‘Best of’ lists are back, and Google is changing.
Here’s a TL;DR of this article: It’s now easy again to rank on Google for keywords like “Best organic peanut butter” or “Best AI automation consulting companies” if the “best of” keyword is directly in your niche. This is how to do it in 2025.
Google is changing
Original small blogs that were devastated by recent Google updates (which fell into Google’s Helpful Content Update) are making a comeback.
Check these out:
Meanwhile Google just announced
Meanwhile Google’s Gary Illyes just announced at an event, “Originality is something we’re going to be focusing on this year. That’s going to be important.”
'Best of' lists
Before I get to what originality means, let’s go to “best of” keywords.
Everybody’s done it – wanted something and searched on Google for “best [whatever you wanted].” I’ve done it too even though it’s pretty much the dumbest thing you could do.
For the most part, the websites that show up have extreme self interests at play. It’s not who is best, it’s who knows how to do SEO.
But by sharing how to do it, I think more of the sites that deserve it will show up.
For example – I recently spoke to a customer of my SEO Program, Compact Keywords. He just started ranking for a best of list in his niche. Of course he said on the list he was the best in his category. But, when I spoke to him, it was clear he really cared.
That’s actually a big reason why Google hit all these small blogs in the first place. A lot of them were pure SEO affiliate monetization plays from people with no actual experience in the niche – people who didn’t really care.
And all their sites looked the same – they didn’t come off as original.
My take on what originality means
My take on what originality means – given I constantly rank with white hat methods.
I’m just going to fire off a general bullet list.
- Don’t build spammy backlinks – or make sure your agency isn’t.
- Instead use niche directories, meetups, podcasts, expert quotes – and places where your links will actually be clicked.
- For the more advanced people reading – having a hyper-natural backlink profile is becoming even more important.
- Instead use niche directories, meetups, podcasts, expert quotes – and places where your links will actually be clicked.
- Stay away from AI generated text. If you decide to use it, make sure it’s heavily human-edited.
- Prioritize search intent above everything. When targeting a keyword, think about what searchers are actually looking to achieve with their search. Give that in your pages as soon as possible.
- Shockingly, Most SEOs don’t actually put thought into their pages like this. So by doing this, you stand out.
- Add differentiators to your page titles. Don’t just call your page, “Best Houston Window Cleaners.” Call it, “Best Houston Window Cleaners | Fast & Quiet Cleaning”
- Give searchers their answers as soon as possible. I started using TL;DRs at the top of my posts, like I did with this article.
- Most SEO spammers try to hold their searchers hostage to maximize time on page. They do this with a lot of fluff content at the top of a page, making visitors scroll and scroll to find what they’re looking for.
- Give actual deep answers that show you know what you’re talking about.
- Again, most SEOs don’t actually do this. They usually give surface-level answers that leave visitors feeling dissatisfied.
Now for those who disagree, there’s nuance to all of this. I shared the above on TikTok yesterday and some guy said, “I run several SEO spam websites with ChatGPT API with like 20 articles / site / day and they thrive, lol. Clearly the update is not working as intended.”
And my response:
- That stuff is risky. The results can and do disappear at any time and get all the person’s Google Search Console properties banned. If you’re super savvy, go for it, but even then I see wayyyy more money in building a long term legit brand. Way more money.
- Super savvy SEOs still get hit all the time. A friend who’s been doing black hat SEO for several decades got hit a few months ago. He invested a ton into his website and here’s what happened:
- Like I said, I constantly rank with white hat methods that won’t get my companies Google-penalized – the same methods I share for free in my newsletter and my articles.
And how to rank for 'Best of' keywords
The crazy thing is, these best of keywords get so much monthly search volume, that even if you rank at the bottom of page one or the top of page two, you’ll still get conversions. And these rankings are straightforward to achieve doing what’s below.
This isn’t just theory. The customer from earlier in the story is making thousands of dollars a month from SEO with his best of list which is at the top of Google’s page two. It’s a newly-published article, too, so I’d expect its ranking to only increase.
Here’s how to rank for them:
- Be original, as mentioned above. This differentiates you from the spammers.
- Make the best of list for the current year and update it every year. “For 2025,” “For 2026,” etc. People want recency.
- Put your target best of keyword in the:
- Page title
- Meta description
- URL
- H1
- Beginning of the first sentence
- How about page length? Consumers don’t want “100 of the best recommendations.” That causes decision fatigue. Give them 3 or 4 or 5, but make the recommendations in-depth. This demonstrates you did your research and know what you’re talking about.
- If you want to go advanced, add the target year to the URL Slug. Every year change the URL Slug and 301 redirect the old article to the new article.
- Have a site with niche relevance to the best of keyword. This means:
- Backlinks from places in your niche – the backlink strategies above cover this.
- A lot of content on the site around your niche – makes it clear as day this website is about this niche.
That’s it! Also make sure your site meets the minimum technical requirements to be indexed. That’s easy.
Google is changing and that’s how you rank for best of keywords in your niche!
For more SEO that actually converts: https://compactkeywords.com/ (or start with the review that Compact Keywords just got).
