Summary: One resource article I refreshed with a client is worth $306,000 at time of writing, according to data from Ahrefs. The article ranks for over 21,500 keywords and hundreds of snippet features. This article will walk you through the format used to achieve this growth.
Resource posts are a great way to help readers make informed decisions on using or purchasing a tool, software, or platform. These posts double up as helpful content and can be found on Google by people searching for information. You’ve probably seen these posts before, they are typically titled “The Best blank blank blank in 2020”.
For this template, I’m going to give you a format (live example included) that’s consistently boosted SERP rankings by incorporating more relevant keywords into your post. Plus, it makes it easy for both readers and Google to scan your text and catalog the best information possible.
Title formulas
- The Best TARGET KEYWORD
- The Best TARGET KEYWORD in CURRENT YEAR
- NUMBER Best TARGET KEYWORD in CURRENT YEAR
- TARGET KEYWORD: Our Top NUMBER Picks
Intro
- What are the main problems these resources help your audience solve?
- What will a resource from your list help them do more of? Less of?
- Any anecdotes or extra information related to the resources you’re going to talk about.
Before writing about each resource, place an H2 with the target keyword after the introduction. It may be similar to your title but that’s okay. The goal is to help search engines read your article by setting up an H2, H3 list format.
If your resource post has two different properties, for example, desktop and mobile or free and paid, separate them into two H2’s, followed by each example as an H3.
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Resource section
First, I’ll show you a live example and then break down each section. This resource tool lists the best online video editors.
What a resource tool subheader should look like when published
How to format each section
Title: the name of your resource
Excerpt: this is my favorite part of the article because it serves three purposes:
- Helps scanners see if the resource is a good fit for them.
- It looks good.
- It gives you more room to fit related keywords. The parent keyword for this example is “free video editing software” (247,000 hits per month). However, the keyword has a ton of related keywords you want to rank for as well. An excerpt lets you add them without stuffing the article and making it sound like shit.
Image: add an image of the product. Depending on the type of resource, you can screenshot the company website, or use an image of the resource being used in action (as in the example above).
Description: an overview of the resource, what makes it different, and how readers can use it.
Features: a bullet list of key features that make the resource valuable. You can usually find this one on the company site or App store. Don’t copy and paste. Re-word it to meet your style and voice.
Price, etc: the price and etcetera section gives you space to get creative. The example above covers which operating systems are compatible with the resource and lists the price for the resource’s free and Pro versions. Your section may vary depending on what you’re writing about. Sometimes I also like to include a G2 score to lend credibility to the article.
* Repeat this format for each resource in your guide.
FAQ
If someone is searching for information about products, odds are they are going to have questions. You can find frequently asked questions about your topic in the People Also Ask box in your keywords SERP results. There are cases where related keywords can make good questions as well. You’ll want to answer those questions here.
Here’s the case from our example above:
The FAQs help you get into SERP features and gives you more room to add related keywords without stuffing. SEO is still a keywords game, you just have to figure out different ways to include them without spamming.
Conclusion
A good conclusion H2 could be along the lines of “Choose a TARGET KEYWORD that fits your needs” or some variation of that. Then, wrap up the article with why it’s important to choose the best TARGET KEYWORD to help you business.
So, does this really work?
In short, yes. The example we discuss here was updated with this same format in February, and since then, has seen huge gains in organic search.
The FAQ section has also opened the doors for getting feature snippets and moving into top 3 positions for new keywords almost every day.
It also ranks for over 21,800 keywords.
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Your turn
This system can apply to both content refreshes and new articles. It can also work for posts outside of software and tools, like the best places to eat, the best cities to live in, etc. You’d just have to tweak copy like “features” and whatnot, but that’s up to you.
The goal is to make your content scannable and informational, while incorporating related keywords to boost the SEO value of your article… without spamming it, of course.
