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Build Great Backlinks has posted a new item, 'How to Rank: 25 Step SEO Master
Blueprint'


Posted by Cyrus Shepard

If youre like most SEOs, you spend a lot of time reading. Over the past several
years, Ive spent 100s of hours studying blogs, guides, and Google patents. Not
long ago, I realized that 90% of what I read each doesnt change what I actually
do - that is, the basic work of ranking a web page higher on Google.

For newer SEOs, the process can be overwhelming.

To simplify this process, I created this SEO blueprint. Its meant as a
framework for newer SEOs to build their own work on top of. This basic blueprint
has helped, in one form or another, 100s of pages and dozens of sites to gain
higher rankings.

Think of it as an intermediate SEO instruction manual, for beginners.

Level: Beginner to Intermediate

Timeframe: 2 to 10 Weeks

What you need to know: The blueprint assumes you have basic SEO knowledge:
youre not scared of title tags, can implement a rel=canonical, and youve built a
link or two. (If this is your first time to the rodeo, we suggest reading the
Beginners Guide to SEO and browsing our Learn SEO section.)







Keyword Research


1. Working Smarter, Not Harder


Keyword research can be simple or hard, but it should always be fun. For the
sake of the Blueprint, lets do keyword research the easy way.

The biggest mistakes people make with keyword research are:


Choosing keywords that are too broad

Keywords with too much competition

Keywords without enough traffic

Keywords that dont convert

Trying to rank for one keyword at a time


The biggest mistake people make is trying to rank for a single keyword at a
time. This is the hard way. Its much easier, and much more profitable, to rank
for 100s or even 1,000s of long tail keywords with the same piece of content.

Instead of ranking for a single keyword, lets aim our project around a keyword
theme.

2. Dream Your Keyword Theme


Using keyword themes solves a whole lot of problems. Instead of ranking for one
Holy Grail keyword, a better goal is to rank for lots of keywords focused around
a single idea. Done right, the results are amazing.



I assume you know enough about your business to understand what type of visitor
youre seeking and whether youre looking for traffic, conversions, or both.
Regardless, one simple rule holds true:the more specific you define your theme,
the easier it is to rank.

This is basic stuff, but it bears repeating. If your topic is the football,
youll find it hard to rank for Super Bowl, but slightly easier to rank for Super
Bowl 2014 - and easier yet to rank for Best Super Bowl Recipes of 2014.

Dont focus on specific words yet - all you need to know is your broad topic.
The next step is to find the right keyword qualifiers.

3. Get Specific with Qualifiers


Qualifiers are words that add specificity to keywords and define intent. They
take many different forms.


Time/Date: 2001, December, Morning

Price/Quality: Cheap, Best, Most Popular

Intent: Buy, Shop, Find

Location: Houston, Outdoors, Online


The idea is to find as many qualifiers as possible that fit your audience.
Heres where keyword tools enter the picture. You can use any keyword tool you
like, but favorites include Wordstream, Keyword Spy, SpyFu, and Bing Keyword
Tool and bersuggest.

For speed and real-world insight, bersuggest is an all-time SEO favorite. Run a
simple query and export over 100 suggested keyword based on Googles own
Autocomplete feature based on actual Google searches.

Did I mention its free?

4. Finding Diamonds in the Google Rough


At this point you have a few dozen, or a few hundred keywords to pull into
Google Adwords Keyword Tool.


Pro Tip #1: While its possible to run over a hundred keyword phrases at once
in Googles Keyword Tool, you get more variety if you limit your searches to 5-10
at a time.




Using Exact search types and Local Monthly search volume, were looking for
10-15 closely related keyword phrases with decent search volume, but not too
much completion.


Pro Tip #2: Be careful trusting the Competition column in Google Adwords
Keyword Tool. This refers to bids on paid search terms, not organic search.


5. Get Strategic with the Competition


Now that we have a basic keyword set, you need to find out if you can actually
rank for your phrases. You have two basic methods of ranking the competition:


Automated tools like the Keyword Difficulty Tool

Eyeballing the SERPs


If you have an SEOmoz PRO membership (or even a free trial) the Keyword
Difficulty Tool calculates on a 100 point scale a difficulty score for each
individual keyword phrase you enter.



Keyword phrases in the 60-70+ range are typically competitive, while keywords
in the 30-40 range might be considered low to moderately difficult.

To get a better idea of your own strengths, take the most competitive keyword
you currently rank #1 or #2 for, and run it through the tool.

Even without automated tools, the best way to size up the competition is to
eyeball the SERPs. Run a search query (non-personalized) for your keywords and
ask yourself the following questions:


Are the first few results optimized for the keyword?

Is the keyword in the title tag? In the URL? On the page?

Whats the Page and/or Domain Authority of the URL?

Are the first few results authorities on the keyword subject?

