Sometimes you have to get the SEO ball rolling to improve search rankings. To get things started, consider a basic link and social media structure. Done correctly, it will attract organic links (that pass on link equity) and shares on its own without the need to buy links or engage in nefarious activities. While there are many, a classic link-building pattern to prime content includes:
- Target Content
- Primary DA40+ link
- Primary DA30+ link
- Secondary DA30+ link
- Secondary DA20+ link
- Social Promotion A
- Social Promotion B
- Social Promotion C
This is what the initial structure would look like for a simple SEO and social media program to get the ball rolling:
Target content
The target content is the article (usually an article) that has the following characteristics:
Well written and helpful
It's very well written, helpful, and is designed to be the last word on the topic the user is looking for.
How do you know your content is great? Once someone performing a search for a particular subject has found and consumed the target content they need not look any further. They don't "bounce" back to Google and click somewhere else. If they do, it means (to Google) that your content wasn't satisfying.
Search phrase in the headline if possible
The headline should contain the search phrase if possible, and it should be very "clicky". See this article on clickbait for more detail on this. While the headline should not "be" clickbait, it should be similar to clickbait but with real relevance to the article built-in.
Longer page content is better than "thin" content
There's a lot of debate about content length. But in the end, many studies show that the average first page article has about 1900 words. While that is a good rule of thumb, we suggest 2000 words if it makes sense to do so.
Use a compelling image
An image is very important. One image helps, more than one image doesn't seem to increase readership.
Primary DA40+ link
The Target Content should have one DA 40 or higher link pointing to it. The link must be embedded in relevant, high-quality content. The word count for the content in which the link is embedded should be about 1000 or more words (again, if it makes sense).
Again, this content must be the cat's meow, really high quality that stops the searcher in her or his tracks.
Do your own link outreach
It's important to build primary links on your own using link outreach. This is because the links must be of sterling quality and the content must be controlled for the same reason. You don't want to chance to get links through a vendor with low trust, or that is off-topic.
Primary DA30+ link
The Target Content should have a link from another site as well. So, two links minimum pointing to it. The attributes for the DA 30+ link are the same as the DA 40+ link. Quality is key. These are just initial links, the rest will be attracted organically because your content is just so damned awesome and on-topic.
Secondary DA30+ link
The secondary DA30+ link should not point to the Target Content. Instead, it should point to the DA 40+ content that in turn links to the Target Content. This content should again be of high quality, relevant, etc. The word count should be at least 750 words. But if more is needed to create truly helpful content, then make it longer. A good secondary link vendor we have heard good things about is Fat Joe.
Secondary DA20+ link
The secondary DA 20+ link points to the DA30+ link. Like the secondary link above it is intended to give strength (authority) to the primary link. The attributes should be the same as the secondary link mentioned above.
Social Promotion A, B, C
Use social promotion for both primary links. You use social promotion to drive readership to the article and to develop organic inbound links. Remember, the two links you build to the Target Content are just to get things started. Ideally, the content is good enough to attract links on its own. Social promotion helps this happen. If you're like most people and don't already have a giant social media audience, a good social promotion vendor is Quuu Promote.
Three content types need social promotion:
- Target Content
- Both Primary Links
Objective: Organic links, mentions, and shares
The above structure may look like some sort of link pyramid, but it's not. The structure discussed here won't get you far. It merely "primes the pump." If the content is as good as it should be it should attract more links, mentions, and shares naturally.
Link building calendar
Here is the order of events (so far):
- Day 01:
Wrote Content. On day one we wrote the content (this page) with 798 words. That's not our 2000 word target yet, but as we update this page with the results of our experiment the number of words should grow. In fact the words I just wrote added about 50 more!
Social Promotion. We used Quuu Promote to try to get some basic social traction. It takes about a week for clicks and shares to begin so we'll check back on that a bit later.
Began Outreach. We also started outreach on the two inbound links (DA30+ and DA40+). Those links usually take about two to three weeks to get. Here's what our backlink profile for this page looked like on day one using ahrefs.com (none, of course):
Future Plans
Once the two DA30 and DA40 links have been placed, we'll build a link to each of those, and we'll promote those articles as well socially.
SEO FAQs
How do I create great content?
Once someone clicks on your link, your content should answer all of their questions about your blog article's topic. This will avoid them bouncing back to Google to click somewhere else. Your search phrase should be in the headline and you should include compelling images.
What is a good DA for link outreach?
Your target content should have at least one DA 40 or higher link pointing to it and another link from a DA 30+ site.
How do I promote my links on social media?
If you don't have a huge following on social media, you can use a tool like Quuu Promote to put your content in front of more eyeballs.
