17 Ways to Improve SEO Rankings
Written by Brian Dean
![17 Ways to Improve SEO Rankings](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2020/02/improve-your-seo-post-banner.png)
Today you’re going to learn EXACTLY how to improve your site’s ranking in 2024.
In fact, these 17 techniques helped grow my site’s organic traffic by 28.55% over the last year:
![Backlinko – Organic traffic increase Backlinko – Organic traffic increase](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2021/10/backlinko-organic-traffic-increase-2021.png)
So if you want simple ways to quickly improve SEO rankings, you’ll love this guide.
- 1. Improve Your Website Loading Speed
- 2. Get Your Site Inside of Featured Snippets
- 3. Improve Dwell Time With This Simple Step
- 4. Use Sitelinks
- 5. Create Linkable Assets
- 6. Target Keywords With High Commercial Intent
- 7. Grab More SERP Real Estate
- 8. Rank for “Topic + Statistics” Keywords
- 9. Optimize Old Content For User Intent
- 10. Try Content Partnerships
- 11. Repurpose Content Into Different Formats
- 12. Use Broken Link Building
- 13. Find Backlink Opportunities With “Link Intersect”
- 14. Target Brand New Keywords
- 15. Use Concept Visuals
- 16. Leverage Industry Glossaries for Keyword Ideas
- 17. Get Backlinks From Content Curators
- Bonus #1: Find Question Keywords
- Bonus #2: Rank For Brand Name Terms
1. Improve Your Website Loading Speed
How quickly (or slowly) your site loads has a direct impact on your Google rankings.
![Using Page Speed in search Using Page Speed in search](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2020/01/using-page-speed-in-search.png)
According to a study by Neil Patel, pages that rank at the top of Google’s first page tend to load significantly faster compared to pages that rank on the bottom of page 1.
![Pages at the top of page one load faster than those at the bottom Pages at the top of page one load faster than those at the bottom](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2020/01/pages-at-the-top-of-page-one-load-faster-than-those-at-the-bottom.png)
So it’s clear that, if you want to rank higher on Google, your site needs to load quickly.
You can get a quick benchmark of how fast your site loads with Google’s PageSpeed Insights. Or, if you have an account on Semrush, you can also check your speed with a free app from the Semrush App Center called Website Checker.
![Google PageSpeed Insights – Backlinko Google PageSpeed Insights – Backlinko](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2020/01/google-pagespeed-insights-backlinko.png)
And if you want to dig even deeper into the factors that are slowing down your site, you can also run a page from your website through WebPageTest.org.
![WebPageTest result – Backlinko WebPageTest result – Backlinko](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2020/01/webpagetest-result-backlinko.png)
These two tools will tell you how you can improve your site’s specific pagespeed issues.
That said, here are a few tips that usually help speed things up.
- Compress your site’s images
- Move to a better host (this makes a big difference)
- Reduce web page file size
- Delete unnecessary 3rd party scripts
And now you’re ready for our second strategy to help improve your SEO.
2. Get Your Site Inside of Featured Snippets
Over the last year I’ve got my site to rank in 79 different Featured Snippets.
Like this:
![Channel art – Featured snippet Channel art – Featured snippet](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2021/01/channel-art-featured-snippet.png)
And this:
![Keyword research tools – Featured snippet Keyword research tools – Featured snippet](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2021/01/keyword-research-tools-featured-snippet.png)
My secret?
A new strategy called “Snippet Bait”.
Here’s how it works:
First, find a keyword that you already rank for.
Why is this important?
According to one industry study, 99.58% of Featured Snippets come from the first page results.
So if you’re on page 2, you have pretty much zero chance of getting in a Featured Snippet.
For example, here’s a page from my site that was ranking on page 1.
![Backlinko – Nofollow link Backlinko – Nofollow link](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2021/01/backlinko-nofollow-link-2021.png)
Next, look at the Featured Snippet at the top of the SERPs:
![Featured snippet Featured snippet](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2019/06/featured-snippet.png)
And identify what TYPE of Featured Snippet you’re looking at:
- Definition Snippet (“What is content marketing?”)
- List Snippet (“Top 10 Content Marketing Tools”)
- Table Snippet (“Content Marketing Tool Prices”)
Finally, add a snippet of content to your page that’s designed to fit inside that Featured Snippet box.
(This is the “Snippet Bait”.)
For example, I wanted to get in the Featured Snippet for the keyword “nofollow links”.
