If you are a small business, SEO can open doors to competitive keywords, lucrative markets and competitive verticals. However, to take your place, you’ll need to chip away one page at a time building quality content and authority along the way until you reach the threshold.
Employing a solid content development strategy (persistently waged in tandem with link building over time) is the key to acquiring even the most competitive keywords.
You have more control over your own rankings than you may think. In case you are pondering a new topic to develop, for new ideas on popular topics, you can use Google Trends (to hunt for keyword gold), see what is suggested as a related search, or see which keywords appear in the auto-suggest in search engines, use keyword research tool to cross-reference keywords that have high search volume. Once you establish your list of buzz words, tactfully weave them into your site content through using articles, blog posts or new pages.
The true competition for SEO is creating relevance within your own site instead of being concerned about fighting for search engine positioning with other businesses. Relevance and relevance score is the new bottom line.
The underlying purpose of Google’s search engine algorithm is to reward quality content. The pages imbued with trust and quality are the pages flush with hordes of relevant traffic from search engines. The logic behind the algorithm is simple, the happier we are, the more we consume, the more we consume the happier every business in the umbrella thrives from commerce.
Instead of looking at your site as a static online business card, transform it into an interactive brand statement instead. By using your site to make your brand statement or give back the web with great content, your site will serve as a resource for others. By establishing authority in your niche, you are employing one of the most fundamental search engine optimization strategies as a base (becoming a thought and market leader). Why react to trends when you can influence them? If you push beyond the reactions of others, you will find something unique. It is from that level you must function.
This tactic when combined with traditional search engine optimization techniques such as link building and social media is just like picking the low hanging fruit until the tree falls over as a result of effective on page and off page SEO.
Why rely on one page alone when you can create several relevant pages?
Each page with strong internal links and strong external links can rank competitively for multiple keywords. Just as the old saying goes, “don’t put your eggs in one basket”, the same applies for keywords and the number of pages you create to reinforce a theme.
Adding fresh content consistently to your site ensures that your pages (a) fend off competition and (b) appear as a the most relevant result as a consequence of topical relevance.
If you are looking for things you have control over, the rate and quality of the content you publish is the first and foremost step for building authority for your site and your business.
Three concepts to communicate here are:
1) Add New Content Using Semantic Synonyms for Main Keywords
2) Encourage Word Stemming through Building Anchor Text Links with Diversity
3) and Managing Your Keywords Bloom Rate to Expedite Authority
Semantic Synonyms – Writing on topic content and using overlapping keywords and key phrases to cement relevance for your site. Use site architecture and content to influence how your content is accessed from humans and spiders alike.
Word Stemming – Word stemming is the process of ranking for a series of semantically related phrases. This phenomenon occurs in tandem to the proper ratio of on page linking and occurrence of key terms augmented by external links from other pages.
The combination is, ranking for multiple phrases instead of just one. So if two or more of your optimized keywords appear in a search query, the likelihood of your page being returned as a relevant result is amplified through saturating the combinations of the keywords. More about word stemming and keyword modifiers (supporting keyword variations) here.
Keyword Bloom Rate – draws a parallel with managing the rate in which a keyword gains and loses popularity and rankings.
It is awareness of the rise and fall (of keywords) that provides insight, but more importantly, it is timely introduction of link building with specific anchor text and fresh content that can supplementing rankings indefinitely.
Knowing when and how to freshen up your site and with which key phrases is crucial to maintain rankings. A more in depth discussion is available from a post entitled tilling keywords from the past to plant future growth. Foresight, planning and strategic execution never worked so well together.
The gist is, it is better to build relevance over time through layering your content. By managing the bloom rate for your new content you essentially control how often certain segments of your site are augmented, for which terms and add additional link weight to your site (if you inter-link your pages with strategic keywords). Building links for your website from within while crafting compelling content and authority for your website is a superb foundation for a long-term link building campaign.
You wrote:
“You have more control over your own rankings than you may think”
Jeffrey – absolutely excellent and so true, especially for sites that have proven to be trustworthy from a content/link profile perspective. Once trust has been earned, on page factors are back on the table.
Eric
Eric,
I am honored, thanks for dropping by.
Ironically for years you have touted the importance of quality content and virtually coined this tactic from the start. Fundamentals such as these are timeless and still ring true to this day.
Quality over quantity. The right content combined with the right links create pure relevance (which is after all what search engines love). Once again Eric, thanks for visiting.