7 Steps to for Ranking Faster in Google

Checklist for Ranking in Google Faster        

1.  Find and Eliminate Zombie Pages

a.   Google does not reward sites that publish lots and lots of unique content. Google doesn't want content just for the sake of publishing.

b.  Sites with fewer BUT better-quality pages will result in better quality traffic from Google.

c.   It's quality over quantity.

d.  Zombie pages: pages that don't provide any value.

                                         i.    Old/Outdated Blog posts and press releases

                                       ii.    Category and Tag pages

                                     iii.    Search result pages (don't auto store site search results)

1.  Add No-INDEX tag to search result pages

                                     iv.    Ecommerce product pages with zero sales

                                       v.    Thin content

                                     vi.    Pages with duplicate content

e.   Fewer pages = Few Problems (see Fix Technical Issues)

2.  Fix/Clean up Technical SEO Issues

a.   Most common issue during SEO audit:

                                         i.    Duplicate or missing title tags

                                       ii.    Duplicate description tags

                                     iii.    Broken links

                                     iv.    Images with missing ALT text

                                       v.    Pages blocked by robots.txt

                                     vi.    302 redirects that should be 301 redirects.

b.  Try using Raven.com or SEMRush.com Site Auditor tools.

3.  Basic & Advanced On-page Optimization

a.   On-page SEO can make or break rankings.

b.  Focus on top 10 most important pages (may be blog posts or commercial pages).

c.   Primary keyword placement:

                                         i.    Google weighs keywords that appear at the beginning of content.

d.  Sprinkle in LSI keywords into content.

                                         i.    LSI keywords are terms that are closely related to your target keyword. Including LSI keywords will give you a rankings boost.

4.  Boost Organic Click-Through-Rate (CTR)

a.   CTR is an important ranking signal. "Click-through data has proven to be a critical resource for improving search ranking quality."

b.  Optimize Title and Description Tag for CTR

                                         i.    Analyze AdWords Ads for keyword phrase. Observe terms used and not used.

                                       ii.    Old Title and Description

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5.  Improve Dwell Time

a.   The amount of time someone spends on your site is Dwell Time.

b.  Longer the Dwell Time = Higher Google ranking.

c.   How to Optimize for Dwell Time:

                                         i.    Move content up, so it appears at the top of the page.

1.  Get rid of gaps that push content below the fold.

2.  Get rid of giant images that push content down even more. Make images smaller, so they take up less room. (Right-side with text wrapping)

d.  Make introduction more sticky!

                                         i.    Your intro will keep someone around or send them away.

                                       ii.    Spend more time on INTRO than Headlines.

                                     iii.    Rewrite intros into reader-friendly format. Get rid of dense text that is squished together.

1.  Only One (1) sentence per paragraph.

                                     iv.    Cut out text that is not compelling or interesting.

6.  Improve Page Loading Speed.

a.   Faster loading pages outrank slower pages.

b.  Use Google PageSpeed Insights tool:

                                         i.    Enter URL and fix the problems reported.

c.   Use GTmetrix.com

                                         i.    Similar to PageSpeed Insights, but adds information about Server/Hosting problems that can slow down site.

Now, that site is optimized, error-free, and fast…

7.  Publish Content Using Skyscraper Technique

a.   Find the best content in the industry, then create something even better.

b.  Great opportunity when the "best" that the industry offers is weak and predictable (same stock photos, inauthentic and boring descriptions, etc.)

c.   Examples:

                                         i.    Where other big sites might list a group of descriptions for a category, you can create a new page for each description.

                                       ii.    Then add extra helpful information

                                     iii.    Use quality images

SEO Keyword Research Tips

1.  Analyze Competitor's Site for Popular Pages WITHOUT BACKLINKS

a.   SEMRush: Enter competitor URL into SEMRush.com

                                                 i.    Review their most popular pages, the ones getting the most traffic.

                                               ii.    Consider how competitors are implementing Keywords to increase traffic and convert visitors into sales.

                                             iii.    Once you have most popular URLs, go to ahrefs.com

b.  Ahrefs:

                                                 i.    Enter popular URLs into ahrefs.com to see how many links those pages have.

                                               ii.    Building links is the hardest things to do, so focus on pages with the LEAST LINKS.

                                             iii.    Study the popular pages with few to no links because they are succeeding using great keyword strategies!

