Content isn’t just something nice to have – it’s one of your most tangible brand assets. Use content to build effective backlinks that are going to stick, and actually benefit your business and brand. Content-oriented link building is some of the most effective link building you can do, but it doesn’t come for free and takes real commitment. Here some ways in which you can use the power of great content to propel your online brand.

Build a content asset

Invest in quality content on your domain to boost relevancy and authority.

Asking for a link or a mention is a lot easier if editors and website owners have got something awesome to link back to – not just a boring commercial page with minimal user value. A content asset depends on your niche– it could be a mega guide into a niche topic, an in-depth how to article, or a humorous take on something affecting your industry.

• This is an investment – it will take time and money to do a content asset properly. Don’t think that you can just throw up any old content in a day in an effort to be ‘influential’.
• Think about what would really appeal to your audience. Do in-depth keyword and audience research and use content research tools like BuzzSumo for inspiration.
• Don’t forget to promote your content through all channels available to you. Got something really great? Your content could be of interest for people doing industry roundup posts, or maybe an influencer you’ve mentioned may want to know about what you’ve created? Send out friendly emails or social media posts. Use the power of great social media promotion to give your content the edge.
• Now you’ve built your asset – leverage it to help you build links and impress editors.

Get creative

Don’t be held back by any format – there are literally thousands of different types of content assets out there you could build on your domain.

• Visual content like SlideShares, memes and GIFs can all be used for link building.
• Image attributions mean that you can attract backlinks by publishing high quality images and image galleries online.
• Video content is super engaging and people love to share online videos.
• Custom development means you could even create a custom calculator, a browser tool or interactive quiz – the sky’s the limit.

Sponsored content

Not everyone’s favorite, getting sponsored content spots from bloggers and websites is an easy way to raise awareness, but content quality varies and advertorial posts tend to get less engagement.

• Certain industry publications, magazines, and directories will give you a spot on their publishing platform if you are a signed up member. This can be a great way to share relevant content with your peers, or update potential clients on new business developments.
• Bloggers work with brands and businesses over sponsored content, and some offer a lot of value, but others aren’t always such a good opportunity. Product reviews and giveaways are some of the most popular forms of blogger collaborations, but content also comes into in the form of sponsored posts.
• Tread carefully with this link building tactic, it can potentially get you in hot water if not managed properly.

Guest posting

Really good guest posting adds value, bad guest posting is basically spam.

To build effective and long-lasting links and to raise brand awareness, it’s always best to focus on quality over quantity. Reach out to sites you admire and approach sites where you know you can add a lot of value.

• Be selective about the sites you go for – invest your time in finding high-quality, relevant sites.
• Good guest posting starts with figuring out where the crossover lies between your site and theirs – find that relevancy hook and go for it with a well-timed and relevant guest post email. Keep it simple.
• There are various different levels of difficulty here – depending on editors and their guidelines. Generally posts that are sloppy and obviously just made for link building efforts won’t be appreciated by anyone.

Ego bait

Everyone likes to know they’ve been mentioned online, right? Think about it – if you’ve been recently interviewed for a publication or mentioned in a post, wouldn’t you in turn share (and link to) that content? Creating content that includes other people and uses their expertise is a great way to help you build links.

• Expert roundups are very popular because people love to hear what challenges other people have had and how they have overcome them. Getting people to answer a simple question is a great way to get the attention of a busy influencer – just make sure you ask the right question! Spend loads of time brainstorming your initial outreach request.
• You can also do more traditional roundups if you don’t fancy asking people to contribute – “the best B2B business writers to follow on Twitter”, “my favorite wedding bloggers” etc.
• If your site has relevancy and authority, you can even create a badge saying “I’ve been featured on X” that people can use on their sites. This works best if you feature junior to mid career people who are more likely to include this in their professional portfolios.
• Reaching out to the real leading lights of the industry is risky, but it may be worth it if they get back to you!

Do it better

You have all the research tools out there to help you find out what content other people are linking to and finding compelling – so why don’t you go up a level and outdo your competitors?

• If something has been successful once it shows there is an appetite and a desire for that content – use that knowledge to your advantage. Try to go for different variations on the same theme and use a backlink analysis tool like Majestic to start building a list of potentially interested sites.
• This isn’t about blindly parroting stuff that’s already been done – but about genuinely improving and adding value to content that has already proven popular with people.

Open up your blog

Bring relationships into it.

