121 Examples of 10X Content (by Rand Fishkin)

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