Have you every wondered how to achieve consistent top 10 rankings for multiple search terms? Believe it or not, the majority of websites in the Top 10 results in searches that you peruse past every day utilize some form of the fundamentals outlined below to get and stay there, day after day, week after week and year after year.
I have compiled 5 tactics for achieving more than just rankings, but readers and search engine trust. Although these are just vague references, they serve as guideposts for anyone seeking the inside track on what it takes to make achieving a top 10 ranking in Google for a highly competitive keyword, just another day at the beach if the fundamentals are embraced and not abused.
1. Keep it Fresh
Fresh content is one of the most effective ranking strategies one can employ for their website. More than the little green bar that Google puts on pages for the sake of showcasing the make believe page rank, a much more dynamic form of ranking is what determines which sites get true authority and trust rank as opposed to the PR badge. If you understand that the more frequently you provide fresh content on your website, it’s an open invitation for web bots and hungry spiders to feast on your pages like the Klump’s at an all-you-can-eat-buffet. All joking aside establishing the power to rank competitively for each of your pages is the end result of a well planned content development strategy.
Be consistent, with constant shifts in algorithms daily, make sure your website is not omitted from ranking competitively simply because the webmaster was asleep at the wheel. Great rankings only last so long, what may have taken weeks or months to accomplish could easily be undone by a cunning aggressive link building campaign from an SEO company or blogger from the dark side. The point I am making is, if you are fortunate to make a dent in a high volume keyword and start to gain traction from it, make sure you defend it by utilizing a few of the following tips.
2. Article Marketing
Writing articles is one of the most underrated forms of getting free press and generating a media buzz for your company, product or service. Make sure it’s news worthy and keep the word density for your keywords between 5-7% of the total volume of words. An article with a succinct plot and punchy conclusion can do more than trigger the spiders, it can shed new light and traffic on your website and turn your traffic analytics program inside out from colossal surges if done correctly.
You have heard of the Digg effect, servers trembling in fear of inundation from itchy click-happy trigger fingers from a scrutinous audience, capable or turning your bandwidth to toast in a moments notice. I guess there could be worse things that could happen, but hey look at the bright side, at least you will be able to shop around for a new ISP with your new found notoriety if your article hits the top 10 list.
Back to the subject matter, the title like anything else should be the clentcher and compel your reader to investigate your message further. Use references when applicable and keep them on topic, but the true focus is to embed your bio in the about us section and generate quality traffic, backlinks and eyeballs to your website.
3. Deep Links from Directories
Although the emphasis is now shifting from the sway that directories once had on ranking, there are still some good ones out there. Fresh links augmented by high page rank directories that allow deep linking allow you to put your top keywords to work on your behalf 24/7. One of my favorites is Octopedia (did I actually just plug a website, shameless indeed) Others I recommend are Yahoo Directory for $299 Yahoo can provide instant search engine trust and over 50-70 quality inbound links in some instances. Best of the web with thousands of footprints throughout the internet one link from a few of these directories is still a great value for the money.
4. Contextual On-Topic Blogs
One of the hottest things on the web right now is business blogging or contextual advertising. Essentially when you find a hot blog with tons of dedicated traffic that is related to your field or industry and write a world class blog that gains recognition from the piers in that field. Getting a track back or a endorsement from an industry leader is one of the fastest way to make a lasting impression on search engines, who will see the link almost instantaneously to your site from theirs, as well as the dedicated audience who will seek you out to to see if your writing passed the muster.
There are various forms of blog marketing, this is only the tip of the iceberg, but the true contribution that blogging has created for webmasters and creative types alike is the ability to publish your content in a non intrusive fashion while having complete control of the backlinks that point to your most precious / related pages.
This by far is one of the most guarded secrets in SEO, the ability to use keywords and anchor text in conjunction with a content development strategy to achieve high rankings in search engines (what a mouthful).
5. Attaining Trust Rank
Perform the above steps over time (3-6 months) consistently and you will have the real page rank badge, which is the ability to make a change to a title, description or add a few words to one of your high ranking pages and instead of having to wait weeks for indexing your web pages are spidered within a few minutes or a couple of hours, updated and reflecting those changes in Google, Yahoo or MSN and ranking like a bull on steroids, now that is search engine trust.
In any case all of these strategies revolve around one basic premise, content, so what are you waiting for. Get those keyboards clicking and have fun as your words translate into search engine dominance once authority and trust rank catch on to your copy, that is, if it’s the real deal.