If you fancied nurturing some content talent on your blog, you can let budding writers and other industry experts write for your blog. This opens up an avenue for natural collaboration and synergy – which both often lead to links.

• Exchanging views over reciprocal blog posts should be a natural process – not something you see as the default. This isn’t just about building links – it’s about building a brand.
• Getting to know people (both offline and online) is a worthwhile exercise that yields results in surprising ways. Many great links and pieces of content have started out as a simple ‘hey’.

Finally – don’t forget your on-page content

Think of it like this, if you are asking for big authority website to work with you on content, whether that is linking back to you or working on a guest post, wouldn’t you want them to see a site that impresses, not scares them?

• Spelling mistakes, grammatical errors and thin and poor content will turn off editors and reputable websites.
• Make sure your website is well-formatted and updated and that you are following all the latest web & SEO practices. People these days are careful who they link to – don’t mess up your chances of a fruitful partnership with a poor website.

Still not sated? Here are some more content marketing lessons your brand should take on board (including how to write authority articles and clean up core content).

Do you ever get the feeling that if you could only talk to some of your ideal customers and show them that you’re the real deal; that it could really change things in a dramatic way?

I was thinking about that today when I realized that I have more clients in Los Angeles, Detroit, or Chicago lately than I do in Spartanburg County.  Sadly, my local networking has really been lacking in recent years because I stay so busy with larger national clients.  At the same time though, I started Web Synergy years ago because I wanted to impact local businesses right here in Greenville, Spartanburg, and Asheville…so it’s time for some serious changes.

I decided to start a new “Lunch with Friends” campaign for Spartanburg County and the surrounding cities, and it basically works like this-

• Visit my online calendar and choose a date to sit down for lunch together
• When we meet I’ll answer each and every one of your online marketing questions
• I’ll help you create an action plan to optimize your website and fix any issues
• We will also look at the fastest way for you to start gaining new customers online
• I’ll waive 100% of my consulting fees as well…just pick up the check

What am I looking to gain from this?

As I said, I would prefer to have all of my clients locally within the next few years.  I would rather help you out today for free and make a new local contact to network with, or possibly even gain your business.  But either way, you’ll receive my expertise and we both walk away big winners.

So if you’ve been wondering how to significantly boost your online presence, this is the perfect time to learn about search optimization and online marketing from the top authority in the southeast.  I’m looking forward to meeting you soon!

It’s no secret that search engine optimization has changed drastically over the years as Google continuously adapts to reward the most helpful websites with coveted first page rankings.  And for the average small business owner or entrepreneur that’s on the outside looking in, it can seem like executing the perfect SEO strategy is nearly impossib

What if I told you, however, that everything you need to know about search optimization is summarized in the very first sentence on this page?

Go ahead and look again if you don’t believe me- I’ll sit here and wait while you do it.

The websites that go out of their way to help their customers the most are the ones that SHOULD rank at the tops of the search engines.  That was the goal in 1991 and it’s still the goal today.  The only thing that’s really changed is that Google and Bing have become much better at detecting unsavory tactics that allow websites to artificially rank, but the goal still remains exactly the same.

So as we work through this guide together, I want you to remember one universal truth that can guarantee your excellent search placement for the next fifty years- the site with the best content should always win.

That means that as long as you’re making serious efforts to bolster your customer’s online experience, you will remain in favor with the search engines and continuously see improved results.  It really is that simple.

Since this is an official SEO Strategy Guide, however, then you’ll probably want a little more detail than that to work with.  So let’s get down to some key points of interest for your search optimization strategy.

Old-school search optimization depended largely on stuffing keywords, cranking out tremendous amounts of content and getting any form of backlinks to your website.

The Internet back then was like the Wild West; everything was available for the taking if you didn’t mind being called an outlaw.  And that’s why quality was almost an afterthought over the past two decades, the search engines did not have a strong enough algorithm in place to properly identify what we now call spam.

I won’t lie to you- some of those tactics still perform well with the major search engines these days.  You can still take a few shortcuts building backlinks and almost any form of traffic is still considered a positive signal, even if it comes from spammy sources that have no interest at all with your brand.  These black hat methods are becoming harder and harder to execute properly though, and there’s one crucial thing you have to remember about being an outlaw-

Outlaws eventually end up dead or in jail.  So stop trying to be an SEO outlaw, even if think you’re the quickest draw in the West.