Whats the inbound anchor text?

Can you deliver a higher quality resource for this keyword?


You dont actually have to rank #1 for any of your chosen words to earn traffic,
but you should be comfortable cracking the top five.

With keyword themes, the magic often happens from keywords you never even
thought about.


Case Study: Google Algo Update


When SEOmoz launched the Google Algorithm Change HIstory (run by Dr. Pete) we
used a similar process for keyword research to explore the theme Google
Algorithm and more specifically, Google Algorithm Change.

According to Googles search tool, we could expect a no more than a couple
thousand visits a month best case for these exact terms. Fortunately, because
the project was well received and because we optimized around a board keyword
theme of Google Algorithm, the Algo Update receives lots of traffic outside our
pre-defined keywords.

This is where the long tail magic happens:




How can you improve your chances of ranking for more long tail keywords? Lets
talk about content, architecture, on-page optimization and link building.


Content


6. Creating Value


Want to know the truth? I hate the word content. It implies words on a page, a
commodity to be produced, separated from the value it creates.

Content without value is spam.

In the Google Algorithm Update example above, we could have simply written 100
articles about Googles Algorithm and hoped to rank. Instead, the conversation
started by asking how we could create a valuable resource for webmasters.

For your keyword theme, ask first how you can create value.

Value is harder to produce than mere words, but value is rewarded 100x more.
Value is future proof & algorithm proof. Value builds links by itself. Value
creates loyal fans.

Value takes different forms. Its a mix of:


Utility


Emotional response


Point of view (positive or negative)

Perceived value, including fame of the author


Your content doesnt have to include all 4 of these characteristics, but it
should excel in one or more to be successful.

A study of the New York Times found key characteristics of content to be
influential in making the Most Emailed list.

Source: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1528077\

7. Driving Your Content Vehicle


Heres a preview: the Blueprint requires you create at least one type of link
bait, so now is a good time to think about the structure of your content.

Whats the best way to deliver value given your theme? Perhaps its an


Infographic

Video series

A new tool

An interview series

Slide deck

How-to guide

Q&A

Webinar or simple blog post


Perhaps, its all of these combined.

The more ways you find to deliver your content and the more channels you take
advantage of, the better off youll be.

Not all of your content has to go viral, but you want to create at least one
tent-pole piece thats better than anything else out there and youre proud to
hang your hat on.

If you need inspiration, check out Distilled's guide to Viral Linkbait or
QuickSprouts Templates for Content Creation.

8. Title Most Important Work Goes Here


Spend two hours, minimum, writing your title.

Sound ridiculous? If youre an experienced title writer like Rand Fishkin, you
can break this rule. For the rest of us, its difficult to underplay the value
delivered by a finely crafted title.

Write 50 titles or more before choosing one.

Study the successful titles on Inbound.org, Mashable, Wired, or your favorite
publication.



Whatever you do, read this fantastic post by Dan Shure and the headline
resources at CopyBlogger.

9. Length vs. Depth - Why it Matters


How long should your content be? A better question is: How deep should it be?
Word count by itself is a terrible metric to strive for, but depth of content
helps you to rank in several ways.


Adds uniqueness threshold to avoid duplicate content

Deeper topic exploration makes your content about more

Quality, longer content is correlated with more linksand higher rankings


I. Uniqueness

At a minimum, your content needs to meet a minimum uniqueness threshold in
order for it to rank. Google reps have gone on record to say a couple sentences
is sometimes sufficient, but in reality a couple hundred words is much safer.

II. Long Tail Opportunities

Heres where the real magic happens. The deeper your content and the more
in-depth you can explore a particular topic, the more your content becomes
about.

The more your content is about, the more search queries it can answer well.

The more search queries you can answer well, the more traffic you can earn.

Googles crawlers continuously read your content to determine how relevant it is
to search queries. They evaluate paragraphs, subject headings, photographs and
more to try to understand your page. Longer, in-depth content usually send more
relevancy signals than a couple short sentences.

III. Depth, Length, and Links

Numerous correlation studies have shown a positive relationship between
rankings and number of words in a document.


The length in HTML and the HTML within the <body> tag were the highest
correlated factors, in fact with correlations of .12 they could be considered
somewhat if not hugely significant.
While these factors probably are not implemented within the algorithm, they
are good signs of what Google is looking for; quality content, which in many
cases means long or at least sufficiently lengthy pages.

- Mark Collier The Open Algorithm



This could be attributed longer, quality content earning more links. John
Doherty examined the relationship between the length of blog posts on SEOmoz and
the number of links each post earned, and found a strong relationship.




10. Content Qualities You Can Bank On


If you dont focus on word count, how do you add quality depth to your content?

SEOs have written volumes about how Google might define quality including
metrics such as reading level, grammar, spelling, and even Author Rank. Most is
speculation, but its clear Google does use guidelines to separate good content
from bad.

