Using Clickbait and Viral Content in SEO Campaigns
These days, we see a ton of clickbait, linkbait, and viral content in SEO driven campaigns. Many brands understand that these types of investments can produce significant returns. However, they must be applied in the right scenarios and the right spaces.
Content investment types
For the sake of these next examples, let’s say that you're a payroll software provider. Your goal is to increase traffic and conversions, and so you're considering what types of content investments you (or your consultant or agency or in-house team) might be making on the content front. This could include things such as:
A. Viral, news-worthy linkbait
A viral, news-worthy linkbait new might be something like "The Easiest and Hardest Places to Start a Company." The article could be about countries, states, regions, whatever. Then you go to the press and say, "Hey, we produced this list. We think it's worth covering. Here's the criteria we used." You send it to the press, large companies in those areas, state governments, people who cover this type of space. Hopefully, from your efforts, you can get some clickbait—some people linking, some people clicking.
It doesn't necessarily have the most search volume. Folks aren't necessarily interested in, "Oh, what are the hardest places to start a company? Or what are the hardest versus easiest places to start a company?" Maybe you get a few, but it's not necessarily going to drive direct types of traffic that this payroll software provider can convert into customers.
B. Searcher-focused solutions
Another option is searcher-focused solutions. You may realize that the search term “how to set up payroll as an LLC” gets a lot of searches. Since your company serves LLCs with its payroll solution, it’s a good idea to try and target those people. You could create content like, “How to Set up Payrolls in LLCs in Six Easy Steps.”
C. Competitor comparison content
If you’re a well-known company, many people are looking for you versus your competitors. If that’s the case set, up a page that's like "QuickBooks versus Gusto versus Square: Which Software is Right for Your Business?" so that you can serve that searcher intent.
D. Conversion-funnel-serving content
After searching for a brand name, people also search for, "Can I use this for owner employees, businesses that have owner employees only?" So no employees who are not owners. What's the payroll story with them? How do I get that sorted out? You create content around this.
Why you should invest in viral content
All of these are types of content that serve SEO, but the viral-focused content is the most non-direct. Many times, brands have a tough time getting their head around why they would invest in that. Well, if the campaign needs...
More raw brand awareness — People don’t currently know what your company is; they haven't heard of you before. You're trying to build the first touch or second touch so that people in the space know who you are.
Additional visitors for re-targeting — You're trying to get additional visitors who might fit into your target audience so that you can re-target and remarket to them, reach them again.
Need for more overall links anywhere on the domain — You’re just trying to boost your authority (link equity) so that you can rank for more search terms.
Then, the viral-focused content makes a ton of sense, and it is a true SEO investment. Even though it doesn't necessarily map very well to conversions directly, it's an indirect path to great potential SEO success.
Why does this work? Why is it that if I create a piece of viral content on my site that earns a lot of links and attention and awareness, the other pieces of content on my site will suddenly have a better opportunity to rank? That's a function of how Google, and people, operates fundamentally.
From Google's perspective, if content has been highly referenced in many different ways from many different places, its relevance and authority are perceived as higher. When a viral content investment draws in a high volume of new links, it can potentially compete better in search rankings. Viral-focused content in the right scenario can be a wonderful investment and a wise one to make to serve your SEO strategy.
