201 Powerful SEO Tips (That Actually Work)

Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) keywords are a fancy way of saying: “synonyms and closely-related terms”.

And when you include these in your content you help Google understand what your page is all about. You can find LSI keywords at the bottom of the SERPs:

Yes, infographics are an awesome way to generate social shares and backlinks. But they have one big problem:

Google can’t read ’em!

That’s why I always add plenty of text underneath my infographics. That way Google can understand what your page (and infographic) is all about.

Boilerplate and duplicate titles.

These are HUGE mistakes that sites with lots of pages make (I’m looking at you ecommerce sites 🙂 ).

And it’s something that Google has come right out and said: “Don’t do it dude!”

I know it’s a huge pain to write unique title tags for each and every page. But it’s super important.

Let’s say you’re gunning for the keyword: “red shoes”. You COULD simply optimize your title tag around the keyword “red shoes”.

But it’s smarter to embed a long tail keyword into your title tag.

(For example, you could optimize your title tag around “best red shoes” or “cheap red shoes”).

That way, you can quickly rank for the long tail keyword “best red shoes”. And over time you can ALSO rank for your main target keyword, “red shoes”.

A few years ago I had an idea:

I knew that short, keyword-rich URLs were best for SEO.

And then I thought: “why not make my URL the exact keyword that I want to rank for?”.

And it worked! That’s why today I (mostly) use URLs like: example.com/my-exact-keyword

Obviously, if you keyword stuff, these URLs can lead to over-optimization. But when combined with moderate on-page SEO, I’ve found that keyword-only URLs help.

In my experience, practical content CRUSHES opinion pieces and clickbait. And several studies have found the same thing.

It boils down to sharing. People are more likely to share (and therefore link to) super-practical content.

It’s unlikely that Google uses keyword density as a ranking factor.

But there is no doubt in my mind that they look at the number of times a keyword appears on your page.

(Known as “Keyword Frequency”).

Think about it:

Imagine if page A contained the keyword “oatmeal cookies” only once.

And page B contained that same keyword 7 times. Which page would you think is more likely to be about “oatmeal cookies”? Thought so.

Bottom line: Use your target keyword at least a few times in the body of your article.

This may or may not be a direct Google ranking factor.

That said, easy-to-find privacy policy and terms pages help your site stand out from shady affiliate sites that don’t usually have these pages. Plus, users are used to seeing these pages on “real” sites. And if you don’t have them it’s possible that people won’t consider your site legit.

I usually use my exact keyword in my page’s H1 and  H2 tag. But if I feel that the page is over-optimized, I’ll replace the exact keyword with a synonym instead.

So if my target keyword was “Low Carb Desserts” I’d use a term like “Sugar-Free Desserts” in an H1 or H2 tag.

Simple.

Google used to limit title tag length based on the number of characters it contained.

Today? They use pixels (the current limit is 512 pixels).

Because counting pixels is a pain, I just count characters. And I’ve found that staying under 60 characters keeps me under the pixel limit 99% of the time.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve given up on sharing a piece of content because I had trouble finding the share buttons.

That’s why I use social sharing buttons that follow you down the page:

That way, my post is ready to be shared whenever the mood strikes you.

For example, include your target keyword a few times. Use LSI keywords. And when it makes sense, publish 1000+ word product descriptions. For more info on optimizing ecommerce product pages, check out this guide.

Yes, your homepage usually has a ton of authority.

But in general, homepages are a huge pain in the butt to rank. Homepages don’t have a ton of content.

(And when they do it’s content aimed at selling).

In short, homepages usually aren’t the type of pages that Google wants to show their users.

That’s why I focus my homepage efforts on ranking for my brand name…and on conversions.

Several industry studies (including ours) have found a correlation between long content and higher rankings. That’s not to say that publishing longer content will skyrocket you to the first page. But there’s plenty of data out there to show that publishing 1000+ word content helps.

Search engines put more weight on terms that appear towards the beginning of a page. And the same rule applies to your title tag. So when it makes sense, put your keyword at the beginning of your page’s title tag. Here’s an example:

I recently did this and it doubled my organic search engine traffic.

And it’s a practice that Hubspot has had a ton of success with:

A few years ago I had a problem:

I’d go back to update and upgrade an old blog post. And despite the fact that the post was 50%+ new content, it still said: “Published on X”.

That meant that when someone saw the post they’d say: “Shucks! I dare say that this is one old post.”

(Yes, farmers read my blog)

Today, I swapped that the published date with “last updated”. That way my readers know whether or not they’re reading something that’s up-to-date.

It’s easy to overthink internal linking.

Here’s the simple system I use:

Link FROM high-authority pages TO pages you want to rank.

It’s simple…but it works 🙂

This might be the most underrated on-page SEO technique on the planet.

First off, updating shows Google that you care about your content.

And the updated information and images tell users: “This page is up-to-date”.  In fact, I update all of my posts at least once a year.

Sitelinks are one of the best ways to boost your page’s organic CTR. And you can significantly boost the odds of sitelinks by including “jump links” to different sections of your page. Google will then use the anchor text of those jump links as sitelinks:

Google states that they want your title tags to be: “descriptive and concise”. Unfortunately, as your site grows and ages you’ll end up with pages that have generic or missing title tags.

Fortunately, you can easily find these in the Google Search Console. Go to “Search Appearance” —> “HTML Improvements”—> “Non-informative title tags”.

Images are an awesome way to break up your content into easily-readable chunks.

“Easily readable” means that users are likely to stick on your page.

And considering Google is paying more and more attention to user experience signals, anything you can do to boost dwell time can only help your SEO efforts.

(Plus, our study found a correlation between using at least one image and rankings)

Google’s Knowledge Graph isn’t just “How old is Leonardo Dicaprio” style searches.

In fact:

For many step-by-step or “how to do X” keywords, Google will sometimes pull your list of items and pop it into the ol’ Knowledge Graph.