So I wrote a little section that would fit PERFECTLY inside of a Featured Snippet box:
![“What Are Nofollow Links?” "What Are Nofollow Links?"](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2019/05/what-are-nofollow-links.png)
And it worked! About 2 weeks later, the section I wrote was at the top of the search results.
![Nofollow links – Featured snippet Nofollow links – Featured snippet](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2021/01/nofollow-links-featured-snippet.png)
Nice.
3. Improve Dwell Time
Is Dwell Time a Google ranking factor?
In my opinion: YES.
After all, if someone quickly bounces from your page, it sends a clear message to Google: people hate that page.
And they’ll quickly downrank it:
![Low dwell time = Lower rankings Low dwell time = Lower rankings](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2019/07/low-dwell-time-lower-rankings.png)
The opposite is also true: lowering your bounce rate can improve your Google rankings.
The question is:
How do you prevent people from bouncing?
Embed videos on your page.
For example, I recently compared my bounce rate for a sample of pages with and without a video.
And pages with video had an 11.2% better bounce rate than pages without a video:
![Embedded videos can decrease bounce rate Embedded videos can decrease bounce rate](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2019/07/embedded-videos-can-decrease-bounce-rate.png)
That’s why I embed videos in almost every new post that I write.
Sometimes I make the video an entire step or tip:
![“Discover Untapped Keywords on Reddit” step to video "Discover Untapped Keywords on Reddit" step to video](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2019/05/discover-untapped-keywords-on-reddit-step-to-video.png)
Or as a way for people to learn more about a specific topic:
![“Boost click-through rate” topic to video "Boost click-through rate" topic to video](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2019/05/boost-click-through-rate-topic-to-video.png)
Which leads us to…
4. Use Sitelinks
Last year I decided to make Organic CTR a top priority.
But I quickly ran into a problem:
Besides optimizing your title and description for clicks, how can you push more people to click on your result?
Sitelinks.
You probably already have sitelinks underneath your result when you search for your brand in Google.
![Backlinko – Sitelinks in SERP Backlinko – Sitelinks in SERP](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2021/01/backlinko-sitelinks-in-serp.png)
As it turns out, you can ALSO get sitelinks on all sorts of pages… from blog posts to ecommerce category pages.
And these sitelinks can make a BIG dent in your click-through-rate.
How do you get sitelinks?
A table of contents.
For example, when I published this post, I added a table of contents with “jump links” to each tip.
(We created this table of contents inside of WordPress. But you can easily set these up with any platform.)
And once my page cracked the top 5, Google hooked me up with sitelinks.
![Post sitelinks in Google SERP Post sitelinks in Google SERP](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2021/01/post-sitelinks-in-google-serp.png)
As you can see, these sitelinks REALLY help my result stand out.
In fact, sitelinks are one of the reasons my page has a 14.9% CTR.
![“How to get more YouTube subscribers” CTR “How to get more YouTube subscribers” CTR](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2019/05/how-to-get-more-youtube-subscribers-ctr.png)
5. Create Linkable Assets
Here’s the deal:
People don’t link to “great content”.
They link to sources.
For example, I published this guide to the Google Search Console few years ago.
![Backlinko – Google Search Console Backlinko – Google Search Console](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2021/01/backlinko-google-search-console-2021.png)
And I’m not afraid to say that it qualifies as “high-quality content”.
The post is full of actionable tips:
![Google Search Console post content Google Search Console post content](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2021/01/google-search-console-post-content.png)
It even has a custom design:
![Google Search Console post – Custom design Google Search Console post – Custom design](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2019/05/google-search-console-post-custom-design.png)
Despite being a very solid piece of content, it only has 353 referring domain links:
![Ahrefs – Google Search Console – Referring domains Ahrefs – Google Search Console – Referring domains](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2021/01/ahrefs-google-search-console-referring-domains.png)
On the other hand, check out this voice search study I published around the same time:
![Backlinko – Voice search SEO study Backlinko – Voice search SEO study](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2021/01/backlinko-voice-search-seo-study-2021.png)
Most people would also call this post “great content”.
But this piece of content has 1.21K referring domain links:
![Ahrefs – Voice search SEO study – Referring domains Ahrefs – Voice search SEO study – Referring domains](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2021/01/ahrefs-voice-search-seo-study-referring-domains.png)
(That’s 3.4x more backlinks than my GSC guide.)
What’s going on here?
Well, my Google Search Console guide isn’t that easy for someone to link to.
