Before anything else, ensuring that is necessary if you aim to enhance organic growth.
- Google can crawl (i.e., access) and index (i.e., list in a database) all your pages that should generate traffic.
- Your website adheres to the so-called Page Experience signals. In other words, it has to be mobile-friendly, fast, stable, and easily accessible to the user.
- Your website is ideally free from other SEO issues like missing title tags and broken pages.
Failure to maintain the SEO health of your website may impede your SEO endeavors or even thwart your website’s chances of ranking high. The most straightforward remedy involves using Google Search Console alongside Ahrefs’ Site Audit to detect frequently occurring problems and ultimately rectify them.
Our SEO audit is perfect for those who are completely new to SEO as it can help identify and resolve basic problems.
When repairing damaged pages, focus on those that have backlinks. Reviving these pages or redirecting them can be beneficial in retaining link equity. Refer to SEO tip #12 in our list for further guidance.
Combine web pages that have identical target keywords and intentions.
Keyword cannibalization occurs when multiple pages compete for the same keyword and search intention, leading to a negative impact on organic performance. However, rectifying these issues can lead to a higher ranking for your content and subsequently an increase in visitors.
To discover cannibalization problems quickly, one can conduct a comprehensive examination of the site using Ahrefs’ Site Explorer.
- Enter your domain
- Go to the Organic keywords report
- Switch on the Multiple URLs only toggle
Presented here is a compilation of probable instances of keyword cannibalization. To conduct a deeper examination, examine each keyword and pinpoint pages that fulfill the established criteria.
- Are at least 6 months old
- Intended to rank (don’t use pages like “About” or otherwise valuable to the user)
- Rank 4–20
- Are not targeting a unique keyword
- Are not targeting a unique search intent
Consolidate pages that fulfill the aforementioned requirements with your higher-performing content. We took a similar action regarding two of our guides that were competing with each other. We merged both articles to create an improved version, removed the lower-performing guide, and redirected it to the higher-performing one.
Consequently, we utilized only one guide as opposed to two, yet that sole guide garnered more natural traffic compared to both previous guides.
Rephrase: Revise pages that are not ranked within the top 10.
Pages that fail to secure a spot on the first page of Google receive minimal traffic. However, this does not imply that they cannot be salvaged. The said pages may necessitate a revamp, similar to what this article underwent.
Our free SEO plugin is compatible with WordPress and can help you identify rewrite possibilities. Another option is to monitor your primary keyword targets in Ahrefs’ Rank Tracker and use the filter for pages in positions 11+. After locating a page, refer to this instructional video to learn the rewriting technique.
Reorder the ranking of pages that are currently within the top 10.
Moving up one spot on Google’s first page can significantly increase traffic, even if you are already ranking there. For instance, our calculations show that improving from spot #6 to #5 could result in a twofold increase in organic traffic for that particular keyword.
Making significant revisions to content can be too dangerous in certain situations. Therefore, we must approach this cautiously and depend on minor improvements. Our team has devised some successful techniques:
- Adding missing subtopics
- Refreshing outdated information
- Adding an FAQ section (with questions mainly from Google’s People Also Ask box)
- Making the content easier to digest (cutting irrelevant content, simplifying language, adding visuals)
- Adding free resources (templates, checklists, etc)
- Adding internal links (more on this in the next section)
Typically, we commence our content analysis with the help of our Content Gap tool that helps us compare our content with that of our rivals. This instrument enables us to identify the keywords that they rank for while we don’t, providing us with a hint of possible subject matters that we are neglecting.
Enhance the significance of crucial pages through the utilization of internal links.
Links within a domain that connect one page to another are called internal links. By including internal links from “strong” pages to “weak” pages, you can enhance them since internal links have the ability to transmit PageRank or link equity.
Is there a way to determine which pages possess robust link profiles? Regrettably, checking PageRank is no longer possible. However, Ahrefs features a comparable score called URL Rating (UR). To identify pages with a high UR:
- Open Site Explorer and enter your domain
- Go to the Best by links report
- Look for the UR column
It’s simply a matter of quickly going through this list to find pages that cover topics similar to the one you want to enhance. For instance, we’ve included some of our link building content in the list, which we’ve linked to using our free backlink checker tool, and it has a UR of 40.
Obtain additional backlinks.
One website’s linking to another is known as backlinks, and it is still a major ranking factor for Google. The chances of a page ranking first on Google increase with the number of high-quality backlinks it has, although other factors come into play as well.
If you succeed in obtaining additional backlinks for your pages, you will be able to enhance their rankings. To demonstrate the impact of backlinks, take a look at how the ranking of one of our articles surged after a triumphant outreach campaign.
Four white hat link building tactics that yield top results are the ones we consider to be the best among the many available techniques.
- Pursuing competitors’ links – This is where you find out where your competitors got their backlinks and try to get the same pages or websites to link to you.
- Creating linkable assets – The so-called link bait—stuff so good that other content creators on the web will want to link to it.
- Content promotion – You guessed it. It’s telling other people about your content using advertising, outreach, or communities.