And you can increase the odds of this happening by numbering the steps in your process (or the items in your list post). You can also use bullets to create a list of bullet-point items (like in the example above).

Does linking to relevant content help your rankings? Google’s take: it might. But an industry study seems to show that outbound linking may give your content a slight rankings boost.

Schema can hook you up with rich snippets in Google’s search results:

Obviously, review stars or an image in Google’s search results will boost your CTR. However, like anything in SEO, make sure to stay legit. Google is now penalizing people for gaming the system with Schema markup.

Shorter URLs are better for users and search engines.

Also, our analysis of 1 million Google search results revealed that shorter URLs tend to perform slightly better in Google than long URLs.

I’d estimate that Google uses a page’s meta description tag in the search results only about 50% of the time.

Instead, they tend to pull content from the page and use that as the page’s description. Sometimes these Google-made descriptions are twice as long as the typical 2-line descriptions we’re used to:

And it stands to reason that these results will get a higher CTR. The question is:

How do you get these 4-line descriptions? I’ve found that Google uses two factors:

1. The page’s overall authority
2. Actionable tips at the top of the page (how do they know it’s actionable? They’re Google. They’re smart)

So when it makes sense, put an actionable tip (or two) at the top of your page. Google may grab that tip and use it in an extra-long description.

Title tag modifiers are words and phrases that tend to get tacked onto the end of search terms. For example, someone searching for a credit card might search for things like: “best credit cards”, “credit cards 2016”, “credit card reviews” etc.

And when you add these modifiers to your title tag you’ll show up at the top of the page for those terms.

Here are a few modifiers you can use:

• “best”
• “reviews”
• the current year
• “checklist”
• “PDF”
• “guide”
• “course”

This is an old school on-page SEO tactic that may or may not make a big difference anymore. But including your keyword at the top of your content certainly doesn’t hurt. So I still do it.

Plus, when a user sees the keyword they just searched for on your page, it helps them realize that they’re in the right place.

Ever think to yourself:

“I wish more people would share my content!”? Then you’ll love this SEO tip.

Instead of a generic “share my post” call to action, use a “Click To Tweet” instead. You can ask someone to tweet a specific tip, image…or even a quote.

Our search engine ranking factors study found that in-depth content significantly outperformed shallow, surface-level content.

Here’s the deal:

Google can’t actually see what’s in an image. Instead, they use image metadata — like the image filename and alt text — to understand what’s in that image.

That’s why I recommend including keywords in your image alt text. To avoid keyword stuffing simply write your alt text like it’s a caption.

Here’s a huge mistake a see a lot of people make with link building:

They email someone asking for “a link”. The thing is, even if I LOVE your content, I can’t be bothered to find a page (and place) where your link makes sense.

Instead, always offer a specific page (and even spot on the page) where your link would add value. Here’s an example from a recent outreach email I sent out:

My buddy Sujan Patel uses this technique to get his name in front of thousands of people every month.

He can also brag that he’s been featured on mega-authority sites like Forbes and the WSJ:

Yes, it takes a lot of work to contribute a weekly or monthly column. But the benefits can make it well worth the effort.

Most universities have a page that links to scholarships, like this:

And when you create one — and let the university know about it — you can land yourself a nice, quality backlink.

One caveat: this SEO technique is getting overused. So I don’t recommend creating a scholarship solely for link building. But if you already offer one, make sure to leverage that scholarship for some super-duper .edu backlinks.

Did you just publish something awesome?

Then pitch your content to link roundups. The links aren’t the most powerful on the planet, but they do make a dent. Plus, they’re super easy to build.

This is an awesome way for ecommerce sites to build high-quality backlinks.

The only catch is that you need to sell a number of different physical products on your site.

If you do, find out which manufactures have a “Find a Retailer” or “Where to buy X” page on their site.

Then reach out and ask to be listed on the page.

Let’s face it:

Producing awesome content is hard work. But it’s a lot easier with a partner.

That’s why I recommend partnering with other sites. Collaborate on a case study, report or infographic.

For example, I regularly get emails from readers that got results from one of my strategies. And if it makes sense, we work together to write a case study for the blog:

This helps me publish a high-quality case study for the Backlinko community. And they get exposure from being the “star” of the case study. It’s a win-win.

Earlier this year I published the largest search engine ranking factors study ever.

And it was my first foray into publishing my own data.

The result?

Backlinks from nearly 600 different domains.

And I’ve seen the same phenomenon in dozens of different industries: unique data attracts backlinks like a moth to a flame.

What happens when you combine The Skyscraper Technique with traditional guest posting?

According to one case study at least, you can see a significant spike in your organic search engine traffic.

Those 400-word posts from two years ago aren’t doing you any favors (in fact, they may be hurting your SEO efforts).

So if you have a bunch of mediocre posts that aren’t driving traffic, combine them into a mega guide.

The increased perceived value will help the guide attract 10x more links than a random smattering of shorter posts.

Expert roundups are a collection of opinions and tips from a group of experts.

And you get a nice juicy backlink when you contribute something cool to the roundup.

I’ve seen glossaries CRUSH IT in several different industries.

For example, this glossary of gardening terms has over 300 backlinks (!).

The other cool thing about glossaries is that most of them are old and relatively small.

For example, the gardening glossary I mentioned above only has about 50 terms on it. Very beatable.

People. Love. Tools.

More importantly, people love linking to free tools.

For example, this retirement calculator has links from 238 domains:

BuzzSumo discovered that infographics generate significantly more social shares than your average text-based blog post.

And my personal experience has shown me that (awesome) infographics tend to generate more backlinks too.

(Mostly because people will embed your infographic in their posts and link back to you)

It’s harder than ever to publish a successful infographic.

Infographics used to be novel. Today? THOUSANDS come out every single day.

