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A winning SEO strategy requires you to publish content that meets two criteria; it’s high-quality and it’s unique. For many companies, this presents some challenges:
- You don’t have expert resources that can produce high-quality content
- You don’t have the time to differentiate your content from the competition
If any of these hurdles sound familiar to you, let me tell you that you’re not alone. But, there is a solution! You can unlock the expertise and free up the time to create high-quality, unique content that will rank by using our UGC SEO strategy.
What is UGC SEO?
UGC SEO is a strategy for content production where you source contributions from your audience to create authoritative content that your competitors cannot replicate.
The only requirement is that you need an engaged audience and a way to contact them. Social media is the perfect medium. Email marketing works too.
Case Study: CaringBridge sees organic traffic skyrocket by 228% with UGC SEO
CaringBridge helps connect family and friends who are managing a medical crisis. Creating content in this space can be a challenge. Unless you’ve been through a similar situation, you’re unlikely to offer anything of value to those looking for advice.
So, we thought, “who has the expertise on these topics?” CaringBridge’s own audience, of course. We began working with their social team to publish prompts, like the one you see below, and source from the expert advice offered by CaringBridge users in the comments.
Those comments were pulled into articles, like What to Say to Someone with Cancer or 7 Ways to Console Someone Going Through a Hard Time. This strategy ensured that we had high-quality, unique content that would resonate with the intended audience.
Get more detail on the UGC SEO case study we published on Search Engine Land.
How to Get Your UGC SEO Strategy Rolling
1. Conduct keyword research to find content ideas that will resonate with your audience
This is a given for any SEO-focused content. This article isn’t a tutorial on keyword research so check out these resources if you need direction:
- Uproer's Guide to Finding and Prioritizing SEO Keywords
- Backlinko's Keyword Research Guide
- Kevin Indig's "A better approach to keyword research for content marketing"
2. Turn those content ideas into prompts and ask your audience for input
Coordinate with your social media or email marketing people to begin regularly promoting your content prompts.
Monitor the responses you receive and select the ones that provide the best insights for your articles.
3. Organize the responses, polish the content and publish
Pull the best responses into your article. You may only need to write a brief introduction and conclusion before you’re ready to publish.
With that, you’ve produced a high-quality, unique piece of content with minimal strain on your time or resources.
Bonus step: After you’ve published, open your article up for comments. The additional expert insights and opinions you receive may help you ramp up the quality of your content even further. Check out Abby Reimer's article on Feedback Optimization for more detail on this strategy.
Why Does UGC SEO Work?
Most companies face the reality of limited time and resources when it comes to content production. UGC SEO offers one way to navigate those limitations to consistently create high-quality, unique content.
