If you want to rank higher in search engines, you need a stronger domain authority. And to get a stronger domain authority, you need stronger links pointing back to your website. But of course nothing in SEO is straightforward; if you just start building links indiscriminately, you could end up <a href="https://nozzle.io/blog/mistakes-in-seo-that-can-lead-to-google-ranking-drop" target="blank">getting your site penalized</a> or delisted entirely.

Accordingly, it's vital to maintain a natural backlink profile. But newcomers and experienced professionals alike often find it difficult to figure out exactly what a “natural” backlink profile looks like. That's why we put together this list of simple rules which, if followed, should allow you to build a near perfect backlink profile for SEO.

*Why Is a Natural Backlink Profile So Important?*

*Why is it so important that your backlink profile appears natural?*

![backlink profile](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/5wScRwo88c86245OaeHkzX/a87886c5adab1b8a19c378db81ce3945/backlink_profile.png)

The most obvious answer is that you'll protect your site from possible penalties. Maintaining natural links is a way of keeping Google happy with your website, incentivizing them to rank your site higher and discouraging negative actions. 

But it's also important to remember that natural links are valuable for users as well. Visitors who stumble upon your site for the first time after encountering an interesting, valuable link will be much happier with your brand than people who see you spamming links on irrelevant sources.

## Simple Rules to Follow

So what are the simple rules you can follow to keep your backlink profile as natural as possible?

### 1. Start slow. 
![start slow](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/3C3nQPo8GHmsa0EklGMWwa/5460773dbf5d5abf9280aaec907c15f9/start_slow.png)
Too many newcomers to the field are eager to build links as quickly and as aggressively as possible. While it's somewhat true that more links are better, <a href="https://seo.co/link-building/plan/" target="blank">if you build links too quickly or too aggressively</a>, you're going to invite a penalty. 

It's much better to start slow and gradually scale up your efforts; build links one at a time and don't build too many links in a given time period. While the exact formula for the number of links allowed will depend on factors like the age of your domain and the industry in which you're operating, for the most part, a common sense approach will work.

### 2. Make content your top priority. 
![quality content](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/6DlRyrREDi53Z6w6ZA9Ysm/74d4ac578e666e3458c6322f2acb1c96/quality_content.png)
Natural links are entirely dependent on high-quality content. Your links should be pointing to high-quality content and should be housed in high-quality content. In fact, guest author posts on external websites are the top strategy for building natural links in SEO. As long as the quality of your content is the top priority, you'll have a much easier time making your links look natural.

### 3. Build a maximum of three links on a given source (to start). 
![link building](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/4MZwhjbz5BmaPCQiy3mYdx/e0d1981085501109b7eec6c3fe6d7d1c/linkbuilding.png)
Try not to build too many links on the same source. Repetitive or additional links on the same source are going to have diminishing returns for your domain authority; each link after the first will still send referral traffic your way, but will be significantly less valuable for ranking purposes. It's much better if you try to build links on a wide variety of different publishers.

### 4. Make sure every link points to quality content. 
![write quality content](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/6ReOrbW7paPOiuL1iJjSqC/fcd7e2c3038a672218df214045ec5126/write_quality_content.png)
In line with our points on quality, make sure every link you build points to some valuable piece of content on your main site. Visitors should be welcomed with relevant, well written, and detailed content. Otherwise, your entire strategy could fall apart.

### 5. Write for the publisher and the audience. 
![write for audience](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/cJ2yOaZz5s61VG5PZmxR2/98d171a1a4b09d0726f064d33c7aa6c0/write_for_audience.png)
When writing and publishing guest posts, make your top priority the publisher and/or the audience. Your link and the content that houses it should provide something of value to these people; if it doesn't, it may be better to seek a different source.

### 6. House every link in relevant anchor text. 

Anchor text is <a href="https://moz.com/learn/seo/anchor-text" target="blank">something of a debatable issue</a> in the SEO community, but one thing is for sure: your anchor text needs to be relevant. If you stuff it with keywords trying to aggressively get clicks, the link is not going to work.

### 7. Continue pushing for more (gradually). 
![collaborate](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/2Qm5SY0CaKw7VknRuXsyOe/b6abdda7752fef380b4adedc1af95f38/collaborate.png)
If you want to keep climbing ranks, you'll need to keep pushing your backlink building strategy, reaching out to new publishers and building a larger volume of links. Keep pushing for more if you want to continue your growth – just don't get too aggressive.

### 8. Practice natural link earning.
![natural links](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/5ekMKlxJA19rXemL8QqQgJ/b5c2eb110e6bafc14dd4ebbe752cd9cc/natural_links.png)
Building links manually is a reliable way to keep your link momentum, but it's also a good idea to practice natural link earning. Write amazing on-site content and make an effort to distribute it to as many people as possible; if you have citable facts and statistics, people will link to you naturally.

### In Conclusion

Whether you're just starting out or are trying to push for a top spot after years of effort, it's important to take your backlink profile seriously. With these rules and strategies, you should have no trouble keeping your backlink profile clean and maximizing your search engine rankings.


Nate Nead

quality backlinks

Build a near perfect backlink profile for SEO.

8 Rules to Follow to Guarantee a Natural Backlink Profile

Ranking higher in the search results is the goal of every content marketer and blogger. That’s because over <a href="https://www.smartinsights.com/search-engine-optimisation-seo/seo-analytics/comparison-of-google-clickthrough-rates-by-position/" target="blank">62% of the available clicks</a> on Page #1 go to the top three positions in the search results.

But how do you rank higher in the search results?

That’s what you’ll discover in this article: seven tips for ranking higher in the SERPs.

# #1 - Optimize your meta tags

Every time you publish a new blog post or article, you should optimize the meta tags. Meta tags tell the search engines what your article is about.
There are only two meta tags you need to focus on: the title tag and the meta description
![optimize your meta tags](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/2UlKjdbq2zwruWczqZjdKK/b555e8a2e29811a1d469612102df3d5e/optimize_your_meta_tags.png)

## Title tag

Often called the SEO title, the title tag is the title of your article as it appears in the search results. It’s the first thing a searcher looks at when they see your SERP snippet in the search results.

Your title tag should contain your keyword and a benefit. What will the reader get from reading your article?

If you can, try to also include in your title tag:

- A number
- A power word
- A positive or negative sentiment

Numbers are easier to relate to than words. They tell the reader this is a listicle that can be skimmed and easily digested.

Power words are words that trigger an emotional response. Examples are:

- Discover
- Extraordinary
- Latest
- Unforgettable
- Irresistible
- Awe-Inspiring
- Shocking
- Step-by-Step
- Surprising

Here is a list of <a href="https://sumo.com/stories/power-words" target="blank">over 400 power words</a>.

Try to avoid title tags that are neutral in sentiment. People are either trying to get something or avoid something, so titles that have a positive or negative sentiment get more clicks.

Here are some examples:

- 5 Things You Should __Never Do__ When Selling a House (negative sentiment)
- 7 Tips For __Getting More__ Followers on Twitter (positive sentiment)

## Meta description

The other tag you need to optimize is the meta description. This is the 3 to 4 lines of text that appear in your SERP snippet, beneath the title tag. Your meta description should include:

- Your keyword
- A benefit from reading the article
- A Call To Action (CTA) (e.g. “Discover how to…”)

# #2 - Understand the search intent of the keyword phrase

To rank on Page #1 of the search results, you need to understand the search intent behind the keyword.  Search intent, also known as user intent and keyword intent, is a person’s purpose when they type a search query into a search engine. What is it they were looking for when they typed in that query?

I once did some keyword research and found a keyword with good monthly search volume and low competition. The keyword was ‘best free serp checker’. I decided I would write a blog post about ‘best free serp checkers’.

But then I typed that keyword into Google and what I found made me change my mind. Every single result on Page #1 of Google for that search query was an application or a piece of software for checking SERP results.

That was the search intent behind that keyword. People who typed that keyword into Google were not looking for an article comparing SERP checkers. They were looking for the software itself.

There are three main kinds of search intent:

__*Informational search*__

These are queries where the searcher is looking for information. An example would be ‘How many grams in an ounce’ or ‘what is a dslr camera’ or ‘lcd tv vs led tv’.

__*Commercial search*__

These are queries where the searcher is looking to buy a product or a service. Examples of commercial searches would be ‘best dslr cameras’, or ‘best lcd tvs’, or ‘flights to Rome’.