Unless you’re writing about the GSC and want to send someone to a resource to “learn more”, there’s no compelling reason to link to my guide.
On the other hand, my voice search study gives bloggers and journalists data that they can EASILY reference.
![Search Engine Journal mention of Backlinko “Voice Search” study Search Engine Journal mention of Backlinko "Voice Search" study](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2019/05/search-engine-journal-mention-of-backlinko-voice-search-study.png)
Which has led to hundreds of high-quality backlinks.
6. Target Keywords With High Commercial Intent
When I first got started with keyword research I’d focus 100% on search volume.
If a keyword got a bunch of searches, I’d say: “that’s good enough for me!”.
Not anymore.
Today, I put A LOT of weight on commercial intent.
(In other words: how much are Google Ads advertisers spending on those clicks?)
For example, a while ago I started targeting keywords like “link building services”.
![Backlinko – Link building services Backlinko – Link building services](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2021/01/backlinko-link-building-services-2021.png)
This keyword doesn’t get that many searches:
![“link building services” keyword Search Volume "link building services" keyword Search Volume](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2019/05/link-building-services-keyword-search-volume.png)
But with a CPC of $25.00, I know that the traffic is made up of legit buyers:
![“link building services” keyword CPC "link building services" keyword CPC](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2019/05/link-building-services-keyword-CPC.png)
(Fun fact: I published this page as a “Ghost Post”. As it turns out, “link building services” is MUCH less competitive than most tools claim.)
![Google SERP – Link building services Google SERP – Link building services](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2021/01/google-serp-link-building-services.png)
7. Grab More SERP Real Estate
Found an AWESOME keyword that converts well for you?
Get bonus traffic from that term with a YouTube video.
For example, this post was targeting the keyword “how to get more traffic”.
![Backlinko post “Increase Website Traffic” Backlinko post "Increase Website Traffic"](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2019/05/backlinko-post-increase-website-traffic.png)
Unfortunately, it was stuck in the #4 spot.
![Google rankings for “how to get more traffic” Google rankings for "how to get more traffic"](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2019/05/google-rankings-for-how-to-get-more-traffic-1.png)
To make matters worse, I was cramped below 3 video results.
![Stuck under video results in Google SERPs Stuck under video results in Google SERPs](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2019/05/stuck-under-video-results-in-google-1.png)
In the meantime, I decided to create a video on that topic.
![“how to get more traffic” YouTube video "how to get more traffic" YouTube video](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2019/05/how-to-get-more-traffic-youtube-video.png)
And because I optimized my video the right way, it took up valuable real estate at the top of Google’s search results:
![Google video results for “how to get more traffic” Google video results for "how to get more traffic"](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2019/05/google-video-results-for-how-to-get-more-traffic.png)
Want to see how I optimized that video? Check out this quick tutorial:
8. Rank for “Topic + Statistics” Keywords
This is the dirty little secret that sites use to get LOTS of backlinks on autopilot.
For example, Student Loan Hero currently has 21.3K links to its “US Student Loan Statistics” page:
![Ahrefs – Student loan debt statistics – Backlinks Ahrefs – Student loan debt statistics – Backlinks](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2021/11/ahrefs-student-loan-debt-statistics-backlinks.png)
Here’s how they did it (and why this approach works so well):
First, they identified a topic that bloggers and journalists tend to write about.
(In this case, stats about student loan debt.)
Then, they created a webpage that curated stats from different sources.
![Student Loan Hero – Student loan debt statistics Student Loan Hero – Student loan debt statistics](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2021/11/studentloanhero-student-loan-debt-statistics.png)
Finally, they optimized their title tag, meta description and page around the keyword: “Student Loan Debt Statistics”.
Which now ranks on the first page for that term:
![Google SERP – Student loan debt statistics Google SERP – Student loan debt statistics](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2021/11/google-serp-student-loan-debt-statistics.png)
Why does this work so well?
Think about it:
Who searches for “Topic + Statistics” keywords?
Journalists!
Specifically, journalists looking for stats to include in their articles.
And when you rank for that term, you’re going to get linked to like there’s no tomorrow.
Very cool.
9. Optimize Old Content For User Intent
I’ve talked about matching your content to search intent before.
![User Intent section from Skyscraper Technique post User Intent section from Skyscraper Technique post](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2019/05/user-intent-section-from-skyscraper-technique-post.png)
But the bottom line is this:
If your site isn’t what searchers want, Google won’t rank it.
(No matter how many backlinks you have.)
