About two years ago, we started Featured to help small businesses build authority online.
In that time, we’ve published articles with partners like FastCompany, GoDaddy, American Express, and 100+ more brands. We’ve also met with hundreds of Featured users to learn which features provide value to them (and also, which features don’t matter!).
With those experiences in mind, we’re proud to announce Premium accounts at Featured.
Here are the highlights of Premium –
- Unlimited answer submissions. “Lite” accounts will be limited to three answer submissions per month, while Premium will have unlimited submissions.
- View publication source authority. Using Ahrefs’ SEO metrics, Featured displays the Domain Rating (DR) of each publication source.
- View Expected Link Attribution Type. Based on publisher historical data with Featured, Featured will display the company link attribution type you should expect to receive for a certain article opportunity. The attribution types are Dofollow, Nofollow, Unlinked, and Unknown.
- Support and editorial coaching from our team at Featured to help increase answer selection.
Let’s dive into each of these highlights.
Unlimited Answer Submissions
A profound statement came from Steven M. Brown, an HR expert, when he mentioned –
“I shouldn’t have to pay to share words.”
We agree.
To this point, we’ve always offered Featured users unlimited answer submissions at no cost. However, by giving Featured users unlimited answers, we’ve found that many users answer questions outside of their areas of expertise. This reduces the answer selection success rate of a user, which can result in frustration.
That’s why starting today, our “Lite” accounts on Featured will be limited to three answer submissions per month while Premium accounts will enjoy unlimited submissions.
By limiting answer submissions, we hope that we can:
- Increase the quality of insights we are able to share with our publishing partners.
- Offer users a higher success rate in getting an answer selected.
Publication Source Domain Rating (DR)
Domain Rating (DR) is a metric developed by SEO tool provider Ahrefs that quantifies the authority and strength of a domain’s backlink profile on a scale of 0 to 100. The higher the Domain Rating, the more authoritative and influential the domain is considered to be in terms of search engine rankings.
When it comes to answering questions on Featured, Domain Rating should play a role in determining which websites you target for article inclusion. Here’s how it should affect your strategy:
-
Relevance: Prioritize answering questions from sources that are relevant to your niche or industry. Article inclusion from a high DR website in a related field can provide more authority and credibility to your website.
-
Natural Link Profile: Aim for a diverse and natural link profile. While high DR placements are desirable, having a mix of DRs in your backlink profile can look more natural to search engines and reduce the risk of penalties.
-
Competitor Analysis: Analyze the backlink profiles of your competitors. Identify the sources of their high-quality placements and consider targeting those publication sources for your own article inclusion efforts.
-
Diversification: While DR is important, don’t rely solely on it. Consider other metrics like organic traffic and relevance to evaluate potential link sources comprehensively.
Remember, while Domain Rating is a valuable metric, it’s just one of many factors to consider in your Featured strategy. A holistic approach that takes into account relevance, quality, diversity, and natural growth is key to building a strong and effective thought leadership profile that positively impacts your SEO efforts.
Expected Link Attribution Type
Featured displays the link attribution type we expect publishers to give to the experts’ companies in the article. We use the publishers’ past articles as an indicator of what their link attribution type will be in future articles. Publishers always have full control over their decision on how to attribute links to experts in their articles.
Incorporating a mix of different backlink attribution types into your Featured strategy can significantly enhance your thought leadership SEO efforts. Here’s how:
-
Credibility and Authority: Having “dofollow”, “nofollow” and “unlinked” Featured placements showcases a balanced and natural approach. This diversity indicates that your insights are valuable for their own sake, while also recognizing the context of the link. It enhances your credibility as a thought leader and can help you establish a stronger reputation within your industry.
-
Natural Link Profile: Search engines value a diverse and organic link profile. A mixture of “dofollow” and “nofollow” links aligns with this principle, signaling to search algorithms that your content is being genuinely referenced in various contexts, not just for SEO purposes. This can contribute to higher rankings and improved visibility in search results.
-
Avoiding Penalties: Exclusively pursuing “dofollow” links could lead to over-optimization and potential penalties from search engines for manipulating rankings. By pursuing “nofollow” and “unlinked” opportunities, you demonstrate adherence to search engine guidelines and reduce the risk of being penalized.
-
Traffic and Referrals: “Nofollow” and “unlinked” placements might not directly influence search engine rankings, but they can still drive valuable traffic to your website. Visitors who click on these links or search your company could become engaged users, potentially leading to conversions and brand exposure.
-
Relationship Building: Some high-quality websites might only offer “unlinked” or “nofollow” links due to their editorial policies or concerns about link manipulation. Building relationships with these high-quality websites can lead to valuable future opportunities.
-
Thought Leadership Network: By allowing a mix of link attribution types, you contribute to the broader thought leadership ecosystem within your industry. This can lead to increased visibility, invitations to events, speaking engagements, and collaborations, all of which further enhance your thought leadership status.
Incorporating a mix of different backlink attribution types into your Featured strategy bolsters your reputation, aligns with search engine best practices, mitigates risks, and expands your influence within your industry. It’s a well-rounded approach that not only benefits your SEO efforts but also enriches your overall thought leadership presence.
Support & Editorial Coaching
To select answers, Featured uses an algorithm to select answers based on how well the answer satisfies an element of search intent.
The fact of the matter is that there are many elements that make up search intent. For example, an article about “social media marketing tips” may need to cover topics ranging from “target audience” to “types of content” to “social channels” to effectively meet the search intent behind a question.
Premium accounts will have access to support and editorial coaching from Featured to help craft an answer that satisfies search intent. With this support, we hope that we can increase the quality of expertise being shared with our publishing partners and increase answer selection.
Next Steps
We will be adding new features to Premium accounts in the months ahead so that you can build authority online. We’ll also be introducing plenty of new publishing partners as well.
Stay tuned!
Questions about the Premium plan? Shoot them our way by signing up for an account and sending feedback.