__*Transactional search*__

Transactional queries are ones where the searcher has gathered all the information they need and is ready to buy. Examples of transactional queries would be ‘dslr cameras under $1000’ or ‘lcd tvs under $2000’ or ‘cheapest flights to Rome’.

When you look at the search results for your chosen keyword, take note of what kind of results are showing up in the SERPs. Are they informational, commercial, or transactional? Your web page will need to match the type of search result that Google is showing for that keyword.

# #3 - Study the top 5 search results

A lot of people don’t realize that the secret to ranking on Page #1 of Google is staring you in the face. The top 5 results on Google for any given keyword contain all the clues you need.

That’s why you should closely examine the top-ranking pages for your chosen keyword.

Look at the type of articles that are ranking in the top results. Are they listicles, definitive guides, ‘how-to’ articles, or definitional articles?
If the top five articles for your keyword are listicles, then your article should be a listicle as well. Because that’s the kind of content that Google wants to show for that keyword.

Also, look at the word count of the top five articles. If they all have 2000 to 3000 words, then your article will have to be in that range as well. But if they are all 500 to 1000 words, then that’s the range you should aim for. I’ve sometimes gone up two or three positions in the search results simply by deleting 1000 words.

But the most important thing to do when you study the top five search results is to take note of the topics and subtopics that those articles cover. Your article will need to cover the same topics and subtopics. Ideally, your article should cover more topics and subtopics associated with that keyword than any other article on Page #1 of the search results.

To get an overall picture of the topics covered, copy and paste the headings and subheadings from the top 5 search results into a Google docs file. Sort them into categories and eliminate duplicates. Then make sure that your article covers all of those topics and subtopics.

You can add topics and subtopics to your article by looking at the ‘People Also Ask’ section and the ‘Related Searches’ section.

![people also ask](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/5535blCD03ebiBaLfcd5iS/7df75224853e73026d3371a1cf868bf8/people_also_ask.png)
![search results](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/69auwEeMwz0uorUF9jHQ0b/f2f9efb7b5563e2cad17d595d8c5d07d/search_results.png)

# #4 - Write powerful introductions

The Google algorithm records how long people stay on your page. The longer they stay, the more likely it is that your page answered their query. But if they click away within a few seconds, that tells Google that your page wasn’t a good match for the search query.

And that’s why a strong introduction is one of the keys to ranking well on Google. One of the most effective formulas for writing introductions is PAS:

- Pain
- Agitate
- Solve

Show the reader you understand their problem. Then paint a vivid picture of why it’s a problem. And finally, tell the reader there’s a solution and that’s what your article is about.

Here’s an example from <a href="https://backlinko.com/how-to-get-backlinks" target="blank">an article by Brian Dean</a>:

![write powerful introductions](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/1hxhuaJqNXw7cPcqHj2VOB/d7dbda5ca31cf1ec8d003cfd24b39e9a/write_powerful_introductions.png)

# #5 - Use transitional phrases

Transitional phrases are the lubricant that keeps your readers moving down the page. Transitions are a way of moving from one topic to the next. They are like signposts guiding the reader through your article.

But transitional phrases do much more than that.

They can also make your article conversational. They can give the reader a sense that you are having a one-to-one chat with them. And that’s the secret to reader engagement. 

Here are some examples:

- I think you’ll agree with me when I say…
- Here’s why that’s important…
- You won’t believe what we discovered…
- But there’s a catch…
- Fortunately, there’s a simple solution…

These phrases build a relationship with the reader. They make the reader feel that you understand them.

When the reader feels that you understand them, they’ll stay with you right to the end of the article. And that’s going to increase your ‘time on page’ (aka ‘dwell time’) which will improve your rankings.

You can read more about how to use transitional phrases in my SmartBlogger article: 

<a href="https://smartblogger.com/transitional-phrases/" target="blank">How to Use Transitional Words & Phrases to Make Your Writing Flow (with Examples)</a>

# #6 - Get your website to score high for core web vitals (CWV)

In 2020 Google announced three new page experience signals which affect how well a page will rank in the search results:

- LCP (Largest Contentful Paint)
- FID (First Input Delay)
- CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift)

These core web vitals are mainly about speed but they also deal with other aspects of user experience. For example, cumulative layout shift is the unexpected shifting of webpage elements while the page is still loading. This happens when content changes dimensions while the page is loading. A common cause of CLS is unspecified image dimensions. When the dimensions of an image have not been set, the space allocated to an image will change as the text in the page loads. 

You can check your website’s core web vitals in Google Search Console:

![google search console](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/4J7RYRyOZmxbRRZ7BsZQaO/1d43d02c17297248bfd80ca1dbddaf98/google_search_console.png)

You can also get a CWV report on individual pages using <a href="https://pagespeed.web.dev/" target="blank">Google’s Page Speed Insights</a> tool:

![page speed insights](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/92z3aEbhu9TmcBvBFUPBN/482f48c900913b59c94f833da1c05584/page_speed_insights.png)

Core Web Vitals are mostly about speed - how fast your web page loads.
The best ways to improve your core web vitals are:

1. Change to a web host that has a faster server response time
2. Install a caching and speed optimization plugin such as <a href="https://wp-rocket.me/" target="blank">WP Rocket</a> or <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/w3-total-cache/" target="blank">W3 Total Cache</a>
3. Optimize your images by making sure that they are not larger than they need to be (e.g. displaying an image 3000 pixels wide in a space that is only 850 pixels wide)
4. Use an image optimizer such as <a href="https://shortpixel.com/" target="blank">Short Pixel</a> or <a href="https://wpmudev.com/project/wp-smush-pro/" target="blank">Smush</a> to compress the images on your website.
5. Use a content delivery network (CDN) to deliver static web page resources such as image videos, images, Javascript, and CSS.

# #7 - Build Backlinks

Backlinks from relevant sites in your niche are <a href="https://ahrefs.com/blog/google-ranking-factors/" target="blank">arguably the most most important ranking factor</a>.

Here are three ways to build backlinks safely.

__*Contribute to HARO*__

HARO or Help A Reporter Out is a service that links journalists with sources. Journalists are frequently racing to meet deadlines and they often need quotes to use in their articles at very short notice.

When you register at HARO as a source, you can respond to journalists’ queries and get linked to from their major websites with high DA or domain authority.
What sets HARO apart from other link-building strategies is that the queries come to you. Instead of cold pitching people who are probably not interested in hearing from you, these link-building opportunities come knocking on your door. Three times a day you’ll receive an email from HARO with queries that you can answer. 

For more information on this, see my article <a href="https://robpowellbizblog.com/how-to-use-haro/" target="blank">How To Use HARO for Link Building</a>.

__*Publish Roundup Posts*__

People love seeing their name in a list of experts and they love sharing it with other people. And that’s why expert roundups are a good way of building backlinks. 

Reach out to 25 - 50 experts in your niche and ask them for a tip on a particular topic. When your article is live, send them a link and you’ll find that 20% to 30% will either share it on social media or link to it from their ‘About’ page.

__*Publish Top List Posts*__

Top list posts are articles that list the top experts or websites in a particular field. Here are some examples:

- 30 Top Marketers on Twitter
- 25 Top WordPress Blogs
- 35 Top Copywriters on Instagram

Once your article is live, send each featured expert or website a link to your article. You’ll find that a good proportion will link to it on their website as ‘social proof’.

### Conclusion
The search engine results or SERPs are hotly contested territory: the competition is intense. But these seven techniques will give you an edge over your competitors and help push your pages higher up the search results.
Even if you only implement two or three of these techniques, you will eventually see your rankings improve.


rank higher

Seven tips for ranking higher in the SERPs

7 Tips for Ranking Higher in the Search Results

# Our Experience with HARO as a Source

<a href="https://www.helpareporter.com/" target="blank">Help A Reporter Out</a>, or HARO, as it is affectionately called by its users, is a go-to link-building tool for SEOs all over the US. With a wealth of opportunities to acquire links from both respectable domains and smaller sites, HARO seems like the perfect channel for growing and maintaining a balanced link portfolio.

![HARO](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/3gRPep5EgVMVoKfUDuIyPw/77f4efa42d90788c50c225efa7a092e4/HARO.png)

But in practice, it’s not so easy. HARO requests ask for quotes or contributions to articles in exchange for credit and often a link. What about those times when there’s nothing you can answer, either because there are no requests in your industry or all relevant requests require qualifications you don’t have? And when you can answer requests, will you even get a link? And what kind of link? Considering all the variables makes you wonder: is the time you spend scrolling through your HARO email and writing responses even worth it?

