SEO Basics & Strategy
Creativity and SEO – how you improve your SEO with creativity
In this post I show you why creativity is so valuable, especially in SEO, and therefore must not be underestimated.
Many people simply implement SEO measures by the book. They do their homework without going the extra mile. Some OnPage tool lights up green, the Search Console has nothing to complain about, the website is stuffed with content, and a few backlinks are gradually built – so what is the problem?
In a moderately to fiercely competitive field, you also have strongly committed SEOs (usually entire SEO teams) who want to push their pages forward. You have to be able to set yourself apart from them! And, no, that simply doesn't work with the standard – by-the-book SEO. This is exactly where creativity comes into play. In this article I'll show you how you can create creative content that pushes your SEO and what to keep in mind while doing so.
Why creativity can give your SEO an extra boost + formula
With by-the-book SEO, you and your website remain invisible in the gray mass of competitors for your target group, and Google sees this too and rates your website as dull and boring. After all, in many markets and industries the competition is also busy optimizing for the search engines. So why should you get a ranking boost with standard SEO measures?
Remember the following formula:
Attention = increases the awareness of the brand/website/company = often leads to positive SEO effects such as new Backlinks, better click-through rates in the SERPs (CTR boost), mentions on the web, more traffic, and much more.
To stand out from the crowd, you need the most important currency in the digital age – and it's called ATTENTION!!!
How can we achieve more attention?
With creative marketing and content – simply put: creative ideas. For SEO, these can be, for example …
1.) Content Marketing
With content that stands out from the crowd and is optimized for the search engines.
In Content Marketing, people often talk about the Hero-Hub-Hygiene model:
- There are the standard posts such as tutorials or wiki articles (hygiene).
- The regularly recurring article series such as the Whiteboard Friday from Moz (hub)
- Absolute TOP content that is exceptional and gets a looot of attention or even goes viral (in your industry) – for example the jump by Felix Baumgartner (idea/execution by RedBull)
With HERO content there are no limits. Almost every content format can become an attention magnet. It just comes down to the content. More examples from the SEO scene, for which you don't need a million-dollar budget like with Felix Baumgartner's jump, follow below.
2.) Linkbaits
Link building through creative linkbaits, in order to obtain links from other websites, can also give your SEO a decent push. This is also about content and about content that draws interest and attention. The difference from the previously mentioned HERO content is not particularly large.
With linkbait, it's mainly about the targeted attention of other webmasters/journalists, since they are supposed to link accordingly.
Studies, interviews, infographics, and many other content formats can work as linkbait.
3.) Creative problem-solving
Instead of rattling off the SEO measures by the book, creative solutions can help deliver the best possible result for SEO. For example, you absolutely want that one link from that one strong website for yourself/your client? But the webmaster doesn't respond to your requests.
Think about how you can still reach them or provoke a reaction.
Are they on Facebook? Have they listed hobbies there?
Perhaps a small gift sent to their address can move them to do you a favor. Or ask them for an interview. People love being asked for their opinion, and only then ask for the link. Be creative – especially in SEO there are always problems that want to be solved.
How do you recognize a good idea?
A certain uncertainty always remains – will the idea go down well or not? Quite clearly:
If you don't like your own idea, that is already a clear exclusion criterion. Also let ideas rest for a few days. If they can still convince even after a certain time, then implement them; if not, they too should be thrown in the trash.
How do friends, colleagues, and partners find your idea? But be careful: Many people are not always open to ideas outside the box. Think carefully about whose honest opinion you want to hear and which grump you had better not bother with creative ideas. Just because 1–2 people don't like the idea doesn't mean anything at all.
In the end, the release in front of a large audience will show how the Shit went down. Over time you develop a certain feeling here for what your target audience likes and what they don't. The most important thing is and remains that you have to like the idea 110% and be able to stand behind it.
