Build Links: How To Push Your Blog Post To Google’s First Page

You need natural links to improve your rankings!

I don’t know about you, but Google is gradually going overboard, even with their AdWords.

Moment by moment, a new update emerges, bringing you back to square zero.

This can give a false feeling that you’re doing the wrong things.

But on the contrary, you might be taking the right SEO steps.

If you consider what Google Panda did to the Web, you might feel discouraged, uninspired to even write another post. I know how you feel cowboy.

Here’s a fact: If I tell you that your recent post can rank #1 in Google search, you don’t need a soothsayer to tell you otherwise. I’ve lied to you. BIG TIME!

And when you’re looking to hire a SEO company, be mindful of their promises. The truth is, you don’t really need to be in the #1 spot to reach your target audience. There are other factors, too.

Should you ignore Google search?

I’ve been asked on several occasions by my fans and email subscribers, if it’s wise to ignore Google and look for alternative ways to drive traffic.

My advice has always been the same – if you want targeted traffic; real people, who can subscribe to your list, buy your digital products or even refer you to their friends, organic traffic is the best.

Too often, bloggers whose sites were affected by Panda or any of the algorithm changes believe that trusting Google is a waste of time.

But come to think of it, why should you trust Google in the first place. It’s the quickest way to fail online.

Entrepreneurs aren’t created to trust people. You can’t stake your livelihood on any system, not even Facebook, Twitter, Google or even Pinterest.

It takes more than hard work to drive traffic, no matter the medium you choose.

So, it’d be unwise to totally ignore Google. Even if you decide to use guest blogging for traffic – there is no guarantee that you’d ever boost your ranking. Did I just say that?

A Quickie step:

This step is going to help your blog posts rank better in Google. Let’s assume that you’ve published a new content at your blog, and want to push it to Google’s front page.

The first step you MUST take is to determine where you’re ranked at the moment. Of course you should do keyword research before writing content for your blog.

Note: Keyword research is very important. Google still uses key terms to judge the effectiveness of your content.

Yes, the terms used must appear natural – which is why SEO copywriting (how to place words and sentences correctly) is the #2 key to making your content rank well.

Identify your keyword and then search for it on Google. If you didn’t find your post on the front page, click page 2, 3, 4, 5, 6… and so on, until you discover your web page.

I need you to quickly carry out this step, because it’s the foundation to what we’re about to do. This post is full of action steps, which is the best way to dominate your niche and build a profitable blog.

Use your Alexa data to build links

alexa traffic data

Alexa is a web analytics portal. Every content marketer needs to use Alexa to “discover success” in their websites.

In order to push your fresh content to the top of Google search, the data you extract from Alexa could help. It may not be 100% accurate, but it’s reliable as at the time of digging through your site.

The important data includes:

– Alexa traffic rank: Showing where your site is ranked in the whole world, according to search metrics of quality, freshness, backlinks and engagement.

If your rank is 135,837, it means that out of the millions of websites that were monitored within a specific period, yours surpassed a lot of them. Isn’t it a good thing?

Quick tip: There are top websites with lower Traffic Rank according to Alexa. You’ll have to research those websites/blogs and build a link back to your blog post from them. You’ve 3 ways to make this work:

Interview the A-list blogger and hopefully, they’d share, link and tweet it. Thereby sending natural links to you.
Study the blogs to determine their popular posts. Then, write a guest post, submit and add a contextual link (within the body).
Add your 3-cent by writing a not-less-than-100 words comment on the A-list blog’s latest blog post. Ideally, participate in the comment by asking and answering questions.

Getting links from sites with higher Alexa traffic rank may be produce results in the long term, especially when the sites begin to grow and build up engagement.

But to quickly rank your content page in Google first page, look for sites with lower and better traffic rank and build natural links.

Here are examples of A-list blogs with Alexa rankings less than 100,000:

Find more at power150 blogs.

– Lookup top search queries for your blog

top search queries in Alexa

From the screenshot above, you can see the top search queries for your blog. This tells you that Google spider already knows the right keywords people are using to locate your site.

Your target audience is saying something also – they want fresh, valuable and interesting content that are wrapped around those terms.

If any of those “top search queries” appears on your blog post title, the chances of ranking highly are increased.

Because you’re telling people that you’re an expert. Don’t forget that when users/readers read your blog post, it’s a plus to your ranking.

There is no magic to it, if people can spend 5 minutes – 4 hours at your blog, reading, commenting and sharing; it’s a sure sign that you’re on track.