We decided to test out how profitable HARO was for us. Making HARO a moderate to high priority, we gathered data on our experience, which you can read about below. We hope this article will give you an idea of where HARO should rank in your list of priorities.

### In case you're short on time, here’s our conclusion up front:

HARO isn’t perfect, but what is? It is still a valuable tool for link building, and links from HARO comprise a noticeable percentage of our total acquired links (almost 20%).

### Want the details? Here’s our experience:

Over the course of __3 months__, we regularly replied to HARO requests in our industry. During those 3 months we found __111 applicable requests__: requests that our team had the qualifications, background, and ability to answer.

With a team composed of marketing, data, and development experts, most (78) of the applicable HARO requests happened to be in the Business and Finance category. We noted 14 in General, 14 in High Tech, and 5 in various other categories.

Giving HARO moderate- to high-priority status among our daily tasks, we ended up __responding to 68 requests__. That’s __61%__ of the total answerable requests.

We acquired __12 links__ from our efforts. That’s an __18% success rate__.

__More about our acquired links:__
- 11 of those links were followed, 1 was no-followed. 
- All of our links included our brand name in the Anchor Text. 
- Most (8) of the links we got were in Business and Finance, 3 were in General, 1 in High Tech.
- The time between submitting and acquiring a link was variable and depended on the outlet. The shortest time that passed was 1 day, and the longest was 82 days.

Links acquired through HARO make up almost __20%__ of our total acquired links.

# Our Experience with HARO as a Journalist

We’ve used HARO as a journalist a handful of times. It’s great when you need quotes or even just ideas for an article or blog post. It’s a win-win situation—you get content, and your contributors get links and credit. All you have to do is submit a query requesting contributions, specify your requirements, filter through the responses you receive, and give your final contributors credit and links.

__What kinds of posts is HARO best for?__
- __Expert Roundups:__ Ask the HARO community about a topic in your field. Compile insightful quotes from qualified responders into a relevant blog post.
- __Polls:__ HARO is useful to get a feel for a wide variety of opinions about a topic from people in your industry, although social media may be a better option for polls.
- __Any post where you need an expert opinion or want to add credibility:__ HARO can be used when you aren’t qualified to answer a question that needs answering. You can draw from the expertise of others in your industry. Their qualifications will add credibility to your article.

__We prefer pitches that:__
- __Actually answer the question:__ We asked what we asked for a reason.
- __Aren’t self-promotional:__ Our goal is to create useful content for our target audience, not to advertise for our contributors.
- __Provide relevant examples:__ If we already have an idea of what we want to say in our article, we love examples because they connect with our audience and help flesh out our content.
- __Use clear, grammatically correct language:__ Editing pitches takes time, and time is valuable; we'd rather spend it elsewhere. Vague language does no one any good in the business world.
- __Are catchy and quotable:__ Unless we're looking to feature a few lengthy pitches, we favor concise pitches that say a lot in few words. Think bite-sized advice that carries its own authority and personality.
- __Provide real value:__ We want to provide real value to our audience and to get them to come back for more, and we follow the same standard with our HARO pitches. Cut the fluff and everyone's happier.

We always give our contributors do-follow links.

### The Process

We submitted queries 4-5 days before the deadline we needed the pitches by. Our queries were __approved 1-2 days after submission__.

We were surprised at the number of replies we received for each query. The number of replies we received ranged roughly from __30 to 90__, depending on how broad our query topic was.

Some people on our team favored earlier response submissions because by the time we got around to the later submissions, we were exhausted.

At first, we tried sifting through all the responses by email, copying them onto a spreadsheet, then further narrowing down our selections from there. This was very inefficient, so we ended up asking our responders to fill out a Google Form, which sent the pitches straight to a spreadsheet. Still, filtering through HARO replies is a long and sometimes tedious task.

__Additional stats on the responses we received:__
- Average Percentage of Usable Responses: 87%
- Average Percentage of Usable Responses Used: 71% 

Not only do you get content when you use HARO as a journalist. You can also get links from it if you put in the effort to compile useful content. For example, we got a link from Forbes to a post we wrote using HARO as a journalist. This was an unsolicited surprise and a good example of how a little can go a long way. Check it out <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2021/09/22/how-to-drive-traffic-with-low-hanging-keywords/?sh=321cbbc51ec7" target="blank">here</a> (our link's anchor text = "survey").

HARO is a very useful tool to use as a journalist, even if the process can be tedious. We highly recommend it.

Hopefully our experience with HARO as a source and as a journalist was helpful to you. Still not sure whether HARO is right for you? Try it out and decide for yourself!

HARO

Is HARO worth your time? Are the rewards worth the effort? We say... yes, within reason. Read on to learn more about our experience with HARO.

Is HARO worth the effort? Here's our experience with HARO as a Source and as a Journalist.

HARO: Worth It or Waste of Time?

HARO (Help A Reporter Out): Our Experience

![4 Ways To Find Zero Search Volume Keywords That Bring Traffic](//images.contentful.com/z8uwv83tofbw/1ZZOM0gOy4cHFIcJsTOKsH/44c6b67dd1100e81270f9ce16e87a851/4_Ways_To_Find_Zero_Search_Volume_Keywords_That_Bring_Traffic.jpg)
Everyone wants to be number one for high-volume keywords. They contribute to a large number of organic visitors, conversions, and sales.

However, ranking for high-volume keywords isn’t always easy or possible. It requires going above and beyond the competition for the restricted number of first-page spots.

What if you’re a small company struggling to appear higher on search? There is a simple solution: focus your SEO campaign on long-tail, low-frequency keywords. 

Do you wish to attract targeted traffic, aiming at those who are looking for specific information? Locate low-competition keywords and target them, giving yourself a far better chance of ranking well. Let’s look at what zero search volume keywords are, how you can find them, and why it’s worth the effort.

## What Are the Benefits of Targeting Low-Volume Keywords?

Zero search volume keywords can bring organic traffic from Google even if tools like Ahrefs, Moz, SEMrush, and Keywords Everywhere suggest that no one is searching for them.

What else can targeting low-volume keywords offer? Including these terms in your SEO strategy provides a lot more advantages, such as: 

- __Relevance__ to your buyers. Long-tail keywords are usually low-volume terms that are extremely fitting for your target market. And the better content hits the mark, the more likely users will convert.

- Creating interest around __a new or small niche__. Low-volume keywords are better suited for one-time search queries Google may never see again.

- __Diversity__. You can <a href="https://nozzle.io/blog/where-to-add-keywords-in-your-content-to-improve-your-ranking" target="blank">add multiple low-volume keywords</a> to one page to increase traffic potential.

- __Commercial intent__, meaning you can add buying keywords to attract customers that will convert. At the same time, they have a great return on investment (ROI) to cover the expense of the content.

When you choose keywords for your piece, you select the primary phrase. As you compose your article, product page, or other sections on the website, you will unconsciously add extra secondary and LSI keywords to drive traffic to your site.

These are phrases people will look for and get relevant results. It applies to search engines and on-site search as well, so they’re crucial by all means.

For example, visitors don’t want to scroll through an array of cardigans on the website. They may type the phrase “emerald green cardigan” to specify the request and choose from the store’s assortment offered in the <a href="https://onilab.com/blog/how-to-improve-magento-search/" target="blank">Magento on-site search results</a> or any other results, depending on your CMS.

Let’s dive deeper into the peculiarities of terms with zero search, how to find and use them.

## Four Ways to Conduct Zero Search Volume Keyword Research

### 1. Leveraging Tools to Define Search Volume

The first way to find zero search volume keywords is to use the <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/keyword-surfer/bafijghppfhdpldihckdcadbcobikaca/" target="blank">Keyword Surfer</a> or <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/keywords-everywhere-keywo/hbapdpeemoojbophdfndmlgdhppljgmp" target="blank">Keywords Everywhere</a> tools. These are free browser extensions forecasting a monthly search volume and giving other insights. You’ll have a short report while searching on Google.

The figures below are the estimated search volume and cost per click for Google Adwords campaigns. The results are received from Keyword Surfer.
![Leveraging Tools to Define Search Volume](//images.contentful.com/z8uwv83tofbw/4jVrC3JAmIDt2NTvl9lPzd/0c6ccb2f1e3b101457ef138fccc03006/Leveraging_Tools_to_Define_Search_Volume.png)

As you can see, there are some phrases with zero value. It means people don’t look for “*customer retention strategies saas*” or *“customer retention strategies definition*”. However, they search for similar questions, so adding these keywords will help you increase the traffic volume to the website.

