By performing competitive content research using Google’s advanced search operators, you can grow your search traffic. Also, this process can help you to create content that fits with the ranking criteria of the search engine.

MOZ contributor Dr. Peter J. Meyers has published an article highlighting Google Advanced Search Operators for competitive content research.

He says, “The excitement of finishing a competitive keyword research project often gives way to the panic of fleeing from an avalanche of opportunities. Without an organizing principle, a spreadsheet full of keywords is a bottomless to-do list. It’s not enough to know what your competitors are ranking for — you need to know what content is powering those rankings and how you’re currently competing with that content. You need a blueprint to craft those keywords into a compelling structure.

For larger sites, you might want to focus on a specific section, like the blog, or in Moz’s case, our Learning Center. You have a couple of options here. You could use the [inurl:] operator with the folder name, but that may result in false alarms, like:

  • moz.com/blog/learn-seo-in-30-minutes-a-day
  • moz.com/blog/what-seos-can-learn-from-adwords
  • moz.com/community/q/topic/20117/what-is-the-best-way-to-learn-seo”.

Google Advanced Search Operators for Competitive Content Research

MOZ

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