Advanced SEO Tactics: On Beyond Keyword Research (GF401)
When it comes to SEO optimization, links are king! Everyone knows creating remarkable content is vitally important to SEO – but, the best written content in the world will only get you so far if no one links to it. There are some extremely important factors that help your content rank highly with the major search engines. Here are the top five most important page-specific ranking factors.
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Factor 1: Anchor text
This one ranks at the top of the list! Create keyword-rich anchor text links and get others to post them on their sites. The strategy is to create anchor text using the keywords you’re targeting. As more and more people add your anchor text link to their sites, you’ll rank higher and higher for your desired keywords. Also, it’s important that your anchor text describe the content of the target page it links with – it must be relevant to the target page. In the blogs you write, get in the habit of including anchor text for targeted keywords and you’ll begin to see your rankings improve.
Factor 2: Link popularity
Externals links are important for indexing and crawling. The more people who add links to your website from their own pages, the greater your rankings will be with the key search engines. Having a large quantity of links is important but having quality links is even more important. Long established sites that are reputable and rank highly with search engines hold a lot of water. Earning external links with the pros means a lot in the SEO world. When link building, target sites that have the potential to boost your rankings.
Factor 3: Link diversity
Search engines prefer sites with high link diversity. Build links with as many different domains as you can. Establish a healthy link profile for your site by leaving behind link trails from diverse sources. Be active – post fresh content and comment on others’ content that pertains to a wide range of related topics. The idea is to establish content from diverse sources, but maintain links that are relevant to your site. When using anchor text to optimize your keywords, don’t use anchor text for the same one or two keywords repeatedly. Instead, use anchor text that targets multiple keywords. This will enable you to diversify your link profile.
Factor 4: Ranking with trusted sites
Search engines look suspiciously at links to untrustworthy sites. Trusted sites are not in the business of using deceitful marketing gimmicks or underhanded tactics that trick search engines into giving them good rankings. Trustworthy sites actively produce new and genuinely useful content for the benefit of the user community. Be choosy with the sites you link with. Establishing a host of backlinks with unscrupulous sites will do nothing positive for your search engine rankings. When determining your site rankings, Google will evaluate its trustworthiness, so don’t allow bad sites to drag it down.
Factor 5: Ranking with PageRank
PageRank is Google’s link analysis algorithm – it measures how Google views a page’s level of importance. Pages perceived as important receive a higher PageRank and are more likely to receive favorable search result rankings. When a trustworthy site links to your page, a vote for its importance is cast on your behalf. The more votes that are cast for your page, the greater your page ranks in level of importance. The only way to rank highly with PageRank is to establish as many good external links as possible.