My favorite source for clues comes from the set of questions Google published
shortly after the first Panda update. Here are a few of my favorites.




11. LDA, nTopic, and Words on the Page


Google is a machine. It cant yet understand your page like a human can, but its
getting close.

Search engines use sophisticated algorithms to model your sentences,
paragraphs, blocks,and content sections. Not only do they want to understand
your keywords, but also your topic, intent, and expertise as well.

How do you know if your content fits Googles model of expectations?

For example, if your topic is Super Bowl Recipes, Google might expect to see
content about grilling, appetizers, and guacamole. Content that addresses these
topics will likely rank higher than pages that talk about what color socks youre
wearing today.

Words matter.

SEOs have discovered that using certain words around a topic associated with
concepts like LDA and nTopic are correlated with higher rankings.

Virante offers an interesting stand alone keyword suggestion tool called
nTopic. The tools analyzes your keywords and suggests related keywords to
improve your relevancy scores.



12. Better than LDA - Poor Man's Topic Modeling


Since we dont have access to Googles computers for topic modeling, theres a far
simpler way to structure your content that I find far superior to worrying about
individual words:

Use the keyword themes you created at the beginning of this blueprint.

Youve already done the research using Googles keyword tool to find closely
related keyword groups. Incorporating these topics into your content may help
increase your relevancy to your given topic.

Example: Using the Google Algorithm project cited above, we found during
keyword research that certain keywords related to our theme show up repeatedly,
time and time again. If we conducted this research today, we would find phrases
like Penguin SEO and Panda Updates frequently in our results.

Google suggests these terms via the keyword tool because they consider them
closely related. So any content that explored Google Algorithm Change might
likely include a discussion of these ideas.



Note: This isn't real LDA, simply a way of adding relevant topics to your
content that Google might associate with your subject matter.

13. Design Is 50% of the Battle


If you have any money in your budget, spend it on design. A small investment
with a designer typically pays outsized dividends down the road. Good design
can:


Lower bounce rate

Increase page views

Increase time on site

Earn more links

Establish trust


All of which can help earn higher rankings.

Design doesnt just matter, its 50% of the battle.
-Rand Fishkin



Dribbble.com is one of our favorite source of design inspiration.


Architecture


Heres the special secret of the SEO Blueprint: youre not making a single page
to rank; youre making several.

14. Content Hubs


Very few successful websites consist of a single page. Google determines
context and relevancy not only by whats on your page, but also by the pages
around it and linking to it.

The truth is, its far easier to rank when you create Content Hubs exploring
several topics in depth focused around a central theme.

Using our Super Bowl Recipes example, we might create a complete section of
pages, each exploring a different recipe in depth.



15. Linking the Hub Together


Because your pages now explore different aspects of the same broad topic, it
makes sense to link them together.


Your page about guacamole relates to your page about nachos.

Your page about link building relates to your page about infographics.

Your page about Winston Churchill relates to major figures of World War II.




It also helps them to rank by distributing PageRank, anchor text, and other
relevancy signals.

16. Find Your Center


Content Hubs work best with a hub or center. Think of the center as the master
document that acts as an overview or gateway to all of your individual content
pages.

The hub is the authority page. Often, the hub is a link bait page or a category
level page. Its typically the page with the most inbound links and often as a
landing page for other sections of your site.



For great example of Hub Pages, check out:


CopyBloggers Magnetic Headlines


SEOmoz's Learn SEO


Amazons author pages (this one about Stephen King)



On-Page Optimization


17. Master the Basics


You could write an entire book about on-page optimization. If youre new to SEO,
one of the best ways to learn is by using SEOmozs On-page Report Card (free,
registration required) The tool grades 36 separate on-page SEO elements, gives
you a report and suggestions on how to fix each element. Working your way
through these issues is an excellent way to learn (and often used by agencies
and companies as a way to teach SEO principals)



Beyond the basics, lets address a few slightly more advanced tactics to take
advantage of your unique keyword themes and hub pages, in addition to areas
where beginners often make mistakes.

18. Linking Internally for the Reasonable Surfer


Not all links are created equal (One of the greatest SEO blog posts ever
written!) So, when you interlink your internal pages within your content hub
together, keep in mind a few important points.


Links from inside unique content pass more value than navigation links.

Links higher up the page pass more value than links further down.

Links in HTML text pass more weight than image links.


When interlinking your content, its best to keep links prominent and editorial
naturally link to your most important content pages higher up in the HTML text.

19. Diversify Your Anchor Text - Naturally


If Googles Penguin update taught us anything, its that over-thinking anchor
text is bound to get us in trouble.

When you link naturally and editorially to other places on the web, you
naturally diversify your anchor text. The same should hold true when you link
internally.

Dont choose your anchor text to fit your keywords;choose your anchor text to
fit the content around it.

