One of the best ways to improve your site\’s SEO is to create backlinks. Backlinks are links from other websites that point to your website. When other websites link to your website, it tells Google that your website is important and worth ranking higher in search engine results.
There are a number of ways to create backlinks, including:
– Writing guest blog posts for other websites
– Submitting articles to article directories
– Creating infographics and submitting them to infographic directories
– Posting videos on YouTube and other video sharing websites
– Tweeting about your content and including a link to it
– Sharing it on Facebook and including a link to it
– This is all assuming you already have content to share, of course!
Creating backlinks is one of the most important aspects of search engine optimization. Without them, you will not receive enough traffic from Google (or any other search engine) to make your website successful.
Getting Started
The first thing you\’ll need to do is choose a keyword (a word or phrase that people would search for in search engines). Then, create content based on the keyword. For example, let\’s say your chosen keyword is \”plumber.\” You might write an article about how to unclog a drain and share it around the internet. Another example would be writing a post about how to choose a plumber and making sure to include the keyword \”plumber\” as often as possible throughout the entire article.
Remember, your content should provide value for those who read it! Do not write articles that speak only about your company or website. No one wants to read about how great you are, they want to read about how great they are.
Once you\’ve written your content, it\’s time to get links back to your site! Here are some strategies that will help you create relevant backlinks:
Strategy 1 – Guest Blogging
Guest blogging is when you write a post for another website and include a link back to your website. Good guest blog posts are informative, educational and provide an example of your writing style. The only way you can get a link on another site is if you make it easier for other websites to share your content through social media. Why would someone want to share your post on Facebook? Because it\’s helpful!
Strategy 2 – Posting Content on Authority Sites
There are hundreds of sites that provide content to their users and allow other websites to share it. For example, Associated Content (now Yahoo Contributor Network ) was a site where people could share their content and other websites could submit articles.
The easiest way to find these types of sites is by using the Google search bar. The keyword \”write for us\” yields millions of results for this type of site. Like guest blogging, you\’ll want to create content that offers value and provides information the target audience is looking for.
Strategy 3 – Create an Infographic or Video and Submit to Reputable Sites
If you\’ve created a helpful infographic or video, share it on sites like Visual.ly or even YouTube! Remember, when submitting your infographic/video to other websites, it\’s all about quality content. You\’ll want to offer value and understand why your infographic/video will be useful for the target audience.
If you have an infographic or video that you\’ve created in the past, dust it off and share it again! Find sites that allow you to submit content (like Visual.ly) and submit your infographic/video to them.
Once you\’ve created quality content and shared it around the web, it\’s time for some promotion! Every link back to your website counts, so make sure you spend some time promoting all of the links that point to your site! Here are a few ways to promote your links:
1. Post about your link on Facebook, Twitter and Google+
2. Ask your friends to share it with their friends!
3. Comment on other blogs and include a link back to your site!
Keyword Research – Understanding Why It\’s So Important
If you want to be successful in anything, you have to understand the \”why.\” This is especially important in SEO. Not only do you have to understand what keywords are and how they work, but you also need a complete understanding of why it\’s so important.
Let\’s start with the basics. What is a keyword?
A keyword is a word or phrase that people use when searching for information on Google, Yahoo, or any other search engine. Why is this important? Because it helps the search engines determine what type of information your website provides and how valuable it is to its users.
When you do a search, sites are ranked based on their relevance to the keyword(s) that were searched for. So if I googled \” plumber in Denver,\” my results would rank based on how well the websites meet my need for plumbers in Denver. The search engines want to provide you with the most relevant information possible, so if you are searching for a \”plumber in Denver\” and I\’m ranking number one but all of my websites are about vegan cooking – that\’s not very helpful! That\’s why keyword research is so important.
If you want people to be able to find your website when they\’re searching for information, keywords are going to play a crucial role. When you do a search, the results the engines provide are based on keywords. It\’s important to go into this thinking about what people will type into a search engine when they\’re looking for information on your topic. For example, someone searching for \” Denver plumber\” or \”Denver plumbing\” is going to have their results ranked differently than someone searching for \”plumber in Denver.\”
If you want to do a simple keyword search, go to Google and type in \”Keyword Tool.\” This tool helps you find the most searched keywords on Google. Some other sites that I recommend using for this purpose are:
Advanced Web Ranking — Paid subscription but offers unlimited access. Also features link tracking, social media metrics, and in-depth reports.
SEMRush — This tool provides an in-depth analysis of how your competitors are ranking for certain keywords which can help you figure out how to increase your rankings.
Keyword Researcher — Provides a large amount of data and estimates traffic levels, CPC, and competition for spots on the first page of Google.
Google Adwords Keyword Planner — Used for analyzing variations of keywords
Google Trends — This shows how often the keyword is searched on Google. This is great if you are looking to find trends in your industry.
If you\’re not sure what type of information people would be searching for when they want to read about your topic, then search around using different keywords. Start with broad keyword phrases and then go more specific as you start typing in your search. For example, if I\’m looking to learn about SEO, I might start with a broad term like \”SEO\” or \”Search Engine Optimization.\” Then I will play around with different keyword variations until I come up with the phrase that is searched for most frequently.
What is a Long Tail Keyword?
A long-tail keyword, or an extended-tail keyword, contains three or more words. It\’s also known as \”phrases.\” These keywords show high commercial intent because they are short and to the point. If you use this information correctly, it will help you with your search engine optimization efforts and also lead you to a better understanding of your customers and their needs.
Here\’s an example: Let\’s say I\’m looking for a new pair of running shoes and the store that I frequent sells them. A broad keyword here would be \”running shoes.\” This phrase is very competitive as there are lots of big brands selling these products as well as the smaller companies trying to get their name out there. I would use this keyword if I were looking for sales or discounts, but not necessarily to determine where I should shop – that\’s what the more specific keywords are for! A phrase could be \”Nike running shoes\” or \” best running shoes.\” These keywords are too specific to bring up a large number of searches, but the people who are searching for them will be more likely to end up buying from you because they\’re interested in what you have to offer. Also \”Nike running shoes\” is only going to bring up Nike as a result whereas \”best running shoes\” might bring up other brands. The more specific you get, the less competition you have to go up against.
The more general you get, the more high competition it becomes.