If you proceed with the search, you’ll see several boxes to the right. The tools provide you with keyword ideas based on the similarity with the initial phrase.
![Leveraging Tools to Define Search Volume-2](//images.contentful.com/z8uwv83tofbw/3wa1CB2ShAUxH5pWVpm2op/75dd159fc2b7f2a2abac9c7c4bbef751/Leveraging_Tools_to_Define_Search_Volume-2.png)
Have you noticed the figures below the titles? These are also valuable details. For example:

- the estimated monthly traffic for a selected region;
- the article total word count;
- how many times the author used the “*customer retention strategies*” keyword.
![Leveraging Tools to Define Search Volume-3](//images.contentful.com/z8uwv83tofbw/44Ie2loKyuDLgiu83k4hoo/05396691d7b8a49c1a303ced814750d6/Leveraging_Tools_to_Define_Search_Volume-3.png)
You can also copy or export the list of long-tail keywords, trend data, and what other people search for, thanks to Keywords Everywhere.

### 2. Analyzing Related Searches

Compare the drop-down box and __related searches__ at the bottom of the Google results page below. They almost always return the same phrases.
![Analyzing Related Searches](//images.contentful.com/z8uwv83tofbw/3KQ4PkkW2p7I9fmWIKzI40/a2c3ac038b41529f6fce9efffa0812e4/Analyzing_Related_Searches.png)
The problem with checking them is that you have to scroll down to the bottom of the page. And they don’t have the additional information from the keyword research Chrome extensions. As a result, this method doesn’t consider whether or not the keyword has any search volume.

What if you need to know the exact figure or process a lot of keywords? In this case, you’ll need the above-mentioned plugins. They will allow you to see the statistics when you type the query and streamline the selection process.

Don’t stop your search after finding several suggestions from Google. You can __uncover more precise keywords__ by entering your initial keyword ideas and then searching for them on Google again.

Let’s get back to my previous example. I used the “*customer retention strategies ecommerce*” query to get more variants. Broader initial phrases, such as the one shown below, give you some good ideas if you repeat the procedure with the original suggestions.
![Analyzing Related Searches-2](//images.contentful.com/z8uwv83tofbw/5z1kvVzSNTAFp3IQHBNeAE/4e76e1195a0667b2d4c88368a5d47a55/Analyzing_Related_Searches-2.png)
We see that the first keyword phrase doesn’t have any monthly searches. But as Google suggests, using this strategy, we can gain more organic visitors, provided we appear in the top three results for it.

### 3. Looking for Zero Search Volume Keywords with the Alphabet Soup Method

The third method under discussion is the alphabet soup strategy for keyword research. It involves the recently evolved Google autocomplete feature.

Unlike the related searches strategy, this one will take some time and effort on your part. But it’s worth it for generating <a href="https://nozzle.io/blog/unlimited-keyword-rank-tracking" target="blank">keywords that rank</a> and drive traffic.
<br>
How does it allow you to utilize Google for keyword research? Type your primary keyword into the Google search bar. Let it be “brown mascara”. The image below shows that all you have to do is __add a letter of the alphabet__ after it. The autocomplete will provide you with various new options.
![Looking for Zero Search Volume Keywords with the Alphabet Soup Method](//images.contentful.com/z8uwv83tofbw/2R50ahOr1Knd91lDO2w5r1/5f61651513f80302d3a74552200f28c1/Looking_for_Zero_Search_Volume_Keywords_with_the_Alphabet_Soup_Method.png)
The keywords with the lowest expected monthly search volume on this first pass usually have the most organic traffic potential. You can take this phrase for a second run using the alphabet soup method.
![Looking for Zero Search Volume Keywords with the Alphabet Soup Method-2](//images.contentful.com/z8uwv83tofbw/4mbjupMNv8BIepQIDyMHoo/338131e512afabd5c47ba34317374220/Looking_for_Zero_Search_Volume_Keywords_with_the_Alphabet_Soup_Method-2.png)
These keywords typically have significantly lower traffic levels. But having less traffic doesn’t always mean something bad.

They have less competition from other websites, making them much simpler to rank. If your niche is large enough, you may perform a third run on these keywords, but they bring almost no visitors.

### 4. Getting Insights from the People Also Ask Method

When searching for something, you’ll probably see this section.
![Getting Insights from the People Also Ask Method](//images.contentful.com/z8uwv83tofbw/5cI4T5WL0AcCbb0GsxTWnU/2936c9ff66446b1b1e0af5c6739d6f4e/Getting_Insights_from_the_People_Also_Ask_Method.png)
That’s __what people usually ask__, mentioning your keyword in their questions. And these options may hint you at what suitable keywords you may use.

The widget usually displays four questions. But if you open and close the bottom drop-down, you can extend it and receive more requests. Keep expanding the bottom question to see more ideas.

Note that the lower the suggestion list goes, the less relevant the questions to the initial keyword. However, they are generally niche relevant and may still be valuable to you.

These questions aren’t low-volume keywords, even though they may have no expected monthly searches. Why do they appear zero volume when you check them? The reason is that they’re complete questions rather than the actual search. 

Consider the question, “*What are customer retention strategies?*”. The exact query has no monthly search volume anticipated. But if we remove the beginning of the query and check “customer retention strategies”, we’ll notice that this term has an 880 search volume.
![Getting Insights from the People Also Ask Method-2](//images.contentful.com/z8uwv83tofbw/1HqFr7Fduh4DeYDD4l49Qa/5808fd6cf23250480a997eed3da58fbc/Getting_Insights_from_the_People_Also_Ask_Method-2.png)
If you use the <a href="https://nozzle.io/blog/evolution-google-serp" target="blank">People Also Ask</a> section to locate a zero or low competition keyword, take away parts of the questions to find the actual search phrase. Then examine its estimated search volume to get an idea of prospective future traffic.

### To Sum Up

I described the following possible ways to find zero search queries:

- Keyword Surfer or Keywords Everywhere extensions
- the related search approach
- the alphabet soup method
- the “people also ask” option

Ideally, you should combine all four because doing so may help you compile your keyword list faster. This may help you diversify your existing keyword research methods to enhance your page content. In turn, this will attract more organic visitors to your website.

Do you still think going after low-volume keywords is a waste of time or money? Before you dismiss them, review the suggestions above to determine whether you’re missing out on any gold mine opportunities. Some unusual keywords may pay off in terms of traffic and conversions.


4 Ways To Find Zero Search Volume Keywords That Bring Traffic

Discussing why and how to locate low-competition keywords and target them.

<br>
__Other Categories in this Series:__
<a href="https://nozzle.io/blog/1-underutilized-keyword-research-strategies" target="blank">#1- Underutilized Keyword Research Strategies</a>
<a href="https://nozzle.io/blog/3-underutilized-content-strategies" target="blank">#3- Underutilized Content Strategies</a>
<a href="https://nozzle.io/blog/4-underutilized-link-building-strategies" target="blank">#4- Underutilized Link Building Strategies</a>
<a href="https://nozzle.io/blog/5-underutilized-technical-seo-strategies" target="blank">#5- Underutilized Technical SEO Strategies</a>
<a href="https://nozzle.io/blog/6-underutilized-local-seo-strategies" target="blank">#6- Underutilized Local SEO strategies</a>
<a href="https://nozzle.io/blog/7-underutilized-video-seo-strategies" target="blank">#7- Underutilized Video SEO Strategies</a>
<a href="https://nozzle.io/blog/8-miscellaneous-underutilized-seo-strategies" target="blank">#8- Miscellaneous Underutilized SEO Strategies</a>


OnSite optimization

This is what the experts say are the most underutilized SEO strategies regarding onsite optimization.