So how can you possibly get your piece of stand out?

Co-brand an infographic with someone else. That way you halve the work and double the promotional impact.

In a boring niche? Then you might think that there’s no way you can create content that people will link to.

Fortunately, that’s not the case.

“Shoulder Niches” are closely-related topics that you CAN create awesome content around.

Just look at how Mike Bonadio used Shoulder Niches to boost his client’s organic traffic by 15%:

Guest posting is OK for link building as long you follow two simple rules:

Rule #1: Don’t make guest posting your go-to link building strategy

Rule #2: Don’t guest post on low-quality and/or irrelevant sites

Google’s Matt Cutts has said that nofollow links can’t hurt you (unless you’re hardcore spamming).

But can they help?

My own testing (and a few industry studies) have found that nofollow links can help with rankings.

That’s why I don’t completely discount nofollow links. As long the link is a contextual link from a relevant site, I’ll take it.

Sure, exact match anchor text can help you rank for a specific keyword.

But too many exact match anchors can also get you into hot water with Big G. Yup, I’m talking Google Penguin. Bottom line? Even though exact match anchor can help you, it’s not worth the risk.

The #1 ranking signal we found in our recent ranking factors study was the number of sites linking to you.

So yeah, you should always focus on building uber-quality links whenever possible. But don’t overthink it.

If you find a quality site — but it doesn’t have the authority you want — get the link anyway.

I get this question all the time:

“Brian, what’s the minimum PA/DA/Trustflow/SiteAuthority that a site has to have for link building?”

My answer? I don’t even look at metrics anymore.

To me, if a site passes the “eyeball test”, it’s good to go.

In my experience links from sites that look good and publish quality content tend to have the most impact. So I don’t waste time fiddling around with metrics.

If you find a strategy for “easy links”…

…run the other way as fast as you can.

Seriously. Any link building strategy that’s easy will eventually get devalued (or even penalized) by Google.

So I recommend sticking to “hard” links. In other words, links built with good ol’ fashioned email outreach.

If you want a fresh set of link opportunities that you won’t find anywhere else, check out Twitter search.

You’ll often come across industry bloggers that you can build relationships with.

(And even sometimes content that you can get links from)

Have you ever wondered:

“Will this link actually boost my rankings?”

In my experience contextual links seriously move your site up in Google’s search results. Here’s an example:

I recommend putting 100% of your focus on building links like that.

As an ex-Google employee once said: “…relevance is the new PR [PageRank].”

Yes, link metrics (like a page’s authority) still matter. But today, I put relevancy on equal footing with traditional link authority metrics.

Ever use email outreach for link building? Then you’ve no doubt come across the dreaded “out of office” email.

Back in the day I’d wait for the person to reply when they got back from vacation.

But they never did.

This makes total sense: your target probably got 250+ emails during their trip. And your message about a broken link isn’t anywhere near the top of their priority list.

That’s why I follow up a few days after they get back to the office.

Podcasts might be the most underrated link building strategy on the planet.

Unlike guest posting, there’s a high barrier to entry.

(It’s also 10x easier to hop on a podcast than pitch, write, edit and publish a guest post)

You want to get mentions from news sites like the Huffington Post.

Reporters want quotes from experts.

HARO and MuckRack bring these two groups together.

It definitely takes some grinding to get a journalist to use your quote. But each link you do get is worth its weight in gold.

In a perfect world, everyone would link back to you when they use your chart or infographic

But we don’t live in a perfect world 🙂

On the bright side, I’ve found that most people are happy to link to you when given a friendly nudge.

So if you tend to publish a lot of visual content, spend a few minutes today on Google reverse image search.

This will show you every page that’s using your content. Then find people that didn’t link back…and send them a gentle reminder.

30,000 websites are hacked every day (source).

And most of these website owners have no idea their site is now under someone else’s control.

Fortunately, you can find these site owners and give them a heads up about their hacked site.

It’s a great way to get your foot in the door with influential webmasters in your niche.

White hat link building is all about email outreach.

And the more you learn about this critical skill, the more backlinks you’ll get.

Here are some resources I recommend checking out:

The Link Builder’s Guide to Email Outreach

How to Write a Personalized Outreach Email Even When You’re Sending it to 100 People

How to Pitch: Outreach Tips from Journalists

Want some easy shares (and even a potential backlink) from your next piece of content?

Let people know that you featured them in your content. It works:

Content marketing rookie: “I create content that appeals to my target customer”.

Content marketing pro: “I create content that appeals to industry influencers…and my target customer”.

This may sound like a small distinction. But creating content with influencers in mind makes a HUGE difference when you get down to the brass tacks of link building.

For more info on how this works, check out this post.

Resource pages are a link builder’s dream.

I mean, these are pages designed for the sole purpose of linking to awesome content!

Here’s an example of a resource page about tea:

So if you’re new to link building, focus 100% on building backlinks from resource pages. They’re relatively easy to find and get links from.

Create a fat discount for university students and staff. Then let them know about it.

When you do you can land yourself some sweet .edu backlink action:

When someone leaves a comment on a post you know a few things about them:

First, they’re knowledgeable about your topic (or at least think they are 🙂 )

Second, they like to discuss that topic.

This means that these folks are VERY likely to be receptive to your outreach.

If you want people to share your content, here’s what to do:

First, find people that recently shared something on that topic.

Next, let them know about your content.

(Seriously, that’s it).

Here’s an example:

Forget Facebook.

Forget Twitter.

If you want people to see your latest piece of content, promote it to your email list.

In my experience NOTHING beats the sheer quantity and quality of engagement that you get from email subscribers.

I’ve found that people are MUCH more likely to change a brand new post than one they published five years ago.

And you can use an alert tool to get fresh link prospects delivered to your inbox every day:

Contact forms and “[email protected]” email are the bane of a link builder’s existence.

9 times outta 10 you never hear back. It’s like your message ends up in a black hole.

