Just being honest, sharing this information hurts me, but it is freeing at the same time.

And all of this is an effort to put more value into these emails, so since it pains me so much, please share this post with at least one person wanting to change their life by learning blogging and SEO. Thanks!

With that out of the way, let’s get into it.

Spend more time in the SERPs (SERP = search engine results page) and less time in keyword tools.

One of the worst moves I see both beginner and experienced bloggers make is spending too much time in keyword research tools.

But what do you look for when in the SERPs? Well, that is where this post comes in handy.

Here are the 6 things you need to look for BEFORE you write a blog post to ensure you have a shot at ranking.

Check what is already ranking…

Google hides the secrets to how they rank stuff in plain sight. The first page will tell you all you need to know about what you are up against when you need to rank an article.

The thing you need to look for is the type of pages that are ranking.

• Do you see other blogs?

• Are they informational or commercial?

• What are the types of articles that are ranking?

• Are the results helpful?

All of these help you determine if you should spend your time with this keyword or to go elsewhere.

LAST CHANCE at 50%

When I started with SEO, one of my goals was to make an extra $100/mo to help pay my cell phone bill. It was hard work, but I met that goal and then some.

I was making enough to pay the cell phone bill, then the electricity, then the mortgage. The next thing I knew, my wife was quitting her job to care for our son full-time.

But what’s been really cool is I’ve helped a handful of other people do the exact same thing. I want to help you, too.

Join my community right now and get 50% off the first month. Cancel anytime and start bugging me with questions.

👉 GO PREMIUM and ENROLL IN THE OBA MASTERMIND

Is the question being answered?

This is a less fancy way of asking, “what is the search intent?”

If I google “what is Michael Jordan’s height?” or if I google “How tall is Michael Jordan,” the INTENT of those queries is that I want to know how tall the guy is and nothing else.

How often do you Google something and not find what you are looking for? That is a deficiency and an opportunity.

How old are the articles?

Even in light of the recent Helpful Content Update, freshness is still a factor I believe makes a difference in rankings.

I’ve even conducted tests where we did not change anything in an article but simply hit the update button and saw a rankings increase.

The key takeaway here is if you see extremely old articles (more than 3 years old) it is likely time for a refresh and a new perspective to be presented in your article.

How long are the articles?

The length of articles is something you have to be very careful with because a longer article is not always a better article. But usually the longer the article the more in-depth it is.

But it is up to you are the content creator to make sure there is meaning to that length.

So in the SERPs, if you see extremely short articles (less than 800 or so) words, as long as the topic demands it, going for a more 1,000+ article can help.

A rule of thumb I use is to go about 10 to 20% more than what is already out there.

Relevant pictures and videos

The internet is a cesspool and sometimes what is ranking just plain shouldn’t be there.

I cannot tell you how many times I have found an article explaining how to clean a coffee maker and it contains stock images of dogs.

That media has NOTHING to do with the content. Imagery and videos must be relevant to the topic at hand.

Can Google see this? Likely not… but the readers see it. Satisfy your reader and you will satisfy the algorithm.

Easy to read

Readability can mean a lot of things. But we are not looking at the more technical version of it; I mean, how easy is it to look at and comprehend?

There are certain fonts and colors that just don’t mix, making any reader strain just to get your information.

Always remember this, if a casual reader has to strain at all to read your content, they likely don’t have the patience to try and figure it out.

They… Will… Bounce… and find a better result that answers their question. Which, in turn, hurts your rankings.

Final Take

There are other things to focus on, but these are the ones I focus on when doing a spot check.

I specifically tried to pick things that do not require a tool to figure out, which is why you may not see things like checking a site’s authority or finding the monthly search volume.

But the point of this was to show you that a lot of what we do as SEOs is make an educated guess based on what we see.

Kyle Roof made a good point about saying rankings in our blogs are a probability game, not a game of certainty. We just strive to be right 7 out of 10 times.

If you think that is low, remember a baseball player that gets a hit 3 out of 10 times over a career is a hall-of-famer.

Cast more lines, learn new lessons, make educated guesses, and collect the checks that come with it.

Harness The Economist's approach to business writing

How do you write persuasively for business? Study the psychology, craft and purpose of writing with experts from The Economist.

The six-week Professional Communication: Business Writing and Storytelling online short course from The Economist is designed to help business professionals attract and address broad audiences across various written formats. 

On completion of this course, you’ll walk away with:

• Practical writing, editing and data-visualisation skills for creating clear and compelling business communications.

• A writer’s toolkit based on The Economist’s editorial approach, helping you to navigate questions of structure, word choice and style.

• The ability to source, structure and convey information in a way that is accurate, engaging and ethical.

Chat soon,
Chris Myles
Need help? Join my SEO Marketing Mastermind
Or let’s connect on Twitter or YouTube 👇