#2- Underutilized Onsite Optimization Strategies

Underutilized Onsite Optimization Strategies

<br>
__Other Categories in this Series:__
<a href="https://nozzle.io/blog/1-underutilized-keyword-research-strategies" target="blank">#1- Underutilized Keyword Research Strategies</a>
<a href="https://nozzle.io/blog/2-underutilized-onsite-optimization-strategies" target="blank">#2- Underutilized Onsite Optimization Strategies</a>
<a href="https://nozzle.io/blog/3-underutilized-content-strategies" target="blank">#3- Underutilized Content Strategies</a>
<a href="https://nozzle.io/blog/5-underutilized-technical-seo-strategies" target="blank">#5- Underutilized Technical SEO Strategies</a>
<a href="https://nozzle.io/blog/6-underutilized-local-seo-strategies" target="blank">#6- Underutilized Local SEO strategies</a>
<a href="https://nozzle.io/blog/7-underutilized-video-seo-strategies" target="blank">#7- Underutilized Video SEO Strategies</a>
<a href="https://nozzle.io/blog/8-miscellaneous-underutilized-seo-strategies" target="blank">#8- Miscellaneous Underutilized SEO Strategies</a>


link building

This is what the experts say are the most underutilized SEO strategies regarding link building.

#4- Underutilized Link Building Strategies

Link Building


![44 Underutilized SEO Strategies and Tactics](//images.contentful.com/z8uwv83tofbw/3Fl6DS4NzmZwOc5OJECq2X/fb00d3f59ce36fc2efb316c467b304e2/44_Underutilized_SEO_Strategies_and_Tactics.jpg)
Recently I asked marketing and SEO professionals what they felt the most underutilized SEO strategy or tactic was. With over 100 responses I was able to compile them into these calegories:

<a href="https://nozzle.io/blog/1-underutilized-keyword-research-strategies" target="blank">#1- Underutilized Keyword Research Strategies</a>
<br>
<a href="https://nozzle.io/blog/2-underutilized-onsite-optimization-strategies" target="blank">#2- Underutilized Onsite Optimization Strategies</a>
<br>
<a href="https://nozzle.io/blog/3-underutilized-content-strategies" target="blank">#3- Underutilized Content Strategies</a>
<br>
<a href="https://nozzle.io/blog/4-underutilized-link-building-strategies" target="blank">#4- Underutilized Link Building Strategies</a>
<br>
<a href="https://nozzle.io/blog/5-underutilized-technical-seo-strategies" target="blank">#5- Underutilized Technical SEO Strategies</a>
<br>
<a href="https://nozzle.io/blog/6-underutilized-local-seo-strategies" target="blank">#6- Underutilized Local SEO strategies</a>
<br>
<a href="https://nozzle.io/blog/7-underutilized-video-seo-strategies" target="blank">#7- Underutilized Video SEO Strategies</a>
<br>
<a href="https://nozzle.io/blog/8-miscellaneous-underutilized-seo-strategies" target="blank">#8- Miscellaneous Underutilized SEO Strategies</a>

My intent is to shed some light on a strategy or two that you haven't focused on yet, or perhaps remind you of some SEO basics that you haven't thought about in a while. Who knows? Implementing one of these underutilized strategies may be all that you need to push your rankings to the next level.


44 Underutilized SEO Strategies and Tactics

In response to the query, "What is the most underutilized SEO strategy?" I received over 100 responses, and here they are organized into 8 categories.

In layman's terms, Local SEO is the practice of increasing the search visibility of your businesses in local search results on Google. Local SEO techniques are most beneficial for businesses that have a physical location or serve a geographic area. By using the local SEO strategy, businesses can drive more people towards brick-and-mortar stores. This article will help you with ten actionable local SEO tips and tricks to help you stay at the top of your local SEO game.

### Before we move forward, let's see some stats first

As per the latest stats, <a href="https://seotribunal.com/blog/stats-to-understand-seo/#local-seo-facts" target="blank">46% of all Google searches</a> are local, and over 50% of 'near me' searches result in a physical store visit. Another report reveals that <a href="https://seotribunal.com/blog/stats-to-understand-seo/#local-seo-facts" target="blank">97% of people</a> learn about a local business by online means than anywhere else.

![Google local SEO strategy 2021 - Google maps SEO](//images.contentful.com/z8uwv83tofbw/7JWSu8JpSqGQsTXnGcCby2/3c51a98e9af3beb894a2e0d84f2adcfc/photo-1548345680-f5475ea5df84.jfif)

## Here are ten actionable local SEO tips and tricks in 2021

### 1. Create A Google My Business (GMB) Listing

When it comes to local SEO search visibility, Google My Business listings are the most influential component. Because Google is paying more weight to social media presence, please share these posts on social media. If you receive visitors to your Google Posts page, Google will see that you provide valuable information and updates. You can also write mini-posts for your clients to demonstrate that you are actively managing your listing.

### 2. List Your Business in Other Directories

It would help if you listed your firm in various online directories in addition to having a Google My Business account. You can find this suggestion in practically any <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Local-SEO-Handbook-basics-marketing/dp/1720029075" target="blank">local SEO handbook</a> because it is a powerful SEO component.

You can target the following directories:
- Yelp
- FourSquare
- Angie’s List
- Bing Places
- HotFrog
- Best of the Web
- About Us

In addition to these national and worldwide directories, you should check to see any online business directories in your area. Listings on these sites will offer additional local SEO signals to Google.

### 3. Keep Your NAP Information Correct

If feasible, keep your <a href="https://www.google.com/intl/en_in/business/" target="blank">Google My Business (GMB)</a> information up to date. If there are differences, Google has no means of determining which information is correct. If your company relocates, you should update this across all platforms as soon as possible. Consumers can now recommend modifications to a company's profile information, and Google may act on them.

### 4. Target Local Keywords

Targeting rank for local keywords is one of the fundamentals of local SEO optimization. Local keywords are self-explanatory. However, it would help if you still looked at long-tail local keywords for your business.

Suppose you operate a plumbing business in New York City, for example. In that case, you should examine <a href="https://www.thegratifiedblog.com/search-visibility/" target="blank">search visibility</a> for different variations of search phrases like "plumber, New York City," "plumber, NYC," and so on. You might also wish to look for hyper-local keywords like "plumbing services, Manhattan."

![local search engine marketing optimization strategy - Google maps ranking](//images.contentful.com/z8uwv83tofbw/5UnD7TuEIoxbB46sIVOfrb/f096aa721a36b1caedf179ec34d67fc9/photo-1616469829718-0faf16324280.jfif)

### 5. Optimize Your Site with Local Keywords

The next step is to optimize your site for the local keywords for which you wish to rank. Again, it is a tried-and-true <a href="https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/consumer-insights/mobile-search-trends-consumers-to-stores/" target="blank">google local SEO tips in 2021</a> that will be just as relevant as it was five years ago. 
Site optimization is a separate topic, but here are some onsite local SEO fundamentals.

To begin, ensure that your home page and any service pages include the local keywords you want to rank for in the:
- Headings
- Title tags
- Meta description
- Body
- Footer

When feasible, you should also strive to add your core local keyword within the URL.
When incorporating keywords, be sure you employ them naturally rather than keyword stuffing.

### 6. Create Local Content

If you want to maximize your content marketing efforts for increased lead generation, you must also provide local content. By inserting local keywords into the blog article, you may connect local content to your offerings. In addition, it allows you to add local keywords and events into your text naturally.

### 7. Optimize for Mobile

Optimizing your site for mobile is another of the top local SEO suggestions for 2021.
Making your website mobile-friendly is critical for overall SEO success. It is, nevertheless, especially vital for local SEO. It is why.

According to statistics, <a href="https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/consumer-insights/mobile-search-trends-consumers-to-stores/" target="blank">30% of all smartphone searches</a> are location-based. It is a large amount, implying that many customers who find you through google local search are likely using a mobile device.

Potential clients will be put off if your site does not display well on mobile devices or navigation challenges. As a result, customers will most likely abandon your site in favor of one of your competitors who has a more professional online presence.

### 8. Optimize for Voice

It would help if you optimized for voice searches in addition to smartphone searches. According to research, mobile voice searches are 300% more likely to have local intent than text searches.
Because the voice search era is still in its early stages, many businesses have yet to optimize their website and content for speech. As a result, it provides you with an excellent opportunity to stay ahead of the competition.

### 9. Take Time to Build Inbound Links

<a href="https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/inbound-links-faqs" target="blank">Inbound links</a> are a critical ranking component that can help both traditional and local SEO.
Begin by compiling a list of these companies. Then, optimize your process by looking for pages on their websites to place a contextual link. You can then contact the businesses on your list and recommend link positions.

Guest posting is another approach to build contextual inbound links for increasing your search visibility. For example, if any of the companies on your list have a blog, you may offer to write content for them that includes a link to your site.

In some situations, you may also want to consider obtaining backlinks from major websites such as Forbes.

### 10. Look Into Location Pages

Does your company have many locations? Make sure you're showing up in local searches for each of these locations.

