Want to get to Google page 1? Most businesses do.

The truth is, you don’t need to reach search position #1 to get organic search traffic. While being #1 has a certain mystique, most people are going to click through multiple results on page one. After all, they’re looking for specific information that might not be presented by the top result.

The key to getting out of the desert of page 3 and beyond is backlinks.

From day one, Google has used links back to your website from other websites as the biggest factor determining search result placement. Over the years, they’ve put more emphasis on link quality, so websites related to your topic area have more clout. Still, virtually all links make a difference.

All other factors being equal, the website with the most backlinks gets the most search traffic.

There’s a catch, of course. Google designed this system back in the day when it was common for people to have a personal home page. Remember those? It made sense for each link to count as an “editorial vote,” because so many would-be editors were running around. Not anymore.

Now, most website owners fall into these categories:

• Experienced experts in the topic area, including your competitors
• Established or would-be influencers who want to get an audience

Naturally, competitors won’t be the ones linking back to your website. So you need interesting, useful, and informative content that gets attention from those who want to be seen as curators in your space.

At New York Ave, we have a proven process for sourcing quality backlinks that establish our clients as local leaders. We’ve refined it over many years. We know backlinks can be tough going, even for the businesses that have the resources to devote to getting them – but without them, you’re invisible.

Let’s take a look at how a Central Florida marketing director can tackle the challenge:

1. Research Keywords

Keywords are the actual words and phrases people type or speak into search. They represent exact terms content should include to maximize search engine optimization. Keyword research software identifies the words and how commonly they’re used, so you focus on those that matter most.

It’s not uncommon for freelancers or less experienced marketing agencies to ask their clients the words and phrases they want to be associated with. The obvious problem: Most of what people come up with off the cuff gets zero searches. None. Nada. Follow the data, not your intuition.

2. Develop Concepts

In some industries, keywords tend to be straightforward. For example, real estate brokers know many of their future customers will search for homes for sale in [place]. Much of the time, though, keywords only suggest the problem. They don’t give any insight on how to address it, since they’re too broad.

The topics you spin out of a keyword represent your unique take – one you want to align with audience needs as much as possible. “What is” and “how to” keywords make this easier, but it may require some detective work. Which is why the next step is so crucial.

3. Ideally, Get Feedback

Coming up with a good topic depends on finding out precisely what your audience wants to know about a keyword. One of the best ways to figure this riddle out is to simply ask on social media. If you’ve got a community of past customers on Facebook, you’ll get a higher response rate by asking them directly.

With the right marketing technology on your side, this becomes a lot easier. Some suites allow you to see at a glance all the most popular content relating to selected keywords, including how many links they’ve attracted. These successes are often a good jumping-off point for sharpening your ideas.

4. Write Your Article

Nearly all content starts out in the form of a blog post. Once you have a blog post, you can develop that into a video, audio content, a slide deck, or just about anything else you need. It all starts with text, and it’s best to have someone on your team who understands writing, online readability, and SEO.

There’s a wealth of opinions about word count out there, but the most important factor in any article is that it delivers value. Research suggests longer is better when you want to rank in search, up to about 2,000 words. But that goes up in smoke if a reader has to slog through nonsense to get to the point.

5. Optimize the Content

What does it mean to optimize content? Ideally, you’re doing all the following with your finished draft:

• Verify that all the keywords and phrases are represented within the text and titles
• Cross-link other relevant content from throughout your website into the new article
• Be certain the article has a relevant CTA that moves your business goals forward
• Add a video somewhere, the higher up on the page the better (but no autoplay!)

Video storytelling is so powerful, it influences potential customers to buy even when they don’t stop to look at it. So, if you don’t have a video right away, updating each blog with one later remains a sound approach.

6. Pitch and Follow-Up

Pitching – asking qualified websites to link to your content – is another area where the right tools set you up to win. Backlink intelligence suites tell you exactly which websites do the linking in your topic area, as well as which of those will add the most juice to your link portfolio.

From there, it’s time to sit down and start writing some emails.

Webmasters with worthwhile websites field dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of these requests weekly. With that in mind, you may need to make contact up to 7-12 times. This is a grueling (not to mention tedious) process with a high rejection rate, so it can be best to leave it to a marketing agency.

7. Repeat the Process All Over Again

To stay in prime search engine positions, your link velocity – the number of links you add every month – must be higher than what anyone else is delivering on their similar content. Once you’ve got a new link live, it’s time to continue your efforts on every future content piece.

A Trusted Marketing Agency Is a Central Florida Marketing Director’s Secret Weapon

As the marketing director, you’re in the hot seat to conceive, plan, and oversee marketing strategy from beginning to end. You’ve got your company’s trust, but that doesn’t mean you have to do it all yourself.

Don’t go it alone. Augment your existing capabilities by partnering with a marketing agency that offers proven results in the most specialized and time-consuming areas of marketing, including backlinking.

Raising your search engine visibility is a marathon, not a sprint. An outsourced marketing partner keeps you running. You can stay focused on what you and your team do best while reaping consistent results.

Contact New York Ave to find out more or get started today.