Did you know .. more than 50% of popular SEO techniques about 2-3 years ago is now categorized as spam?
Blog comment, guest book, article directory, blog network, pyramid, linkwheel, "web 2.0", and many more.
All this is spam.
If you are still using the above techniques to improve your ranking, stop. Although you have not been penalized yet, it will be soon.
Your website is too valuable to be tampered with in that way.
People who already believe in spam techniques will be pessimistic when asked to talk about White Hat. He said it was too slow, hard, and a waste of time.
They are wrong.
Therefore in this guide I will introduce a safe proactive white hat SEO technique. Not only that, the following techniques when applied appropriately will give amazing results.
And more importantly, everything can start right now.
Proactive white hat SEO technique
I want to emphasize the word 'proactive' here.
There are still many misconceptions about white hat SEO and content marketing. Both are not just on-page optimization and content creation.
So the work of a white hat SEO practitioner is not just write-publish-write-publish. If it's just like this do not be surprised if your website never works.
On the contrary, this is what we will do.
1. Finding opportunities to get backlinks
Link is still one of the most important factors in SEO.
But the backlink is like a double-edged sword.
Techniques of getting backlinks through spamming (as written earlier) will actually pose a big risk.
By realizing this, then a good link is a link that we get on the permission and the knowledge of the owner of the website.
There is a way to find this opportunity.
1a. The page is a collection of blogs / articles
Ever seen an article in a blog titled like "5 best fashion blog in Indonesia", or "10 best articles on productivity"?
If your website matches the topic of the article, you can contact the owner of the website and ask to add your website to the list.
The likelihood of success is quite high, so the benefits you get from this technique is huge.
Here are the steps:
Do a search on Google like an image.
There is no standard formula for this search. Use creativity to find collectible articles. Some other search query examples you can try:
- "_ [Category] blogger Indonesia"
- "[Category] best Indonesian blogger [last year]"
- "Blog learning [categories]"
After that search a few pages from the search results, and collect the appropriate criteria. From some queries, here's what I found in less than 10 minutes:
After finding the opportunity, here's what you do:
- Find a contact page or social media account, almost all websites have contacts that can be contacted.
- Call. Tell us that you also have a website / article with the same topic, then ask to install your link. Do it politely.
- Repeat for every website you find and wait for replies.
1b. Broken link building
Broken link building is currently the most popular ethical backlink technique.
Stages like this:
- Find broken external links from other websites
- Create content that is better than the dead website (if you do not have one)
- Contact the website owner, give them your link address in lieu of dead links
This technique is preferred because it has a high success rate.
Website owners will also be grateful because we provide a replacement that is even more qualified.
1c. Reverse image search
Techniques are also effective for getting backlinks especially if we have the original image.
With Google Image Search, you can upload your artificial image and then find other websites that post your pictures without links.
Google Chrome user, right click on the image then click "Search Google for this image".
Then will appear websites that use your image.
Alternatively, you can also use TinEye. Sometimes this website is more complete than Google Image Search.
1d. Mention without link
This technique is more fitting if you are a brand owner, business named, or startup.
Sometimes there is a news site or blog that mentions the brand name / business / startup us but without an active link.
Well, from here we can contact the owner of the website to make it as an active link.
To find websites that mention our website, use one or both of these tools:
- Fresh Web Explorer
- TalkWalker
- Google Alerts
- Mention (paid)
Google Alerts and TalkWalker are similar. Both produce more news sites.
2. Analyze the website with Screaming Frog SEO Spider
SEO Spider is a software from Screaming Frog whose function is to crawl our website (crawling) and collect its data for our analysis.
If you are serious with SEO and have not used this tool, download it immediately.
Free version of this tool can crawl 500 pages, if you want more please buy directly.
This time we will discuss some basic functions.
After install enter your domain address and wait until finished.
Add an empty one. Meta description is one of the factors on-page SEO, because it's good any content has this tag.
Second, check if there is a dead link.
Immediately replace dead links so as not to cause harm to your website visitors.
Third, check the website structure with internal links.
Pages that get lots of inlinks are pages that are considered important by the search engines. Therefore make sure every main content you get a lot of links.
Fourth, look for content whose content is superficial.
The less word count is usually the content is shallow.
The third and fourth points will be explained further in the discussion below.
Do not forget to check the link before to find out the whole function of Screaming Frog SEO Spider.
3. Improve internal link structure
We already know that external link (backlink) is a strong ranking factor. But often we underestimate the internal links.
In fact, internal links are a very influential factor as well because search engines read the importance of each website page from the number of internal links.
Like this form of good website structure.
A well-structured website has several main pages, in addition to the homepage. In the main pages of this content contains all visitors to your website must read because the value / benefit is highest.
So any relevant supporting content connects to your main content.
If you do not have one, immediately create and organize the structure.
If it already exists, see how many internal links are there through Screaming Frog in the previous step
4. Increase the content of older articles
One of the factors that make the content so quality is its weight.
The more weighty our articles are, the more likely those articles become popular. The reason, because the content is complete and of course humans prefer content that is complete.
There is a correlation between the weight of the article and its length. The more weight the articles, the longer the content.
