How to Rank Highly for A Keyword: 10 Tips

An important element of SEO is to rank highly for certain keywords. For the purpose of this example we shall choose the keyword “cycling clothes” In practise your chose keyword will depend upon the objective of your site, however, the basic principles are the same.

1. Choose Good domain name.

Your website should preferably have “cycling” and or “clothes” in the title. If it is possible to get a domain like cyclingclothes.com you will be very lucky. There are many potential variations on your theme. e.g. bestcycling-clothes.com. However, I would recommend choosing a domain name that is relatively short, and doesn’t sound “spammy”. If your domain name is: cheap-best-cycling-clothes.com - It may fit your keyword, but sounds bad to visitors, you will lose authority.

UPDATE: Note it is quite possible to rank highly for “cycling clothes” without the keywords in the domain. I think keywords in the title are less important than previously. The main reason for having cycling in your domain name is that it is easier to get “cycling” as the anchor text in your link.

2. Stick to your Niche.

If your target is cycling clothes you need to focus on content related to the keywords. It will be unhelpful to get distracted from your website’s topic and start writing about politics and the state of the economy.

3. Unique Content

Generating unique content should be viewed as the highest priority for any new site. It is the backbone of the site; without the content there is not much you can do.

For a keyword like “cycling clothes” there may be a limit to how many articles you can write on this targetted niche. However, it would be beneficial to have sub sections of the site, for example; “cycling training”. This expands the scope of the site in a relevant way. It will enable higher traffic and increase the scope for inbound links.

Because unique content is important for the success of a site, it is worth improving your writing skills. Don’t be put off if you don’t consider yourself a sophisticated writer, the best writing is often simple.

5. Keywords in Titles

Choosing the right keywords for titles is important for determining how much traffic will come from search engines. For example, to get a ranking for cycling clothes is very difficult, because you will have a lot of competition for that keyword. However, if have pages like “men’s cycling shorts”, and “cheap women’s cycling clothes” you will have a much better chance at ranking highly. The secret is to choose keywords that people search for, but there is little competition. It is worth using a service like Wordtracker to get best information. In the long run, more traffic increases the scope of getting links.

4. Links.

Inbound links to your site are very significant for determining the success of your site.

Links are most helpful if:

• They are from sites on related themes.
• The site is large and trusted by google(high PR)
• The link contains the anchor text of the keyword.
• They are naturally generated over time. - Google will try to spot link manipulation schemes.

Don’t bother with:

• Buying links
• Links from Linkfarms
• Recipricol links from unrelated sites
• Links from a page with 100s of links, unless the site is very good.

Don’t get obsessed with getting links from high PR sites, I feel that the most important thing is links from related sites.

There are various ways to get inbound links, and this deserves its own post.

• Category SEO

5. Recipricol Links

This is like a trading system. I link to your site, and in return you link to mine. The idea is that both sides will benefit. Recipricol links used to be very popular, but they became abused by webmasters who built up large link pages. However, recipricol links can be helpful if they are from a related site.

A good rule is not to have links pages for the sake of it. If you think a link is actually of use to your visitors then it is worth adding.

6. External Links

The ranking of your page can be increased if you link to authoritative sites related to the page. External links are like references, if you provide these external links, you increase the usefulness of your page, and google will give the page a higher value. It may seem strange, but linking to your other sites can be helpful, even if they don’t link back.

7. Connect with like minded Webmasters.

If you can get to know webmasters in your field, it will be much easier to develop mutually beneficial relationships. To develop friendships it is important to:

• leave comments on relavant blogs
• Follow up comments left by visitors.
• Link to other sites in your field. If you link to a site, most webmasters will feel grateful, it is a good way to create a good contact. But, don’t link just with the expectation of getting a link back.

8. Patience.

Don’t expect results overnight. It takes time to improve get links and improve rankings.

9. Multiple Sites

This is an option if you are really keen to do well for a keyword. This strategy is obviously more time consuming but it can definitely be helpful for very competitive keywords. This strategy will be more successful if:

• The sites are on different IP addresses.
• Each site needs to be a genuine site. I.e. don’t fill it up with duplicated content.
• Don’t link every site to each other like a link factory. For example, you could have all 5 linking at a target site. But, the target site doesn’t have to link back to the others.
• Keep a variety in content, links, e.t.c. between the site.

It is difficult to fool google, but if you can create several genuine websites on related themes, then it can help you do well for your target keyword.

10. Blog.

I think whatever niche you are in, you should make use of the benefits that blogs can offer. Blogs are easier to get links and regular readers. A site doesn’t have to be completely a blog, you can have a mix between the backbone of the site and the blog element.

Conclusion

The 2 main aspects of SEO are content and getting links. Instead of “getting links” it will be more helpful to think in terms of promoting your articles. - This is the best way to get links.

Both require work. It is not enough just to focus on content, you need to also work on self promotion for your site. The balance between the two may depend upon the objectives of your site. If you are lucky, there may come a time when the need for self promotion is no longer necessary; leaving you time to just focus on creating content which automatically draws visitors.