The Big Top: A New Model for SEO-Driven Content

For over a decade now, the fundamental unit of content marketing has been the blog post. Your post may be a block of text, an infographic, or a listicle about memes, but the underlying structure is the same. A regular cadence of posts to the company blog is the foundation of most content marketing strategies.

The problem is, each individual blog post has only a small window of effectiveness for SEO. A post might go viral, get hundreds of shares, and then sit in your archives for eternity. Identifying and promoting evergreen content can get more mileage out of a good post. But by nature and design, these posts aren’t built to be an enduring SEO resource. Think about it: When was the last time you clicked through on a blog post that was over a year old?

That’s not to say you should stop blogging altogether, of course. Blogs generate subscribers, help promote gated assets, contribute to thought leadership—all worthwhile goals for content marketers. But as SEO continues to evolve, it’s time for new models of SEO-driven content.

At TopRank Marketing, we’ve been working on a new way to integrate SEO and content to build longer-lasting, more valuable resources. Essentially, it’s reverse-engineering evergreen content, purposefully building well-supported “tentpole” content with SEO baked in.

Here’s how to design a content strategy I’m calling the “Big Top” model.

#1: Create Your Tentpole(s)

The tentpole content is the big asset that the rest of your strategy will be supporting. It should be a comprehensive take on a single topic relevant to your business and your audience, one with plenty of opportunities to crosslink with supporting content.

Research topics and keywords for your tentpole the way you would any best answer content: listen to customers, evaluate competing content, and use tools like Bloomberry and UberSuggest.

What will make your content into a tentpole instead of a blog post are a few distinguishing features:

• A tentpole should be between 1500 and 3000 words.
• Your tentpole will cover multiple aspects of your topic, divided into 250-300 word sections, each section based on long-tail keywords.
• This last one is key. Your tentpole will not live on your blog. It should have a permanent place of pride, preferably not more than two clicks deep into your site, with a short URL. A “Resources” section is the ideal place.

You can break up the sections in your tentpole with eye-catching visuals, embedded SlideShare or video content, even CTAs to gated content.

Your tentpole is a prime location or influencer engagement as well. Curate quotes from influencers to highlight in the text—or, better yet, reach out to influencers to co-create and cross-promote the content.

Here’s a good example of a tentpole piece our client LinkedIn Marketing Solutions published earlier this year: How to Advertise on LinkedIn. Notice it’s not a post on their blog; it’s a standalone resource. This piece is currently ranking at the top of the SERP for “How to advertise on LinkedIn.”

You don’t have to limit your strategy to a single tentpole, either. If you have multiple topics that you can cover in depth and at length, create a pole for each one.

#2: Create Your Stakes

Your “stakes” are blog posts that will connect to the tentpole, driving traffic to it from your blog and boosting the blog’s SEO as well. There are several ways to create a supporting stake:

• Take one 200-300 word section and expand it with supplemental material to 750 words or so, as the content requires
• Cover a related topic that naturally links to your tentpole
• Create an announcement post for the tentpole launch
• Do an influencer roundup on a topic related to your tentpole

Each stake should have a CTA to the tentpole. If you have anchor links for navigation, as in our example above, you can also link to specific subsections that are relevant to the post.

#3: Connect Your Guylines

Guylines connect the stakes to the tentpole, providing stability and structure. In content terms, that means creating links from your supporting content to the tentpole and vice versa. The goal is to create a destination that users can explore, following their interest through multiple pieces of content, back and forth from the pole. This kind of structuring provides value for your readers, and increases positive search engine signals like time-on-site and session length.

As you develop more tentpoles, look for opportunities to link them together. Make sure each link is a logical next step for your reader. Over time, your “content big top” can become a full-fledged three-ring circus.

#4: Say, “Come One! Come All!”

Support your tentpole launch with all the amplifying force you have:

• Use stats or quotes to make social media ads
• Publish excerpts (or one of your stakes in its entirety) on sites like LinkedIn and Medium
• Encourage influencer amplification
• Seek out guest posting opportunities

These promotional efforts will build on your tentpole’s native SEO value, giving it some momentum that will help build external links and bring in organic results.

Make Your Content the Greatest Show on Earth

The Ringling Brothers have put up their big top for the last time, but your big top content can last for years to come. Just remember to keep it relevant; plan for regular updates and revisions (which are a great opportunity to re-promote the content).

The humble blog post is still a fundamental unit of content marketing. But when you supplement the blog with SEO-optimized tentpole content, the results can be… in tents.

Want to learn more about best answer content? Check out these 6 inspiring examples.