2-10xing Content For Lawyers In The Real World

Warning. This blog post is long. The conclusions of the tests in this first section can be found here  if you are a skimmer. You’re welcome.

Part 1: Tests & Outcomes

Test 1: Sub-Page/Blog Roll-Up to Top Landing Page

Test 1.1

Here we took a geographically focused page which had subtopic, geographically focused child pages and combined them into one page (focused on Summerlin, NV). The idea was to repurpose the content into something bigger & more comprehensive rather than keeping multiple pages focused on smaller topics. I wanted to see if it would help the main page perform better & what impact (if any) it would have on each the terms the individual pages were targeting. We took the main body copy from about 420 words to 2023.

We combined these 3 pages on 3-15-16 (focused on Motorcycle Accidents, Premises Liability & Car Accidents):

1. http://www.clientdomain.com/summerlin/car-accident-lawyer
2. http://www.clientdomain.com/summerlin/premises-liability/
3. http://www.clientdomain.com/summerlin/motorcycle-accident-lawyer

Into this page (which was focused more broadly on Personal Injury):

http://www.clientdomain.com/summerlin/personal-injury-lawyer

Test 1.2

Then we did another similar test where we combined three more geographically focused child pages into the main, parent page for the location (this time Henderson, NV). This took the page they were moved to from 413 words in body content to 1537 words. These pages (below) were combined on 6-29-16 and submitted the old 301ed urls as well as the url where they were moved to be indexed on 7-6-16 (mobile & desktop) (focused on car, truck & motorcycle accidents):

1. http://www.clientdomain.com/henderson/car-accident-lawyer
2. http://www.clientdomain.com/henderson/truck-accident-lawyer
3. http://www.clientdomain.com/henderson/motorcycle-accident-lawyer

Into this page (again focused on personal injury):

http://www.clientdomain.com/henderson/personal-injury-lawyer

Test 1.3

Finally, we combined 2 blog posts which were focused on motorcycle accidents in Las Vegas and rolled them up, adding them to the main landing pages focused on Las Vegas Motorcycle Accident Lawyer/Attorney terms. We combined these two pages on 6-29-16 and on 7-6-16 and submitted desktop only to index. This took the page from 472 words up to 1470 words:

1. http://www.clientdomain.com/ive-just-motorcycle-accident-now/
2. http://www.clientdomain.com/common-injuries-new-motorcyclists-overlook/

And added them to this page:

http://www.clientdomain.com/las-vegas-motorcycle-accident-lawyer

The graphs below outline the changes to the related ranking positions that were tracked before & after.

Test 1.1 Graphs

Term: Summerlin Motorcycle Accident Lawyer (3/15/16 – 5/23/16)

Tracking in position #2 on 3-15-16, ended up in position #2 on 5-23-16 (+/- 0)

Term: Summerlin Premises Liability Lawyer (3/15/16 – 5/23/16)

Tracking in position #2 on 3-15-16, moved to position #1 on 5-23-16 (+1)

Term: Summerlin Car Accident Lawyer (3/15/16 – 5/23/16)

Tracking in position #13 on 3-15-16, moved to position #3 on 5-23-16 (+10)

Term: Summerlin Personal Injury Lawyer (3/15/16 – 5/23/16)

Tracking in position #11 on 3-15-16, moved to position #5 on 5-23-16 (+6)

Test 1.2 Graphs

Term: Henderson Car Accident Lawyer (6/29/16 – 8/2/16)[/vc_column_text]

Tracking in position #29 on 6-29-16, ended up in position #37 (#38 mobile) on 8-2-16 (-8 & -9)

Term: Henderson Car Accident Attorney (6/29/16 – 8/3/16)

Tracking in position #37 on 6-29-16, ended up in position #31 (#28 mobile) on 8-3-16 (+6 & +9)

Term: Henderson Motorcycle Accident Lawyer (6/29/16 – 8/3/16)

Tracking in position #16 on 6-29-16, ended up in position #17 (#19 mobile) on 8-3-16 (-1 & -3)

Term: Henderson Motorcycle Accident Attorney (6/29/16 – 8/2/16)