Practically speaking, this means linking internally with a mix of partial match
keyword and related phrases. Dont be scared to link occasionally without good
keywords in the anchor the link can still pass relevancy signals. When it comes
to linking, its safer to under-do it than over-do it.



Spouce: Google's SEO Starter Guide

20. Title Tags - Two Quick Tips


We assume you know how to write a compelling title tag. Even today, keyword
usage in the title tag is one of the most highly correlated on-page ranking
factors that we know.

That said, Google is getting strict about over-optimizing title tags, and
appears to be further cracking down on titles written for SEO. Keep this in mind
when crafting your title tags

I. Avoid boilerplates

It used to be common to tack on your business phrase or main keywords to the
end of every title tag, like so:


Plumbing Supplies Chicago Plumbing and Fixtures

Pipes & Fittings Chicago Plumbing and Fixtures

Toilet Seat Covers Chicago Plumbing and Fixtures


While we dont have much solid data, many SEOs are now asserting that
boilerplate titles tacked on to the end of every tag are no longer a good idea.
Brand names and unique descriptive information is okay, but making every title
as unique as possible is the rule of the day.

II. Avoid unnecessary repetition Google also appears (at least to many SEOs)
on whats considered the lower threshold of keyword stuffing.

In years past it was a common rule of thumb never to repeat your keyword more
than twice in the title. Today, to be on the safe side, you might be best to
consider not repeating your keywords more than once.

21. Over-Optimization: Titles, URLs, and Links


Writing for humans not only gets you more clicks (which can lead to higher
rankings), but hardly ever gets you in trouble with search engines.

As SEOs we're often tempted to get a "perfect score" which means exactly
matching our title tags, URLs, inbound anchor text, and more. unfortunately,
this isn't natural in the real world, and Google recognizes this.

Diversify. Dont over-optimize.

22. Structured Data


Short and simple: Make structured data part of every webpage. While structured
data hasnt yet proven to be a large ranking factor, its future-facing value can
be seen today in rich snippet SERPs and social media sharing. In some verticals,
its an absolute necessity.



Theres no rule of thumb about what structured data to include, but the
essentials are:


Facebook Open Graph tags

Twitter Cards

Authorship

Publisher

Business information

Reviews

Events


To be honest, if youre not creating pages with structured data, youre probably
behind the times.

For an excellent guide about Micro Data and Schema.org, check out this
fantastic resource from SEOGadget.


Building Links


23. The 90/10 Rule of Link Building


This blueprint contains 25 steps to rank your content, but only the last three
address link building. Why so few? Because 90% of your effort should go into
creating great content, and 10% into link building.

If you have a hard time building links, it may be because you have these
numbers reversed.

Creating great content first solves a ton of problems down the line:


Good content makes link building easier

Attracts higher quality links in less time

Builds links on its own even when sleeping or on vacation


If youre new to marketing or relatively unknown, you may need to spend more
than 10% of your time building relationships, but dont let that distract you
from crafting the type of content that folks find so valuable they link to you
without you even asking.



24. All Link Building is Relationships - Good & Bad


This blueprint doesn't go into link building specifics, as there are 100's of
ways to build quality links to every good project. That said, a few of my must
link building resources:


Jon Cooper's Complete List of Link Building Strategies


StumbleUpon Paid Discovery


Citation Labs


Promoted Tweets


Ontolo


eReleases - Press releases not for links, but for exposer

BuzzStream


Paddy Moogan's excellent Link Building Book



These resources give you the basic tools and tactics for a successful link
building campaign, but keep in mind that all good link building is relationship
building.

Successful link builders understand this and foster each relationship and
connection. Even a simple outreach letter can be elevated to an advanced form of
relationship building with a little effort, as this Whiteboard Friday by Rand so
graciously illustrates.







25. Tier Your Link Building... Forever


The truth is, for professionals, link building never ends. Each content and
link building campaign layers on top of previous content, and the web as a whole
like layers of fine Greek baklava.

For example, this post could be considered linkbait for SEOmoz, but it also
links generously to several other content pieces within the Moz family, and
externally as well; spreading both the link love and the relationship building
as far as possible at the same time.

SEOmoz links generously to other sites: the link building experience is not
just about search engines, but the people experience, as well. We link to great
resources, and build links for the best user experience possible. When done
right, the search engines reward exactly this type of experience with higher
rankings.

For an excellent explanation as to why you should link out to external sites
when warranted, read AJ Kohns excellent work, Time to Long Click.

One of my favorite posts on SEOmoz was 10 Ugly SEO Tools that Actually Rock.
Not only was the first link on the page directed to our own SEO tools, but we
linked and praised our competitors as well.

Linkbait at its finest.
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hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think
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Best regards,
Build Great Backlinks
peter.clarke@designed-for-success.com