How do I earn the Optimized Badge on my lists and get more traffic?
When you see the “Optimized” Badge on your list, it means the Benable algorithm thinks it’s really high quality and optimized to be discovered by others.
Benable will rank it higher, send more traffic to it,
and index it on Google.
List quality really matters on Benable. Having a few really great lists makes a big difference. Great lists get discovered more, get bookmarked, and get reshared.
Benable will show you when it thinks your list is high quality, by adding the Optimized badge to your list automatically. That badge indicates the list is well optimized for Discovery and Benable can boost it.
Don’t see the badge yet? This doc contains a few easy steps to improve the quality score of your list and unlock the badge automatically.
1) Curate lists of great things you actually recommend
Lists that are too salesly, or just contain a bunch of recommendations for big brands (e.g. a recommendation for “Sephora.com”) don’t do well.
Benable is where you can share curated recommendations of specific things you love. It’s not just for selling things. Yes, you can earn money when people buy things from your Benable lists, but lists that are too focused on sales rather than sharing great recommendations don’t do well.
Adding things you really recommend to Benable, even if you can’t earn commissions on those specific recommendations will boost your overall profile and list quality, and then help drive more traffic to all your recommendations (including the ones you can earn commission on).
The more curated and genuine the list, the better it will do! Also, there are always extra points for creativity :) More interesting, unique lists always get clicked on the most.
Here are some examples of high-quality lists that are Optimized for Discovery:
2) Write helpful notes!
Notes are the most engaged with part of Benable. They don’t have to be long, even something like “this restaurant has an AMAZING lasagna” can be a great note. The Benable algo really factors in the extent to which you have quality notes on your lists. So if you care about getting extra traffic, make sure almost all of your recommendations have great notes.
Make the notes on your lists original and personal, think about what you would text a friend if you were recommending something 🙂
3) You need a great list title, ideally something catchy
The Benable algorithm ranks lists with great titles and descriptions much higher than others. The title and description of your list are what users look at to decide whether to click into it or not. Think of the list title like a “hook” for a news article that makes you want to read it.
Great list titles are specific, descriptive, sometimes even fun.
Examples:
Great!
“What you will find in my low-tox bathroom”
“Mexico City musts - do, eat, stay, pack”
“First Job Resources for New College Grads”
“Essential coffee products for coffee lovers”
Medium
Bad
4) Have a great list description that entices people to read your list
Make sure to include a list description on each list! Great descriptions explain:
a) what’s on the list
b) what makes you a great curator and passionate about the topic
Examples:
5) Ensure your list has enough recommendations
No hard and fast rules but generally you need at least 10-15 high-quality things you recommend on a list for it to be optimized for discovery. Fewer than that, and your list could be less engaging for readers. Over time as you add more recommendations to your list, the Benable algorithm will rank it higher! And remember, you can use sections to separate and organize your lists!
Exception: Authenticity is the most important part of Benable, so don’t feel like you need to add filler recs. For example, if you have a list of workout classes in your area, but only really recommend 8 classes, then totally fine to leave as is! Even if that list doesn’t trend, some of your others will, and then bring people to your profile where they’ll find that list. Or, you could always combine that list with another related one to make one slightly bigger joint list!
6) Make sure each item has great images!
Make sure you have high quality images on your recommendations. You pick the images on the cards. Choose from the ones that automatically populate, or upload your own like in the example below.
Also, you can expand or shrink the photos if it doesn’t fit properly by clicking the little fit/fill arrow
7) Organize longer lists into Sections
Once you’ve got a lot of recommendations on a list, make sure to use Sections and Section descriptions to help break up your lists, see below! Then, visitors will be able to navigate through the list better and will have a better experience. Also, it can make building a list easier, too!
8) Last tip!
The easiest way to figure out how good your list is: pretend you are someone browsing around Benable, when you stumble on your list! How do you feel? Is it a “Wow this is a great list, someone spent time curating all these amazing things”?
That’s what you should be aiming for if you want to get the Optimized Badge on your list, and more traffic and engagement with your curated lists!
Don’t hesitate to ask us any clarifying or follow-up questions so we can make this guide even better. Email support@benable.com
After you update your list, it takes the Benable algorithm about 10 minutes to recheck it, so if you don’t see the badge yet, check back again soon!
It takes about 10 minutes for the Benable Optimized Badge to appear