Have you ever had a dream where your company’s website was ranked first on Google for every single keyword you had ever targeted? Oh, and you were standing on top of the world, yelling, “I did it! I did it! Take that, world!”
No? Is that just us? Well then…
Even if you’ve never had that exact dream — if your website is an integral part of your company’s business, then you’ve probably had a goal of reaching the #1 position in search engines — or at least be in the top five.
So what gets you ranked at the top? The most important factor to increasing your ranking results is off-page search engine optimization (SEO).
Off-Page SEO is about building inbound links, essentially getting other quality websites to link back to you. Search engines call this authority or “link juice." This is based on the premise that the more inbound links you have, the more important your site must be, and results in a higher ranking.
So why is inbound linking (or back-linking) important?
Search engines like Google, Yahoo!, and Bing are used by 89% of consumers when starting any given experience on the Internet, including making purchasing decisions. With so many consumers using these services, it’s important to get your company the best search rankings—and drive traffic to your website. Using these 10 tips to boost your search rankings will help you do just that.
1. Create high-quality, educating or entertaining content
Consistently creating relevant blog content means people will organically want to link back to your site.2. Submit your website to online directories
This is quick, easy, and efficient. Submit to directories such as Google Places for Business, Yelp, Yellow Pages, Merchant Circle, and dozens of others.
3. Write guest posts for other blogs
Who doesn’t like a win-win situation? You have quality content to give, and other people want quality content on their website. Write a post, then shop it around to blogs that are a good fit. “Win-win.”
4. Research link-building opportunities with other websites
It’s great to develop relationships with other websites that love your content. However, it’s bad news if that website’s authority is low. To check a page’s authority, use online tools like HubSpot’s Link Grader tool.
5. Publish helpful resource lists
Curating and publishing your own resource list is both helpful to your readers and great for inbound linking. By doing this, you give other bloggers an easy way to link to your site (since they won’t want to curate and revise all that content again).
6. Conduct free webinars, and then archive them online
Find a topic that you can be informative on, and conduct a webinar that your attendees will love.
7. Capitalize on humor
Think of the things that have gone viral on the Internet. Many of them are funny — and people love to share things that employ humor. So, think of jokes within your industry, and capitalize on them by relating them to your content (Pro Tip: Know your audience well so you don’t offend anyone).
8. Produce captivating infographics
People love sharing infographics. If your company can create relevant, original infographics — people will be linking back to you as the original source.
9. Co-market with other businesses
Partnering with another company to create and promote a piece of content (or product) can lead to big buzz — and even more inbound links. Plus, the total reach of your content will be even larger with a partner company.
10. Install social sharing widgets
Add social sharing widgets for networks like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn on your content to give it an extra boost. If the content is good, people will share. That means greater visibility to your company from news feeds, streams, and search engines.
By putting these tips to work, your company’s website (and content) will start shifting towards the front pages of Google, Bing, and Yahoo! searches. And, then, your inbound links will start to grow. It may take a while, but if you stick with the process, the results will come.
Who knows, maybe one day your website really will be ranked first on Google — in which case, could we get your autograph?
New to inbound? Maybe we can help. We specialize in inbound marketing strategy, web design, and creative services.
Topics: Web, inbound linking, website redesign