterclass Course.
So, here's where we're at:
They searched for specific information.
They clicked a specific course because of it.
This journey just took a consumer from problem-aware to product-aware.
But they didn’t buy…
This is where the magic happens.
Masterclass retargets each individual across Youtube, Facebook, and Instagram with specific creative related to the course they showed initial interest in.
Here's how it works:
You searched "Difference Between Egg Yolks and Egg Whites?"
You clicked the Masterclass article
You clicked through to the Gordon Ramsey Cooking Course
You didn't buy
You get retargeted on Youtube, Facebook, and Instagram with different
Video ads specific to the Gordon Ramsey course
If this helped you, then you’ll love joining the MarketingExamined newsletter for more SEO case studies.
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💬 Bite-sized insights
💡 1. Fix these basic elements to improve your blog UX
If you have limited bandwidth and resources, then consider primarily creating evergreen content.
It might be overwhelming to create "Best XX products of 2023" type content and get some quick traffic.
Some examples of typical traffic trends of evergreen and timely content:
However, also be careful that these trending topics need fresh content to maintain ranking.
So, if you cannot update with fresh and updated information, you may start losing traffic as well. Invest in content strategically.
👉 Insights from Content Marketing VIP
💡 2. SEO tip for large sites (by Dan Shure)
SEO tip if you're working on large sites:
If you're working with large sites with thousands of pages, then register different subfolders in Google Search Console as URL Prefix Properties.
This will help you in:
Finding problematic URLs in the pages report
Getting more granular query data
👉 Insights from Dan Shure
🗓️ Free resources and tools
💡 1. Free autocomplete keyword generator
This autocomplete generator will help you find hundreds of keywords from your seed keywords.
Best part: This tool not only extracts autocomplete keywords from Google but also from YouTube, shopping, and news.
Here’s an example of getting 1000+ autocomplete keywords from 3 seed keywords:
👉 Try this free autocomplete tool (by Pemavor)
💡 2 SEO guide to building a topical map and interlinking relations
Last week, I found this insightful guide on building a topical map with examples.
This guide teaches you the meaning of topical maps and how to build one for your website from scratch.
“Interlinking and topical maps are both useful tools for organizing and presenting information on a website.
By combining interlinking and topical maps, you can create a logical and intuitive structure for your website content, which can help visitors and search engines understand the relationships between different pages or topics.”
Here’s the table of contents (for a quick overview):
P.S. If you like the SEO and content marketing so far, I'd really appreciate if you can share this post on social media.