How To Rank New Blog Posts Without Building Links

Can you rank your blog posts without building links?

This question is one that has been on the minds of bloggers for years.

The answer to the question is simple:

It is possible to boost your rankings and increase search traffic WITHOUT building links – and this article will show you how.

In it, I’ll share some of the most effective content marketing tactics you can use to rank new blog posts – none of which involve link building.

So without further ado, let’s dive right in!

1. Add Tons Of Value To Your Content

Learning how to rank blog posts without building links comes down to creating valuable content.

In today’s age of information overload, the only way to succeed and make money online is to provide high-quality content that is packed full of value.

If readers don’t find your content useful, then they won’t stay on your website for long, and ultimately, Google won’t rank your blog posts.

So while it may seem obvious that you should create valuable content, it’s worth saying it again so you remember to keep it in mind during all your content creation efforts.

Here Are Some Effective Ways To Add Value To Your Content:

• Include lots of details and benefits that help answer the user’s questions.
• Make lots of analogies to help users better understand your content.
• Add concrete, real-world examples to help explain your concepts.
• Use funny or hypothetical situations that readers can relate to.
• Add practical advice that your audience can take action on immediately.

For example, if you were to write a review post like this Bluehost vs. Hostgator review, you might talk about your own experience using the hosting service. That’s something that readers can easily relate to, and it’s a great way to add value and make your post more useful to them.

By adding tons of value to your content in this way, you inadvertently create linkable content that others will want to link to and share.

2. Use The Right Keywords In The Right Way

Google is very clear about the way they rank content.

Although there are tons of ranking factors, it all comes down to the search giant wanting to present the most relevant content to answer user queries.

So, in addition to creating high-quality content, you need to make sure that you include the appropriate keywords in your content that will help Google match your blog post to your ideal audience.

Luckily, the use of keywords is among the easiest SEO basics to grasp.

Here Are A Few Tips To Help You Get Started Using Keywords The Right Way:

• Target less competitive (longtail) keywords.
• Include your primary keyword in the URL.
• Use your target keyword at or near the beginning of your title tag.
• Make sure your target keyword is in the first 100 words.
• Use lots of LSI (latent semantic indexing) keywords in your content.

Take, for example, a website like this one that offers English language lessons.

Instead of trying to rank for a keyword like “learn English online”, which would be hard to do because of the competition, might use longtail keywords such as:

“How to learn English online in six months”, or
“Best website for learning English online ”

3. Create Longer, More In-Depth Content

The longer your content, the more likely it is to answer your reader’s questions.

Also, longer content tends to contain more longtail keywords, and this is great for improving your rankings on Google.

Studies have shown that articles that perform well are those with an average of 1000 words – ideally 2000 words or more.

Of course, the ideal content length varies depending on your niche.

For instance, a lingerie eCommerce store like 3Wishes probably won’t be able to create 2,000-word blog posts.

However, that length would be ideal for a blog post topic like “essentials for sales management” where in-depth explanations, definitions, and examples are required.

Writing longer content will allow you to dive deep into any topic which not only lets you add more keywords, but also signals Google that your content is more relevant, useful, and valuable.

Just keep in mind that we’re not talking about giant blocks of text here.

The longer your content, the harder you have to work to use pattern interruption tactics so your audience can be ENGAGED until the end.

This is particularly important when writing a blog post on a topic like “best CRM for small business” that isn’t normally considered to be interesting.

Here Are A Few Ways To Ensure That Your Long-Form Content Captures And Keeps The Attention Of Your Audience:

• Write a punchy intro that hooks your reader.
• Write in a conversational voice for a deeper connection with the reader.
• Use POWERFUL language words that trigger emotion.
• Lead subsections with energy to make your content flow.
• Use short sentences and shorter paragraphs.
• Use lots of compelling visuals (images, memes, videos, infographics, screenshots, etc.)
• Use bold, CAPS, and italics to highlight important information.
• Use lists and bullet points to make your content more scannable.

A great example of these tactics at work is this Wix vs. Shopify comparison post.

It makes great use of everything from images and screenshots to expert quotes, videos, and more in order to keep the reader engaged throughout the post.

Pro Tip: You can use a free online video maker, image editor, and various other tools to help you create high-quality visuals for your blog post. Alternatively, you can hire a freelancer to do all the hard work for you.

4. Use Internal and Outbound Linking

Internal linking helps to improve user experience and decrease your website’s bounce rate.

If you can make it as easy as possible for your readers to find the information they are searching for, then they will stay longer on your website.

Increased dwell time is yet another important signal that shows Google that your content is worth ranking high.

Also, since Google’s crawlers are designed to emulate the behavior patterns of your website visitors when evaluating your website, smart placement of internal links on your pages can help the bots find regions on your site that aren’t frequently visited by users.

This Will Help To Boost Your Rankings

To make it easier for that post to rank, they might link to other posts on the blog focused on topics such as:

• Safe way to visit the dark web
• What is the dark web?
• How to stay safe on the dark web!
• Is the dark web legal?
• …and so on.

Don’t Forget About Outbound Links:

These are the primary source for bringing more attention to your website.

In each of your posts, make sure you include links to other articles or websites.

This not only gives your visitors more useful information, but it also helps to show Google that your blog post is valid and informative.

Both are crucial requisites for ranking high in the SERPs (search engine results pages).

Just make sure that the links you choose are from high-quality, authentic sources and are extremely relevant to your own content.

A great example is this article on tools to host a webinar. It contains lots of internal and outbound links to other authoritative websites in the niche.

5. Get Customer Reviews

There are tons of marketing tools to help you create the best possible content for your online business or blog.

But, this tip is particularly important for businesses with a local presence.

Customer reviews are among the most powerful tools for generating inbound sales, especially for businesses that compete directly with larger companies – but have a much smaller marketing budget.

By focusing on customer reviews, you will have a high chance of getting on the top three spots on Google maps, even without building any backlinks.

That’s because Google views each positive customer review as a vote of confidence for the business.

So, the more reviews you can get, the higher rankings in the search results.

Google looks at the number of stars the reviewer gave the business, as well as any relevant keywords used in the review.

The search engine also looks at the sentiments behind the review, such as the words and phrases – whether they have positive or negative emotional content.

It’s clear that collecting reviews should be a major part of your marketing plan.

But the question is, how do you get customers to write reviews for your business on public websites?

Here Are Some Tips To Encourage More Customer Reviews:

• Simply ASK for reviews (only target happy and satisfied customers).
• Use automation tools to automate the process of asking for reviews.
• Personalize your message when asking for a review.
• Explain to customers why reviews are important for your business.
• Make it as simple and easy as possible to write the reviews.
• Offer an incentive for writing a review (such as a discount coupon).

For example, a software review website that sells CRM with a predictive dialer might offer its customers a guide on the best ways to get the most out of their software as an incentive to leave a review.

Conclusion

I hope this article has helped you understand how to rank blog posts without building links.

Of course, it goes without saying that you should have a well-designed website that is mobile-friendly and fast in order for these tips to work.

Use what you’ve learned in this article to help you get the most out of your search engine optimization strategy without having to spend your time and money on an aggressive link-building strategy.

Author Bio

Burkhard Berger is the founder of awesomex™. You can follow him on his journey from 0 to 100,000 monthly visitors on www.awesomex.com. His articles include some of the best growth hacking strategies and digital scaling tactics that he has learned from his own successes and failures.