Ep 123: How to Supercharge Your Google Search Rankings with Kari DePhillips

Rise to the Top of Google Search Rankings

SEO strategy is arguably the single most important piece of your marketing toolkit. There are no shortcuts to awesome SEO, but rising in the Google ranks doesn’t need to be complicated, either.

The third aspect of SEO is off-page signaling. So backlinks, which is why PR is so important. Google is able to recognize and will value you higher as a result when authoritative websites are linking to yours. That sends signals to the search crawlers that like your content is so good that like Forbes and fast company can’t stop linking to your website. And so that helps all of your content rank a lot higher.

Tip #1: Focus on Keyword Research

In order to reach your target audience, you need to understand your target audience. Think deeply about the specific problems you can help potential clients solve.

You need to identify what search terms your target audience is looking for so that you can create content to rank number one, or at least on the first page, and then they find you that way. So, a great way to figure out keyword research is to reverse engineer common questions that your target audience may have. 

Tip #2: Keep Your Site Tidy

Google hates a junky website. Site cleanup is critically important– and it’s doable, even if you don’t have the resources in-house to make it happen. Consider outsourcing to a company that specializes in technical SEO.

I mean, if your ankle is broken, you can’t run. And that’s often the hang-up with a lot of SEO efforts. There’s something broken on the site. And in some cases, it’s literally the website developer didn’t check the right box to make it visible to Google. That’s happened like three times we’ve had clients come to us and it’s like, oh, well, step one, let’s uncheck that box. 

Tip #3: Be Intentional About Content

Create content that’s informed by keywords and client needs. Think about trying to reach journalists who might want to highlight your brand in a print or TV story. And remember: less is not necessarily more.

There have been all kinds of studies that show that long-form content– and what I mean by that is content that’s at least 2000 words– gets a lot more internal backlinks. I think it’s like 77.2% more backlinks. And that makes sense. We see this all the time with our clients.

Tip #4: Step Your Backlinks Up

There are a number of sneaky, back-door methods to improving your backlinks. But Kari says those almost always leave you worse off than you started in the long run. According to her, it’s best to approach backlinks the old-fashioned way: by targeting high-profile publications with good reputations.

There are a ton of resources like HARO, short for Help A Reporter Out. This is an email digest that will come to you three times a day. And we’ll literally put hundreds of reporter queries in your inbox every single day. Some of these queries might be people looking for business advice from Forbes, or it could be looking for the best Mother’s Day gifts. If you’ve got a product, I would highly recommend that you sign up for HARO.

Tip #5: Get With Experts

There’s plenty of SEO help out there. You just need to know where to look.

I would recommend outsourcing to a legitimate agency. I own one. The Content Factory is open for business if you’d like to contact us, but there are a ton of great resources available. If you know where to look, Facebook is like my absolute favorite way to connect with industry professionals. I co-founded the Sisters in SEO Facebook group. It has become the world’s largest network of non-dudebros in the industry. We’re at almost 11,000 members.

Kari’s Podcast and Recommended Resources:

• The Workationing Podcast
• The Content Factory
• Rise and Convert Training Course
• Sisters in SEO Facebook Group
• How to Write a HARO Pitch That Works (+ Pitch Template) 
• The Only Guide to Keyword Research You’ll Ever Need
• How to Write a Blog Post that Ranks & Converts
• How to Write Link Bait