• DO create informative content to educate your customers
• DO update your FAQ and core information pages
• DO commit to a weekly blog about your industry
• DO share your blogs on social channels to increase engagement
• Do focus on a quality over quantity approach
• Do update or remove poorly written pages
• Do post content that leads to additional actions (read more, call, opt-in, etc.)

So when it comes to content for your website, don’t even think about taking shortcuts in 2016 and beyond.  Everything you post should engage your audience and help them learn a little bit more about your brand.  That means you should be getting down to the nitty-gritty and sharing precise details about anything and everything your customers have questions about, and it should be written in a way that just makes sense.

Let’s talk about backlink building as a search optimization method for a moment…and I’ll start with an obligatory, “Ladies and gentlemen, please make sure your seat backs and tray tables are in their full upright position.  We are about to experience some severe turbulence.”

Over the past few years, creating a solid backlink profile has become increasingly difficult.  Let’s just look at what Google tells you not to do-

• DO NOT guest post on websites with questionable ethics
• DO NOT leave random comments with your link in it
• DO NOT buy backlinks under any circumstance
• DO NOT swap backlinks with other websites
• DO NOT associate yourself with any spammy site
• DO NOT use the same anchor text across most of your links

That’s where we reach the turbulence part of this journey, because chances are pretty darn good that you’ve violated some or all of those guidelines over the past few years.  If that’s the case, then we strongly recommend that you disavow your less-than-reputable backlinks since your website is likely facing penalties because of it.

With that said, link building strategies have not changed much over the past year other than to avoid the ComLuv’s of the world that Google has clearly blacklisted.  In fact, you should probably forget about any form of guest blogging where you’re permitted to insert a backlink straight to your website, unless it’s in an author bio.  There are still tens of thousands of quality content sites to write for out there as well- just use a little more caution this time around.

Social media is still a powerful way to receive natural backlinks as well, and Google vastly prefers this approach since others are choosing to talk about you on their own sites.  Other solid opportunities for gaining backlinks are creating highly-sharable content like infographics or case studies, utilizing directories within your niche, press releases and blogging about authorities within your industry.

One more word on backlinks before we move on.  Remember that your profile does not need dozens of backlinks to every possible page in order to achieve solid overall rankings; this is the old-school formula for grey hat SEO and it is completely unnecessary.  The search engines would rather see a handful of natural high authority links to your domain over thousands of weaker ones, so make sure your focus remains on quality partnerships.

Let’s talk about backlink building as a search optimization method for a moment…and I’ll start with an obligatory, “Ladies and gentlemen, please make sure your seat backs and tray tables are in their full upright position.  We are about to experience some severe turbulence.”

Over the past few years, creating a solid backlink profile has become increasingly difficult.  Let’s just look at what Google tells you not to do-

• DO NOT guest post on websites with questionable ethics
• DO NOT leave random comments with your link in it
• DO NOT buy backlinks under any circumstance
• DO NOT swap backlinks with other websites
• DO NOT associate yourself with any spammy site
• DO NOT use the same anchor text across most of your links

That’s where we reach the turbulence part of this journey, because chances are pretty darn good that you’ve violated some or all of those guidelines over the past few years.  If that’s the case, then we strongly recommend that you disavow your less-than-reputable backlinks since your website is likely facing penalties because of it.

With that said, link building strategies have not changed much over the past year other than to avoid the ComLuv’s of the world that Google has clearly blacklisted.  In fact, you should probably forget about any form of guest blogging where you’re permitted to insert a backlink straight to your website, unless it’s in an author bio.  There are still tens of thousands of quality content sites to write for out there as well- just use a little more caution this time around.

Social media is still a powerful way to receive natural backlinks as well, and Google vastly prefers this approach since others are choosing to talk about you on their own sites.  Other solid opportunities for gaining backlinks are creating highly-sharable content like infographics or case studies, utilizing directories within your niche, press releases and blogging about authorities within your industry.

One more word on backlinks before we move on.  Remember that your profile does not need dozens of backlinks to every possible page in order to achieve solid overall rankings; this is the old-school formula for grey hat SEO and it is completely unnecessary.  The search engines would rather see a handful of natural high authority links to your domain over thousands of weaker ones, so make sure your focus remains on quality partnerships.

Here’s a statistic worth remembering- almost 80% of all mobile searches in the United States directly lead to a purchase.  Since almost 73% of those purchases occur in local brick and mortar stores, local search optimization (AKA Google Maps) should definitely become one of the most important parts of your overall SEO strategy in 2017 and beyond.