You can accomplish local search engine marketing visibility by <a href="https://www.rialtomarketing.com/location-pages/" target="blank">creating location pages</a>. For example, assume you provide services in Houston, San Antonio, and Austin. Instead of having a single service page that lists all of these locations, make one for each city.

## Conclusion

Optimizing your site for a specific local area will increase your revenue and drive more people towards your store. Now that we've covered many actionable SEO tips here, we recommend you get started with a local SEO strategy before your firm falls behind. 


photo-1548345680-f5475ea5df84

Local SEO is super important for businesses that have physical locations or serve specific geographic areas. Here are 10 actionable SEO tips to help you stay on top of your local SEO game.

Stay on top of your game with these 10 local SEO tips

10 Actionable Local SEO Tips & Tricks In 2021

10 Google Local SEO Tips in 2021 - Local SEO Strategy - Local Search Engine Optimization Tips

![New SEO Jokes 2020 Edition](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/62uv1Xc0UKLKK5jXnmFvdp/57750ebffdfed998ad13895c49484c4b/SEO_Jokes_2020_Edition.JPG)

SEO can be stressful at times and <a href="http://workplacementalhealth.org/Mental-Health-Topics/Workplace-Stress" target="blank">stress is bad for your health</a> so lets all sit back and relax and live longer by reading the following SEO jokes.

All of these jokes are brand new and original as of this year, 2020 and created by the author unless otherwise noted. 

So without further ado...

> 1. What did Jesus say to the SEOs? "Come (do)follow me."
> What did Satan say in response? "Nofollow Him!"

![Funny SEO Jokes about links](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/oqz7cLAG1A8hm7D50xhIP/616f49f2758a80612cc686e80d39422b/Why_did_the_search_engine_receive_a_lawsuit__Because_it_was_a_creepy_crawler.__2_.png)

> 2. The surgeon general told some SEOs to stop smoking because there is a link between smoking and cancer. The SEOs replied, "Well...is the link between smoking and cancer followed or nofollowed?"

> 3. What did Googlebot tell all the hyper links? "Calm down!"

![Googlebot and Hyper link SEO Joke](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/2TGTwVqbtcxZuCSg8A5wfc/7a3d7b9bc25a8e317d6a058320d15a9c/An_SEO_invited_me_to_a_business_meeting_at_his_house._It_turned_out_to_be_a_Pyramid_Schema.__1_.png)

<center><h5>Is your current rank tracker a joke?</h5></center>
<span class="hs-cta-wrapper" id="hs-cta-wrapper-87cce768-4031-4dff-bbfa-43ad5c96d50b"><span class="hs-cta-node hs-cta-87cce768-4031-4dff-bbfa-43ad5c96d50b" id="hs-cta-87cce768-4031-4dff-bbfa-43ad5c96d50b"><a href="https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/2030303/87cce768-4031-4dff-bbfa-43ad5c96d50b"  target="_blank" ><img class="hs-cta-img" id="hs-cta-img-87cce768-4031-4dff-bbfa-43ad5c96d50b" style="border-width:0px;" src="https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/2030303/87cce768-4031-4dff-bbfa-43ad5c96d50b.png"  alt="Check Out Nozzle&#39;s Free Trial!"/></a></span><script charset="utf-8" src="https://js.hscta.net/cta/current.js"></script><script type="text/javascript"> hbspt.cta.load(2030303, '87cce768-4031-4dff-bbfa-43ad5c96d50b', {}); </script></span>

> 4. Why did the search engine receive a lawsuit? Because it was a creepy crawler. 

![ Search Engine and Creepy Crawler SEO Joke](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/1QcMdzMlaF3TdOv0gQSnD9/a1e870b795944a51dcf3fad684a3c765/Why_did_the_search_engine_receive_a_lawsuit__Because_it_was_a_creepy_crawler..png)

> 5. SEOs prefer canonical tag over freeze tag or laser tag.

> 6. What do you call an SEO sitting up in a tree branch overlooking a field full of sheep? Above the fold.

> 7. What is an SEOs most important question before he bungee jumps for the first time? "Can you please tell me what my bounce rate is?"

![Bungee jumping SEO Joke](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/3UAdOxZQe93gLhLMtBqJaX/e2a9bf03584ee9093f963941583e8755/An_SEO_invited_me_to_a_business_meeting_at_his_house._It_turned_out_to_be_a_Pyramid_Schema.__6_.png)

> 8. Why are black hat SEOs horrible at hockey? Because they spend a lot of time in the penalty box.

![Black Hat and Hockey SEO Joke](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/2clcgTdiIvhEPr9yMHcywa/6e93d9147ae71dfe979e7d4cc1695667/An_SEO_invited_me_to_a_business_meeting_at_his_house._It_turned_out_to_be_a_Pyramid_Schema.__3_.png)

> 9. The general state of everything and everyone makes me think that "discontent" is king not "content".

![Funny SEO Joke about Content Making ](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/2g24AWn7N1T1OTYgl6nFY/a21e3c71ed2069c2f43f4b28e0f4279e/An_SEO_invited_me_to_a_business_meeting_at_his_house._It_turned_out_to_be_a_Pyramid_Schema.__4_.png)

> 10. What did the 1 YEAR OLD SEO teach the 8 month old? "Don't waste your crawl budget going for that toy. Just scream until your mom 301 redirects you to it."

> 11. What did the mom do to the naughty SEO child who kept picking his nose? She de-indexed him.

![Funny SEO Child Joke About Being De-Indexed ](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/3hJF1O2hB4NnF7qtSs7Go5/38c6131eaf42cef73d539604d9d2b152/Why_did_the_search_engine_receive_a_lawsuit__Because_it_was_a_creepy_crawler.__1_.png)

> 12. What do you call getting a haircut to look good for your online profile pictures? A featured snippet.

![ Featured Snippet and Profile Picture Funny SEO Joke](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/3ed2ruiHFQ1Zsj8CWe5ejY/67b1d6479ace5d695366d11697bb52f5/Why_did_the_search_engine_receive_a_lawsuit__Because_it_was_a_creepy_crawler.__3_.png)

> 13. What is it called when Larry Page or Sergey Brin get a haircut? A rich snippet.

> 14. SEO: Yes! My time on page is increasing.
Parent: Why are you happy that you are now reading slower?

> 15. When Google launched its Universal Search many people were excited that we will finally discover alien life.

![Google's Alien life Universal Search SEO Joke](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/31Ji6HCbURDqQh2NJlMiZT/d42bde956e32982f610820f850d34d70/An_SEO_invited_me_to_a_business_meeting_at_his_house._It_turned_out_to_be_a_Pyramid_Schema.__5_.png)

> 16. My new GA-bot is awesome! Unfortunately, batteries and keywords are "not provided."

> 17. An SEO invited me to a business meeting at his house. It turned out to be a Pyramid Schema.

![Business Meeting Turned Pyramid Schema SEO Joke](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/60qSpl03t7HkdkZIjSv9xA/9d41066b181e0c50da5bcecca07f72ae/An_SEO_invited_me_to_a_business_meeting_at_his_house._It_turned_out_to_be_a_Pyramid_Schema..png)

> 18. Why did Google cut it's finger nails? Because a lot of websites were complaining about being scraped.

Also, here is some more <a href="https://nozzle.io/blog/seo-humor-from-the-twitterverse">SEO humor</a> from the twitterverse that you might enjoy.

New SEO Jokes 2020 Edition

I guarantee you'll either chuckle or eye-roll. :)

SEO Jokes (Brand New and Original in 2020)

SEO Jokes FTW! - 18 New SEO Jokes from 2020

PR opportunities abound. You just need to know where to look. Every business should take a few moments to setup the two following processes to be alerted to new PR opportunities which will help in <a href="https://nozzle.io/blog/building-backlinks-should-be-building-your-brand" target="blank">building your brand</a>.

These two PR tactics are simple and free. They just require that you set aside a little time and effort.

1. HARO
2. #JournoRequest and #PRrequest

__HARO__

HARO stands for Help A Reporter Out and is a free service you can sign up for at <a href="https://www.helpareporter.com/" target="blank">helpareporter.com</a>. You will receive 3 emails a day that include requests from journalists looking for quotes or answers to specific questions around topics the following broad topics: 

- Biotech and Healthcare
- Business and Finance
- Entertainment and Media
- General
- High Tech
- Lifestyle and Fitness
- Public Policy and Government
- Sports
- Travel

You just need to find the inquiries that apply to your brand and email your response before the deadline. Deadlines are typically 1-4 days from the receipt of the email so you need to set aside some time every other day or so to answer relevent inquiries.