But when your page makes Google users happy, you can increase your Google rankings.
For example, I first published this post in 2015:
![Old Backlinko post “SEO Campaign” Old Backlinko post "SEO Campaign"](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2019/05/old-backlinko-post-seo-campaign.png)
As you can probably guess, my target keyword for that page was “SEO Campaign”.
And I quickly carved out a spot on the middle of the first page of Google.
So far so good.
But one day my rankings and organic traffic started to drop.
![Google Analytics – Shot of Backlinko traffic drop Google Analytics – Shot of Backlinko traffic drop](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2019/05/google-analytics-shot-of-backlinko-traffic-drop.png)
This wasn’t a super high-priority keyword. So I just kind of ignored the problem and hoped it would go away.
It didn’t.
That’s when I realized that my content was a HORRIBLE fit for user intent.
Specifically, my post didn’t outline an SEO campaign. Instead, I talked about a single strategy (“Guestographics”):
![Snippet about Guestographics from SEO Campaign post Snippet about Guestographics from SEO Campaign post](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2019/05/snippet-about-guestographics-from-seo-campaign-post.png)
Which was a really bad user experience for anyone that wanted a detailed SEO campaign)
So I went back to the drawing board. And I rewrote the post from scratch.
This time, I made sure to publish something that someone searching for “SEO campaign” would love.
![Backlinko – SEO campaign Backlinko – SEO campaign](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2021/01/backlinko-seo-campaign-2021.png)
Sure enough, those changes dramatically improved our search engine ranking. In fact, the new version of the post now ranks in top 3 for that term:
![Google SERP – SEO campaign Google SERP – SEO campaign](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2021/01/google-serp-seo-campaign.png)
10. Try Content Partnerships
I’m a BIG fan of Content Partnerships.
Why?
Because it makes your content promotion twice as powerful.
Think about it:
When you publish something on your site, you send as many people as you can to your post.
![Single-author content has limited reach Single-author content has limited reach](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2019/06/people-are-pushed-towards-viewing-your-new-content.png)
But you’re only one person (or company). So your reach is pretty limited.
But when you partner with someone else, BOTH of you send people to your new content:
![Content partnerships increase your content’s reach Content partnerships increase your content's reach](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2019/06/content-partnerships-increase-your-posts-reach.png)
Which doubles the number of eyeballs, links and social media shares that you get.
For example, last year I partnered with BuzzSumo to create this content marketing study.
![Backlinko – Content study Backlinko – Content study](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2020/12/backlinko-content-study.png)
And because we both promoted it to our respective audiences, it got A TON of traffic:
![Google Analytics – Traffic for Content Study post Google Analytics – Traffic for Content Study post](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2019/05/google-analytics-traffic-for-content-study-post.png)
11. Repurpose Content Into Different Formats
In 2019. I realized that I was making a HUGE mistake.
The mistake?
Every time I sat down to write a new blog post, email newsletter or video script… I was starting from scratch.
Which meant it would sometimes take me 14 days to finish a single blog post.
That’s when I realized something…
I already had TONS of content on my YouTube channel. Content that people loved.
So I decided to base my next blog post on a popular video from my channel: a video about getting more YouTube subscribers.
![How to Get More YouTube Subscribers – Video How to Get More YouTube Subscribers – Video](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2020/01/how-to-get-more-youtube-subscribers-video.png)
It took some time to turn my video into a blog post.
![Conversion of “How to get more YouTube subscribers” video to post Conversion of "How to get more YouTube subscribers" video to post](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2019/05/conversion-of-how-to-get-more-youtube-subscribers-video-to-post.png)
But it was 10x faster than starting with a blank Google Doc.
The best part?
My post did GREAT.
That post brings in 15,701 search engine visitors per month.
![Search engine traffic for “/how-to-get-youtube-subscribers” post Search engine traffic for "/how-to-get-youtube-subscribers" post](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2019/05/search-engine-traffic-for-how-to-get-youtube-subscribers-post.png)
And it currently ranks in the top 3 for my target keyword:
![Google SERP – Get more YouTube subscribers Google SERP – Get more YouTube subscribers](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2021/01/google-serp-get-more-youtube-subscribers.png)
Pretty cool.
12. Use Broken Link Building
I already published a guide to Broken Link Building.
So I’m not going to go over the process again here.
