@atlantarobin Their domain seems to be pretty strong. Google PageRank of 7 and constantly getting more content added to search engines (see this graph to see their search engine traffic / keywords in search).

@elizabeth-jamieson For a couple of them, they were nothing but various articles and videos related to the same theme, all written or created by me, and all already published on one of my websites and YouTube. Within hours, the link to that cluster was on Google’s first page for ALL the keywords used.

The look and feel of Storify has a journalistic subtlety about it… and I can honestly say I tend to read the storify editions of articles now if I see them pop up in the SERPS, instead of hitting the link to a website.

Why? Well, I know there’s going to be related articles, websites, videos, etc, all posted in one place. It’s kind of like Squidoo, except much more journalistic, classy, and highbrow… at least it gives that kind of impression to me. Whereas Squidoo has always looked a bit cartoonish and full of articles where people can’t spell or construct a proper sentence. Meaning… it appears Storify IS attracting professionals or former professionals… with a bit more substance.

Now… I must confess, lol… that I tried to Storify a cluster on the subject of an affiliate product, but one relating to writing and research… and one that I use constantly. Nevertheless, I packed that cluster with about every cheesy thing and link I could… kind of my own little test. I fully expected them to yank it down instantly, lol. Nope… it’s still there, last time I checked.

And I’m the first to admit, cheesy, spammy, link-filled clusters obviously may LOOK better in Storify than they should…. but they’re still what they are. Hope other marketers don’t follow my example there, lol.

Best use of Storify? I think it’s perfect for doing exactly what you said, Elizabeth. Roundups, indepth articles, related how-to videos, twitter links, facebook links, whatever you can pull together… curate it, edit it, re-title it (but don’t “steal” it) and point it all back to where you want to send traffic. For me, the best use was using ONLY my own stuff, which naturally all linked back to one of my original sites. 

Hope that helps… but I would go plug in some keywords you’d like to use there and see what pops up and how others have used it, too.

Robin Carlisle @kristi-hines

@atlantarobin – Can’t thank you enough for that detailed, considered response to my question. The curated content does rank – I am learning that in a course I’m on at the moment. Especially when you provide an overview or a précis of the article which is unique. I’ll go check Storify out some more based in your feedback.