Want your sites to rank high on Google?
Here’s how:
Post the best content that other respected experts in the same niche willingly link to from their highly regarded sites. Any other “shortcut”, trick, strategy etc. will ultimately fail you and possibly get your site punished in the ranking or banned. Creating content that you could ultimately care less about is a waste of your time. Build something real instead.
Any questions?
Scott N. Smith says
August 30, 2011 at 2:10 pmNo questions. Just here to say you are right on target, as usual. Do the work, get the results. Make it quality. It still works! Shortcuts usually don’t!
Don Johnstone says
August 30, 2011 at 2:51 pmAs usual, great advice. The offline marketplace is inundated with tips, tricks and tools promoted by so called “experts” which ultimately are based on “black hat” methods to achieve front page rankings for customers sites. Be cautious and doubly wary of these methods. If Google catches you, and they will, you will get slapped “like a rented mule”.
Eamon says
August 30, 2011 at 6:29 pmGreat Jim, short and to the point, good quality content will out way ever time 🙂
Lovemyxbox says
September 1, 2011 at 2:46 pmya – as if – hahaha – good luck – they love to link to their competition – you’ll need linkjuice – if dont’ know what that is then you’re on page 2 or 3!
Jim Cockrum says
September 1, 2011 at 4:20 pmIt’s not necessarily about getting links from your competitors, but the way “authority” sites gain authority is by linking to the best of the best content. Internet users and google are getting smarter all the time about other “tricks” used to inflate the rank or authority of sites that don’t belong high in the rankings.
Terry Gibbs says
September 1, 2011 at 4:24 pmI have a website that ranks highly in Google results for hundreds of terms. I’ve been regularly adding content since 2001. It’s actually proof of this concept.
I have another website with even more backlinks from other sites – natural backlinks that come over time that has been banned by google for not meeting their quality guidelines. The site was started in 1998, and by 2002 was the biggest site in the niche. I rarely work on it anymore, and have only added about 100 pages since then — sometimes with years elapsing between new articles.
There are a few differences between the sites. The banned site has affiliate links on many pages, the other has very few affiliate links. The banned site has lots of older long articles, and the newer articles are shorter. The banned site has a higher keyword density. The banned site also has bad links both internal and external, but those are mostly because I’ve been ignoring the site since it was banned. The banned site also grows in leaps as I add a dozen pages or more in a few days then do nothing for months or years.
Anonymous says
September 1, 2011 at 4:36 pmYes, but even great content takes time to “bubble to the top” in Google results or get picked up on authority sites. It’s not “black-hattish” to do some other things like creating videos, article marketing, participating in topically-relevant forums, etc
One tip: I post on a particular public forum that’s been around a long time and has a top ranking itself, (I think these are the two key characteristics to look for.) As such, my posts have also appeared near the top in Google search results with astonishing speed – even within an hour or so of posting – when I search on unique keywords contained within the post.
The methods above, however – videos and such – still come back to Jim’s point: Great content. But I wouldn’t rely exclusively on great content on my blog or my own website.. Spread some of that great content around on sharing and membership sites.
Jim Cockrum says
September 1, 2011 at 4:43 pmVery balanced approach Battlespeed- I agree wholeheartedly. Great content doesn’t have to be kept exclusively on your own site. Put it on youtube, in articles, on popular forums etc.
The point is though – there’s no “push button”, garbage content strategies that will work long term. The world is getting wise to foolish “traffic generation” tactics and the offenders are being hunted…at full battle speed… ;0)
Joeemmet says
September 1, 2011 at 4:52 pmHI Jim,
Short, sweet and definitely to the point.
Face it folks, there is no free lunch. No matter what media you use, success requires hard work.
All the best,
Joe
MsLaughOutLoud says
September 1, 2011 at 7:29 pmThanks for putting it so succinctly, Jim. As a constant web browser myself, I look for great content on any site I visit. If the site is too cluttered with junk or hard to navigate because of the junk, I move on. I look for useful, relevant content.
Wayne O. Stanila says
September 1, 2011 at 9:34 pmHey Jim,
I have found 3 things that always help put me on the first page of Google and keep me there is Unique Content, Links and Time………..
Wayne O. Stanila
Anonymous says
September 1, 2011 at 10:09 pmThis advice reminds me of the saying ‘Common-sense is that sense which is not common.’
TamaraPatzer says
September 3, 2011 at 3:15 amI agree with you Jim. When I talk to my clients about what they need to do to rank on page 1 of the search engines, I always tell them all it really takes in fresh, high quality relevant content…thanks, Tamara Patzer, publisher of MentorOnlineMagazine.com and big Jim Cockrum fan!
Alank3818 says
September 14, 2011 at 2:47 amAs a newbie this is advice I will certainly follow. Thanks Jim.