How long?
500 words? 700? 1000?
Too little..
The answer: 2500 words.
serpIQ analyzes the relationship between position in Google search results with the length of the article.
Apparently the higher the rank, the longer the article. The first rank has an average length of over 2450 words.
This is because the full information on the long article so that the reader so more satisfied.
But remember, the length is not always weighty.
Weighted articles are always long, but long articles are not necessarily weighty. It could be just plain nonsense.
Then which articles are we upgrading?
The first indication, can be seen from the Screaming Frog analysis earlier. Choose articles that are too short compared to others.
Second, look at Google Analytics data.
Go to menu Behavior> Site Content> All Pages.
Prioritize the Pageviews its a lot but Avg. Time on Page is low, Bounce Rate is high, and% Exit is high.
To upgrade old content, do this:
- Compare with content from other websites in the same topic
- Expand and deepen the subject, beyond any other content
- Add images for each core that need further explanation
5. Fix the old content title
Having a good title means your content is 50% successful.
In terms of SEO, the use of a good title will be able to increase your page rank.
The above statement can be seen from two sides:
Human interest with the title
The existence of keywords in the title
For the second point, the keyword in the title will make Google assume that our content matches what the user is looking for.
Therefore the existence of keywords in the title will increase your rankings.
The title is one of the most important on-page SEO factors.
I want to emphasize the first point.
Rand Fishkin from Moz conducted a study of the effect of the number of clicks on the search page against the increase in their content ranking.
The result is roughly like this.
If your page is in the bottom rank but get more clicks than the one above it, then chances are you will overtake them.
So in conclusion, create an interesting title for humans so they are hooked to click on your own page.
6. Find hidden topics & keywords
What is your favorite tool for finding keywords? Google Keyword Planner?
If so, then you miss a huge potential.
GKP is not designed to excavate keywords, so the results do not vary.
There are 2 places to find hidden keywords. Inside the website, and outside the website.
To find hidden keywords within the website, open your Google Webmasters Tool. Go to the following menu:
Sort by number of impressions, then look for keywords that you feel never targeted before.
Like the example above, whereas before I never made the content that discusses the 2 keywords. But get a lot of impression.
Second place is from outside the website, exactly on community sites.
Unfortunately the community sites in Indonesia today no one discusses quality.
Quora is the most popular question and answer site that contains quality answers.
By entering certain keywords, we can get hundreds or even thousands of lively discussions. Just look at the picture, there's even a question that gets 800 answers and 9000 votes.
Using popular topics in Quora, you will create popular content as well.
Ease again, these answers you can use as inspiration content of content.
7. Research your next content
Quality content:
- Requires careful planning
- The contents are not superficial
- Have a trustworthy reference
- etc. (we focus first to the 3 points above)
- Will get good ratings
I guarantee that the content that is really qualified will ultimately get a good rating after going through the proper promotional process.
But making content like this is not easy.
It's easier to create 5 regular content in 1 day than to create quality content in 2 days ... seriously.
So all we can do now is research.
Next to research, do this step:
- Find other content on Google with your topic
- Search again on Google in English (though your content is in Indonesian)
- Go to community sites like Quora, Reddit, Kaskus, find interesting discussions in your topic
- Find videos on your topic on YouTube
- Record all links that are good, note all the important points. Use Excel or Google Sheets
8. Put outbound links in the content as a reference
The use of links to other websites as a reference not only to decorate our content.
But it also affects how Google views our website.
Logic like this:
- Content that links to a trusted website means its content can also be trusted
- Putting up links to other relevant websites means telling Google that our content topic is the same as them
- Readers are happy, search engines are happy
Unfortunately there are rumors that are often circulated that outbound links actually provide a bad impact for us.
That's a wrong assumption.
Even the person in Google itself, John Mueller, stated that outbound links are a positive ranking factor.
9. Prevent the Pogosticking effect on your website
Imagine you're looking for certain info from Google, then we go to the website that the contents are not good at all. what will you do?
Just hit the back button or close the browser tab, right?
That's the Pogosticking effect.
Basically, Google wants their users to be happy with the results shown.
So if the user is not satisfied (back / close tab), then the website will be derived periengkatnya.
Even a writer at Moz stated that this factor of satisfaction is number 1, higher than other factors that affect your rank.
Then how to avoid this Pogosticking effect?
Actually some of the way has been described earlier, such as:
- Improve the quality of your articles, when the reader has stayed on your website for a few minutes then the Pogostick effect will no longer matter.
- Put links to other pages in our content.
- Put links to other websites. Mending them to another website instead of going back to Google.
- Increase website speed. If loading is too long, visitors will leave immediately before completion.
- Reduce interruptions such as popups and advertisements.
If you only target backlinks regardless of visitor satisfaction, although managed to rise, over time your ranking will fall by itself.
Therefore do not ignore this effect.
10. Change the content to documents (PDF or Doc), infographics, videos, and presentations
YouTube is the second largest search engine after Google.
Not Bing, not Yahoo ... but YouTube.
By changing the content into another form, you will not only get backlinks but also traffic.
