I can’t believe my luck.
Golden Girls is now streaming on Amazon Prime.
I watched GG way back in the day when it aired on TV from 1985 to 1992.
I didn’t see every episode, but I’m gonna now. I’m several episodes in.
Yes, it looks dated.
But here’s the thing. It’s a funny show.
It was funny in 1985. It’s funny today.
GG has staying power because it’s funny.
Funny TV shows will air and earn for decades.
Publishing good content is also a strategy with staying power.
Good content worked with Google in 2008.
It works today.
That’s one constant over all the years with SEO.
It makes things simple, doesn’t it?
Of course, there’s more to it than just publishing good content.
I could write the greatest article ever about “travel credit cards” but I won’t rank.
For a keyword like that you need some serious links + site authority.
How many links?
When I search “best travel credit cards” the number ranking article is by Nerd Wallet.
Ahrefs tells me that article alone has 594 referring domains and has a keyword difficulty of 69.
Ahrefs also tells me that one article gets 55,000 monthly search visitors. It’s probably a lot more.
Moreover, the top 10 articles for that keyword is a who’s who of personal finance websites.
Fear not.
Nerd Wallet was once a brand new website that ranked for nothing way back in 2009 when it launched.
It started solely as a website. It wasn’t a popular print publication or TV channel, unlike some big web properties. It had no brand recognition whatsoever.
NerdWallet started as an unknown.
Thousands of articles and tens of thousands of inbound links later it’s a household brand within the personal finance space.
It’s worth $500 million. Yeah, that’s mindblowing.
It didn’t grow without hustle though…
Honore de Balzac once said “behind every great fortune there is a crime” which was made famous in the novel The Godfather.
I’m not saying Nerd Wallet committed a crime.
My point is that Nerd Wallet in its early days hustled for links and content just like many of us these days.
The HOTH wrote a great article setting out 7 ways NerdWallet attracted links over the years.
I’m not promoting HOTH SEO services folks. I just happen to think their article on Nerd Wallet is outstanding. In fact, had I paid $100 to read that article, I’d consider it money well spent.
The first method is great and it no doubt helped put NW on the map.
Interestingly, MW hasn’t updated those “best towns” articles over the years, at least I couldn’t find updated versions. I guess those linkbait articles served their purpose.
Why am I talking about link building?
Because I’m all about link bait.
I’m not against inbound links. On the contrary.
I love inbound links… when they occur naturally or via a little nudge with link bait and some outreach.
NerdWallet has done 3 things over the years very well and consistently.
They are:
- Publish excellent content.
- Put effort into attracting links via link bait and outreach.
- Update its content regularly.
What’s interesting is it appears that Nerd Wallet puts more effort into keeping content updated than publishing new content.
I could find no “Blog” or “Recent Posts” link on the home page. That doesn’t mean it’s not publishing new content daily. It just means it’s not a focus.
Instead, on the homepage there are links to tools and guides. The guides are very well updated.
Where does my approach part ways with Nerd Wallet?
I don’t do outreach to promote linkbait and linkable assets. I’m not sure NerdWallet still does outreach, but it did back in the day.
I’ve always maintained outreach promoting linkable assets can work but I just prefer the passive approach. I’m missing out for sure, but even the passive approach works with decent linkbait.
I also don’t update content as regularly or thoroughly as I should. Although that’s changing. I’ve hired some editors to update old content daily.
That said, when it comes to updating content you must keep something in mind.
NerdWallet is in a niche where some keywords are ridiculously lucrative.
My niches, not so much. Yeah, there are some great keywords, but nothing like in personal finance. Moreover, my biggest niche has far more keywords to cover than personal finance. I don’t have 50 ultra lucrative keywords like NerdWallet. It’s far more dispersed.
Therefore, my niche warrants a slightly different approach IMO.
But that doesn’t mean updating isn’t worth doing. It is where and when warranted.
How much time/money you invest in updating content boils down to your content and niche.
Do things change each year like what could be the best travel credit card?
If so, time and money spent updating is worth it.
Don’t always blindly do what other sites do.
Sometimes other sites do things that work for them but won’t necessarily work for all sites.
At the end of the day, I think NerdWallet is one of the best examples of a successful niche site.
Stay golden!
Jon Dykstra is a six figure niche site creator with 10+ years of experience. His willingness to openly share his wins and losses in the email newsletter he publishes has made him a go-to source of guidance and motivation for many. His popular “Niche site profits” course has helped thousands follow his footsteps in creating simple niche sites that earn big.
