Google is still the place to find answers to questions.
Search engines have changed over the years, and the barrier to entry has gotten a lot higher. When we started, all it took was a ton of content in order to get search traffic.
The game has changed.
Not only do you need a ton of content, it needs to be incredibly high quality, your on-site SEO and architecture needs to be polished, and you need enough backlinks to compete. You really do need all of it.
But the rewards are still well-worth the effort.
Across all the sites that we’ve built and managed, no traffic source compares to SEO in quality, consistency, and volume. Once you have it, it’s a persistent flood of traffic for your business.
Our playbook is below.
AUDIT
We always start with an audit on every site we touch. Whenever we skip this step, we always regret it later. The last thing you want is to spin up an entire SEO program, poor a ton of time and money into it, and then lose a bunch of rankings later because of core site problems.
Complete your site audit first so there aren’t any problems lurking just out of sight.
How to Score Your Website’s SEO in 10 Minutes or Less
How To Perform an SEO Audit – FREE $5000 Template Included
FOUNDATIONS
Next, go through the foundational elements of SEO.
You’ll find a lot of SEO “experts” claiming quick hacks or tricks to get higher rankings. Be careful with that stuff. It might work today but it seldom works for long.
Whenever starting an SEO program, we spend the bulk of our time focusing on the foundations.
The Proven Method to Ranking on the First Page of Google For Any Long-tail Keyword
SEO vs. PPC: Which Should You Focus on First?
A Step-by-Step Guide to Dominating Any Keyword You Choose
The Psychology of Search Engine Optimization: 10 Things You Need to Know
How to Get Search Traffic from Google’s Knowledge Graph
Ways To Improve SEO Rankings in 2019
What SEO Used to Be Versus What SEO Is Now
How to Get Extra Organic Search Traffic with Google’s “Related Questions”
How to Create Content That Drives Lots of Organic Traffic
Quantify Your Results: The 14 Most Important SEO Metrics
10 Ways to Get More Traffic, Attention and Higher Rankings Through Social Sharing
5 Practical Steps To Improving Your Website’s Domain Authority
Augmented Reality SEO: What to Expect in the Future
How to Gain More Branded Search Volume to Your Website
A Step-by-Step Guide to Conducting a Content Audit
The Step-by-Step Guide to Fixing Any Google Penalty
Don’t Get Fooled: 17 Questions to Ask Before Hiring an SEO Company
How Content Marketing Affects Search Engine Rankings
The Complete Guide to Keyword Research For SEO
How To Structure The Perfect Search Engine Optimized Page
How to Avoid a Google Penalty in 2019
What Matters To Google: Ranking Factors in 2019
A Guide For SEO’s In The Agency World
How to Build An SEO Plan From Scratch
Definitely read up on the best SEO tools, these will save you countless hours and instantly uplevel your SEO game:
The Ultimate Guide to Using Google Search Console as a Powerful SEO Tool
28 Browser Extensions That Make an SEO’s Life Easier
The Best SEO Tools the Pros Really Use in 2019
WordPress SEO – Everything You Need To Know
LINK BUILDING
No matter how good your content is, sooner or later, you’re going to need to build links.
Links turn an “okay” SEO strategy into an “industry dominating” SEO strategy. All the most hardcore SEO teams have a very deliberate and focused effort on link building.
Once you’ve mastered the basics and have a healthy site, it’s time to start link building.
A Step by Step Guide to Modern Broken Link Building
The Beginner’s Guide to Optimizing for Bing Search
A Thirty-Day Plan for Gaining 100 Authoritative and Relevant Backlinks to Your New Website
7 Reasons Your Outreach Emails Aren’t Getting Responses and How to Fix That
How to Combine PR with SEO for the Biggest Success
Why Link Building Is NOT the Future of SEO
4 Ways to Boost the Conversion Rates of Your Link Building
7 Ways to Make Your Brand and Content More Likable
How I Built 826 Backlinks to a Single Article in 8 Weeks
How to Create a Link-Building Strategy from Scratch
How to Leverage Link Blending and Stage 2 Link Building to Maximize Your Rankings
Here’s the Process to Help You Consistently Build 7 Backlinks a Week
7 Link Building Mistakes You Ought to Avoid
What Is a “Good Link Profile” and How Do You Get One?
The Link Builder’s Guide to Email Outreach
How Many Links Should You Build to Your Website?
The Ultimate Guide to Content Link Building
7 Lessons Learned from Publishing 300 Guest Posts
Why And How To Build an Online Brand Through Guest Blogging
.Edu and .Gov Link Building Guide
Advanced ScrapeBox Link Building Guide
The Guide to Link Building Techniques
A Guide to Turning Images Into Links
The Quest For The Perfect Link
Relationship-Based Link Building Guide
The Ultimate Guide to Guest Posting in 2019
How to Get Backlinks: The Complete Guide
Types of Content That Attract The Most Backlinks
ONSITE / TECHNICAL
Lastly, you’ll want to get your onsite and technical SEO in tip-top shape. Most of these items are smaller details but they can make the difference when pursuing those last few rankings.
After you’re on top of all the other parts of SEO, work through all the technical details. That’ll keep you ahead of your competitors and give you that extra edge.
You Can Use 404s to Boost Your SEO. Here’s How.
Here’s How to Perfectly Optimize Your Infographic for SEO
How to Create an SEO Friendly Infinite Scrolling Page
Does URL Structure Even Matter? A Data Driven Answer
How to Optimize Images for Better Search Engine Rankings
How to Retain at Least 95% of Your Organic Traffic After a Site Redesign
Demystifying SEO: How to Skyrocket Your Traffic Through Schema Markup
How to Decrease Your Bounce Rate
4 Steps to Making Your Search Listings Stand Out on Google
The Ultimate SEO Checklist: 25 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Your Next Post