I’ve found a trick that significantly boosts the conversion rates from contact forms:

Write your message to the person you want to get in touch with.

For example, let’s say you want to let Jane know about your awesome ultimate guide. But you aren’t able to find Jane’s email address.

Simply send a personalized message “to” Jane via the site’s contact form.

Because it’s so targeted, the person that runs the generic inbox will likely forward your email to Jane.

Is this a lot of work for a single link? You betcha.

Fortunately, speaking at events has fistfuls of benefits –from networking to positioning yourself as an authority.

Also, when you speak, bloggers that write about the event will also link to you.

In fact, I’ve received 5+ links from speaking at a single conference.

Reverse guest posting is where you get an authoritative blogger to write a guest post for YOUR site.

As you may expect, having a baller’s content on your site be a HUGE credibility booster.

It’s not easy to convince an influencer to write a guest post, but the payoff can be well worth it.

Most people send their link pitch in their first email.

But I’ve found that a two-step email outreach process converts MUCH better. In fact, Mike doubled his conversion rate with a 2-step approach:

When I first started link building I’d send outreach emails whenever I felt like it.

Big mistake.

I quickly learned that WHEN you send your emails makes a difference…a big difference.

That’s why today I use Boomerang. This tool makes sure your email hits your target’s inbox at just the right time.

(I’ve found that 1-3pm is best)

Offer a blogger an audio version of their post…or a text version of their podcast or video.

Word of warning: make sure you don’t trade this service in exchange for a backlink (this goes against Google’s webmaster guidelines). Just send them the text or audio. And leave the linking decision up to them.

Plus, even if you don’t get a link, you’ve done someone a solid. And that can lead to a long-term relationship down the road.

Whenever you find a resource that would be valuable to a global audience, send the author a translated version.

If they like the translation, they may use it and link back to you:

When it comes to backlinks, what you don’t know CAN hurt you.

That’s why I highly recommend pruning your link profile of spammy links. Maybe you built them back in the spun article days of 2011. Maybe your competitor blasted you with blog comments.

Either way, those links are a risk to your site’s search engine rankings.

Proactively use email outreach to remove as many bad links as you can. And disavow the rest.

First, use a tool like Buzzsumo alerts to get a heads up whenever your brand is mentioned on the web.

When you see an unlinked mention like this…

…ask the author to add a link to your website.

Keyword monitoring shows you bloggers that just published content on your topic.

(In other words PERFECT peeps to reach out to)

For example, let’s say you want to build some links to your new ultimate guide to eco-friendly travel.

You’d set up an alert in Buzzsumo for keywords like “green travel”, “eco travel” etc.

And you’ll get a heads up anytime someone publishes something on that topic.

Whenever you find a piece of content that’s good — but outdated — offer to give it a fresh coat of paint.

In my experience most site owners are happy to have someone freshen up their old content with new links, advice and images.

(Of course, they’ll sometimes add a link to you as their way of saying “thanks!”)

How do you find the best blogs in your industry?

Well you could Google “your topic” + “blog”. But that will only get you so far.

Instead, I recommend checking out hand-curated lists of quality blogs:

In my experience blogs that appear on lists like these make great link targets.

Want to 3x the results from your email outreach?

Then let your targets know about broken links (or outdated resources) on their site.

This way you provide value to the site owner BEFORE pitching your resource.

(And it works)

Finding people’s email addresses is a big pain in the butt.

That’s why I use ContentMarketer.io. Simply upload a list of people and get a list of working email addresses.

Very cool.

First, find someone in your niche that tends to guest post a lot.

Second, grab their image and pop it into Google’s reverse image search.

Voila! You can see everywhere they’ve guest posted:

Linkclump is a handy Google Chrome extension that lets you grab multiple link prospects from Google’s search results.

That way you don’t have to click on every Google result one at a time.

How much time do you spend filtering out giants like YouTube and Amazon from your list of link prospects?

It’s a massive pain.

Enter: MillionShort. This nifty tool filters out the top 100, 1000 or million sites from your results.

Very, very cool.

If there’s a product or service that you love, see if they have a testimonials page that link out:

Then let them know that you’d be happy to submit a testimonial for their page. When you do, you might find yourself with an easy (yet powerful) link.

Yesware shows you if people are opening your emails, clicking on your links or forwarding emails to other people.

Creepy? Yes.

But it’s a tool that REALLY helps you figure out what’s not working with your email outreach…so you can fix it.

There are (literally) 2 million blog posts published every single day.

That means that your 500-word “5 tips for weight loss” post is just a drop in the ocean.

That’s the bad news.

The good news is that you can still get links from your content. How? Publish epic content like case studies, definitive guides and huge lists.

For example, my definitive guide to keyword research has attracted backlinks from 350+ domains.

If so, avoid that keyword like the plague.

You don’t want to be like these poor guys:

Do this before you decide on your next keyword:

Pop it into Google Trends. That way you can see if your target keyword’s popularity is moving on’ up…or dying a slow death.

When I first got started in SEO I’d choose keywords based on two factors:

1) Search volume and 2) competition.

Not good. Today I understand that a keyword’s commercial intent is super important.

If you ignore commercial intent than you may spend time ranking a keyword that makes you exactly zero dollars.

That’s why I recommend choosing keywords that have a high “suggested bid” in the Google Keyword Planner.

Guestographics.

The Moving Man Method.

The Content Upgrade.

These are all terms that I coined.

And because of that fact, I rank #1 in Google for all of them.

That’s why I highly recommend coining your own term. It takes a ton of work for that term to become a keyword people search for. But it’s well, well worth it.

Long tail keywords have their place.

But Google Panda and Semantic search has made targeting a bunch of long tail keywords ineffective.

Instead, target moderately high volume keywords (I call these “Medium Tail Keywords”).