If your submission is used in the journalist's article, typically they will mention your name and brand and link to your website in the response.

__#JournoRequest and #PRrequest__

These are hashtags used on Twitter by journalists looking for info on a specific topic.

There are 3 ways you can find these types of tweets related to your industry.

1. Manually do a search on Twitter for one of those hashtags followed by a keyword in your industry. For example, I found the following tweet when searching on twitter for "#journorequest seo".

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Hi <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/DigitalMarketing?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#DigitalMarketing</a> friends, I&#39;m looking to write an article on regulating the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SEO?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SEO</a> industry. Anyone willing to provide an expert comment? Are you for or against the idea? <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/journorequest?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#journorequest</a></p>&mdash; Helen Pollitt (@HelenPollitt1) <a href="https://twitter.com/HelenPollitt1/status/1108976044122521606?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 22, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

2. Use <a href="https://ifttt.com/" target="blank">IFTTT</a> to setup an auto response to email you everytime someone tweets using #journorequest or #prrequest and one of your keywords. This way you don't have to schedule time each day or week to remember to search Twitter for PR opportunities. You just need to take action when you receive an email.

Below is a quick tutorial from <a href="https://rofe.co.uk/" target="blank">Mark Rofe</a> with <a href="https://riseatseven.com/" target="blank">Rise at Seven</a> on how to setup IFTTT properly for this purpose. 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">PR tip: How to use Twitter to land coverage. <a href="https://t.co/HOsLJmvE6U">pic.twitter.com/HOsLJmvE6U</a></p>&mdash; Mark Rofe (@iamrofe) <a href="https://twitter.com/iamrofe/status/1220095133410037761?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 22, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

3. Use a nifty Google Sheets Add-on called <a href="https://gsuite.google.com/marketplace/app/tweet_archiver/976886281542" target="blank">Tweet Archiver</a>. This tool will monitor your Twitter search query once every hour and pull in any new tweets to your spreadsheet. You can then open any tweets that you want to respond to and engage with the journalist.

![Tweet Archiver Google Sheets Add on Tool: Find PR opportunities](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/LUqwFfHXSJ81vbVHejLxv/0de845b7ad184261952216978c3b4aee/Tweet_Archiver_Data.png)

Below is a video that shows how to install Tweet Archiver on a Google Sheet. Start watching at 2:08 for installation instructions.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MGU7azCYFpw?start=128" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<br>__Take away:__ Spend 10 minutes right now to set up the alerts for these two PR strategies and set aside 30 minutes each week to follow up on any new PR opportunities that come your way.

Happy brand building!


Tweet Archiver Google Sheets Add on Tool: Find PR opportunities

PR opportunities abound. You just need to know where to look. Every business should take a few moments to setup the two following processes to be alerted to new PR opportunities which will help in building your brand.

PR Strategies for Businesses: Build Your Brand and Acquire Links Simultaneously

PR Tactics and Strategies for Businesses: Build Your Brand and Acquire Links Simultaneously

Backlinks, love them, or hate them, are a critical component to doing search engine optimization.

While there are a variety of methods that have changed over the years as Google rolls out more algorithm updates based on feathered and furry animals or Sesame Street characters, one thing is for certain—backlinks still remain an integral part of how a website ranks.

## Creating High-Quality Backlinks
One of the most common questions for most people in digital marketing is "how to create quality backlinks."

Unfortunately, for a lot of marketers, this is where things start to get confusing. 

After all, how do you create “quality links?”

Here are a few things I’ll be discussing in this article:
- [Common link building pitfalls](#pitfalls)
- [Why entities matter when building links](#buildYourBrand)
- [Actionable link building](#actionableLinkBuilding)
- [Content juicing](#contentJuicing)
- [Leveraging automation](#leveragingAutomation)
- [Link continuity and UX](#walkingAMile)

<a name="pitfalls"></a>
## Backlink Pitfalls
Typically, there are a couple of common pitfalls when people build backlinks.

### Pitfall 1: Content Only Strategy
It’s true, content is king. However, content without links is a lot like having a car without any fuel. Sure, it looks nice and may get the attention of a few people—but how far can that really get you? 

Even with the most experienced wordsmith at the helm, content without links may be overtaken by sites that are seen as more authoritative and trusted. 

So how the heck does a site become more trusted? 
In spite of all the advancements Google has made in its algorithm, links still provide one of the clearest signals that a website can be trusted. The more links from quality sources can equate into traffic increases and additional authority within a particular market.

### Pitfall 2: Link Only Strategy
If you’re relying on links alone to rank your site it’s probably not going to happen. 

That’s not to say you can’t brute force a website up in search results, there are plenty of case studies showing how this can be done. However, using this method, will most likely not stick without a lot of additional effort. Additionally, you’re probably going to be penalized depending on how aggressively you’re seeking those links. This approach is commonly classified as a black hat tactic.

The problem is that many people in this camp tend to have horrible content (looking at you lazy spinner). It's blasé and uninspired. In order to get a link from someone, you must have content worth linking to.

The sad reality is that, without quality content, links alone won't get you very far. You must have something worth linking to if you want a link from a quality site. 

To be truly effective, you need *both* content and links.

## Build Your Brand

Before building links, I cannot underscore the importance of getting your on-page SEO dialed in.

Making sure your on-page SEO is correctly implemented will help ease the process of backlink building. In fact, you’ll need far fewer backlinks to rank well.This means you’ll need to spend some time on your titles, descriptions and headings, adjusting site architecture, improving internal linking, and structured data. 

As Google moves from the web of strings (search queries) to the web of things (relationships) working on your entity becomes increasingly more important. Similarly, an understanding of natural language processing (NLP) and semantic search can provide a competitive edge.

Brand building, or building links around a brand is a fundamental part of marketing. If done properly, it can weather the storm in spite of algorithm updates. Wouldn’t that be nice—"worryless SEO?"

<a name ="buildYourBrand"></a>
## Building Your Brand Using Entity-Based SEO

In case you’re not familiar with what entities are and how they relate to SEO, I’d recommend checking out this article on <a href="https://www.searchenginejournal.com/entity-seo/277231/" target="blank">Search Engine Journal.</a> Entities are defined as, “A thing or concept that is singular, unique, well-defined and distinguishable.”

To illustrate this in something less abstract, entities often trigger knowledge panel results or additional SERP features. Unfortunately, Google doesn’t always get this correct. In most cases, this is due to multiple results that may be unclear.

As a simple example, the word “cars” could mean a lot of things. By itself (without any kind of clarification) you could be talking about any of the following:
●	An automobile
●	The Disney-Pixar movie
●	The 1970’s new wave band (You’re just what I needed…🎶)

![cars-image-carousel](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/6qaYVk8xREa34y9gsGB9Zh/c1207d10db4bbfae91b9c7551236c665/cars-image-carousel.jpg)

However, when we provide additional context and add keywords to the page like, “1964 Shelby Cobra,” “muffler,” or “transmission system” it becomes quite clear that the keyword “cars” is clearly talking about an automobile.

![cars-disambiguation-image](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/14Z67XgL9HrKudpGCVa0mW/a4d901a4791c0561aece4eb190125580/cars-disambiguation-image.jpg)

Disambiguation can be a powerful thing when paired with the implementation of structured data markup.

## Brand-Based Link Building

<a href="https://www.link-assistant.com/news/entity-case-study.html" target="blank">Using entity-based SEO</a> can have a significant impact on brand visibility. When you get your entity right, it only takes a few links to provide a decent amount of “push.”

So how is this done? Connecting relationships between your brand and other keywords that are so strong, you’re seen as the definitive result.

Think about brands like Kleenex or Google. You’d never say, “I’m going to get a facial tissue”—you’d say please get me a Kleenex. This is because Kleenex has become synonymous with the brand. Some could even argue that they are THE brand and others are the generic version.

The same could be said about Google. We rarely say “I’m going to run a search query” on a particular topic. We say, “I’m going to Google that.”

While this is an overly simplified way to look at brand building, the concept should be quite clear. You want to be the definitive brand that represents the entity.