Tracking in position #10 on 6-29-16, ended up in position #8 (#9 mobile) on 8-2-16 (+2 & +1)

Term: Henderson Truck Accident Lawyer (6/29/16 – 8/2/16)

Tracking in position #14 (#16 mobile) on 6-29-16, ended up in position #13 on 8-2-16 (+1 & +3)

Term: Henderson Truck Accident Attorney (6/29/16 – 8/2/16)

Tracking in position #12 (#13 mobile) on 6-29-16, ended up in position #17 on 8-2-16 (-5 & -4)

Term: Henderson Truck Accident Attorney (6/29/16 – 8/2/16)

Tracking in position #43 (#42 mobile) on 6-29-16, ended up in position #59 (#52 mobile) on 8-2-16 (-16 & -10)

Term: Henderson Personal Injury Attorney (6/29/16 – 8/3/16)

Tracking in position #43 (#41 mobile) on 6/29-16, ended up in position #53 (#52 mobile) on 8-3-16 (-10 & -11)

Test 1.3 Graphs

Term: Las Vegas Motorcycle Accident Attorney (6/29/16 – 7/28/16)

Tracking in position #46 on 6-29-16, ended up in position #62 on 7-28-16 (-16)

Term: Las Vegas Motorcycle Accident Lawyer (6/29/16 – 7/28/16)

Started tracking in position #9 on 6-29-16, ended up in position #19 (desktop & 25 mobile) on 7-28-16 (-10)

Test 2: Blog Post Stack

Here we took multiple, similar blog posts which weren’t doing anything spectacular & combined them into one. These topics fit well together as they were already part of the same chapter of an ebook which had been broken up into a multitude of blog posts. We did this on two separate chapters in a similar fashion.

Test 2.1

We combined these 2 pages on (5-6-2016):

1. http://www.clientdomain.com/what-if-i-was-injured-in-vegas-forgot-to-take-recommended-steps/
2. http://www.clientdomain.com/do-i-need-to-call-911-after-my-car-accident-in-las-vegas/

Into this page:

‪http://www.clientdomain.com/steps-to-take-after-a-car-accident-in-las-vegas/

Test 2.2

Then we did the same thing by combining these two pages (5-6-2016):

1. http://clientdomain.com/how-to-obtain-an-incident-report-after-an-accident-in-las-vegas/
2. http://www.clientdomain.com/i-think-im-ok-after-being-injured-in-vegas-should-i-still-seek-treatment/

Into this page:

‪http://www.clientdomain.com/getting-medical-treatment-incident-report-injury/

Test 2.3

On this test we stacked 3 blog posts onto one additional, pre-existing post making it 4 total posts with about 2676 words in main body copy of the page (combined on 6-29-2016 and submitted mobile only to be crawled/indexed on 7-6-16):

1. http://www.clientdomain.com/what-to-expect-at-a-las-vegas-injury-trial/
2. http://www.clientdomain.com/how-long-will-it-take-to-determine-if-i-have-a-case-after-an-accident-in-las-vegas/
3. http://www.clientdomain.com/legal-deadlines-to-follow-and-be-aware-of-after-your-injury-in-las-vegas/

Into this page (which already existed):

http://www.clientdomain.com/typical-timeline-of-events-after-being-injured-in-las-vegas/

The following are landing page stats on these pages before & after they were combined:

Test 2.1 Graphs

Old page #1 (30 days before combining): ‪http://www.clientdomain.com/what-if-i-was-injured-in-vegas-forgot-to-take-recommended-steps

Old page #2 (30 days before combining): ‪http://www.clientdomain.com/do-i-need-to-call-911-after-my-car-accident-in-las-vegas/

New Page (30 days after combining):

‪http://www.clientdomain.com/steps-to-take-after-a-car-accident-in-las-vegas/

Test 2.2 Graphs

Old page #1 (30 days before combining): ‪http://clientdomain.com/how-to-obtain-an-incident-report-after-an-accident-in-las-vegas/

Old page #2 (30 days before combining): ‪http://www.clientdomain.com/i-think-im-ok-after-being-injured-in-vegas-should-i-still-seek-treatment/