Here’s how to execute this SEO technique:

First, find the most popular books on your topic in Amazon.

Next, check out the table of content’s. Each chapter it a potential topic/keyword idea.

Finally, pop the chapter titles into the Google Keyword Planner to check out search volume, commercial intent etc.

Wikipedia’s table of contents can have some AWESOME keywords in them.

(And these are keywords that you may not have found using any other technique)

Quora is a goldmine for keyword research. That’s because it’s a community devoted to one thing: asking and answering questions.

To find keywords in Quora, just search for a potential topic. Then keep an eye out for keywords that appear in questions (and answers).

For example, a quick search for “Paleo Diet” uncovered potential seed keywords like:

• Atkins vs. Paleo diet
• Scientific basis of Paleo diet
• Paleo diet actually healthy
• Pros and cons of Paleo diet

Google’s “Searches related to X” can help you uncover long tail keywords…and keywords that you may not find any other way:

Conference agendas list talks that people pay money to see.

All you need to do is note any potential keywords in the title and description of each talk:

All of these make excellent seed keywords to pop into the Google Keyword Planner.

Keyword Magic is a new feature in SEMRush that generates an insane amount of keyword ideas.

Just enter a keyword into the tool and it’ll spit out up to…one million keywords.

(Yes, I felt like Dr. Evil when I wrote that 😀 )

We ask users what they think about our products.

We ask users what they think about our content.

So why don’t we ask them what keywords they search for?

Instead of buying the latest and greatest keyword research tool, simply ask your users what they’d use to find you.

And you can easily track the queries they use with the helpful SeedKeywords tool.

You probably already know that you can find keywords using Google Suggest.

But what you may not know is that you can use “Wildcards” to find even MORE untapped keywords.

For example, let’s say that you’re using Google Suggest to find variations of the keyword “SEO tips”.

(A very meta example, I know).

Sure, you can type “SEO tips” into Google and see what keywords it shows you.

But you can also add a wildcard “_” in the beginning or middle of the term.

This technique often reveals keywords that are tough to find any other way.

Knowledge graph.

Ads.

Carousels.

These features can steal clicks from your organic result.

And unless you put your tool away and actually look at the results, you’ll have no idea what people see when they search for that keyword.

So before deciding on a keyword, look at the SERPs. If there are lots of ads (and a knowledge graph) you may want to move onto the next keyword on your list.

Pages ranking in positions #7-#15 can sometimes crack the top 5 with a little TLC.

To find them, head over to the Google Search Console.

Then take note of pages that are at the bottom of the first page…

…or the top of the second page:

Finally, use link building, on-page SEO and UX optimization to catapult those pages to the top of the first page.

When someone searches for a high-level term like “inbound marketing”, they’re usually looking for a definition. And as Ross Hudgens points out, results on the first page for terms like these tend to be “what is X”-focused pages.

So if you’re gunning for a definition keyword, make at least some of your page focused on answering the question: “What is X?”.

SEMRush is my favorite keyword research tool for one main reason:

It  shows you keywords that your competition already ranks for. That means that there’s zero creativity required.

Just pop in a competitor and steal the keywords they’re already optimizing for:

Google Correlate shows you keywords that tend to get searched for together.

For example, someone searching for “blogging” may also search for:

• WordPress
• Blog comments
• Blog post ideas
• Copywriting tips

To use Google Correlate, just pop a keyword into the tool and see what it pops out:

Here’s one of my favorite SEO tips: target keywords that are new. In other words, keywords that didn’t exist a few months ago.

For example:

Back in 2014 I released a guide that included a chapter on the Google Keyword Planner.

At the time, the Keyword Planner was brand new.

And because the keyword was relatively new there was ZERO competition on the first page.

So I quickly cemented a spot in the top 5 for that keyword (and still rank there today).

Amazon Suggest is one of the best ways to quickly find long tail keywords for your ecommerce product and category pages.

Simply enter a seed keyword and see what Amazon pops out:

Check out comments on competitor’s blogs. What questions do people tend to ask? What topics are they asking to be covered?

These comments can help you find topics (and keywords) that your target audience wants to learn more about.

For example, this comment shows that people might want to learn how to design attractive infographics.

Internal searches hand you laser-targeted keywords on a silver platter. I recommend seeing what terms people search for on your site at least once per month. Then create content around those keywords. Simple yet effective.

If you sell physical products, Pinterest is an untapped source of product and category keywords.

And Pinterest Ads is the easiest way to find keywords that your target customers search for on Pinterest (and probably on Google too).

Keyword difficulty is a tricky thing to measure. After all, Google uses over 200 ranking signals to rank pages. And we can only see a handful of them.

That said, it’s smart to at least glance at a keyword’s competition before optimizing for it.

And I’ve found that SEMRush‘s difficulty score is one of the most accurate out there.

These two tools scrape Google Suggest results. Super helpful for finding long tail keyword ideas that people actually search for.

When someone searches for “how to talk like Yoda” they want one simple thing:

To talk like Yoda!

So instead of a ton of background on how awesome Yoda is (which everyone knows already), simply lay out the steps.

When you do, you’ll boost your odds of ending up in the Knowledge Graph:

I recommend digging into the “Crawl Errors” section of Google Search Console at least once a month.

This report reveals technical issues that can hurt your rankings.

I was recently chatting with a friend who heads up SEO at a big company. Their organic traffic had recently took a hit and they didn’t know why.

They pored over every page. They hired consultants.

But they couldn’t figure it out. Then one day they had an idea: let’s check the Google Search Console!

Sure enough, they had a manual penalty message waiting for them. #facepalm

That’s why I recommend logging into your GSC account weekly.

You’ll see messages from Google…but also indexing and search visibility problems that can hurt your SEO efforts.

“Accelerated Mobile Pages” are designed to load super quickly on mobile devices.

While Google may not use AMP as a direct ranking signal, they have been pushing AMP pages.