After changing the content to another form, submit it to some sites like:
- YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion for video
- Scribd, Google Docs for PDF
- SlideShare for presentations
Changing content is not too difficult unless you want a really professional one.
10a. Convert content to document
The easiest way to make your content as a document is with Google Docs.
In order to avoid duplication, you need to rewrite your content with different sentences.
Sign in to Google Drive, then create a new document file.
Copy all contacts that have been rewritten and paste in Google Docs. Then click File> Download as ...> PDF (or .docx can also).
After that click File> Publish to the web ... so that your document can be indexed in Google.
Finally, upload the PDF to Scribd.
10b. Convert the content to a presentation
Simplify the article into key points, then use Google Slides to create a presentation.
The steps are similar to how to create the document above, only we use Google Slides this time.
After that upload on SlideShare.
10c. Convert content to video
Actually you can change the presentation file directly into video format with Microsoft PowerPoint. Via the Export> Create a video menu.
For a tutorial article that can be explained with a computer, use a free software called Jing to record your computer screen into a video.
When done, upload to YouTube and other video sites. Use good titles and descriptions because your videos can get high rankings in search engines.
Do not forget to include a link to your original content in these
11. Create new articles for these sites
There are some of my favorite places & methods to reach others with an article:
- Medium (English)
- Guest blogging
Just like the number 9 was, with this method you will not only get backlinks but also traffic.
Remember. In order for your article to have a positive impact, you must make a quality.
Just sending an article alone will not give any effect. In fact it could be your article will not be indexed as closed articles from others.
Therefore create a good article so that many comment and sharing to social media.
12. Find and contact influencers
Still remember in the beginning I said proactive?
This is when you are actively engaged in relationships with others, the influencers in your niche.
At this stage our ultimate goal is that they promote us. But this time we'll just start connecting.
For those of you who have never done the previous approach may consider our efforts will be in vain.
But for those who have been, addicted.
By establishing a relationship you can also directly go popular.
Before I start, I give rule / warning first:
- They have their own busyness, appreciate their time
- Do not approach by directly asking for help
- Give them benefits and reasons to be friends with you
In the real world too we can not get friends if we every day just bother them. The relationship must be mutually beneficial.
Then what can we give?
For example by promoting their product or website, or posting a link to their website in one of our related content.
After understanding the rules above, it's time we look for them.
Search
The best place to find them is from their own website or from Twitter.
First, do a search on Google with keywords: "[niche] + blog". Find bloggers whose niche is the same as you, they are the influencers.
You can also search for batch articles (like point # 1a) to find many at once.
Secondly, search on Twitter using the Followerwonk tool.
If your niche is in Foreign (eg "travel blogger") add the location as above format with major cities in Indonesia.
After that follow all the criteria.
Get in touch
Like the rule earlier, do not immediately suddenly ask for help.
If you are asked for help by an unknown person, "mas ask for free promotion dong!", What is your reaction?
90% ignore, 10% more grumpy.
The easiest thing you can do is to retweet, reply, or comment whenever there is a new post on the blog.
But this alone may not be enough.
Based on my experience, the most effective way is to do this:
- Create highly-qualified articles
- Make your influencers website a reference
Then contact them via email or Twitter.
13. Participate in the community, become influencers
After contacting the influencers, you can also become an influencer yourself.
How to join the community site to build a reputation.
Be a person in a community site that often helps others solve problems. Do it in the long run and people will get to know you.
Watch out, do not just ride promotions. It is precisely the negative reputation that will awaken.
It is you who must provide benefits before receiving benefits.
Same as number 12.
Well, when the reputation is already awake. People will be happy to promote your property even without being asked.
Even if the average community members do not have a website, they will be loyal fans who will subscribe and promote your content in social media.
14. Turn on your social networking account
I use the word "turn on" because you have to live.
That is not to use tools that automatically send RSS like Twitterfeed.
There are so many benefits you can get actively in social media.
First. The popular links in social media will increase your ranking on Google.
Based on experiments conducted by Moz, social sharing will accelerate the process of indexing and nofollow links will increase the ranking.
Second. Google is working with Twitter, this time Google is able to read the authority of an account and tweet.
This means your website may get positive SEO benefits from tweets that become popular on Twitter. (Although there is no confirmation from either side)
Third. Social media is a huge source of traffic.
For successful websites that build reputation in social media, they will get many visitors from there.
Fourth. Google+ affects personal search results.
That is, if I give +1 to page A. This will affect the search results of those who follow me on Google+.
Page A will get high rankings for keywords that are relevant to those people.
Fifth. Finally, social media is the best place to build your reputation and build relationships with influencers.
Done! What's next step?
White hat SEO is not just a matter of on-page optimization.
It is also a marketing venture and a relationship.
Before, you might be one of these 3 types:
- Do not know what to do related to SEO
- Got the principle of "quality content is enough"
- Still in love with black hat techniques
For type 3, do not need to be pessimistic with white hat. This technique is much more powerful than black hat.
And most importantly: 100% safe.
Type 1 & 2, your website will not succeed if you are not actively doing optimization and marketing.
So stop publishing-write-publish.
