With SEO sometimes the simplest tactics can have the biggest effect. Here’s some inexpensive SEO you can do today no matter how big or small your site is and probably get some quick results. I call it the “Page 2 Bump”.
1. Look at the keywords that are sending you good to ok traffic.
2. Check your site’s rank in Google for each keyword.
3. Note all of the keywords that are on page 2 of Google and pick the one that is sending you the most traffic. Let’s call this the “Bumpword”
4. Increase the internal linking to the page the Bumpword ranks for. At the very least link to it from somewhere on the home page. Make sure you use a variation of the Bumpword in the anchor text that links to the page.
5. Sit back, let the crawling and indexing begin and get ready to say hello to page one.
Now there are no guarantees, but last week I employed this tactic for a local seo client and with just a few additional internal links the site went from page two to page one for one of the most competitive keywords on the planet. The # of referrals for the keyword increased by over 1,000%. Not bad for a couple of links.
So what are you waiting for? Get your bump on.
9 Response Comments
Andrew, great post. Targeting internal link anchor text, IMHO, is one of the single most effective SEO strategies for small businesses. And your point about going after keywords that you’re ranking well, but not terrifically, for is so true.
I really think this is one of the best things you can do SEO-wise.
What David said. Great post, Andrew.
Danke Hobo.
Move over Bill O’Reilly. Shotland is the man!
I should note that this approach increases the cumulative number of keywords in Google as well.
Best
Marc
Well said, Andrew. I use HubSpot’s Keyword Grader to identify “my favorite” keywords using 4 criteria:
1) do they rank in the top 100 now?
2) how much search volume does that search phrase have?
3) how relevant is it to their business?
4) how difficult will it be? (Not KEI)
I advise my clients to create optimized landing pages for those terms and use their blog to do internal links to them. Just this week, I had a client go from ranking on the 10th page to ranking on the 1st page in 2 days for one of their “favorite” keywords.
Of course, a few good links from quality external sites usually cements the standing.
I am kind of confused on what you’re saying. If you get the chance could you contact me at ttomp13@gmail.com? Maybe you could help me out? It would be much appreciated.
Great post, I also agree.
A link with anchor text for your keyword is a great link whether it’s from a page on your own site or on another site.
They both have the same value all other things being equal.
I noticed a similar effect by creating mulitple but natural internal links for my major categories like glass pendants and glass earrings. I’ve ranked in the top 3 consistently for a while. It’s also nice to cover singular and plural forms of the keywords.
Thanks,
Mendy