Plus, their demo shows that AMP pages could get highlighted in the SERPs someday soon.

Sitemaps help Google find (and index) your site’s pages.

So make sure to create an XML and HTML sitemap of your site. And submit them to Google via the Google Search Console.

I love deleting crappy old blog posts.

Because the truth is this:

If a page isn’t bringing in traffic or revenue, its USELESS. So delete it or redirect it to another relevant post.

In fact, Koozai deleted 900 blog posts without any issues.

Duplicate content alone probably won’t get you into trouble with Google.

That said, duplicate content + other on-site issues=SEO problems.

So it’s worth staying on top of. A tool like Raven can help you find (and fix) duplicate content issues.

Run a massive ecommerce site with thousands of pages? Then you probably have lots of duplicate content.

It’s inevitable.

As you know, duplicate content can really hurt your on-site SEO efforts. That’s why I recommend setting up canonical URLs using the rel=canonical tag.

These can help you avoid getting dinged by Google for having lots of duplicate content on your site.

Yes, 302 redirects pass PageRank. But probably not as much as a good ol’ fashioned 301 redirect.

That’s why I recommend checking that your permanent redirects are all 301 redirects.

You can easily check this by using Google’s “Fetch as Google” feature:

Not sure if Google considers your site (or page) mobile-friendly?

Then search for your page on a mobile device. And keep an eye out for the “mobile-friendly” label.

If you see that label, you’re set.

No, you don’t need to be WC3 validated. And Google probably doesn’t use HTML as a direct ranking signal.

That said, sloppy code can effect how your site appears to users…which CAN hurt your SEO efforts.

That’s why I recommend at least taking a look at your code for issues and errors.

Public Whois information may be a Google trust signal.

So only use private Whois information if you have a super good reason to do so. Otherwise, make it public.

Google came right out and said it:

HTTPS is a “ranking signal“.

(And our ranking factors study found a small correlation between HTTPS and rankings)

So if you’ve been on the fence about SSL, this might push you to try it.

However, I don’t recommend switching to HTTPS solely for SEO. It can cause serious technical issues that can do more harm than good.

Want your site to load faster?

Forget plugins, WordPress themes or HTML. Invest in a premium host instead.

Just like anything in business, you get what you pay for with hosting. In fact, I’ve seen a 2x increase in speed by switching to a better host.

If you allow User Generated Content on your site, make sure to keep a very close eye on what people are publishing.

Why?

Because UGC can quickly become a spamfest. A spamfest that Google may penalize you for.

Anything you do to make your site mobile-friendly is a step in the right direction.

However, Google recommends responsive design. And so do I.

Yes, dynamic URLs DO get indexed.

And these dynamic URLs can lead to thin or duplicate content issues.

So if you find your dynamic URLs in Google’s index, slap a “noindex” tag on them.

Sometimes you’ll find that there are blocked pages you don’t want blocked (or vice versa).

The only way to know is to check your robots.txt file every few months.

Here’s the deal:

Most ecommerce sites have WAY too many product pages.

And if you look at Google Analytics, 95% of these pages bring in a grand total of zero dollars in revenue.

So for the sake of your SEO, delete these pages. One ecommerce site saw a 31% boost in organic traffic (not to mention a 28% increase in revenue) when they “pruned” 11k low-performing product pages.

Is someone stealing your content? Not cool.

Is that same someone outranking you in Google? Even less cool.

Fortunately, you can report that jerk to Google via a DMCA report. If Google agrees that you’re the original author, you may get the ranking you deserve.

I’ve tried a bunch of site speed plugins over the years. And WP Rocket is my current favorite.

Its super easy to use and works insanely well.

I’d estimate that images makeup 75% of your site’s loading time.

So it pays to optimize your images as much as possible. In my experience, Kraken.io works the best.

Kraken shrinks your images without sacrificing quality.

There’s no doubt about it:

When it comes to search engine optimization, subfolders (backlinko.com/example) CRUSH subdomains (example.backlinko.com).

Sure, Google stated that they don’t have an inherent preference for one or the other.

But I’ve seen rankings shoot up with a switch to a subfolder. So my eyes, experience and gut tells me that subfolders are ideal for SEO.

Google’s “property sets” let you to group your site’s various elements (like mobile and desktop versions) under one roof in the Google Search Console.

You want to minimize the number of clicks it takes to get to your site’s inner pages.

That way PageRank will flow evenly to your pages, making them more likely to get indexed.

(Flat website architecture can also help your inner-pages rank better)

Here’s a good example of how you’d set up a “Flat and Wide” site architecture for an ecommerce site:

Site speed matters.

If you’re not sure if (or why) your site is sluggish, pop it into Google’s Pagespeed Insight tool.

This free tool will show you how to tweak your site’s code for faster loading speed.

Google wants you to use unique title and description tags on every page.

Fortunately, the “HTML Improvements” section of the Google Search Console makes finding these duplicate meta tag issues simple.

Google’s Pagespeed Insight tool only evaluates your page’s code.

However, your code is only half the story.

If you want to Usain Bolt speed, you need to optimize your server, plugins and CDN.

And GTmetrix’s awesome tool makes optimizing your site’s overall speed performance a breeze.

“Thin content” refers to content that doesn’t provide a lot of value.

Yes, an article with 1000+ words can technically be considered “thin content”. But for most websites, thin content means pages with <150 words of content on it.

Finding these potential thin content pages is a huge pain…unless you use Raven Tool’s site auditor. It crawls your site and shows you pages that likely have thin content:

Is SEO important to you? If so, run a monthly site audit with RavenTools or SEMRush.

They’ll scan your site for errors…

…and hook you up with actionable tips for fixing them.

The way search engines see your site is COMPLETELY different than how users see it.

To get a search engine spider’s perspective, enter a URL into the handy SEO Browser tool.

Have your rankings suddenly dropped?