Creative examples from the SEO scene
Fortunately, the SEO scene hasn't completely fallen asleep, and so in the past there were always a few creative ideas, which we would like to present here using some examples:
Egobaits
Content that caters to the ego of others often gets particularly a lot of attention:
In 2011, Martin Missfeldt had the idea of immortalizing as many well-known SEOs as possible on a poster. Even today there are still some SEOs who use Martin's drawing as a profile picture on Facebook and the like. The new SEO poster, created by Sumago, also went down very well and can likewise be described here as a creative achievement that received corresponding attention and backlinks.
Until 2018, the SEO Portal regularly created a list with the – in its opinion – most well-known influencers in the industry and immortalized them in a list. The influencers got additional posts and were additionally mentioned on the various social media channels. After the releases, everyone immediately wanted to know who had made it onto the list and who hadn't. In this way, the SEO Portal was able to enjoy popularity and attention.
Controversial
A bit harsh, but simply doing the opposite of the actual egobait for once. Normally, with the egobait, you honor the target people. Not so Jacob King, however – he created an SEO-Assholes list and let the community vote on who all belonged on the list. You should think very carefully about such drastic stunts, even if he described it as “it's just fun”.
Studies
Even though I'm not a big fan of them: Ranking studies from various tool providers have always been very popular and got very large attention.
Start a survey or, if data is already available, evaluate it and publish the results … ON EXCITING TOPICS (very important!). Here is an example: Ahrefs created a comparison of the visibility of WIX versus WordPress websites. Very exciting to see how WordPress performs here:
An example of our own: Some time ago we started and evaluated a survey on the topic of buying backlinks.
Contests
SEO contests always encourage webmasters to take part in various campaigns. Above all, the organizer gets one thing here: attention. A current example is the XOVI contest. The Super Mario-style presentation is especially creative. The managing director is also not too proud to constantly take on new challenges. Hats off, Xovi, for that!
Presenting content in a fresh way
Funny can also be creative.
Another example is our dime novel on the topic of How search will work in 2025. Back then, we took part in a creativity contest by Seokratie and reached first place with it.
This is also what creative ideas and their execution can look like ;-)
Important tip:
Creativity doesn't mean always just creating colorful pictures, but also turning creative ideas into content. The visitor must be able to understand your content. If you have no idea at all -> Do the opposite / Do the opposite. What would the opposite of what would otherwise be usual look like? With this approach, many a person quickly comes up with good ideas.
Staying creative
But how do you stay creative? Creativity is not really a gift or ability – anyone can become creative. These points help you to continually produce more ideas:
- Keep your eyes open: Look around. What new trends are there in your industry? Is there something that stands out in particular?
- Self-doubt no – self-critical yes: Don't be too hard on yourself – I know many who simply don't dare, even though they constantly have new ideas. You can and must be self-critical so that an idea remains viable, but self-doubt about your own abilities is completely out of place.
- The idea has to mature: No idea is perfect right away. Write down an idea when you like it, and look at the idea again and again in the following days – is it still good afterwards? Then off to implementation with it.
- Too complicated is not right: People/visitors have to be able to understand you and your content. Keep it as simple as possible so that everyone can understand it too.
- Take a risk once in a while – otherwise you stay standard (Do the opposite!)
- Don't let others put you off: If you are absolutely convinced of your idea, don't let 1–2 negative voices influence you too much, but gather opinions from many, implement them, and see what happens. This is the perfect way to find out whether the idea was good or not.
- Don't give up: Many ideas fail, but if you land the big hit, the effort was worth it and no one is interested in the previous fails anymore.
Conclusion
Anyone can sit in their quiet little room and optimize their website by the book, but the real art, for which there can be no instructions or even guarantees, is generating attention.
Getting the attention of your target group with a big BANG can massively push you not only in classic marketing, no, but also in SEO. People visit your website more often, stay longer, remember your company, link to it, and so much positive can happen if you manage to generate attention on a large scale.
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