Jessica Malnik’s Post

View profile for Jessica Malnik

B2B SaaS Fractional Head of Marketing and Copywriter

I've written well over a thousand blog posts (Not an exaggeration!), and here is something that I think a lot of content marketers and writers get wrong. Now, I love using SEO tools like Frase, Clearscope, and Surfer. However, in my experience, I think many content marketers and writers use them wrong. They use them as a crutch to figure out what to write about for the topic at hand. (Often times, because they are generalists with no subject matter expertise, but that's another post!) The end result - a new piece of content that "simply reports" on the current top articles. A much better approach in my experience is take the time to come up with a unique POV and add the necessary context for the topic you are writing about first. Then, during the editing process, throw your draft into one of these SEO tools. The end result will be stronger, harder for someone else to knock off, and it will still rank well. #seo #contentmarketing #writing

Brian Sun

Lifecycle Marketing Consultant, Trainer, and Matchmaker

1y

Thanks for this! Got me thinking about two principles/things that have been helpful for me personally along these lines: 1. Reverse engineer what's already ranking on Google then take it to the next level -- because you're so right, a new piece of content that "simply reports" isn't good enough, great content needs unique insight/true expertise/valuable information from experience that raises the bar of what's in the SERPs 2. Great content consists of having something valuable to say and the ability to say it -- when a content marketer/writer doesn't have a unique POV because they're not a subject matter expert, they need to partner with someone who has the expertise and perspective and originality that would a) still meet the intent of a given query and b) actually bring something new and valuable to the table.

Joshua Blount

CRO at E23 Retail | CVO at Techeters

1y

SEO research tools are valuable to figure out your competitor's marketing strategies. All content should be generated for the sake of providing value to your buyers. Content for the sake of SEO or just for making sales does nothing to help brands stand out or keep engagement high.

Nausheen I. Chen

Get clients, investments and influence by speaking confidently | Public Speaking Coach for entrepreneurs and execs | ex-Fortune 50 | My featured section has a gift for you.

1y

Makes so much sense. Generic content is SO boring to read.

Ogéné MOJINSON

♞ I turn your website data into winning conversion strategies | 🧠 Decode your customers’ minds | Create performing strategies that get your target visitors to convert. 💰 CRO & Marketing Strategist

1y

True ! And that's how they end up dealing with such low bounce rates in their blogs ! Depends on who they want their articles to be read by first : humans ou algorithms ...

Grace Wright

Strategy Director @ Gorilla 76 🦍🔸| Revenue-focused marketing for manufacturers & industry 4.0

1y

And the best way to come up with a unique POV on a technical topic is an interview with a subject-matter expert with years (or even decades) thinking about the topic, and answering customer questions. That's where I always started with SEO articles when I was a copywriter.

Will be fun to see the helpful content update rolling out this week 😈

Emma Loveday

Disgustingly Good Copy | Sales Pages & Email Marketing | Conversion Copy Academy

1y

Agree with this so hard Jessica, it's frustrating to go through the first page of Google results only for every single result to effectively say the same thing. BORING. And who stands out? No one.

Josh Spilker

marketing, content & SEO // Tettra 🐟

1y

I use MarketMuse but I never start with it.

Michael Stroup

Freelance content writer, copywriter, and editor | Confidently distills complex topics into readable materials.

1y

I love adding my own spin on SEO optimized content. But, in the words of Captain Barbossa—“they’re really more of a guideline.” Same with any other tool, like Grammarly. Take it with a grain of salt.

Kanish Jain

Bharat Mavens - We help brands run ads on Google, Facebook & and Amazon | Performance Marketing Agency | Help Businesses to Grow Profitably with Ads

1y

Adding your POV with facts helps the article to stand out among the sea of general articles

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