"Unlocking the Potential of Aggregator Strategies: Insights from The Athletic and LinkedIn"

"Unlocking the Potential of Aggregator Strategies: Insights from The Athletic and LinkedIn"

Introduction:

In recent years, the rise of aggregator strategies has revolutionized the way businesses operate in various industries. Two notable examples are The Athletic and LinkedIn, which have successfully employed these strategies to achieve remarkable growth and success. In this article, we will explore the key elements that make these integrators thrive and delve into actionable advice for businesses looking to implement similar approaches. By understanding the common points between these success stories and incorporating unique insights, we can unlock the full potential of aggregator strategies.

The Athletic: A Case Study in Integration

Founded by former colleagues at Strava in 2016, The Athletic quickly became a force to be reckoned with in the sports journalism industry. With 600 employees and $65M in ARR, it caught the attention of the New York Times, which acquired it for a staggering $550M in cash in January 2022. The Athletic stands out as an integrator, where all content is created by full-time journalists. By organizing their content into team pages that cater to strong user intents, such as game schedules, player updates, and game analysis, The Athletic delivers a comprehensive and engaging user experience.

Identifying the Potential for Aggregation

While not every company can pursue an SEO aggregator strategy, it is crucial to determine whether your site has the potential for aggregation. Surfacing your supply to search engines requires treating your website as a product rather than a mere marketing property. The viability of aggregation lies in getting the latest updates and relevant information for users. Three types of supply for SEO aggregation include user-generated content (UGC), inventory, and programmatic landing pages.

• 1. UGC: Unleashing the Power of User-Generated Content

UGC, in the form of reviews, templates, or inventory, offers a valuable source of content for aggregation. Platforms like G2, Figma, Miro, and Airbnb leverage UGC to enhance their offering. Integrators often start as point solutions and gradually add a marketplace dynamic on top. By encouraging users to generate contextual content and facilitating interactions between buyers and sellers, businesses can tap into the potential of UGC platforms.

• 2. Inventory: Transforming Products into Aggregatable Entities

The concept of inventory revolves around the creation of entities that can be aggregated and surfaced to search engines. Most products inherently generate entities through their usage. By leveraging these entities and optimizing their visibility on search engines, businesses can expand their reach. Think of directories as an excellent example of programmatic landing pages that can be created for keyword permutations with a finite amount.

• 3. Programmatic Landing Pages: Enhancing Search Engine Visibility

Programmatic landing pages, typically built with the same template for each page, can greatly improve search engine visibility. Directories, for instance, effectively utilize programmatic landing pages to cater to various keyword permutations. By strategically creating landing pages that align with user search queries, businesses can better position themselves in search engine rankings.

The Product-Centric Approach to Aggregator SEO

Aggregator SEO is a product discipline, and the key to successful aggregation lies in how users experience the product. It is essential to understand the steps users go through to receive core value and identify opportunities to make entities public. By incorporating user-generated entities, exploring integrations and platform capabilities, and assessing keyword search volume, businesses can optimize their aggregator SEO strategy.

Conclusion: Shifting from Marketing to Product Thinking

To unlock the full potential of aggregator strategies, businesses need to adopt a product-centric mindset. This entails considering product value, business feasibility, and user experience. Additionally, a fifth risk needs to be addressed: the ability to generate significant traffic from targeted keywords through aggregation. By aligning these factors and implementing the following actionable advice, businesses can harness the power of aggregator strategies:

• 1. Focus on providing real value to users by addressing their needs and pain points effectively.

• 2. Ensure business feasibility by assessing the scalability and profitability of your aggregator model.

• 3. Continuously enhance the user experience by offering unique features and improving upon existing solutions.

By adopting a holistic approach and integrating these actionable advice, businesses can unlock new opportunities through aggregator strategies and thrive in today's competitive landscape.