8 Ways to Grow Your Search Rankings without SEO

I have been building websites from the ground up for nearly 10 years now, and most of the projects I’ve worked on have been long-term projects that were being planned every step of the way.

The current blog I’m working on – the one you’re reading right now, is no exception. I’ve have had to make sacrifices, and I had to learn a lot of new stuff to adjust to the new web environment.

But, one thing has always stayed the same – I’ve always done all of the work myself. Which includes building relationships, content and generally taking care of daily tasks that a blog presents. A lot of the SEO stuff you read online is total bull, and it will never work unless you flip the switch from creating for the sake of it, to creating for the user.

I’m like a pirate, but I’m not sweating it either, I’m driven by the results of my time investment; and if the results are good, it means I can move forward with confidence.

Read: 5 Link Building Techniques You Should Avoid

Many newcomers to the web, and general beginner bloggers will constantly question; how to get on top of search results. The realization only comes after a couple of months, when you wake-up next to your screen – realizing that 95% of the knowledge being passed on the web is total and utter crap.

Let me give you seven solid tips for moving forward with your blog, or the project you’re working with that involves writing for the masses. I do believe you’ll gain a new perspective on things, and believe me – it works better than having to ‘whore’ out your energy on sending mass emails to every possible blogger in the world, which is the perfect way of ruining productivity.

Know Your Audiences Needs

You can research keywords all day long, the conclusion you’re going to come to is simple: there is a lot of demand for undocumented topics, but are those topics what your audience needs?

Instead, know your audience (at least a part of it), and build content around those borders and you’ll see a significant increase in traffic, and engagement.

You Won’t Force Me to Share

Think about it for a second, how easy it is for someone to trigger your ‘share this’ button inside of your brain? I’d guess that the content has to be exceptional, or at least provide some sort of valuable insight, right?

You Won't Force Me to Share

Well, there is your answer to building more shares across social media. Write, build something that people can relate to and learn from – the rest will happen naturally.

Don’t Change Your Voice for Special People

You’ve been blogging for a while now, and so you’re starting to develop a voice and see yourself as someone who’s now a part of a niche market. Your job is to maintain that voice and continue developing it, until more and more people are able to hear it.

Trying to please that one guy who managed to leave a witty comment is not the way to go, it’s just him against the rest of your community.

Do You Really Believe the SEO Boost Trend?

I honestly don’t understand people who’re purchasing links and other techniques for just a few dollars, and then expecting to get ranked as the top result on their favorite search engine. At which point, did any of those steps make any sense to you?

  • how many people you know are doing it?
  • for how many people is it working?
  • who told you it’s worth it?
  • are you dumb?

Learn: Blog Because You Want To be a Blogger

You can start by answering those questions first, and then see if you’d like to purchase another one of those magical SEO boost packages that will blow your freaking brains out.

Long Known Fact: Write for People!

Get in there, get in the community that you’re a part of and engage, engage, engage! You cannot make yourself heard without being the one making the first move. I had to learn this the hard way, and I was spending a lot of time getting in touch wit developers and other bloggers – just to grab their attention for a little bit.

It has helped me in growing my solid followers base, and definitely sent some website views my way – and not from search engines.

WordPress SEO is My Choice for a Quality SEO Plugin

It’s the only SEO plugin I’ve got installed on this blog, or would install on any other blog. I’m not a believer in magic potions (in this case, plugins) that can help to rank your blog better.

yoast

You need to focus on quality titles and easy navigation, and yeah – website speed is also pretty important (see my DigitalOcean review, for a quality hosting service) and is now considered as a signal for search rankings.

But, not only that – people with short attention span are not going to wait 10 seconds to have your website load a bunch of stuff, and then take another 10 to load the rest. Make it work!

Research Your Audience

It’s similar to what I said already, but it’s so important I think it’s worth mentioning it twice. Research your audience, and see what they want / and what are they needs. This can be done through so many mediums – seriously!

Research Your Audience

There is no shortage of social websites like Hacker News, Reddit, etc,. Those are the communities you want to target, as there is usually the most intelligence / opinion to be found, and of course – money.

Suggest to Take Action, But Don’t Force It

Write blog posts, articles, build products or give something away – but do it in a fashion that user himself decides whether he’d like to share it with his friends or not, you can of course suggest doing so – but do it only once, as not to make it too forceful.

Conclusion: –
It’s quite possible that one day, after trying and using these techniques, you’ll realize that it’s all it takes to build a solid community of followers and supporters, that do want to hear what you have to say – and will willingly share that opinion and story with their friends.

I’m in no way saying that SEO is bad, or you should avoid it – I’m merely suggesting that you should consider taking the approach of putting SEO as the secondary option, and instead focusing fully on building a community of supporters!