2.  Use Google Search Console

a.   Breaks down rankings, pages getting traffic, and page positioning.

b.  Shows impressions you're getting for keywords at the bottom of page one (1). It's easier to rank #1 if you're already ranking at the bottom of page one.

c.   You may see you're ranking for a lot of longtail keywords at the bottom of page one that you're not even targeting, but they drive traffic and they convert visitors into customers.

d.  Once you find these "bottom of page one keywords," go back to your landing page and make sure they are in your Title tag, meta description, heading tags, and within the content of your page. This will slowly increase your rankings for those pages for which you're at the bottom of page one.

3.  Use Google Trends

a.   Tracks keywords that are climbing in popularity.

b.  You want to be one of the first adopters of a trending keywords. One of the Google ranking factors is age! It's hard to outrank older pages. So, if you can spot a trend and adopt keywords for that trend early, you can be ahead of the pack in rankings.

c.   So, be one of the first people to Blog about new terms that aren't popular yet. You can talk about all the corollary items and features related to your not yet popular but trending topic. Just talk about the ones you know about. You can even make predictions. Here's my predictions for ____. Even if they're wrong, that's ok. Write with educated guesses.

d.  If you're the first to write about these trending topics, you won't traffic for a while, but once the trend spikes, you will dominate the keyword ranking.

Five (5) Steps and Strategy to Best SEO Keyword Planning

Five Steps to SEO Keyword Planning   

1.  Identify Your Customer and the World They Actually Live In

a.      Because your customer spends most of their time NOT searching for your product/service, you have to find out their other areas of interest.

b.     Doing wider contextual research on your ideal customer, will provide hundreds of opportunities to get in front of them in other ways.

c.      Visit forums and online communities where your ideal customer hangs out, and see what your target customer searches for when he's not searching for your stuff.

d.     Then use keywords from those other areas of interest and create content, headings, and ads that tie-in or bridge to your stuff.

e.      Your target customer will begin seeing your site or brand showing up in all of their other contextual searches. And, when they're ready to buy, you will be at top of mind!

f.  Action Step: answer this question:

My customer is ______________

If you're a wedding photographer, you might answer:

"My customer is a bride getting ready for her upcoming wedding."

2.  Find Topics Your Customer Cares About

a.   Go to where your customer hangs out online, and look for topics they tend to discuss.

b.  Look at Pinterest, YouTube, Reddit, Blogs, Forums, etc.

c.   Take notice of the most popular topics, ideas, concerns, questions that your customers spend time on.

d.  Keep digging until you find five (5) topics that your customer talk about in online communities.

e.   You may want to create a spreadsheet to track your research (Description of target customer, Topics, Where topics are found, Keywords, etc.)

3.  Find Untapped Keywords

a.   Use Google Suggests

                                                 i.    First: Type topic into google search bar and observe the list of longtail keywords that google suggests underneath your search.

                                               ii.    Second: Put a few spaces in front of search terms to see a completely different set of keyword ideas generated by google search suggestions.

b.  Use Quora

                                                 i.     Search topic and see which keywords show up.

c.   Use Reddit

                                                 i.    Search topic.

                                               ii.    Scan threads for keywords and phrases that come up many times.

d.  Use Google Searches Related To feature

                                                 i.    Type topic into google search bar.

                                               ii.    Scroll to bottom of results and observe other Searches related to your keyword search. These make great longtail keywords you can target with your content.

e.   Use Wikipedia

                                                 i.    Type in topic in search bar.

                                               ii.    Within each article, observe the other entries (blue hyperlinks) that article links to for closely related topics that might end up being keyword ideas.

                                             iii.    Scan the Table of Contents for the article, which will include keywords closely related to your topic.

f.    Now that you have a list of potential keywords, choose the best from your list.

4.  Analyze Each Keyword's Commercial Intent

a.   Can you monetize the traffic? How likely is someone searching for a given keyword to buy from you, or buy anything at all?

b.  Use Google Keyword Planner

                                                 i.    Type in keyword and look at Suggested Bid column. Shows how much advertisers are spending on AdWords for a single click for that keyword. The higher the bid, the more valuable the keyword is.

c.   Count Google Ads

                                                 i.    Type your keyword into Google search bar.

                                               ii.    Then observe how many Google Ads appear in search results. The more Ads, the higher the value of that keyword: Advertisers are fighting to bring searches for that keyword to their site.

5.  Look at Each Keyword's Search Volume and Keyword Trend

a.   Google Keyword Planner only includes a general search volume range for each keyword, which is ok, but less than ideal.

b.  Two freemium sites that provide specific search volume for keywords:

                                                i.    SEMrush.com

                                              ii.    KWFinder.com

6.  OPTIONAL STEP: Analyze Keyword Growth in Google Trends

a.   In the case where you have two keywords with similar search volume and commercial intent, Google Trends may help you see which term is growing in popularity, and which is losing favor.