Below is a guide to following Google with focus to get more out of your SEO. If you want your site or blog to rank higher in Google searches, you’ll need to do a few things. I’ve broken it all down into easy to follow steps for you. So, give it a shot!
Track incoming links
It’s important that you pay attention to the engagement you get from all of your online content from social media to your website. For example, who links to your website? To find out, go to a Google search page and follow these steps:
- Type in the word “links”
- Followed by a colon, and then
- Your website domain
It will look like this: links: monkeycmedia.com – Google will display all of the websites who link to your site.
If you’re looking for websites that are related to your site, you know– your competition–do this:
- Type in related: monkeycmedia.com
- And, if you’re looking for bloggers who write on your topic, do this:
- Blog: women in leadership
Know What People Search for with Keyword Tools:
Now that you’ve developed your list of keyword phrases it’s time to see what’s happening with those phrases and identify which of those are the most useful for your needs. You’ll want to choose keywords that can rank well for you.
- Choose keywords that people actually search for (otherwise, what’s the point)
- Choose keywords that have a fairly low level of competition, otherwise, you’ll never achieve results.
There are several online tools you can use to find this information. The following websites provide a snapshot into the world of your keyword, from the level of competition, to who is ranking well currently, to how many people search for your term monthly, and, last but not least, a list of recommended terms to consider.
- Keyword Tool Kit: https://keywordtool.io/
- KWFinder: Google KW planner – SemRush.com
- LSI keyword generator: https://lsigraph.com/
- Google’s keyword planning tool: https://adwords.google.com/KeywordPlanner (FYI: You’ll need to create an AdWords account to use this tool, though you do not have to actually create an AdWord campaign).
Good News: Google Can Read Between the Lines
I used to teach an SEO class (search engine optimization) at Pub-U that focused on how to get those powerful keywords into all the right places using metadata: title tags, H1 and H2, description tags, alt tags, yadda, yadda, yadda. People’s heads would begin to dip and their eyes would float over toward the door in search of the quickest escape path. I have good news: times are changing. These days, metadata is not the answer, content is.
For the record, well-written content is always the answer.
But, to my point, Google has become so sophisticated that it deciphers the essence of your message and digs for the deeper meaning, I know, creepy right? But it’s true. Google gets subtly. Google employs latent semantic indexing, which basically means that they, err, it, indexes keywords that are semantically, if not tangentially, related to your primary keyword.
This is great news for people who blog often and continue to write and provide value-laden content. But to build your following you have to get noticed.
The most important things you can do to get noticed and rank well in your niche:
Write well
Write often
Provide value
Then, something magical will happen. People will listen. And, they will tell others about you.
If you offer something really bad-ass, people will even link to you. Linking is the holy grail of SEO. The more websites that link to yours, the more popular (and relevant) your site appears to Google, and the more authority Google will give to your content.
What does this mean? This, my friends, means that you appear higher up on a SERP (search engine results page). Which in turn means exposure. Which means people find you. People finding you means you have an opportunity to build a tribe of loyal followers who can’t wait to buy your next book.
If you’re looking for more resources, go to my post Finding Your Tribe: Using Keywords to Build Your Audience