It may have been a Google update, like Panda or Penguin.

While there’s no way to know for sure, the nifty Website Penalty Indicator will show you if your traffic dip coincides with a known Google update.

Yes, actually USE your site on a mobile device.

You’d be surprised how many UX issues you’ll uncover this way…

…UX issues that may be hurting your SEO.

If you host your videos on a platform like Wistia, you definitely want to put a transcription underneath your video.

Otherwise you have a page with…just a video.

That may be OK for users. But Google needs text to fully understand what your video (and page) is all about.

So I recommend including a transcription (or meaty summary) below your video.

Do you host a lot of video content on your site?

Then I highly recommend creating a video sitemap using the Yoast Video SEO plugin.

This plugin helps Google index and understand your videos…

…which increases the odds they’ll rank in Google.

Why?

First, your playlist can actually rank in YouTube’s search results.

Second, your playlist title gives YouTube more context to what your videos are about.

For example, let’s say you have a bunch of videos under a playlist “My Favorite SEO Tips”. YouTube is more likely to suggest your videos to people that are interested in SEO.

This is probably due to the fact that longer videos=longer session time.

Straight from Google:

“The algorithm for suggesting videos includes prioritizing videos that lead to a longer overall viewing session over those that receive more clicks.”

So when it makes sense, create a video that comprehensively covers your topic.

If the video is a YouTube video, these embeds will boost views (and therefore rankings).

Either way, embedded videos can significantly improve your bounce rate and dwell time numbers.

Here’s an example of an embedded video from Backlinko:

This is another way to get more (targeted) views.

Also, embeds are an important YouTube ranking factor.

So it’s a double whammy (the good kind).

This is an AWESOME way to uncover YouTube keywords…

…and “Video Keywords” to rank for in Google.

Just head over to your channel’s analytics–>Traffic Sources–>YouTube Search.

And you’ll see all of the keywords that your videos already rank for:

These keywords are a goldmine of info on what people actually search for to find you. Now that you have this list of keyword gems, it’s time to create videos that target the best terms on your list.

I probably don’t need to tell you that YouTube SEO is largely a game of total watch time.

But what if you have one YouTube subscriber…

…and that subscriber is your mom?

That’s where online communities (like forums) come into play. You can embed or link to your video to in your response.

When you do, you’ll get super-targeted video views that will help your YouTube rankings.

If you embed your videos with YouTube or Wistia, schema is added for you automatically.

If not, I recommend adding video metadata using this helpful tutorial from Google.

Remember: Google still has trouble understanding what videos are about.

But when you include your target keyword (at least once) in your video’s filename, title and description you’ll help Google and YouTube understand your video’s topic.

Have a page where your video IS the content?

Then make sure to put your video at the top of the page.

Videos at the top of a page are more likely to be indexed by Google than videos that appear further down.

Creating an awesome video? Awesome.

Ranking your video in Google? Awesomer!

But if you want to get your video in Google’s search results, you need to target Video Keywords.

Video Keywords are keywords that Google already shows video results for.

In other words, if you don’t see a video on Google’s first page, it’s unlikely you’ll get your video to rank for that keyword. Instead, go for a Video Keyword.

When I first started with video marketing, I ignored my thumbnail.

I thought: “They’re either gonna watch it or they aren’t. The thumbnail won’t make a difference.”

Boy was I wrong.

Dead wrong.

(OK, not “dead wrong”. But it feels cool to say that 🙂 )

Now I understand that the right video thumbnail can boost viewership by 50% or more. So I spend time making the thumbnails for videos in my channel look cool:

A while back I published this video on link building.

Instead of waiting months for the video to accumulate views, I sent it to the Backlinko email list.

And the video quickly got hundreds of high-retention views.

Within DAYS my video ranked in the top 5 for the keyword: “link building” (where it still is today).

Remember:

Your video’s likes are an important YouTube ranking signal.

Instead of sitting back and HOPING people hit “like” on your video, why not ask them?

I’ve found that a gentle ask increases my video’s likes 2-5x.

Want more YouTube subscribers?

Add an “end slate” to the end of your video…

…and ask people to subscribe.

Just look at the difference in subscribers when I started using end slates:

(Of course the videos with an end slate are more recent and therefore tend to get more subscribers. But it doesn’t account for the massive boost in subscribers. The end slate made a big, big difference).

Yes, viewer retention is a HUGE YouTube ranking signal.

But even if you self-host your video, you obviously want people to watch it all the way to the end.

But…how?

That’s where “open loops” come into play. Open loops are where you mention something coming later on in the video.

This little preview makes the person watching say: “I better stick around to see what that’s all about.”

If you want more tips for boosting video view retention, check out my guide to YouTube SEO.

Video SEO experts agree: Session watch time is YouTube’s #1 ranking signal.

That’s why I’m hooking you up with two of my favorite session watch time tips:

Tip #1: Use annotations to link to your other videos. People will click through and watch that video too…boosting session watch time.

Tip #2: Use an end slate. This will encourage people to watch to the very end of the video. You can also use your end slate to pitch your other videos.

Here’s an example of an end slate in action:

Yup, just like you do with Google.

Long video descriptions help Google understand what your video is about.

So I recommend writing YouTube video descriptions that are at least 250 words.

Yes, putting a cool image at the top of your article can grab your reader’s attention. But make sure your image isn’t TOO big. If it is, it pushes your content below the fold. That means your users have to scroll just to read the first sentence.

Unfortunately, most Google searchers won’t scroll. And they’ll hit their back button.

So if you DO use an image at the top of your page, make sure it doesn’t push your content down below the fold. Here’s how I do it:

Google Adwords ads are an untapped goldmine of words and phrases that you can use in your page’s title and description tag.

(After all, these ads are super-optimized for clicks)

And when you use proven ad copy in your title and descriptions, you’ll have an organic listing that stands out from the pack. Check out this video for a step-by-step guide to executing this SEO tip.

