Together, these two methods can be used to create a well-optimized and high-level website.
Link building remains one of the most important factors in SEO. A study of 1 million SERP results showed that the number of domains linking to a page is the most important ranking factor.
In other words, seeing multiple sites promoting your page makes Google happy. The more domains linked to you, the more recommendations Google sees. When Google is happy, your site can move up the ranks, which makes you happy. This means that getting links from various domains is extremely important for SEO.
It goes without saying that you need to have a solid link building strategy in place. But, one key point that many webmasters completely overlook is that keyword research should be used to create your backlinking action plan.
The Best Strategies for Successful Link Building
There are many effective link building strategies that can help improve your site’s visibility.
If you want to get smart at link building, you need to build a database of websites that have already linked to you.
You should because these sites are probably already interested in your content. Therefore, they are more likely to be fans of the new content you produce. You can use tools like Google CSE and Ahrefs Site Explorer to easily compile a unique list of potential links.
Believe it or not, you can also use your competitors’ link building strategies to your advantage. Most of them are likely to invest in link building and may have already built many strong links. But don’t worry, that just means they’ve done the hard work for you.
All you have to do is research to replicate their link profiles. It’s perfectly ethical, so why not get a little resourceful?
Read more: Three Working Link Building Strategies to Try in 2018
How to Use Keyword Research to Guide Your Link Building Strategy
Link building strategies are a must. But to get ahead of the crowd, you need to use your full arsenal. Using keyword research to support your strategy can make your site stronger and improve your rankings.
Keywords and backlinks go hand in hand as the pillars of SEO.
As a webmaster, you probably brainstorm, design and create content first, then start building links. The majority take this approach. While this may sound like a good idea, it could be preventing your site from looking its best.
Don’t make the same mistake twice. You should always consider keywords and link building together before posting content. When the content is strategic, you will succeed in securing links and expanding keyword rankings.
Remember that you cannot rank for absolutely everything. A well-used keyword is worth as much as fifty that are beyond your reach.
The Best Keyword Research Hacks
All content campaigns should start with keyword research. Get a good overview of suitable keywords and it will guide your link building strategy.
Let’s see how to do effective keyword research.
Read more: How to Identify Keyword Opportunities for #1 Ranking on Google
1. Analyze your website for keyword opportunities
The best way to start is to audit your site. This will identify the best ranking opportunities for your site.
This can be achieved by analyzing existing content and seeing how it could be improved or recycled into new content. This new content should complement what already exists. Overall, this systematic approach can only improve your overall ranking.
Each site will have central keywords that can be used to your advantage. In your audit, your goal should be to identify underlying themes and keywords that will lead to improvement.
Start your research by using tools like SEMrush or Ahrefs to see the performance of relevant keywords. Looking at their rankings and search volume will give you an idea.
Once you understand this, you can target these keywords by creating theme-driven and intent-driven blog posts and pages.
Let’s focus on intention for a minute. To decipher what the intent behind your page should be, put yourself in your viewers’ shoes.
Imagine yourself searching for these identified keywords. What are you looking for? How would you like the information presented to you? This will make it easier to create content that is keyword optimized and useful to viewers.
2. Research potential keywords you can rank for
So you know how to identify the keywords your site currently has the potential to rank for. But what about the opportunities you miss?
Again, you can use tools like SEMrush or Keyword finder to find keywords you can rank for.
Just type in the base keywords you’ve identified and the engine will produce a list of related terms you may have missed.
Of course, you have to pay attention to the ranking difficulty of certain keywords. Along with that, you should also look at how often they are searched.
3. Analyze competitor sites already ranking for keywords
As we saw earlier, looking at what your competitors are doing is an essential step towards your improvement. You can tell which pages you might rank for by analyzing the pages you compete with in search engine results pages.
You can find out what you might rank for by analyzing the pages you compete with in search engine results pages. Identify the keyword opportunities where you are lagging, then fix that.
By looking at your competitors’ pages, you can see what they’re doing to rank for the keywords you’re targeting. Are they getting backlinks for their content? Is their domain authority much higher than yours?
If Google provides you with snippets or images for your relevant keyword, consider that a hint.
Search results show you what searchers are looking for. This will tell you what content you should create.
Don’t make the mistake of just getting an overview of a brand or an entire website. Instead, zoom in on what’s relevant.
Try to understand what drives successful rankings in your unique competitor pages. Take a close look at the pages ranking for the keywords you want to use.
What type of content do they produce? If it’s a blog, how is it written?
Does it contain videos and images? Do they provide viewers with resources such as models?
However, before heading to your content team with a new direction, hit pause. You need to dig a little deeper.
A crucial mistake that even SEO experts make is ignoring domain authority. This is especially detrimental to new sites.
If your site has a domain authority ranking of 0, it will be very difficult for you to rank among sites with high rankings between 70 or 80. This should always be taken into consideration before identifying the keywords that you are going to target.
4. Create better content
There is always room for improvement. Bring your research to your next content brainstorming session and incorporate it into your plan. Do like your competitors, only better.
When updating your content, pay attention to likeability. At this point, you should start implementing your link building strategy. This can be done by analyzing the competition’s linked pages as well as your own and finding patterns.
You should also monitor your internal linking strategies and adjust them as new pages are developed. With a new strategy, some internal links may need to be added or removed.
If you follow these tips, you have a strategic plan for your content that serves user intent for specific search terms. Right off the bat, this is the backbone of your link campaign. So if you secure valuable links, your page should rank well and drive relevant traffic.
But your work doesn’t stop there. Using keywords and backlinks as part of your link building strategy is an ongoing process. If you repeat these steps, you are sure to see significant growth.
In short, creating the best possible pages is an exercise in balancing keywords and backlinks.
Start by creating better and more relevant content. Next, make sure it’s optimized for linkability.
If you implement both of these tactics into your link building strategy, you can expect to see websites linked to your competitors start linking to yours.