How to Use SEO & Content to Increase Traffic

Originally coined by Backlinko, the skyscraper technique is a straightforward path to building a massive audience. The steps are:

1. Find link-worthy content around a topic with search volume
2. Make something even better
3. Reach out to the right people to generate the links needed to rank
4. Repeat with a new topic

Focus your 10x content on the keywords that will realistically rank and drive real traffic value. This is why we pair our 10x content creation method with a focus on middle and top funnel content using KOB Analysis.

KOB Analysis stands for Keyword Opposition to Benefit Analysis. It’s the process Todd Malicoat to determine which projects have the most opportunity. It helps to determine which keywords to target so that resources will be used most efficiently for maximum benefit. KOB analysis is essentially a way of creating a cost benefit analysis on a specific keyword (or set of keywords).

We look at keyword difficulty against traffic value. By looking at the competition early, we can understand in advance if we are capable of ranking, even if our domain authority is low.

Upgrade the Skyscraper Technique

Originally coined by Backlinko, the skyscraper technique is a straightforward path to building a massive audience. The steps are:

1. Find link-worthy content around a topic with search volume
2. Make something even better
3. Reach out to the right people to generate the links needed to rank
4. Repeat with a new topic

Unfortunately, people too often misinterpret this technique as a method for a one-hit wonder—make something better than what’s out there, build a ton of links to it and you’ll have enough for that page to rank. 

A major element that’s left out is the need for domain authority. If you’re starting from scratch and going against CNN, Pinterest or Martha Stewart, 40 links to a single page won’t be enough. You’ll need more combined authority in order to outpace them, even if their pages don’t stack up to yours. Examples of skyscraper content that falls short:

• Butterball’s page on how to carve a turkey is visually appealing and even has a video, but it’s up against major food sources like Real Simple, Food Network, Rachael Ray and AllRecipes.
• This 1-800-Flowers post on summer flower arrangements has rich product photography but can’t outrank Pinterest, HGTV and House Beautiful for “flower arrangement ideas.”
• DailyBurn’s post on diastasis recti exercises includes photography and GIFs but isn’t surpassing page one with Health.com, YouTube and Parents.com.

Instead, focus your 10x content on the keywords that will realistically rank and drive real traffic value. This is why we pair our 10x content creation method with a focus on middle and top funnel content using KOB Analysis.

KOB Analysis + Skyscraper Technique

Keyword Opposition to Benefit Analysis (also called KOB) is a popularized method first started by Todd Malicoat. In our KOB Analysis, we look at keyword difficulty against traffic value. By looking at the competition early, we can understand in advance if we are capable of ranking, even if our domain authority is low.

By looking at revenue potential, we can understand in advance that if we do rank, we’ll actually generate some business benefit from the activity—and not just rank for something without any buying intent.

Using a tool like SEMRush or Ahrefs, you can find the hypothetical value of a page. Traffic Cost estimates the traffic a page is getting by estimating clickthrough rate (CTR), and then multiplying it against all the positions it ranks for. From there, it looks at what others would be willing to pay for that same traffic using Google AdWords’ CPC.

KOB Analysis is best done when you have a large list of keywords you want to capture at once. Here is a general step-by-step of the process:

• Step 1: Search a broad industry keyword in a tool like SEMRush or Ahrefs and export the full keyword match list (e.g. “marketing”).
• Step 2: Using this example framework, complete the Top Keyword, Volume and Difficulty columns with your keyword export. 
• Step 3: Skim the spreadsheet and mark the keywords that relate to top and middle funnel searches (e.g. “what is a chromebook” vs. “chromebook charger”).
• Step 4: Google the selected keywords, grab the #1 ranking organic page and plug the URL into  SEMRush or Ahrefs.
• Step 5: Grab the traffic and traffic value numbers to add to the Traffic and Traffic Cost columns.
• Step 6: Calculate the KOB Score by dividing Traffic Cost by Difficulty.
• Step 7: Sort the page by top KOB score and Google each keyword on the sheet to determine if you’ve already written content on this topic. If so, determine if you need to replace the existing article or simply refresh it.

Shortcuts to the KOB Process

If you don’t have endless time to compile a KOB document, there are some “quick win” methods of finding keywords and link ideas. Note that this won’t be as comprehensive, and you’ll most likely have to revisit this process more frequently than on a monthly or quarterly KOB analysis. 

Look at Competitors’ Top Performing Pages

Using either SEMRush’s “Pages” or Ahrefs’ “Top Pages” filter, input a competitor’s domain and see what pages they’re ranking for. Remember that this is most effective if you’re choosing a realistic competitor. If you’re a kitchenware site with a DA of 30 or less and you’re plugging in Williams Sonoma, the likelihood you’ll be able to match their authority on the SERP is low.

Look at Your Own Content

Instead of creating something completely from scratch, run the same SEMRush or Ahrefs filter on your own domain to target pages that could use refreshing. Find content that’s bottom half of page one or worse, then do a quick analysis of the pages ranking above you. If they’re comparable in DA, see what content format(s) they’re utilizing and refresh your content to fit better.