Making the Perfect Case Study for Your SEO Efforts

Case studies are an amazing tool for SEO that can help you dominate search engine rankings. Type in some of the most competitive keywords into Google, and you’ll find that many of the top results use case studies.

The question is: why do the search engines like case studies so much? Well, it all comes down to a simple premise – original, accurate, well-presented data is extremely valuable. It’s valuable to the search engines because it allows them to send their users to pages that answer queries, and it’s valuable to the average person because it helps them to answer their questions.

However, in order to offer real value, a case study has to do a number of things:

Go the Extra Mile

If you’re competing for competitive keywords, then ranking highly is going to be just that – competitive. You don’t get to the top of the rankings for lucrative keywords by doing things by halves; your case study has to be better than everything else that’s out there, and that means going the extra mile. It’s not enough just to do a little research, put some figures and quotes in and hope your study goes to the top of Google. It's got to offer visitors actionable insights that are backed up by reliable data.

If you’re going to invest time and money into a case study, then make sure you leave no stone unturned.

Know Where to Find the Insights

Depending on what niche you’re in, your case study is going to require different research methodologies. Understanding which methodology is going to get the best results for your study is a crucial factor in getting accurate information. Do you need to use focus groups, market research online communities, ethnography, user experience testing, or another method?

This is an area where it can be beneficial to get the expert advice of a company like Angelfish Fieldwork.

Optimise for SEO

Google is smart, but it’s not smart enough to know your content is great unless you communicate with it in the right way. Your case study should be written first and foremost for the humans that are going to read it, but you’ve also got to keep SEO best practices in mind.

If you produce a case study that has original findings with interesting data that is backed up by solid research, then you've got an excellent opportunity to rank, so don’t let your SEO hold you back at the last hurdle.

There are no doubt many excellent case studies that are buried in the internet and have never ranked because they don’t take care of SEO. The information alone is not enough to get you ranking; it’s got to be presented in conjunction with excellent SEO.

Adding Value

Case studies are so effective because they offer the reader so much value for free. When we ask Google an important question, we don’t want a result from Bob’s blog that says “I’m Bob and I believe...” We want answers to our questions that are based on research and fact, and Google wants to give us these answers.

A case study is a great way of bringing potential customers to you by offering them valuable information. Once you’ve got those potential customers to your site, then you can start building a relationship with them that is going to turn them into a loyal customer.