
Here are a couple of ways to find subtopics to include in your content: Google likely knows that searchers value posts with templates more than those without, so you should probably include one if you want to rank higher for this keyword. This paints a clear picture of search intent.īut if you look at these posts, most of them include a template or links to templates. There may be subtopics they’re looking for and expecting you to cover.įor example, most top-ranking results for “how to write a press release” are how-to blog posts. And the dominant selling point is how easy they are to make.Įven if your content aligns with search intent, you may not be giving searchers everything they want.


All the top-ranking pages for “backlink checker” were free tools. In 2018, we realized this was a search intent issue. This performed OK and ranked for years in positions #6–10-but it never cracked the top five. You can see that it explains how to check a site’s backlinks with Ahrefs and offers searchers a free trial. We learned this the hard way when trying to rank for “backlink checker.” You need to align your page with search intent to stand the best chance at ranking. Google understands that searchers aren’t ready to buy.

It’s why 90% of the top-ranking results for “air fryer” are blog posts and not sales pages. Search intent is the “why” behind the query.