How do you optimize for the local search engines?

• Create/verify your listings with all the major search engines
• Complete the certification process to show that it’s your business
• Complete your profile 100% (photos, categories, descriptions, etc.)
• List a local contact phone number in your profile
• Repeat this process on major directories (Yellow Pages, Yelp, etc.)
• Ask your best customers for honest reviews/ratings
• Build backlinks from social and authority sites
• Focus on your main website’s core engagement levels

Essentially, Google and Bing want to see you treat your local search profiles exactly like you would your own website, so remember that the little things really do matter in this instance.  Also, make sure that each of your local search profiles uses 100% unique content for the spiders to crawl, but all of the other information should be exactly the same.  In other words, do not list different addresses, phone numbers and other information that the search engines could see as a conflict, and avoid toll free numbers altogether since they signal that you’re probably not seeking local business clients.

Quick question- why are you worried about your website’s SEO in the first place?  And before you answer, let me point you right back to the very first sentence on this page once again.  Because the answer you’re looking for should not be, “So I can make lots of money.”

Honestly, Google could care less if you are making income through your website or not.

Their only worry is that your site’s content makes visitors happy, and it is a huge red flag for the search engine giant if they see just a few paragraphs of text and a dozen or more ads.  Without even looking at anything else, they know right off the bat what your real intentions are.

• DO use appealing calls to action in contact forms
• DO ask users to visit your social sites
• DO monetize your pages in natural, logical ways
• DO offer freebies and giveaways to generate leads
• DO NOT lose focus on making great content the top priority

Now, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t use ad banners and email captures on your website; just don’t do it in a way that would make people question your motives.  Remember, this is not so much about the amount of advertising, but about how much actual content there is to balance it out.

So don’t be that guy who posts 12 flashing ad banners per page- not even John Chow does that anymore…and you’re no John Chow.  That is, unless you are actually John Chow and you just happen to be reading my blog.  If that’s the case, then I guess this last section doesn’t fully apply to you.

But for everyone that’s not named John Chow, then you may want to reconsider limiting your ad-space and focusing on your actual visitors instead.

Even though you probably have a web developer that handles the heavy lifting when it comes to the back-end of your website, there are several minor issues that could cause you to lose appeal to the search engines.

I won’t dwell here though, just scan through this list of miscellaneous items that could be harming your search ranking-

• Slow loading times/not enough bandwidth
• Poor navigational structures
• Missing pages that do not properly redirect
• Broken inbound and outbound backlinks
• Images not properly labeled
• Missing H1 (main title) tags
• Lack of meta keywords & descriptions
• Plugin conflicts that affect functionality
• Suspicious redirects (possibly by hackers)

So if you see any of these issues, contact your system administrator and tell him that he stinks at his job.  Then call me to fix the issues and we can make fun of that other guy together!

You may have heard some of the experts mention that keywords are officially dead, and to some degree they are absolutely correct.

You should no longer be focused on things like keyword density or packing in as many combinations of key-phrases as you can in any given page.  This is no longer a valid tactic since the search engines have made it abundantly clear that they are more focused on your visitor’s engagement levels.

At the same time, keywords certainly do still matter, so let’s go straight to our bullet points-

• DO mention on at least one primary keyword on each page
• DO use keyword software to find popular phrases with low competition
• DO hyperlink your targeted keyword to other parts of your website
• DO hyperlink your targeted keyword to authority sites within your niche
• DO include your targeted keyword in the title, meta title, and description
• DO NOT repeat keywords just for ranking purposes
• DO NOT ever use a keyword unless it fits naturally within the text
• DO NOT forget that quality and engagement are the most important factors

To prove that, let’s do a little experiment and talk about our famous SEO Keyword Spatula, which is something that I just completely made up for testing purposes.  It does sound like a pretty cool product name though and since I bolded it, the search spiders will likely see it as being important.  Notice that we’re not actually keyword stuffing though, since the phrase is only being used twice total.

If you take peek in AdWords, the phrase “SEO keyword spatula” has zero natural competition (as expected) but it is also somewhat related to almost 600,000 similar monthly searches containing both “SEO” and “keyword” within the phrase.  And if our little experiment here works, then I should have the #1 ranking not only for the worthless phrase I just made up, but also have the opportunity for getting noticed in dozens of similar search terms that people are actively searching for.