New Page (30 days after combining):

http://www.clientdomain.com/getting-medical-treatment-incident-report-injury/

Test 2.3 Graphs

Old page #1 (30 days before combining): ‪http://www.clientdomain.com/what-to-expect-at-a-las–vegas-injury-trial/

Old page #2 (30 days before combining): ‪http://www.clientdomain.com/how-long-will-it-take-to-determine-if-i-have-a-case-after-an-accident-in-las-vegas/

Old page #3 (30 days before combining): ‪http://www.clientdomain.com/legal-deadlines-to-follow-and-be-aware-of-after-your-injury-in-las-vegas/‪

Page #4 (where pages got combined, 30 days before combining): ‪http://www.clientdomain.com/typical-timeline-of-events-after-being-injured-in-las–vegas/

Page #4 (combined content from pages – 30 days after combining):

http://www.clientdomain.com/typical-timeline-of-events-after-being-injured-in-las-vegas/

Test 3: The One-Pack Test

The idea here was to see if we could intentionally make a one pack happen. Below is an example of what we wanted to see: From what we gathered from the example, there seemed to be some correlation to having a microsite with schema tied to the main business in these forming. In this particular example, the main site and microsite were both ranking prominently. Once schema was added it seemed to be the tipping point at which the one-pack started showing up in search results.

For this test, our goal was to find a similar term/s to one that was already producing a one-pack result in the SERPs. Then, try to set a foundation for it to happen with the similar term/s where it wasn’t yet showing a one-pack result. We found these terms which were already producing one-pack results: “summerlin personal injury lawyer” & “summerlin car accident lawyer”. Below are screenshots of the results: To implement this test, we chose these terms to create content around & attempt to get a one-pack showing in search results: “Summerlin motorcycle accident lawyer” and “Summerlin bicycle accident lawyer” (+”attorney” variations). Since the clients main site was already ranking on the first page & the competition was low to get the microsite there we started by creating content around the topics where needed.

On 5/24/16, we added content to the microsite in the form of a page focused on each topic (Summerlin bicycle & motorcycle accidents). We already had content on the clients main site for motorcycle accidents but on this same day added to that page Summerlin bicycle accident focused content. The following day (5-25-16) we also fetched (both mobile & desktop) all the pages involved & submitted to be indexed. By 6-6-16, both the microsite & main site were showing prominently in search results for the related terms but not changes to display of search results as far as one-packs go. On this same day, we added additional schema to pages. Main site already contained attorney schema on the Summerlin page but microsite had no schema in place. We added local business to the Summerlin page on the main site (in addition to the attorney), local business schema to the microsite motorcycle page and attorney schema to the bicycle microsite page. On the following day (6-7-16) we again fetched & submitted all three pages involved to be re-indexed. Below is a quick outline with dates of these efforts with dates:

• 5-24-16: added bicycle content to Summerlin page on main site: http://www.clientdomain.com/summerlin/personal-injury-lawyer
• 5-24-16: added bicycle content & page to microsite: http://clientmicrositedomain.com/bicycle-safety/
• 5-24-16: added motorcycle content & page to microsite: http://clientmicrositedomain.com/motorcycle-safety/
• 5-25-16: fetched (both mobile & desktop) & submitted to indexed in search console for all three pages.
• 6-6-16: checked search results, both microsite & main site ranking prominently in positions 1-5 for terms: Summerlin bicycle accident lawyer, Summerlin bicycle accident attorney,Ssummerlin motorcycle accident lawyer, Summerlin motorcycle accident attorney
• 6-6-16: attorney schema already existed but added local business schema to Summerlin page on main site: http://www.clientdomain.com/summerlin/personal-injury-lawyer
• 6-6-16: added attorneys schema to bicycle page on microsite: http://clientmicrositedomain.com/bicycle-safety/
• 6-6-16: added local business schema to motorcycle microsite page on microsite: http://clientmicrositedomain.com/motorcycle-safety/
• 6-7-16: Fetched mobile & desktop versions of all three pages & re-submitted to be indexed
• 7-26-16 created a custom MyMap with keywords & linked to motorcycle page on microsite http://clientmicrositedomain.com/motorcycle-safety/. Embedded map on page. recrawled & submitted desktop & mobile
• Embedded a service area (custom mymap) map with Summerlin info & practice areas as well as service areas on summerlin page of main site: http://www.clientdomain.com/summerlin/personal-injury-lawyer. recrawled & submitted desktop & mobile

By 6-14-16, the only change to the search result is position of ranking sites. Local & organic results displaying (without one-pack) were the same as when test started.