Bill M says
September 15, 2011 at 6:57 pmI’m a newbie .. sort of … this is all great advice. But for the uninitiated among us .. there always seems to be some piece of the puzzle left out. How does all this advice look in a real world example?
Say I own an online T-Shirt business .. how do keep fresh content on this?
Thanks,
Bill
Jim Cockrum says
September 15, 2011 at 7:09 pmContent can improve any biz model. Off the top of my head, content for a t-shirt company could be pics of your customers (that they submit) wearing your stuff in the hopes of becoming a discount club member, or logo design contests where customers submit their ideas, or a youtube contest where customers show themselves in your stuff doing something cool or crazy etc.
“content” isn’t just about articles and blog posts. It’s anything…and the more engaged your audience is the better.
Jim Cockrum says
October 27, 2011 at 10:06 amOne thing. Create great content that people want to link to.
Daron J. George says
December 20, 2011 at 1:18 pmJim I love the way you put things. Your message and content always seem to be on point.
Vicky Rowe says
October 24, 2012 at 10:56 amI have to agree with this. I have a hobby site that I have never spent even a single minute applying ‘seo’ tactics to but just kept putting up relevant content, and hosting and promoting an active forum for my site users. The site has consistently ranked in the top 3 for its keyword for over 10 years, and none of the google algorithm changes have affected it.
Jim Cockrum says
October 24, 2012 at 11:01 amYep – that’s how it’s supposed to work. My guess is that other “good people” with “good info” in your niche link to you naturally b/c of your expertise and good content. That’s all there is too it. You’ve cracked the nut.
Anonymous says
October 24, 2012 at 5:08 pmJim ,
i have purchashed your Amazon course and have been real pleased to find tons of great information. Do you have a book that lays out a plan to help build unique ,great content My web store is a year old, making sales but not making much money.I could really benefit at this point from a guide or book of yours that can help me move forward.
Thanks
Steve
Jim Cockrum says
October 24, 2012 at 6:59 pmYou’ll find my best seller “Free Marketing…”101FreeMarketing.com full of great ideas for easily creating content that will attract a crowd.
Travis Van Slooten says
October 25, 2012 at 7:44 pmJim…I’m bookmarking this post and sending all of my future potential clients to it when they ask me what’s the best way to approach SEO. Brilliant post here!
Travis Van Slooten
Jim Cockrum says
October 25, 2012 at 7:47 pmThanks! I appreciate the validation!
Brian Willingham says
November 6, 2012 at 10:29 ampersonality, being personal in your content is the magic key, the golden egg, secret sauce. speaking from the heart and being honest. your audience can read through the hyper and dishonesty and be be turned off by such babel.
Юрий Славчев says
November 19, 2012 at 6:08 amWhen you are promoting a local service, or something, strongly connected to the offline world, nobody will ever share your content. If you target the group of housewives, of old people, or diseased – who will share your content? The answer is – no one.
How can I create interesting, interracial content about chimney cleaning? You tell me.
Jim Cockrum says
November 19, 2012 at 10:32 amGreat question!
I suggest the 10X10 approach. Talk to the best company with the best sales reps and ask them what 10 questions customers most often ask. Next, ask what 10 questions customers SHOULD be asking. Create a free report & video series on youtube that addresses these questions and then add prospects to a mailing list for follow up.
Partner with other reputable, related businesses in town (i.e. a chimney cleaning service might partner with homebuilders, masonry workers, roofers, contractors etc. and agree to cross promote each other from each other’s websites)
I NEVER suggest creating junk content to try to fool the search engines. Over time you won’t have built any value for anyone, and the search engines WILL find and punish that activity eventually. You’ll go from page 1 to 213 overnight with no recourse.
Dan Auito says
January 17, 2013 at 12:55 pmRock Solid Advice Jim. I totally agree.
Laimonas Jurgaitis says
January 28, 2013 at 12:10 amHi Jim,
This is absolutely true.
Your advice is great. Everyone doing SEO should write your article on the wall 😉
I’m not some super Seo expert, but really studied this topic in depth. Have great results using latest techniques ranking even 5 page websites and after some time came to conclusion that:
(as you Jim just wrote) ” post the best content” that really provides massive value.
This is the best SEO optimization technique or strategy (you name it) if you think long term, and think about people that is reading your content and looking for their solutions.
Jim Cockrum says
January 28, 2013 at 12:13 amI have such smart people reading my blog… 😉
Julian says
January 12, 2015 at 1:25 pmWow, this blog was posted in 2011, over three years ago, and despite the brevity of the post, it’s still just as relevant in 2015 as it was in 2011, Jim! That’s what I would call “evergreen” content! Great stuff, thanks for continuing to share informative content that adds a ton of value. #RealTalk
Jim Cockrum says
January 12, 2015 at 2:43 pmThanks Julian – things change fast online, but I really to try to give time tested advice around here. Keep up the great work at Bid On Fusion – love partnering with you guys!