If you have ever pondered how a particular competitor distanced themselves distinctly in the top 3 positions for a competitive search term. How is it that they remain stable and calm and seem virtually unaffected by the churning results that rage below the top 3 positions that literally update by the minute?
Virtuous tactics such as foresight, planning, patience and execution of a well orchestrated promotional plan is responsible for creating the Top 3 Authority Effect (which Wikipedia knows all too well). Much like a game of chess where the opening move influences the end game, the aspect of time, strategic planning and gestation of a plan over time are one of SEOs’ most powerful and least discussed techniques.
Now for example, if you wanted to create the cause instead, of trying to compete with this effect from others, then it is a matter of:
- Having a clearly delineated objective
- Seeing beyond the keywords to grasp the market holistically
- Creating enough relevant material getting enough links to climb the ladder of relevance and
- Ranking above the fold consistently for a series of pivotal keywords.
To land multiple pages in the sweet spot of the top 10 search results above the fold (the top 3 results), you need to understand one simple fundamental – that age matters to the algorithm to establish the SEO trump card, search engine trust.
For those unfamiliar with geriocracy, essentially, it denotes that the elder is given precedence and rule over the newer entrants. Once again the analogy of search engines having human-like mannorisms (or rather human characteristics of the programmers through mathematical osmosis) that are programmed with general etiquette.
In a previous post (building link popularity one link at a time), the analogy of high school and link popularity was discussed and how search engines mirror this behavior. The clique / “in site” with more votes (a.k.a links) gets the attention (and the high ranking that goes along with it).
Much in the same way, you factor the “grandfather effect” / behavior of the algorithm to nurture your site over time. Using the natural affinity of aging content and links over time matures search engine trust. Over time, your content becomes more cohesive and serves to reinforce a particular theme and each link gains the ability to sustain the page it resides on for a number of pivotal key phrases.
This theme in turn can distinguish your pages succinctly as an authority site which can translate into a number of favorable outcomes.
Authority Sites:
1) Enjoy accelerated spidering and indexing rates from search engines. The more frequent your pages are spidered, the quicker your tweaks and content can add weight to your relevance score. Our site for example has been known to index content in under one hour in Google’s cache (this is priceless when combined with a clearly defined content management strategy).
2) Authority sites can potentially rank higher with less effort. If your site is harness properly, it takes less effort to rank for related keyword modifiers or additional keywords.
For example, sprinkling in 2-3 pages of related content, interlinking them and adding a few keywords can score a top 10 ranking for a competitive phrase that may have taken months from a site that lacks authority. Another side-benefit of authority is the ability to use a keyword research tool and write targeted copy to gain even more systematic exposure and traffic is a great long-term SEO strategy.
3) Authority sites get linked to often from other authority sites. Call it momentum, birds of a feather flocking together, success by affinity or whatever you choose. If you offer useful content, others will notice and give regard.
It is no secret that search results cycle and churn, based on how insulated you are, your site will be more or less affected by this phenomenon. Sometimes you have enough links, but not enough maturity on the subject or trust to skip past the other pages that occupy coveted high ranking search engine positions.
Or for example, other times you have great content, but not enough supporting material to push your pages over the threshold. Achieving algorithmic nirvana and balancing the variables that largely impact the outcome is the true sign of a search engine optimization specialist.
Knowing when to add content, how to harness the buzz, when to create popularity, link-bait or links and how to refine your on-page factors until they gleam is the goal.
But if you had to lay it all on the line and pick one SEO strategy that you could use time and time again, I would have to choose the power of forecasting hot trends and keywords which are destined for popularity. By staying ahead of the curve and scaling related content and links over time, reaching the top would be a manageable conclusion.
Consider it a mathematically factor of wisdom that endows aged sites with immunity as a result of their contribution and usefulness to the web. If you can create content from that level daily, then time truly is on your side and your competition will have that much more on their hands trying to wrestle your site from its lofty position.
I saw this process in practice recently. I wrote a piece for an interactive agency with a trusted authority level (5+ year old site). Within a week it was ranked number 1 for the search term ’email communications relevance’ within Google Australia. Not the most competitive keyword in the world, but still relevant for the industry.
The important point to note that the only element of the article that was optimised was the heading. No title tag, anchor text, inbound links etc. Yet it achieved a number 1 ranking within a week.
SEO was not the purpose of the article. But it’s what we got due to the reputation of the site in the eyes of the search engines.
I concur James, It really is the SEO secret sauce. After I realized the potential, I started building authority rather than just links. All I can say is, the more you gain the stronger it gets, purely priceless from starting from the bottom mentality. Now imagine going back to your client and tweaking the on page up a notch. The competition won’t know what hit them.
Just wanted to add one more thing. It is like a daisy chain, once your on top, you can pull other pages up. Before you know it you have 10 top 10’s, then 20, 50, 100, etc…all from just adding quality content. It’s all about trust.
Sounds like your next post needs to be – How to build search engine authority.
This is obviously one great post. Thanks for the valuable information and insights you have so provided here. Keep it up!
Hey James:
I created that post months ago, just type in website authority in Google it should be top 5, called “leveraging website authority” (with a breakout on how to create it step by step).