Below are the changes in ranking positions to the main site from the time the test was started: 5-24-16 through 6-14-16:

Terms: Summerlin bicycle accident lawyer & Summerlin bicycle accident attorney

Terms: Summerlin motorcycle accident lawyer & Summerlin motorcycle accident attorney

Test 4: Longer Form Content Expansion

Here we took a couple landing pages & developed a format to add more content to the pages In sections to see what (if any) impact it would have on the pages performance along with it’s ranking ability for related terms.

Test 4.1

Expanded content to this page: ‪http://www.clientdomain.com/las-vegas-car-accident-lawyer/bicycle-accidents. To the right are screenshots of the page before & after.

Before we added content the body copy of the page was about 380 words long. We added over 1020 word to the page to bring the total body copy up to 1403 words. The page had content added on 4-26-16.

Below are the changes in ranking positions for related terms after the content was added:

Ranking Positions For Terms: Las Vegas bicycle accident lawyer & Las Vegas bicycle accident attorney

Las Vegas bicycle accident lawyer was in position #9 on 4-26-16 and moved to position #22 by 8-1-16 (-13)

Las Vegas bicycle accident attorney was in position #9 on 4-26-16 and moved to position #29 (& 25 mobile) by 8-1-16 (-20 & -16)

Test 4.2

Expanded content to this page: ‪http://www.clientdomain.com/las-vegas-wrongful-death-lawyer/.

Before we added content the body copy of the page was about 375 words long. We added over 1500 word to the page to bring the total body copy up to 1934 words. The page had content added on 7-6-16. We also submitted to be indexed in search console (desktop & mobile).

To the right are screenshots of the page before & after. Below are the changes in ranking positions for related terms after the content was added:

Ranking Positions For Terms: Las Vegas wrongful death lawyer & Las Vegas wrongful death attorney

Las Vegas wrongful death lawyer was in position #29 on 7-6-16 and moved to position 39? (& 40 mobile) by 8-2-16 (-10 & -11)

Las Vegas wrongful death attorney was in position #41 on 7-6 -16 and moved to position 46? (& 45 mobile) by 8-2-16 (-5 & -4)

Test 4.3

Expanded content to this page: ‪

http://www.clientdomain.com/las-vegas-car-accident-lawyer/pedestrian-accidents.

The page started out at about 500 words. We added almost 2200 words to bring the total, body copy content up to 2683 words. The page had content added on 7-6-16 and was also submitted desktop & mobile to be indexed in search console.

On the following page are the changes in ranking positions for related terms after the content was added.overlay_strength=”0.3″

Ranking Positions For Terms: Las Vegas pedestrian accident lawyer & Las Vegas pedestrian accident attorney

Las Vegas pedestrian accident lawyer was in position #14 on 7-5-16 and moved to position #6 by 8-2-16 (+8)

Las Vegas pedestrian accident attorney was in position #19 on 7-5-16 and stayed in position #19 & moved to 20 mobile on 8-1-16 (+/-0 & +1).

Test 5: Linking to Blog Posts

Test 5.1

Here we just wanted to throw in a quick test to see if pointing a few social links to pages had any impact on their organic performance. We just created a few social bookmarks to random blog posts. Below we’ll look at the traffic to the page for a little over a month, during the time the links would have went live compared to the same amount of time before they started being created.

Test 5.2

Here we did the exact same thing to a different post on a different site which was instead performing poorly. We simply pointed a few social links to pages had any impact on their organic performance. Just a few social bookmarks to random blog posts. Below we’ll look at the traffic to the page for about month, during the time the links would have went live compared to the same amount of time before they started being created.

