SEO
Jan 20, 2024
5 best SEO techniques for ranking Higher in search results
Maria Ruocco
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a crucial aspect of any digital marketing strategy.
With the right techniques, you can significantly boost your website's visibility and ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs). This allows you to attract more qualified organic traffic that converts into customers.
In this guide, we'll explore the top five SEO tactics to outperform competitors and dominate the first page of Google.
Table of Contents
Introduction to core SEO concepts
Strategy 1: Research competitors' successful SEO strategies
Strategy 2: Target low competition keywords
Strategy 3: Capitalize on weak SERPs
Strategy 4: Update old content
Strategy 5: Build high-quality backlinks
Conclusion
Introduction to Core SEO Concepts
Before diving into specific tactics, let's quickly go over some key SEO principles:
Ranking Factors 👉🏻 Google uses over 200 signals to determine page rankings, with content, backlinks and user experience among the most influential.
Keywords 👉🏻 identifying relevant search queries and targeting strategic keywords is critical for visibility. Tools like Editby help uncover keyword ideas.
Optimization 👉🏻 creating content optimized for rankings while providing value to users is an SEO balancing act.
Monitoring 👉🏻 tracking keyword positions, traffic and other analytics informs strategy.
With the basics covered, let's explore powerful techniques to climb those SERP rankings!
Research competitors' successful SEO strategies
Check what your competitors are doing right or wrong with their SEO paves the way for an effective strategy.
While competition is about challenges, analyzing their efforts also uncovers tactical opportunities to fuel your own content plans and keyword targeting.
Actionable steps
Here's how to leverage competitor analysis:
Identify leading competitors - List 3-5 of the top sites in your niche.
Use tools like Editby - Enter competitor domains into site explorer to view metrics.
Review Top Pages & Keywords - Check competitors' most trafficked pages and ranking keywords. Look for gaps.
Compare Backlink Profiles - Assess link quality/quantity differences across sites.
Find untapped topics - Discover subjects they cover well vs. those you could create content around.
Why it matters
Competitor analysis, when done regularly, empowers you to recognize areas needing improvement.
It also allows you to customize content strategies to gain an advantage over rivals by targeting less competitive keywords and under-served topics.
Image: Editby
Target Low Competition Keywords
When starting out or working with a lower authority site, minimizing difficulty should be a priority.
An effective and constant analysis of competence also allows you to identify the least competitive keywords and topics that are rarely covered.
The combination of keywords with large search volumes and those with low search volume is essential. On the one hand, you compete with a large number of competitors with many people looking for that content; on the other hand, there are fewer people who are looking for that content, but they are people who are more likely to become your customers because they will be able to find your content more easily.
Steps to identify them
Use Editby Keywords Explorer to generate relevant keyword ideas for targeting.
Filter keywords by low Keyword Difficulty (KD) scores to pinpoint easier opportunities.
Leverage the Lowest Domain Rating filter to highlight keywords where a site with lower Domain Rating ranks on the first page.
⚠️ Example
The keyword "willowton chest of drawers" shows a site with Domain Rating 7 ranking 5th. Despite its lower Domain Rating, it manages to rank among much higher DR sites signaling an easier SERP to penetrate.
Creating content optimized for such low KD yet high traffic keywords can help drive organic visibility gains quicker.
Image: Editby
Capitalize on weak SERPs
Beyond targeting simply Low Keywords Difficulty, also look for:
High search volume keywords
Weak SERP with low DR sites ranking
Pages that manage to rank well despite minimal domain authority indicate an SERP that hasn’t been fully optimized by competitors.
Steps to find them
Filter for a Specific Domain Rating, like under 20 DR.
Sort keywords by highest Monthly Search Volume.
⚠️ Example
The keyword "orlando timeshare" has 6K monthly searches. We can see a site with Domain Rating 5 ranking 2nd.
Creating content optimized around this high-traffic term could allow a fairly new site to outrank established brands thanks to an under-optimized SERP.
Image: Editby
Update old content
Since Google loves updating existing content, refreshing old articles and blog posts should be an ongoing effort. Outdated resources not only lose relevance but also see drops in organic visibility and traffic over time.
Keep your Content evergreen
Prioritize pages that drive conversions or traffic as identified in Google Analytics.
Set a content refresh schedule. Revise these pages every 4-6 months.
The Impact
Routine content updates ensure your resources stay timely and useful for visitors. This leads to higher duration visit, lower bounce rates and ultimately boosted rankings.
Image: Editby
Build High-Quality Backlinks
Backlinks remain one of the strongest signals for Google's ranking algorithm.
However, merely adding dozens of low-quality links won't necessarily move the needle.
The key is to land authoritative, trustworthy backlinks from reputable external sites.
But how?
Link Building Strategies
Create linkworthy assets such as calculators, research reports, tools or resources that sites may naturally link to
Produce expert content that journalists and bloggers may reference using backlinks when citing statistics or quotes
Build relationships with relevant sites through outreach and high-value contributions. Links earned organically carry more weight
Monitor competitor links. Study where they're acquiring links from and pursue similar opportunities
Optimize internal linking flow
Beyond earning backlinks, interlinking internal pages amplifies relevance signals.
Strategic internal links also help increase the authority of your web page.
Optimizing your site's link structure
Place contextual internal links in relevant content pointing to closely related pages.
When mentioning your most important pages like category archives or home page, use exact match anchor text.
Enhancing interlinking helps pages gain ranking power while also improving overall site navigation for visitors.
Fix broken backlinks
Over time, sites inevitably see pages get deleted or reorganized leading to broken backlinks. Instead of losing that hard-earned link juice, properly redirecting these URLs preserves value.
Reclaiming broken links
Check for pages with backlinks that return 404 errors
Check for pages with backlinks that still exist but changed URLs
For completely removed pages, consider redirecting to relevant category archives or related content.
Recovering any broken backlinks helps regain lost link equity that might have taken substantial effort to originally obtain.
Image: Editby
Conclusion
Implementing the right SEO techniques paves the path to search dominance:
Start with thorough competitor research to identify strategic gaps and opportunities.
Target less competitive keywords that are easier to rank for.
Seek out weak SERPs and refresh old content consistently.
SEO positioning is very complex. Not only in terms of analysis and production of optimized content, but also in terms of the time needed to see the results arrive.
Try to implement all the strategies we have seen and stay determined. Results will come soon!
We look forward to seeing you at Editby to create content that helps our personal and commercial brands find our audiences.
See you soon 👋🏻
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Maria Ruocco