Instead, I’m going to show how I used Broken Link Building to get this sweet backlink:
![Time Doctor – Backlink Time Doctor – Backlink](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2019/06/timedoctor-backlink.png)
First, I looked for a piece of content on my site that I KNEW people would want to link to. And I chose this CRO guide:
![Backlinko – Conversion rate optimization Backlinko – Conversion rate optimization](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2021/01/backlinko-conversion-rate-optimization-2021.png)
Next, I found a site that wrote about content marketing. And popped their homepage URL into Semrush Site Audit tool.
![Semrush – Site audit – Time Doctor Semrush – Site audit – Time Doctor](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2022/03/semrush-site-audit-timedoctor.png)
Then I clicked on “Warnings” → “Broken External Links”:
![Site audit – Warnings – External links Site audit – Warnings – External links](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2022/03/site-audit-warnings-external-links.png)
Which showed me all of that site’s broken external links at the time.
Once I found a broken link that was similar to my guide, I reached out to the person that runs their blog. I let them know about their broken link and offered my content as a replacement:
![Brian’s outreach email to Time Doctor Brian's outreach email to Time Doctor](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2019/06/brians-outreach-email-to-timedoctor.png)
And because I added value with my outreach, they happily linked to me:
![TimeDoctor’s reply to outreach email TimeDoctor's reply to outreach email](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2019/06/timedoctors-reply-to-outreach-email.png)
That’s all there is to it.
13. Find Backlink Opportunities With “Backlink Gap”
It’s no secret that reverse engineering is a GREAT link building strategy.
But it’s not perfect.
After all, let’s say you find a site that just linked to your competitor.
You have no idea if that site linked to them because they have an existing relationship, they just sent an awesome outreach email… or a million other reasons.
But when you look at who links to MULTIPLE competitors, it takes a lot of the guesswork out of the equation.
(After all, what are the odds that the site has a great relationship with three different sites?)
That’s where Backlink Gap comes into play.
To use it, fire up good ol’ Semrush and enter your domain and some competitors into the tool:
![Backlink gap – Input websites Backlink gap – Input websites](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2022/02/backlink-gap-input-websites.png)
And voila!
You’ll see everyone that links to those sites… but doesn’t link to you.
![Backlink gap – Prospects list Backlink gap – Prospects list](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2022/02/backlink-gap-prospects-list.png)
And if your site publishes better content than your competitors, there’s a really good chance these peeps will link to you too.
14. Target Brand New Keywords
Want to find popular, low-competition keywords?
Of course you do! 🙂
Question is:
How?!
Target NEW keywords.
I’ll explain…
Most keywords are competitive for the simple reason that there are LOTS of sites trying to rank for them.
But when you target new terms, you’re competing with fewer people.
This means you can often rocket your way to the top of the search results.
For example, in 2019. I created a guide optimized around the growing term “Voice Search”:
![Backlinko – Optimize for voice search Backlinko – Optimize for voice search](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2021/01/backlinko-optimize-for-voice-search-2021.png)
Because the term “Voice Search” was relatively new (especially compared to old school keywords in my niche like “link building”), my guide cracked the bottom of the first page within a week.
And it currently ranks on the first page of Google for that term:
![Google SERP – Voice search Google SERP – Voice search](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2021/01/google-serp-voice-search.png)
15. Use Concept Visuals
This is a way to get high-quality backlinks WITHOUT having to grind with outreach.
In fact, I’ve used this approach to get links like this:
![Image backlink from Monitor Backlinks blog post Image backlink from Monitor Backlinks blog post](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2019/05/image-backlink-from-monitorbacklinks-blog-post.png)
And this:
![Image backlink from Convince and Convert post Image backlink from Convince and Convert post](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2019/05/image-backlink-from-convinceandconvert-post-1.png)
All without sending a single outreach email.
With that, here are the steps:
First, create an AWESOME visual that helps people understand a tricky concept or idea.
This can be a graph, chart, visualization or table.
Here’s an example:
![“Windows 10 desktop searches made by voice” visual "Windows 10 desktop searches made by voice" visual](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2019/05/windows-10-desktop-searches-made-using-voice-search-visual.png)
Next, feature that visual in your content.
![“Windows 10 desktop searches” visual – Used in post "Windows 10 desktop searches" visual – Used in post](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2019/05/windows-10-desktop-searches-visual-used-in-post.png)
And if the right person sees your visual, they’ll use it on their site:
![“Windows 10 desktop searches” visual – Image backlink from WideInfo "Windows 10 desktop searches" visual – Image backlink from WideInfo](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2019/05/windows-10-desktop-searches-visual-image-backlink-from-wideinfo.png)
Rinse and repeat for every post that you publish.