Tests & Outcomes Conclusions

Test 1: Sub-Page/Blog Roll-Up to Top Landing Page

When rolling up subtopic pages, the longer content had a better impact than the shorter test. The test with the longest content had a positive impact on 75% of keywords tracked, the short had a negative impact on about 63% of keywords tracked. Rolling 2 blogs up to a landing page had no positive impact at all.

Test 2: Blog Post to Blog Post Stack

Combining 2 blogs into one new one had a 50% success rate but over doubled the traffic in the positive result. Combining 4 blogs into 1 of the 4 had only a very slight positive impact. Combining into a new page seems to be more likely to have a positive effect.

Test 3: The One-Pack Test

Efforts to recreate a one-pack we unsuccessful. We did however see some minor improvements for the keyterms we were tracking which begs for further testing.

Test 4: Longer Form Content Expansion

Tests that resulted in less than 2000 words in the main body copy had a negative impact on tracked keyword ranking positions. Our test that brought the main body copy up over 2500 words had a positive impact on related ranking positions.

Test 5: Linking to Blog Posts

Gaining social bookmarks to pages that were already performing well & gaining organic traffic had a positive effect & seemed to amplify the traffic. Gaining social bookmarks to poorly performing pages with few visits seem to further deteriorate the traffic flow to the page & had no positive effect on traffic.

Click here to skip to the conclusions of the data.

Part 2: The Data

Methodology Behind The Data

The main concept here is to analyze top locally ranking legal sites (previously identified in our Avvo study), identify their top performing page & the most prominent term for that page to see what is happening in the real world as far as 10x content & the legal industry goes. The reason for using top ranking sites from the Avvo study was only to be sure we were looking at top performing sites in major metros, NOT to correlate these findings directly to their positions we looked at there. The goal was to identify if the top performing page and that pages top traffic yielding key term & analyze if there were any defining elements that set it apart (2-10 times better) in comparison to the other top ranking results for that same term.

As far as the data section of this study goes, defining 10x can be more difficult than it sounds. Party because what I think is 2-10 times better than something else is going to be somewhat different than what another person considers 2-10x. This is also very relative to the specific context of what we’re looking at in relation to competing content for the same search term. There may be one aspect of the page that is 10 times better than the exact same aspect of another page (both of which are competing in search result) but that doesn’t mean it necessarily means anything in relation to the term we’re searching for. So, in short, I drew a few hard lines in the sand to help define what we’re looking at & consistently rate the results.

1. The sites looked at were 100 sites which placed #1 locally in our most recent Avvo study (at that time).
2. The page analyzed for 10x content was not necessarily from the study (although it often overlapped) but rather what Ahrefs found to be the top traffic yielding page on the site.
3. I only looked at the top traffic yielding key term (estimated by Ahrefs) for that highest traffic generating page.
4.  I then analyzed that page in relation to the top term to see if there were outstanding elements contained on it in in comparison to other top ranking page results for that same term. I only looked at organic competing pages. Whether the site scored was completely based in relation to competing results. The page could have been poor but 2-10 times better than competing pages which would have allowed the site to score. Likewise, it could have been outstanding but not more so than competing results which would not have allowed it to score between 2-10 times better.
5.  The score was loosely based on the 10 points Rand defined as what a 10x page may contain (https://moz.com/blog/how-to-create-10x-content-whiteboard-friday) and scored one point for each of the following (but had to have at least 2 points to be considered as 2-10x):

① Great ui & ux (This was based on our previous scoring system which utilized Google Page Insights & needed to score 75+ as an average score across: mobile speed, user experience & desktop speed to gain a point in this category. The page also had to be responsive on top of the score reaching 75+ average to gain 1 point here.)

② Quality

③ Trust

④ Useful

⑤ Interesting

⑥ Remarkable

⑦ Different in scope

⑧ Creates an emotional response

⑨ Solved a problem

⑩ Delivers in unique/remarkable way

One point was awarded for any page which seemed to deliver these elements better than the top competing organic results (minus local).

The Data

Out of 100 top local ranking attorney’s sites in major metros, this shows the percentage of sites which had anything approaching 10x content (in relation to their top performing page & term) in comparison to those who did not:

Type of 2-10x Content Found:

Head Term vs Long-Tail vs Branded

Is The 2-10x Content Intentional/planned?

