Many of the top industry bloggers will tell you that ranking your keywords is very important because this can drive enormous FREE traffic to your blog. However, after being in the business for over 7 years, I’m surprised at the amount of people who still don’t take the time to understand organic rankings and how these can help drive traffic to your blog. If you think hard about the entire online profit model, it’s based on gaining more than what you spend on marketing, right?
This is why organic traffic and ranking your keywords is very important to add to your bottom line. I’ll admit over the last few years, Google has changed the way they rank within the search engines. This means you have to evolve with the algorithm. Making these changes can be very hard, but if you understand what the changes are you’ll have an easier time adapting too. With that said, let’s explore why so many bloggers are having a hard time ranking keywords within the search engines.
We’ll be looking at such factors like:
- Meta tags
- Competition
- Anchors
- Authority
- Patience
I won’t be following any particular order, but will be discussing the “5†factors above.
Meta Tags
One of the major reasons for having a hard time ranking keywords is your initial page setup. Google and other search engines understand what your content is about by looking at some major signs. For example, they’ll spend a lot of time crawling your pages for specific keyword triggers. This way they can find a place for your content within the search results. However, you can still do some other things to increase the likelihood of ranking for more relevance. For example, before clicking publish on your pages, it’s a good idea to add your target keywords to the following:
URL – This helps because it allows search engines and readers to understand what your page is about before visiting. This part of your content is also seen within the search results and helps increase the overall CTR.
Title – When people are looking for specific content, it helps to include the main keyword within the title. This reinforces to them they are on the right content and will find EXACTLY what they are looking for. This also helps increase the CTR because people see the title/keyword within the search results. The more relevant, the better chance of someone clicking through to your content.
You can also focus on the meta description, and add the keyword or related within that section. This helps increase the overall CTR, but is very important for you during indexing. It helps organize your content better within the SERP’s. Here’s the MOST important thing:
When you have 4-5 major keywords scattered throughout your page, you’ll have an easier time building links through anchors. You’ll have more options when linking back from others sites. I’ll be discussing this later.
Competition
This factor plays an enormous role when ranking your keywords. Many bloggers who are having a hard time need to focus on this aspect a little more closely. The mechanics is very simple.
The more competition, the harder it’ll be to rank those keywords. I’m not saying you won’t be able to rank them, but it will take a lot more work going forward to outrank other websites. However, this should not be a deterrent because there are many keywords with very little competition which will generate enormous traffic. It’s all about understanding the user search pattern and how to include those related keywords within your content. As a matter of fact, the whole pattern has changed from target to more long-tail and LSI keywords for rankings. In other words, if you can find related keywords with a sufficient amount of traffic, you’ll be able to grow your blog while being profitable at the same time.
I can imagine how it’ll be hard for you to find LSI and long-tail keywords however you have many tools to help you out. Here are “3†quick methods I use:
Google Search – when you start doing a search within Google, you’ll get a drop-down of other related keywords that are gaining popularity. Pull some of out of the drop-down and build a list.
Google Related – Once you have done a search within Google, scroll to the bottom and you’ll find searches related-to section with popular terms you can implement.
Your Competition – I love competition because they give you a great glance into where you should be heading with your marketing. When skimming through their content and blog, you’ll be able to pull out a handful of keywords relevant to your blog. Before adding them to your content do a quick competition check.
Authority
Here’s the thing all of you have to understand. Google has been making enormous changes to their algorithm scattered throughout several years. What does all this mean? Not only should you be linking to your site from other blogs, but they should be authoritative, relevant and fresh at the same time. This will ensure you have the right combination of links pointing to your page which NOT only your readers find valuable, but also Google search. When building links, you have to make sure they follow a certain checklist. For example, Google loves external links from sites which are:
Relevant – When building links, it’s important to focus on sites that are relevant to yours. This will ensure links correspond well to your content. For the visitor it means they’ll find additional valuable resources.
Anchor – You want to make sure the link from your external source is accurate with the same keywords. This means you have a website which is relevant to the keyword, but also valuable since other high authority sites are linking to you using the same keywords.
Valuable – This is determined by the amount of other sites linking to yours. Hopefully the site you choose when building a link has been around for years with enormous credibility.
Anchors Matters
Many times you’ll have a hard time ranking because you aren’t focusing on your main keywords. No point in adding certain keywords hoping to rank, but neglecting the algorithm. Remember, Google and many other search engines determine the worth of your site by looking at the other sites linking to yours. However, at the same time, you have to make sure all the call-signs are in the right place. What are the call signs?
Relevant sites with the same content linking to yours using the same keywords. This shows relevance and value which is great because people deserve EXACTLY that when searching for content. Building relevant anchors is NOT hard because it’s common practice for top bloggers to know how to make use of relevant keywords. Next, when you are building links or guest posting, you can incorporate the right anchors when building links.
Patience
One of the biggest problems I’ve seen in bloggers is the fact they are impatient. In order to rank your keywords, you have to wait until your site has been indexed, and you’ve built your credibility. This is important because Google doesn’t rank new websites quickly because there is NO credibility to them. You have to build them from the ground up and prove yourself to be a vital source of information for people. However, in the beginning this is NOT the case and you have to be patient. Here are some things I’ve learned about time and rankings.
Indexing takes roughly 3-4 months after your website has gone live. By writing content more frequently, you’ll be able to increase how quick indexing takes. New links are usually indexed after 3+ months so it’s important to build them and links to them. New links get indexed faster when you build high value links to them so it’s important to start building links right away.
Final Thoughts
Above I have mentioned some incredible ways to improve your overall rankings. Going forward it’s important to implement these strategies and then find ways to track your progress. You’ll learn that some work better than others so can focus on these going forward. Your main objective is to use link building strategies which produce the results you want to ensure complete domination over competition. Here’s the final piece of the puzzle:
Make sure you install Google Analytics to your blog so you can keep track of the progress. This tool will give you a solid glimpse into landing pages, bounce rate, and even referrals. Once you find out where most of the traffic is coming from, you can focus on the same strategy going forward to build momentum.