How to get blog posts to the top of search results: Part I

There are plenty of things that almost all succesful bloggers will advise you to do in order to rise to the top of search engine results pages (SERPs). More than likely you are bored to tears with being told to blog regularly, be useful, be engaging and interesting, and so on.

This is all really good advice, and I have to agree with it. However, there are a lot of good bloggers out there that do all these things (and more), so these days you have to find something new and innovative to give your blog the edge.

That's why I am going to talk about a technique that will get your posts to the top of search results - at least 'til everyone else hears about it and starts doing it.

Topic trailing

I've called this technique topic trailing because it relies on leveraging popular topics in order to enhance the "wow" factor of your posts. Instead of only doing keyword research in order to determine what keyphrases you should be using, spend some time finding out what is buzzing. Who's in trouble? What is the issue of the day?

Once you have found a few topics that are being widely discussed, think of innovative and interesting ways to relate them to what you want to write about. A great example of this is the blog post entitled "Social marketing lessons for Gadaffi". Gadaffi and the trouble in Libya has been all over the news and it is something that is on people's minds, so the post has a contemporary feel to it.

Now, I have to warn you to be very careful when using this technique because you run the risk of making your blog too gimmicky. Make sure that you still provide valuable content that is relevant and on topic. The "wow" factor is there to make the article more appealing, contemporary and interesting - it doesn't replace the core function of the content, which is to be engaging, useful and relevant to your target market.

It's also possible to go one step further...

Anticipatory topic trailing

While the death of Bin Laden was not something you could necessarily foresee and blog about before the fact, there are big events that you do know about beforehand. The royal wedding, for example. Knowing that large events like these are going to set the Internet abuzz, why not write a few posts that leverage these events a month or so before they happen.

By discussing upcoming popular topics, you give yourself an advantage in the race for search engine placements when these events come around because Google has had time to index your content. Older content is more likely to place higher than brand new content (all other things being equal).

Again, you need to be careful because there is little point in writing an article on the royal nuptuals if you cannot find any means of relating it directly to your own particular niche. But, by carefully leveraging topics that are going to be popular you can get your nose out in front of the competitors and that, in terms of online marketing, makes all the difference.