57% of pages with 10x elements, the highest performing page was clearly the most focused on the term & likely best page to rank for the highest traffic yielding term (meaning the 10x elements were somewhat intentional).

43% had 10x elements aligning with a the highest performing term in which that highest performing page was clearly not the most fitting page on the site to rank for the term (meaning, the 10x elements were likely not intended to rank the page for the term).

Traffic to Top Performing Page Comparison

The traffic flow to the top performing page follows a similar pattern for 2-10x pages as with sites without: more pages have less traffic (1-100) with a slight uptick of pages with a high amount of traffic (900+). The average traffic for pages with 2-10x faired somewhat better at 366.8 compared to 323.9 for pages without.

Number Of Ranking Key Terms For Top Page Comparison

The number of ranking terms for the top performing page also follows a similar pattern for 2-10x pages as pages without: more pages have fewer ranking terms driving their traffic. However, there does seem to be slightly higher percentage of pages with 2-10x content that have a large number of ranking terms than pages without 2-10x content. The average number of ranking terms was higher for pages with 2-10 content at 199.1 compared to 143.3 for pages without.

Average Position For Top Traffic Producing Key Term

The average position in search results for the top traffic yielding term was substantially closer to #1 on average for pages with 2-10x content verses those without.

Average Traffic To Pages With 10x In Relation To 10x Score

Content that was 2x seemed to bring in the most value up until the content got to 7x or more. There were no results for 8 & 10x.

Average Traffic To Pages With 10x In Relation To 10x Score, Separated By Type

Long-tail did best at 2x while head terms & branded did the best at 7 or 9x. However, due to the limited amount of pages in the study, takeaways from the data are limited.

Average # Of Ranking Terms For Pages With 10x In Relation To 10x Score

Overall, pages with 2-10x generate traffic from a more diverse source of keywords more often than those without. However, 2x content seemed to gain traffic from the highest amount of keywords on average.

Average # Of Ranking Terms In Relation To 10x Score, Separated By Type

Long-tail did best at 2x while head terms & branded did better at 5, 7 or 9x. However, due to the limited amount of pages in the study, takeaways from the data are limited.

Examples From The Data

What Elements Makes The 2-10x Better Than Competing Results?

In the following pages we’ll look at some examples of why one page scored 2-10 times better than competing results & what elements set them apart. Keep in mind, a page being better than the competing results is completely in relation to the competing pages in search results for the same term in relation to the term.

Example 1: Offers & Information

Keyterm (Longtail): “cease and desist letter template”

Competing Result (left): https://www.rocketlawyer.com/form/cease-and-desist-letter.rl

2x Better Result (right): http://jux.law/cease-desist-letter-template-example-sample-forms/

Why is it 2-10x Better?: In the following example, the page on the left, does have the free download offer, but it isn’t contained on the page. It simply takes you to another page to start filling out information for later download. We’re only comparing a single page to another so in those terms, this page doesn’t actually offer a free template.

In addition, the video further explains information & clarifies some things a user would likely be wondering if they were searching for the term.

1 point – More Useful

1 point – Different in Scope

Example 2: Far More Detailed, Diversified Information

Keyterm (Branded): “habush habush rottier”

Competing Result (left): https://www.bestlawyers.com/firms/habush-habush-rottier-s-c-/20644/US/

9x Better Result (right): http://www.habush.com/

Why is it 2-10x Better?: In the following example, the page on the left, has limited, basic information about the firm. Not surprisingly, the homepage of the company offers far superior information to anyone seeking information about them. It hits the majority of points that make up 10 content.

1 point – Great UI, UX (scored well here)

1 point – More Useful (much more detail)

1 point – higher quality

1 point – More reasons to trust the information (testimonials, reviews, direct from brand info)

1 point – Interesting (perspective from key members, etc.)

1 point – Different in Scope (videos, etc.)

1 point – Emotional Response (content of videos illicit emotional response)

1 point – Answers Question (Any questions a user would have around the search would likely be answered by page, such as what they do, successes, why they do what they do, location, etc.)

