Last updated: October 20, 2020

What is “10X” Content?

I first used the term in the Whiteboard Friday video, Why Good Unique Content Needs to Die. It refers to content that is 10 times better than the best result that can currently be found in the search results for a given keyword phrase or topic. You can learn more about How to Create 10X Content here.

Since then, it’s been used in forums and on social media as a barometer of content that marketers have found to be uniquely remarkable and stand out in their field for the quality and experience it provides. In 2017, I gave the following presentation on 10X Content (on behalf of my previous company, Moz):

Criteria for 10X Content:

• Provides a uniquely positive user experience through the user interface, visuals, layout, fonts, patterns, etc.
• Delivers content that is some substantive combination of high-quality, trustworthy, useful, interesting, and remarkable
• Is considerably different in scope and detail from other works on similar topics
• Loads quickly and is usable on any device or browser
• Creates an emotional response of awe, surprise, joy, anticipation, and/or admiration
• Has achieved an impressive quantity of amplification (through shares on social networks and/or links)
• Solves a problem or answers a question by providing comprehensive, accurate, exceptional information or resources.

Not all of these are required, but a minimum of 3-4 should be present in each of the pieces that fall under this label.

Examples of 10X Content (2016-2020):

(last update 10/20/2020)

1. Principles of Responsive Web Design
2. Burma: An Enchanted Spirit (story on Maptia)
3. Voila Norbert: a Tool to Find Anyone’s Corporate Email Address
4. Interactive Tool by NYT: How Family Income Affects Childrens’ College Chances
5. How Moz Built a $35MM/year Business Without Any Salespeople
6. Tim Ferris’ Guide to Getting Published (and publishing a bestseller)
7. A Search Engine for Clips + Screenshots from The Simpsons TV Show
8. Rules for Creating a Gorgeous Web UI
9. I Went Paleo And Now I Hate Everything (from The Everywhereist)
10. NomadList: Tool to Find the Best Places to Live & Work (Affordably) Around the World
11. The Statistical History of War and Peace (from Our World in Data)
12. Planning Tool for Living Wills, Wills, and Life Insurance
13. The Chokehold of Calendars
14. How Covid-19 is Impacting Sales & Marketing
15. Drinking (in moderation) is Healthy: The Truth We Won’t Admit
16. Bellroy’s Hide and Seek Wallet Product Page
17. Why We Pretend All Opinions Are Equal (Washington Post)
18. Features vs. Benefits (from UserOnboard)
19. Comparison of Android Phones from Google
20. US Presidential Election Quiz (2020)
21. Tracking the Pace of Social Change (from Bloomberg)
22. What’s Really Warming the World (from Bloomberg)
23. Paul Ford’s “What is Code?”
24. What If Questions Answered: Relativistic Baseball
25. Zillow’s Interior Design, Decorating, and Room Explorer Tool: Digs
26. This is Water: David Foster Wallace’s Commencement Speech Video
27. Gnoosic: Discover New Music Based on the Music You Love
28. IFixIt’s Repair Guides
29. The Largest Vocabulary in Hip Hop Visualized
30. Wait But Why’s Guide to The Fermi Paradox
31. The Artificial Intelligence Revolution from Wait But Why
32. Kleiner Perkin’s Internet Trends Report 2018 (by Mary Meeker)
33. A Large List of Great Content Examples from The Atlantic’s Editors 
34. How a Car Works
35. The Sound Board by Concert Hotels
36. One Night at Kachka Restaurant (by Eater)
37. The First 100 Years of Web Design
38. A Journey Through Space and the Music (and Radio Signals) You Can Hear Leaving Our Solar System
39. Momondo’s Trip Finder Tool
40. Which Flight Will Get You There Fastest (a 538 Project)
41. Global Internet Traffic Visualized (by Akamai)
42. The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek (an NYT Visual Journalism Project)
43. Tab Closed; Didn’t Read (shaming sites that use content-obscuring overlays and pop-overs)
44. Global Extreme Poverty (by Our World in Data)
45. A Visual Introduction to Machine Learning
46. Regional Guide & Quiz for Dialects in the United States
47. When Do We Stop Keeping Up with Popular Music?
48. In a Single Bound: Vince Carter’s Physics-Defying Leap at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games
49. BuiltVisible’s Guide to SEO on Baidu, China’s Leading Search Engine
