As part of a new content strategy for my website Better Triathlete, I’ve started developing resourceful content all about the Ironman triathlon.
More than just the name for the world-renowned long-distance triathlon, IRONMAN® is also a brand that organizes such triathlon events (as well as half-Ironman events which they call 70.3 races).
In turn, Ironman.com owns most of the search real estate for certain types of terms, like “Ironman triathlon” and “Ironman race”. But interestingly enough, the brand’s website is poorly optimized and its content strategy is non-existent.
This leaves ample opportunity for sites like mine to occupy high-volume search real estate for keywords like “average Ironman time,” “fastest Ironman time,” and general queries like “what is an Ironman?” which oddly enough Ironman.com is not even in the top three.
In exercising my knowledge as an SEO content strategist, I am building out an entirely new section on the website with stacked URL paths based on various queries of interest.
At a glance, I am creating hub pages for general “What is an Ironman Race?” and “What is an Ironman 70.3?” queries, with additional pages of interest for specific events that occur every year as well as general questions of curiosity. It’s going to look something like this:
- https://bettertriathlete.com/ironman/ (hub)
- https://bettertriathlete.com/ironman/average-ironman-time/ (general query)
- https://bettertriathlete.com/ironman/fastest-ironman-time/ (general query)
- https://bettertriathlete.com/ironman/ironman-chattanooga/ (event page)
- https://bettertriathlete.com/ironman/ironman-lake-placid/ (event page)
- https://bettertriathlete.com/ironman/70-3-half-ironman/ (hub)
- https://bettertriathlete.com/ironman/70-3-half-ironman/chattanooga (event page)
- https://bettertriathlete.com/ironman/70-3-half-ironman/oceanside (event page)
With the individual event pages, I will provide general information about the event, insights about the swim-bike-run course, and eventually reviews and race recaps from athletes who’ve participated in the event.
While it’s a stretch that these Ironman event pages will out-rank Ironman.com, I think the information and athlete reviews will add unique value that many searchers will be interested in.
After Google’s latest “Helpful Content Update” (September 2023), there’s been quite a shake-up in not just the SEO community, but the greater blogging community at large.
I am an active member of Mediavine’s Facebook Group (Mediavine is the advertising platform I use to monetize my site.) And there have been countless stories of goodhearted, hard-working bloggers who have seen sharp declines in traffic after the Helpful Content Update.
My hope with this new content strategy is to build more pages on the site that genuinely are viewed as helpful; not just product-related posts with affiliate links.
Mediavine has been integral in helping me turn this hobby blog into a part-time income generator. So I truly believe tapping into this Ironman search market will help scale the volume of traffic I need to take things to the next level.