Pro Tip: Focus on creating visuals for NEW topics. That way, you’ll be one of the few sites with a high-quality visual of that topic.
16. Leverage Industry Glossaries for Keyword Ideas
Want some creative keyword ideas?
Check out industry glossaries.
For example, this nutrition glossary covers 100+ different terms:
![NutritionData – Glossary section NutritionData – Glossary section](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2019/05/nutritiondata-glossary-section.png)
You can either straight up copy these keywords into a spreadsheet.
Or use them as seed keywords and pop them into a keyword research tool.
Either way, glossaries are an AWESOME way to find new keyword ideas.
Pro Tip: Pop the glossary URL into the Google Keyword Planner for a mega list of keyword ideas:
![Mega list of keyword ideas from Keyword Planner Mega list of keyword ideas from Keyword Planner](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2019/05/mega-list-of-keyword-ideas-from-keyword-planner.png)
17. Get Backlinks From Content Curators
Most people struggle with outreach because they send garbage like this:
![Bad outreach email Bad outreach email](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2019/05/bad-outreach-email.png)
There’s a lot wrong with this outreach email.
But the biggest issue is that I don’t have a place on my site where a link to their content makes sense.
So I hit “Delete”.
That person would have had a lot more luck reaching out to a Content Curator.
Content Curators are just like they sound: people that curate their industry’s best stuff.
For example, you might have seen the SEO Marketing Hub that I created a while ago:
![Backlinko – SEO Marketing Hub Backlinko – SEO Marketing Hub](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2020/12/backlinko-seo-marketing-hub-1.png)
Well, because I got my content in front of Content Curators, I was able to get a handful of links to my site like this:
![SEO Marketing Hub – Backlink from AuthorityAlchemy’s link roundup SEO Marketing Hub - Backlink from AuthorityAlchemy's link roundup](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2019/05/seo-marketing-hub-backlink-from-authorityalchemy-link-roundup.png)
No arm twisting required.
Bonus #1: Find Question Keywords
QuestionDB is like Answer the Public.
![QuestionDB – Homepage QuestionDB – Homepage](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2021/01/questiondb-homepage.png)
But in my opinion, it’s actually a little bit better.
Why?
First of all, it’s MUCH easier to use.
Unlike Answer the Public, with crazy charts and images of some bearded dude, the questions are laid out in a simple table.
![QuestionDB – Report for “paleo diet” keyword QuestionDB – Report for "paleo diet" keyword](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2019/05/questiondb-report-for-paleo-diet-keyword.png)
And because QuestionDB focuses on questions that people ask on Reddit, you can find keyword and topic ideas that most other tools won’t show you.
![QuestionDB – Report for “paleo diet” keyword sorted by topic QuestionDB – Report for "paleo diet" keyword sorted by topic](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2019/05/questiondb-report-for-paleo-diet-keyword-sorted-by-topic.png)
Bonus #2: Rank For Brand Name Terms
Low competition.
High volume.
Great CPC.
I’m talking about brand name terms.
For example, look at these two keywords:
![Branded .vs. Unbranded search volumes Branded .vs. Unbranded search volumes](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2019/06/branded-vs-unbranded-search-volumes.png)
That’s right: Mailchimp gets searched for 280x more than “email marketing software”.
And it’s the same story with most categories:
The brand gets WAY more searches than the topic or category.
(The one big downside of targeting brand names is that you’ll never rank #1. But it can still be totally worth it.)
That’s why I’ve started to publish content designed to rank for brand names.
For example, I have this BuzzStream review post on my site.
![Backlinko – BuzzStream outreach Backlinko – BuzzStream outreach](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2021/01/backlinko-buzzstream-outreach-2021.png)
Not only does my page rank #1 for “BuzzStream Review”:
![Google SERP – BuzzStream review Google SERP – BuzzStream review](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2021/01/google-serp-buzzstream-review.png)
But it also ranks high up on the first page for the popular brand keyword “BuzzStream”.
![Google SERP – BuzzStream Google SERP – BuzzStream](https://api.backlinko.com/app/uploads/2021/01/google-serp-buzzstream.png)
Now It’s Your Turn…
I hope today’s post showed you how to improve your SEO ranking.
Now I want to turn it over to you:
Which of the 17 SEO strategies from today’s post are you going to try first?
Are you going to target brand keywords?
Or maybe you want to try Snippet Bait.
Either way, let me know by leaving a comment below right now.