50. Be Suspicious of Online Movie Reviews, Especially Fandango’s
51. Greenland is Melting Away: An Interactive NYT Project
52. Visual Resume Templates from ResumUp
53. College Rankings from The Economist
54. NYTimes’ Buy vs. Rent Calculator
55. The Complete (Statistical) History of the NFL
56. The Most Common Uses of Time (By Age and Sex)
57. Transparent Salaries from Buffer
58. What Would It Take to Swing the US Election (from 538)
59. In Search of Whales (by Maptia)
60. An Interactive List of the 100 Best Infographics (by Siege Media)
61. Making Sense of the MVP (Minimum Viable Product)
62. 538’s NFL Predictions Tool
63. Chart Showing Who Marries CEOs, Doctors, Chefs, and Janitors (from Bloomberg)
64. The Official Website of Sweden
65. The Poor Kids of Silicon Valley
66. Lead Poisoning Risk in the United States
67. Aurora Borealis: The Northern Lights Guide from Iceland Air
68. Film Dialogue Analyzed: A Breakdown by Gender and Age
69. The Dark Side of The Guardian’s Comments
70. Statcounter’s Global Statistics on Browser Share, Search Engine Referrals, and More
71. The NBA’s Steph Curry: 3-Pointers Visualized
72. Why You Shouldn’t Exercise to Lose Weight (from Vox)
73. 538’s Famous (Infamous?) 2016 US Election Forecast
74. Real Returns for the US Stock Market Visualized
75. State by State Data on Incarceration in the United States
76. Visualizing Gun Deaths in America
77. Interactive Story: How Palm Oil Gets from the Rainforest to Consumers
78. Worldwide Wind Pattern Visualization Tool
79. A Comprehensive Look at Faberge Eggs
80. Collectors’ Weekly’s Guide to the Death of Flair in the Antiquing World
81. Creative Photo Discovery Tool Using Color & Style (from 500px) 
82. Plug & Play Travel/Trip Data via API
83. Tech & Startup Hiring Around the World (a Tool for Job Seekers)
84. A Tool that Mobilizes Left-Leaning Voters in the United States
85. Visualization of Pop Culture’s Most Popular Franchises’ Timelines
86. CLICK. CLICK. A Tool That Shows What Websites Can Learn About You and Your Browser
87. First Round Capital’s State of Startup 2017
88. What American Workers Have to Say About Their Jobs (from The Atlantic)
89. Free Tool to Turn Spreadsheet Data Into Maps in Seconds
90. City Data’s Metropolis Comparison Tool
91. NYT’s Travel Guide: 52 Places to Visit in 2017
92. The Curious Truth About Belly Button Lint
93. An Interactive Guide to the Fourier Transform
94. A Free Tool for Discovering High Quality Stock Photography
95. How to Make the Best Grilled Steak (seriously, I’ve tried everything; this rules)
96. The Truth About Cast-Iron Cooking Pans (from Serious Eats)
97. Eater NYC’s Essential 38 Restaurants
98. Patagonia’s Supply Chain & Ecological Footprint Visualized
99. MetaCritic’s 2016/2017 TV Season Renewal Scorecard
100. The Oroville Damn Spillway Flood in IMGUR Video Format
101. The Rise of the Conversational Interface: A Technology Experiment from Typeform
102. What City is the Microbrewing Capital of the United States?
103. A Look at One of the World’s Most Complicated Watches: The Patek Philippe Caliber 89
104. Jeff Varasano’s New York Style Pizza Recipe
105. America’s Geography of Wealth: The Shrinking, Urban Middle Class Visualized
106. A Comprehensive Guide to the Blockchain (from Goldman Sachs)
107. Product Adoption Calculator for Startups
108. Where Can North Korea’s Missiles Reach?
109. A Five Minute Guide to Better Typography
110. The Best & Worst Airlines US Airlines 2017
111. Fakebook: Interactive Exploration of the Russian-Purchased Ads on Facebook for the 2016 US Election
112. National Geographic’s Travel Photographer of the Year Awards
113. Sex & Startups: Zebras Fix What Unicorns Break
114. The Legend of Nintendo: How the 130-year-old Gaming Giant Has Turned Reports of Its Demise Into Nintendo Mania
115. I Made the Pizza Rolls from Mario Batali’s Sexual Misconduct Apology Letter (Everywhereist)
116. 100 Google Success Factors Ranked (by Cyrus Shepard)
117. How Domino’s Pizza Drove a 90X Increase in Stock Value
118. Thou Shalt Not Commit Logical Fallacies
119. The 100 Best TV Episodes of the Last Century (The Ringer)
120. The Fall Foliage Prediction Map
121. Covid-19: The Global Crisis in Data (Financial Times)

If you have suggestions for additional pieces of content that should be on this list, please tweet them to @randfish