- Guest blogging – This is when another website agrees to publish your article. One of the things that you get in return is a backlink.
7. Conduct audience research
To increase website traffic successfully, it is crucial to comprehend your target audience. Although you may be generating content to advertise your enterprise, it’s essential to customize it according to your audience’s preferences.
It is essential to carry out audience research.
Having a grasp of your target audience’s desires, pain points, objectives, and aspirations through audience research paves the way for crafting tailored content that resonates with them.
Creating content that matches search intent is a critical ranking factor with modern search algorithms. Moreover, it plays an important role in enhancing your conversion rates, but we will further discuss it shortly.
Generating content solely for the purpose of generating it won’t aid you in boosting traffic to your website. Acquiring a deep understanding of your audience is the only way to develop content that caters to their needs.
8. Perform keyword research
Performing keyword research is a crucial step in search engine optimization (SEO) methodology, which focuses on ranking your website in organic search results. This comes after conducting audience research and is vital in attracting meaningful and targeted website traffic.
The words or phrases used by your audience to discover content are known as keywords. Properly utilizing them in your content may improve your chances of ranking higher. This involves incorporating them in:
- Headline and SEO title tag
- Header tags
- Content
- Metadata
It is more advisable to target long-tail keywords, which have lower competition and satisfy search intent, even though they might not generate as much search traffic as single-word keywords. Long-tail keywords are more readily ranked for.
In order to ensure the significance of keywords, it is essential to acquire robust keyword research tools such as Semrush, Ahrefs, Serpstat, among others. Additionally, it is recommended to scrutinize the keywords utilized by your rivals that are effective in attracting visitors to their web pages.
9. Understand search intent
User intent or search intent refers to the motive behind a user’s search. The four main types of search intent are:
Informational refers to the search behavior of an individual who is currently seeking knowledge or details about a specific subject matter or item.
When a user seeks out a particular website or page, they are displaying navigational intent.
Transactional refers to the act of searching for a product or brand with the intention to make a purchase or transaction in the immediate timeframe.
The commercial search category refers to users who are actively searching for a product with the intention of making a purchase in the near future.
It is imperative to comprehend the significance of this in boosting traffic to your website as it enables the creation of web pages that are beneficial for users at different stages of the buyer journey. Developing a potent marketing strategy is vital as it enhances your CTR and minimizes your bounce rates.
10. Spy on your competitors
To enhance website traffic, an excellent approach is to monitor your competitors and examine their methods of driving organic search traffic to their sites. This will enable you to develop an effective traffic generation plan. Initially, you must identify your target audience in order to apply this technique.
- Direct competitors: This is any brand or person that offers the same products or services you do.
- Indirect competitors: These may not offer the same products or services but target the same audience. As a result, you’ll discover your keywords overlap.
You may utilize competitor analysis tools such as Ahrefs, Semrush, and Sprout Social. Additionally, you have the option to employ our competitor analysis tool for reviewing your competitors’ websites.
11. Create high-quality content
People visit websites for content that is pertinent. To attract the appropriate audience, you need to produce superior content. Content marketing goes beyond improving your search rankings, it is also about generating content that results in conversions.
What is the appearance of content that is of high quality?
The Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines from Google offer some insight into how things should look, and their E-A-T standards are especially noteworthy. While it’s not possible to cover all of the elements that contribute to top-notch content, here are a few key indicators to keep in mind.
- Easy to read
- Well formatted
- Very informational
- Actionable
- Expertly written
- Authoritative and trustworthy
Your content’s user experience (UX) can be enhanced by incorporating intentional internal links through our Link Assistant feature. Considering the vast number of daily blog posts published, it is crucial to develop standout content in order to attract traffic to your website. If successful, this can result in significant traffic growth.
12. Leverage social media
According to research, there are now more than 4.65 billion individuals using social media.
Thus, utilizing social media as a prominent means of generating traffic is essential. Social media has the benefit of being usable organically when one has a substantial number of followers. Alternatively, through paid promotion, even those without significant followers can reach a wide audience.
To succeed on social media, it is crucial to utilize the platforms that your target audience regularly uses. LinkedIn would be the ideal choice for those in B2B, while YouTube, Pinterest, and Facebook are great alternatives for those who heavily rely on visual content.
Merely distributing links to your content across social media platforms will not yield substantial outcomes. To achieve optimal results from social media, it is crucial to:
- Craft compelling descriptions: Give readers a teaser of what they’ll gain from reading your post.
- Use relevant hashtags: Hashtags are a great way to make your content visible on social media. Use the right ones to reach your target audience.
- Engage with other users: Social media is meant to be a place for connecting with other users. The more you engage with other users, the more they’ll engage with your content, thereby extending its reach.
- Run contests and giveaways: People love contests and giveaways. Use social media plugins like RafflePress to do this, especially to promote content that has been doing well organically.
- Tag influencers: This method only works if you’ve built relationships with influencers in your niche. They’ll join the conversation and amplify your reach when you tag them.
