If you’re writing about a topic that’s relatively mature and established, then writing what’s common consensus and basically copying+enhancing what’s already ranking on page one of Google is the right approach. You might see maybe only two “wildcard” results on page one of Google.
The way you bean those types of results is by providing more information gain.
Information gain: Google has a knowledge graph (a database of related concepts, e.g. if SEO is at the center, one distance away is “quality content’, “technical SEO”, “backlinks”, and one distance away from quality content is “internal linking”, “needs met”, etc etc). Topics will evolve, ebb, and flow. Information gain is your content’s ability to surface relevant and interesting concepts that the topic is likely to cooccur with.
If you’re writing however on a topic that’s less mature & stable, (or a topic that’s currently being disrupted), then writing for higher volatility (and less about what the predominant consensus is) might be worth it, and go with whatever has higher chances of fulfilling user intent . You might see eight “wildcard” results on page one of Google, and only two “mature” posts.
Want to learn more about this? Check out the video about 8 to 12 minutes into the conversation with Clearscope co-founder Bernard Huang.