Does that make sense? It’s sort of a backdoor ninja approach to capturing the easy stuff and possibly getting noticed in the ultra-competitive niches as well.

You should be doing the exact same thing with all of those long-tail keywords within your niche that others are not actively targeting.  And the long-term benefits of consistently searching for and using new long-tail keyphrases within your website copy can pay serious cumulative rewards.

Many people are on the fence about video marketing since Google cannot actively see the content contained within your embedded multimedia players.  Hopefully by now you’re not going to make me refer you back to the very first sentence again though; modern SEO is not about what Google sees.

It is about how your visitors react to the core content on your domain.  And if a video captures their attention while they’re visiting you, then Google doesn’t have to understand what they’re watching.  It helps you anyway.

• DO use videos to explain core products and services
• DO share videos on social sites
• DO share other videos on your site that resonate with viewers
• DO keep the majority of your videos under two minutes
• DO focus on lighting and sound quality
• DO NOT hesitate to shoot simple, first person videos with a smartphone

Here is another incredibly important piece of the puzzle for video though– the most influential video hosting website on the planet is owned by Google.  So not only does video marketing get the benefit of its very own search stream for consumers, but Google also prioritizes YouTube videos within both the natural and the video types of searches as well.  So you literally get three streams of exposure by posting one video on YouTube and embedding it into your website…and your customers will love you for it.

What does a homeless young Korean man in a singing competition have to do with SEO and video marketing?  It’s almost impossible not to be moved by his amazing journey…and that is engagement at its very finest.  However, if your videos happen to answer the specific questions that your website’s visitors are contemplating, then it is an extremely powerful sales technique as well.

So while video marketing is not a core SEO factor all by itself, the engagement that it creates certainly matters.

Throughout this guide so far, we’ve talked about the term “engagement” in almost every single section.  It is certainly one of those buzzwords that are tossed around frequently by experts, but it hardly ever seems to get properly defined either.  So let’s define it now by search engine standards.

Customer engagement refers to any positive action that is taken by a user on a website.

Any when I say “any positive action”, that’s exactly what I mean.  Think about this for a moment- the average smartphone user visits a website and qualifies it in the mind in a mere three seconds.  So if you manage to tick over to that four second mark, it’s a positive.

Not a good one, mind you, but still a plus in your favor nonetheless.

And your entire job as a website owner is to create more and more of those positive experiences so the search engines know that people are finding good stuff there.  This can include any combination of the following-

• Visiting multiple pages
• Clicking on a backlink
• Filling out a contact form
• Leaving a comment
• Sharing on social media
• Watching a video
• Downloading a file/app
• Users revisiting to your website
• Opting in for email alerts
• Giving likes, +1’s or other nods

If you look in your Google Analytics account, the search giant has been tracking these types of metrics for years now, so it only makes sense that you should keep up with these key metrics as well.  Every chance you get to create additional engagement helps your website overall, so know that your on-page metrics are as important as ever in the eyes of the search engines.

If you’re wondering how to boost your on-page statistics, just try to make each page as pleasant of an experience as possible for your visitors.  Here are just a few techniques to do that-

• DO focus on using only top notch writers
• DO keep your navigation simple
• DO add lots of visual elements to your website
• DO incorporate video, charts, and infographs
• DO use bullet points and subtitles to break up text
• DO use bold and italics to make key points stand out
• DO link internally so users have easy access to more content

If you haven’t realized it by now, search engine optimization is all about the consumer.  The more you go out of your way to provide great information and make your visitors happy, the more Yahoo, Google and Bing will reward you with a boost in natural rankings.  And even though some of the things I’ve shared so far may seem super technical and difficult to implement, I’ll tell you one more time to read the first sentence of this article- that’s close to 85% of today’s SEO right there.

As long as you’re putting forth a genuine effort to become more helpful online than all of your competition, then you will eventually outrank them…even if it’s purely by dumb luck.

So let’s recap real fast with the highlights-

1. Write great content.
2. Optimize for mobile users.
3. Focus on quality backlinks.
4. Use local to your advantage.
5. Don’t be that guy with too many ads.
6. Make sure your website loads smoothly.
7. Continue to focus on keywords.
8. Post a few videos on your site.
9. Use smart page layouts to increase engagement.
10. Always focus on pleasing your consumers.

That’s not so hard, is it?

If you have any questions about modern search optimization or want to point out a tip or two that I missed, please feel free to reach out through my contact form or leave a comment below.  I’m here to help.