This may sound crazy, but here it goes:

I spend more time on my introductions than my headlines.

Really.

That’s because I’ve found that your introduction can make or break two critical user experience signals: bounce rate and dwell time.

So before you hit “publish”, invest some time into making a kick-butt introduction.

Google searchers want their answer FAST.

And if you offer a quick answer (or solution) in your content, don’t be afraid to mention that fact in your description tag.

Specifically, use words like:

• Fast results
• Works fast
• Hours, minutes, days
• Quick
• Easy
• Simple

Google’s Gary Illyes states that an active community on your site can help “a lot” with rankings.

If you use ads to monetize your site, then this is a super-important SEO tip to pay attention to:

Google hates it when a page is dominated by ads…especially when those ads are above the fold.

So do your best to minimize the amount of ads at the top of your page.

People size up the quality and credibility of your site based largely on design.

And if your site looks credible, people are more likely to link to it.

Google doesn’t use your description tag to understand your page’s topic.

But that doesn’t mean the description tag is completely useless. In fact, your description tag can make a HUGE difference in your CTR.

So make sure to optimize that bad boy for clicks.

Remember:

Google searchers want their results FAST. And if they can’t easily find the answer their looking for, they’re going to bounce like a rubber ball.

So place your main content front and center on your page. Here’s an example from Backlinko:

As you can see there’s very little going on EXCEPT for the content. This makes users (and Google happy).

Bucket Brigades are words and phrases designed to keep your visitors from hitting their “back” button.

Here’s an example from a recent blog post:

See how that makes you want to keep reading? I recommend at least three bucket brigades for every post (especially in the beginning and middle of your content).

Including a colorful image at the top of your article can cut down on your bounce rate and boost dwell time. How? Eye-catching images make it more likely that your visitor will read the rest of your page.

Several industry studies have found that numbers (especially odd numbers) boost CTR. And this rule definitely applies to your title tags. So whenever you can, include a number in your page’s title tag.

Several readability studies show that 16px is ideal. But if that font size looks too big, go for 15px.

The most important thing to keep in mind is that 12px, 13px or 14px is simply too hard to read.

(On the internet, “hard to read”=”won’t read”).

“Click Magnet Words” are terms that tend to attract clicks. And when you use these in your title tag, you can get more clicks from Google searchers.

Here are some of my favorites:

• New
• Proven
• Now
• A number (“7 lbs.”, “431 backlinks” etc.)
• Free

Imagine you just searched for a keyword. And you see three brands:

Brand X

Brand A

Backlinko

Which are you most likely to click on?

Backlinko of course! Why? Because you’re familiar with that brand.

That’s why increasing brand familiarity can double the odds that someone clicks on your result. And Facebook ads are a great way to do just that.

This SEO tip is dead-simple:

First, head over to Google Analytics.

Then go to “Behavior” –> “Site Content” –> “Landing Pages”.

And take note of pages that have an especially bad bounce rate and/or “avg. session duration”.

Finally, take a look at those pages and improve their UX.

You already know that you need to use images in your content.

But what you may not know is that image quality is a BIG deal. In fact, one study found that pro-quality images got 2x more shares than similar, low-quality images.

The results from my experiments are clear: Google pays attention to the keywords that appear in your URL. And why not? Your URL is a strong indicator of what your page is all about.

For example, I have a page that ranks in the top 3 for the keyword “search engine ranking”. As you can see, that keyword ONLY appears in the URL (not in the title tag):

People will spend more time on your site when you make your content easy to read.

That’s why I avoid the dreaded “wall of text” like the plague. Fortunately, you can easily turn a wall of text into skimmable content with bullets and subheadings:

Yes, using at least one image in an article can help your SEO efforts. But there’s a world of multimedia outside of screenshots and stock photos. I’m talking video, infographic, polls, and interactive content.

Because most people only use images, these untapped multimedia tools can turn a would-be bounce into a longer session. And as you may have seen, this can make a HUGE difference in your rankings.

Brackets have been shown to significantly boost CTR. That’s why I tend to use them whenever I need to stand out from the pack:

Short paragraphs that are “skimmable” significantly boost readability.

That’s why I use (1-3 sentence) paragraphs in every piece of content that I publish:

Long intros make people run away from your site like it’s on fire.

I’ve found that short blog post introductions (9 sentences MAX) provide an overview of your content without boring them to tears.

Here’s an example from Backlinko:

Yup, that’s a grand total of 5 lines. And the average time on page for that article is 4:27. That’s no coincidence.

Want Google searchers to stay on your page longer?

Use. Short. Sentences.

Seriously.

Short sentences make your content easier to read and understand.

Want to optimize your description tag for clicks? Write a clear and compelling case for why someone should click on your result.

That said, having bold words in your description tag can also boost your CTR. And when you include keywords in your description tag, Google will make it bold:

Want to “wow” users (and other bloggers in your industry)?

Publish a page with a custom design. You can go all-out and publish a completely custom page, like this one.

Or you can simply add design elements (like callout boxes) to make your content look cool:

Either way, you’ll increase the perceived value of your content.

The text you use in your subheaders can make or break your page’s dwell time and bounce rate.

You see, most people use dull subheaders like:

“Nutrition and You”

“Google Adwords”

Yawn.

Instead, create eye-catching subheaders that stop your readers in their tracks.

Yes, short sentences and paragraphs make your content easy to read.

But there are other important factors that impact readability…

…like adjectives, use of active voice, and more.

Fortunately, you don’t need a pro editor to optimize your content for readability. The awesome Hemingway app does the job for you:

Whenever you pitch a piece of visual content — like an infographic, chart or diagram — offer some unique content to go along with it.

In my experience this significantly boosts the odds people will use your visual asset (and link to you).

Here’s an example of this SEO strategy in action (source):