Unlocking the SEO Success Behind 20 Million Monthly Unique Visitors: (Health Niche)

Welcome to another week of 'Growth Through Content.'

In this edition, we'll look at Verywell Health, a titan in the digital health information sphere, to unravel the secrets behind its SEO and content strategy success.

You'll learn:

• The strategic use of site structure and editorial policy to boost user experience and SEO.
• The significance of cultivating a natural backlink profile for site authority.
• How answering user queries effectively within content can drive deeper engagement and higher traffic.
• And much more.

Let's dive in.

****Job News and More****

Before we dive in, as usual, a big thanks to SEOjobs.com for this week's job list.

SEO Strategist ~ Online Optimism ~ $51,000 ~ Remote (US)

SEO Specialist ~ ChangeGroup ~ 40k-50k ~ Hybrid/Remote (UK)

Sr Director, Organic Growth ~ IPSY ~ $180k – $235k ~ Remote (US)

SEO Lead (Ind Contributor) ~ Motive ~ $129k+ ~ Remote (US)

Need Digital PR Links...Read This

If you're looking for digital PR backlinks, then read our case study in the health sector here.

OK, so that's it for this week's notes and news.

Let's get back to the case study.

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What is Very Well Health?

Very Well Health is a content site in the medical/ health sector but is part of the Dotdash Meredith publishing family.

Dotdash is pretty much the best in the world at content, so when they have a site, it's well worth looking at what's going on.

What are Their SEO Metrics Like?

Verywell Health has a Domain Rating (DR) of 89 and URL Rating (UR) of 45.

It boasts 3 million backlinks from 165K referring domains, highlighting its extensive influence and reach.

Monthly organic traffic is a staggering 20.7 million, and if this traffic were acquired through PPC, it would be worth an estimated $5.6 million.

The page structure shows that despite having 24,647 pages, 50 % of their traffic comes from less than 1000 pages.

A Lesson in Site Structure and User Experience

The menu structure is lovely to see as it is not a mega menu and does not overwhelm visitors.

Each of the sections has a 'view all' tab that opens up a far larger menu.

I really liked this.

The ability to not only overwhelm people but also have huge and helpful menu pages is smart.

The Power of an Editorial Policy

Verywell Health's editorial policy is a cornerstone of its strategy, ensuring content accuracy and trustworthiness.

I've read a lot of editorial policies, and this one was written with humans in mind and clearly written by humans, for humans.

The site also has the presence of a medical review board.

This adds a layer of credibility that is invaluable in the health information space. It influences user trust and is a great example of displayed E-E-A-T.

But they don't just stop there.

Detailed medical practitioner pages:

You can read about each medical board member, learn about their background, and even view their LinkedIn profile.

This goes above and beyond what most business websites do, but it should be emulated, in my opinion, because it makes trust so easy.

Backlink Strategy: Quality over Quantity

The vast majority of links come from diverse domains rather than direct brand mentions.

As we can see, less than a few percent of their links are brand-related.

This type of anchor text tends to come naturally (yes, some people can buy links), but it's a huge site, and I'd argue that most links come from being number one for many terms.

Writers reference good sources.

But what about the content?

A Title That Contains the Answer

In this article, we can see a unique structure.

The article's underlying question is answered in the next line.

But while the title is a question, the page title is different.

It is a short statement, 'Rarest Eye Color: What it is and why.

This shows that even though they want to click through in the SERPs, they just want to give you the answers in seconds on the page.

But what about the headers?

Header Structure that Provides Depth

I've copied out the header structure below to show you how good it is.

Each header draws you in with an educational premise. It's simple yet effective.

H1: What Is the Rarest Eye Color?

H2: Most Common and Rarest Eye Colors

H3: Gray: The Rarest Eye Color

H2: What Determines Eye Color?

H3: Genetics of Eye Color

H3: What Genes Determine Your Eye Color?

H2: Other Eye Color Differences

H3: Heterochromia

H3: Anisocoria

H3: Albino Eyes: Red, Pink, Violet

H3: Do Purple Eyes Exist?

H2: Eye Color and Your Health

H2: Eye Color and Changes With Age

H2: What Is the Most Attractive Eye Color?

H2: Changing Your Eye Color

H2: Summary

H3: Frequently Asked Questions

H2: We Care About Your Privacy

H3: We and our partners process data to provide.

An 'Updated On' Section That Provides Credibility.

The articles have a nice 3 tier system that features:

• Who it is written by.
• When was it last updated?
• And who medically reviewed it.

This easily established trust in the mind of any reader in seconds.

And remember that trust is likely to lead to increased page engagement.

Now, let's get to the content.

An introduction style that gets to the point

The introduction of a post is key in content like this because, without it, you'll not get the reader to move forward.

The title of the content is ‘What is the rarest eye colour?

And even though they answered this in the header, they answered it again here.

“There are four main eye colors—brown, blue, hazel, and green. Green was once considered the rarest eye color, but new classifications say another color may be even less common: gray.”

You have exactly what the headline promised in seconds

There is also a citation that leads to the research that they have referenced.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5729215/

And also a jump link to their sources section at the base.

But what about the rest of the intro?

A 3-Tier Introduction

The structure of the introduction takes the form of the answer and then a supporting information section, followed by what else is covered in the article.

It is a long introduction because it has to be.

Because they've already answered the reason you clicked on the post in seconds, they are telling you what else you'll learn by reading.

And as we scroll down, we can see that the rest of the article follows a similar pattern:

The H2s tend to give a statement, which is answered in the very next line.

Again, with a citation, you can see where the data is from.

Data-Rich Sections in Every Article

This is not original content and is not claimed to be; the site provides sources for the content.

Here's an example.

https://www.allaboutvision.com/conditions/eye-color-green.htm

This is really interesting for those who are using AI to create content.

(But I'll cover this at the end of this post)

At the end of their article is a summary and an FAQ section, as well as the previously mentioned sources.

This was a nice touch, and it really shows how well the content is written.

Is Every article the same?

The answer is sort of.

They don’t always include the answer in the title, but it is usually in the first paragraph.

And each first paragraph is information-rich.

They have made a serious effort to make the content deep above the fold.

While also making each piece of content in-depth.

And remember, they have 24,000 plus articles of this standard.

Ok, this is all well and good, but how can you use this information?

What You Can Takeaway from this Post

This week, you've seen how a YMYL site handles content and structure.

And this provides you with a lot to take away.

But I know what you're saying.

You aren't Dotdash Meredith, nor have their resources.

Well, I think we've seen here that while humans write this content, it's not written by experts.

This is interesting.

The human has written this, but based on cited research and also reviewed by an expert.

And this, IMHO, is how AI content might be scaled in the future.

With a human writer/operator creating content that has citations and an expert reviewing the content to say that it is correct.

With this, a writer could be 5 x more productive in a day, creating better content.

But even if you aren't using AI, then look at the standards of the content and the commitment to displayed E-E-A-T.

My advice is to spend time studying this site. You'll learn loads.

Thanks for reading.

And if you need support with your SEO and digital PR, get in touch.

Andrew Holland