How do you know if people actually spend time on your blog? It’s simple – log into your Google analytics account and look at your Bounce Rate. A lower bounce rate is always better, just like Alexa ranking.

Quickie tip: Identify your niche and stick to it

From the top search queries in the screenshot above, you can see that your niche is already specified.

This is what Alexa analytics is about. If you were confused on what niche to stick to, look at the data again and you’d discover within a second. Except you’re bli**d. Did I just say that?

The truth is, as you publish fresh content daily, you’re indirectly defining your niche. You may not know this, but your voice can’t be hid. It is right there – just look closer.

Every blogger has a unique voice, including those who are yet to discover and develop theirs.

Every piece of content you write would ultimately reveal your voice – and when you’re armed with that truth, stick to it. If your blog is about traffic generation, the top search queries would reveal that.

Now, you’ve the seed keyword. Use Google keyword tool to research other related terms and start dominating your niche.

The Panda, Penguin and EMDs updates are all geared towards building an engaged web. And only experts can truly engage their target audience, build a community, create a valuable product and earn profit blogging.

Don’t make excuses, because no one is competing with you again. Just take action.

Diversify your anchor texts through guest blogging

I see a lot of bloggers writing guest posts with the wrong approach. It’s not as if guest blogging is wrong, or ineffective.

In fact, it’s been my best traffic generation strategy and I’m proud to be addressed as a professional. But there is more to improving your rankings on search engines.

Guest posting is just too simple to execute, providing that you’ve mastered the art. This is also why you must never rely wholly on it to grow your blog’s organic traffic or build quality links.

I’d recommend that you diversity the anchor texts you’re using. In other words, use the top search queries from the screenshot above to link back to your blog posts.

It doesn’t matter whether your recent blog post is relevant to any of the top search queries, sticking to your niche is the best way position your content.

Your ultimate goal should be to build a brand, and get search spiders interested. So, use the search queries alternatively, when building links.

There is nothing “white” about whitehat link building

The term “whitehat” sounds familiar. Basically, it’s the opposite of blackhat when it comes to link building and marketing as a whole.

But did you know that most whitehat techniques actually fail?

Call me crazy, but I’ve never subscribed to using tricks to gain links.

It’s extremely worthless to chase after links.

The beauty of Alexa and your site’s data is to help you create rich and helpful content. So that, people can naturally link to it.

That’s what Google has been fighting through in their updates. Of course, they may have hidden this truth from you, but that’s just the reality.

The future of SEO is simple. The future is here already and it follows this line:

Research your niche (keywords, needs, questions asked, behavior, demographic data etc).
Write powerful headlines that CAN generate clicks.
Begin your first introduction with a BIG bang.
Write exclusive content for your target audience and don’t forget to add keywords naturally, answer questions and back it up with facts (just like this post).
Call to action. Earn people’s trust so that they can share, recommend and bookmark your blog posts for future usage.

The best links are earned, not built

Most authority bloggers I know don’t build links again – although they did in the past, when they were just starting out. But as time goes by, they discovered that the best links are earned, not built [tweet this]. BTW: This is content marketing at its very best..

Brian Clark made me realize that the best task is to write. Write exclusive content, which your target audience can’t create easily.

They’d willingly promote it for you. And you don’t need thousands of “earned” links to boost your rankings. Just a few from authority sites (engaged communities) can suffice.

Why 75% of bloggers fail at link building

Guest posting is a hot keyword in internet marketing right now. I did a study to determine why a lot of bloggers don’t succeed at it.

To my utmost surprise, I discovered that those bloggers aren’t reaching out truly.

They don’t even care about readers or their problems. They’re just after link building to push their rankings forward.

Don’t guest blog like that. Focus on your niche from the get-go.

If your latest blog post is about “content curation” for instance, and you want to rank that key term highly in Google homepage, your guest posts MUST relate to that or closely-tied to it.

Don’t just leave comments for the sake of generating links. Find relevant content (blog post, video, podcasts, presentations etc.) in your niche and leave a rich, valuable and not-less-than-100 words comment.

Build links – takeaway

Did you succeed at link building in 2012? If not, you’ve to rethink your strategy. “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” – Albert Einstern.

Dear reader, if you want to leave a comment below please use your real name.

Add your 2-cent or ask a question. Don’t thank me yet, not even for this post, until you implement the tips and see if this article is full of B.S. or not. What do you think?

Hat Photo Credit: Marketing-expert.blogspot.com