1 point – Delivers in unique way (much more unique presentation of information than competing pages)

Preemptively Answers Questions, Elicits Emotions & Offers Insider Information

Keyterm (Head Term): “dallas personal injury lawyer”

Competing Result (left): http://www.dlalaw.com/

7x Better Result (right): http://www.thebarberlawfirm.com/

Why is it 2-10x Better?: In the following example, the page on the left, has limited, basic information presented in relation to the term. The example on the right offers far more value through information provided as well as gives better credibility through testimonials. They also offer answers to questions the user may likely have about topic as well as providers some insider information.

1 point – More Useful (much more detail)

1 point – higher quality, more scope than basic information in relation to term

1 point – More reasons to trust the information (testimonials, more reviews, more awards)

1 point – Different in Scope (different angle to provide information for what the user may be looking for)

1 point – Emotional Response (video elicits emotional response through testimonial & explanation of why they do what they do)

1 point –(Preemptively) Answers Questions (provides insider information about insurance & predicts things the user may not know or have questions about)

1 point – Delivers in unique way (much more unique presentation than competing pages)

Common Reasons Pages Were 2-10x Better

• Detailed reasons & explanations on subject (who, what, when, why)

1.  often broken up into digestible, understandable flow
2.  sometimes displayed in prominent media (often video but sometimes other formats)

• Free offerings related to subject (usually ebook or documents)
• Offers different, valuable perspective than competing pages
• Preemptively answers many questions & concerns someone searching the topic may have
• Simply more elaborate detail on topic than competing pages
• Compelling trust factors – much more credentials or focus on the topic that competing pages, as well as better (or more) testimonials or review presentation
• offers unique insider information
• More diversity in information & presentation of information

Common Reasons Pages Were NOT 2-10x Better

• Information is run-of-the-mill, nothing outstanding in comparison to other sites for the same term
• Too little information on the topic
• Page doesn’t offer any real value on term beyond competing sites
• Other information exists that provides better value/insight on the specific term on another page or controlled asset from the same company (linked in, Youtube, lawyer land, etc…especially common for brand terms) which is competing in search results

Data Conclusions

1. Pages with 2-10x content for their top performing page in relation to the top keyword for that page, on average, had more traffic and secured that traffic from better keyword diversity.

The average traffic for pages with 2-10x was higher than pages without, the average number of keywords was higher for pages with 2-10x and average ranking position was closer to #1 for the top traffic yielding term for pages with 2-10x than pages without.

2. 2-10x content production isn’t being taken advantage of by most companies (only 28% in this study).

Based on findings, there’s a lot of opportunity left on the table to create content that’s better than competing results for attorneys to reap the benefits of higher traffic from more keyword diversity.

3. Creating 2-10x content for brands is more common, likely easier & often done unintentionally.

Firms are often finding their highest traffic yielding term to be a branded term, however, the most prominent page in search for the term is often not the intended page. If a brand wants a particular page (such as a bio or about page) to rank for specific brand related terms, they should ensure the page is clearly the best fit for search engines to display for the related search terms.

4. 2x content may be more cost effective than 10x.

Based on the results of the study, it seems more value is being gained (on average) in traffic & keyword diversity from 2x content than 3-10x which would be much easier/cheaper to produce. Because this study was somewhat limited further testing should be done to confirm or disprove this.

5. Often, more comprehensive information and/or media diversity was enough for a page to have 2-10x better content than competing pages.

Media diversity (usually video) and more detail on the topic were common factors that set pages apart from competing results.

Final Summary/Thoughts

Creating content that is 2-10 times better for specific terms does seem to help pages gain more traffic from a wider variety of keywords. Determining what type of content to make a page 2-10 times better than competing results requires analysis of those results. Better content is often done unintentionally (especially for brands) and would be better suited if planned appropriately.

To find ways of making content 2-10 times better, carefully planning tests & monitoring the results is viable way to determine if the level of success desired has been achieved as it may or may not be necessary to go all the way to 10x to get there. Applying a number of gradual successful improvements may prove to be a cost & time effective way to achieve specific traffic & keyword diversity goals. As Rand Fishkin said: “The only way to get good at this, … is experimentation and practice”.

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