To start brand building, obviously consider all of the profiles that any business should have. These can provide additional signals that validate your entity:
- Google My Business (if a local business)
- Facebook
- Instagram
- Twitter
- Linkedin
- YouTube
- Yelp
- Pinterest
- Vimeo
- Foursquare
- Crunchbase

Branded properties help provide signals that can serve as a foundation for your link building efforts. Like our example of Kleenex and Google, we want to be ubiquitous. You don’t need to be active on each of the platforms, but claiming these profiles increases your brand’s footprint as well as prevents your competitors from hijacking your brand.

Next consider places in which you can start building brand signals. These could be places in which you share photos, whitepapers, resources, or news. You could also consider building citations as long as the site isn’t too spammy. 

To get you started, consider the following:
- Press release news rooms
- Whatsapp
- Tumblr
- Flickr
- Blogger
- Slideshare
- Issuu
- Medium
- Alignable
- Upcity
- Paper.li

When building these additional profiles, remember that you’re creating signals about your business. At this point, I’m not too concerned with follow vs nofollow links—it’s simply getting your name out there.

<a name="actionableLinkBuilding"></a>
## Actionable Link Building

Before embarking on a link building campaign, take a moment to develop your plan. Having a blueprint in place can help you identify potential pitfalls.

A blueprint can also serve as an anchor point that you can refer back to. I’ve found this to be invaluable, especially when you’re in the middle of a campaign and things get crazy.

Sometimes, you need that reference to keep the campaign focused and on-track.

The key questions to ask when creating your plan are:
1.	__What do you hope to accomplish with the campaign?__ This should follow SMART goal setting (specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, and time-based)
2.	__Who do you want a link from?__ Before starting a link building campaign, ask yourself who/where you want a link from‒this could be another website, social shares, public relations or brand recognition.
3.	__Is this time-sensitive or evergreen?__ I almost always opt for links to evergreen content, since they’re easier to obtain when content juicing.

<a name="contentJuicing"></a>
## Content Juicing

One of my favorite link building techniques is a repurposing technique I refer to as “content juicing.” 

This method leverages off-page branded assets that can pass link equity back to your primary property.

When you have a piece of content, think of the various ways that you could repurpose and leverage it on as many mediums as possible.

![content juicing diagram - link building technique](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/5xdwzVnEAZhG97TRTHkBzY/585678e78e81b0da6559e43b63950193/content-juicing-diagram.png)

As an example, you might consider the following:
1.	Create a vlog or video interview
2.	Cut the vlog into short clips for snippets or social posts
3.	Separate the audio from the video and create a podcast
4.	Convert the audio to text using a service like Rev
5.	Add additional content to the text as necessary and use as a blog
6.	Create an infographic, incorporate visuals, and create a video thumbnail
7.	Create additional resources for your blog (Google slides can work very well for this purpose)
8.	Before publishing the blog, use the previous assets you’ve created to allow users to read, listen, or watch your blog—whichever happens to be their preferred medium

The key component of content juicing is to provide multiple platforms in which a user can engage with your content. Additionally, a call to action should assist in driving traffic back to your website. Ideally, this would be in the form of a link or call to action.

When considering this method, it’s important to run your properties through a link tracer, such as wheregoes.com or Link Redirect Trace Extension, to make sure that you’re getting value from the links you’re building.

<div style="position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0;"><iframe src="https://www.loom.com/embed/c3ff8981a4174699a621ccd18096089b" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen style="position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;"></iframe></div>

![link redirect trace Chrome Extension Example](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/3c8V1Ks0Jaqvf4GALNPePW/f888499256605459b980628bb04233b0/link-redirect-trace.png)

<a name="leveragingAutomation"></a>

## Leveraging Automation

This is more of a content syndication method, not necessarily a link-building strategy. Still, it can enhance your brand signals, which can have an effect on people linking to you.

It goes without saying, but consider the platform you’re publishing content to. Facebook users consume content in a different way than Instagram users. 

Also, it’s important to note there’s no substitute for personalized engagement. Using automation to schedule or promote your content can buy you a ton of time!

Whether you do this manually or through automated processes is irrelevant. The point is that you want to promote your content on several channels and create signals that point back to your primary entity. 

Another benefit of automation is that you can schedule many top-of-funnel activities, such as posting your content and focus on engagement. Imagine, spending 2-3 hours on developing the content for the entire month, then interacting with users—this allows you to spend more time cultivating meaningful relationships.

<a name="walkingAMile"></a>
## Walking A Mile In Your Customer’s Shoes

Be honest, when was the last time you did a top-to-bottom screenshot of your website or social media page and analyzed it. 

For that matter, when was the last time you’d evaluated the engagement of a page?

It doesn’t have to be a laborious process. I’m talking super-simple, knee-jerk analysis:
- Is there cohesiveness in the links and messaging?
- Does your content elicit a reaction from people? If so, what does that look like?
- Is your content and backlink strategy in-line with what other big players in your industry are doing?

Doing something this simple can uncover some opportunities.

Consider interlinking content together using traditional silos throughout your branded properties. This is one way to funnel authority to your primary pieces of content. It’s also a powerful link building method that you can control.

Also, just because you’ve promoted a piece of content once or twice, doesn’t mean you have to stop. Keep building links to your evergreen content on a monthly basis. This will help increase the relevancy and authority of not only the link, but also your entity.

### Conclusion

Link building doesn’t have to be difficult. By focusing on your entity, creating quality brand signals, repurposing content into multiple mediums, you can create quality links. 

Quit thinking of yourself as an SEO or link builder. Instead, think of yourself as a marketer and focus on places you can promote the brand. This can help uncover opportunities you may have previously overlooked.

Remember: create for humans, optimize for bots.


content juicing diagram - link building technique

Backlinks still remain an integral part of how a website ranks. Build your brand and your backlinks at the same time using the 'content juicing' method and more.

Backlinks, love them, or hate them, are a critical component to doing search engine optimization.

Building Backlinks Should Be Building Your Brand

If your company offers a scholarship to prospective and current college students, then good on you. Now you need to advertise your scholarship opportunity in as many places as possible to reach as many of your targeted students as possible.

![Scholarship Link Building](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/tgxej5RwuY9xVBeEKH8vV/d04d0cf4d014cf1abc85f32796bb95a2/Scholarship_Link_Building_smaller_size.png)

Below is a list I compiled that will get your scholarship seen. Some of them will turn into links back to your website which is also a side benefit.

- https://www.fastweb.com/

You can submit scholarships for free as long as you follow the following criteria: https://www.fastweb.com/content/scholarship-provider-guidelines

It doesn't appear that it will become a link but it will be a brand mention and potentially get some exposure.

- https://studentscholarships.org

An example with a followed link: https://studentscholarships.org/2020_college_scholarships.php

Adding a scholarship appears to be free: https://studentscholarships.org/scholarship_upload.php

- https://www.honorsociety.org/scholarship-directory

Followed links and category pages like, https://www.honorsociety.org/scholarship-directory?tid=38905 and company/scholarship pages like, https://www.honorsociety.org/scholarships/king-charles-lucille-family-foundation-undergraduate-scholarships

I can't find an easy way to submit a scholarship. The best option I found so far, besides calling them, is https://support.honorsociety.org/hc/en-us/requests/new

- https://brokescholar.com/scholarship

The scholarship page includes a nofollowed button link to your scholarship page on your website. Click on any of the scholarship by study area pages, then a scholarship listed to see an example.

Fill out their contact form here: https://www.brokescholar.com/contact

- https://scholarshipowl.com

Submit scholarship here: https://scholarshipowl.com/list-your-scholarship

There directory appears to hide behind a login so it won't count for links but it can still get you some exposure to students.

- https://www.careeronestop.org/Toolkit/Training/find-scholarships.aspx

Followed link from scholarship listing page: https://www.careeronestop.org/toolkit/training/find-scholarships.aspx?keyword=textile&sortcolumns=BestMatch&sortdirections=&lang=en&scholarshipid=9998315

How to submit scholarship: https://www.careeronestop.org/Toolkit/Training/scholarship-finder-help.aspx. "How can I add, remove, or change scholarship information provided by Scholarship Finder? Requests for additions, removals, or any other changes can be sent to info@careeronestop.org."

- https://www.tuitionfundingsources.com/

Directory is hidden behind membership account but still worth submitting.

- https://www.chegg.com/scholarships

There is a followed link from the scholarship listing page. Example: https://www.chegg.com/scholarships/james-j-burns-ca-haynes-textile-scholarship-2380

I could not find a contact form. So call or fill out form to find out how to submit scholarship opportunity. https://www.chegg.com/press/contact-us/


- https://www.scholarships.com/

Several individual scholarship listing pages did not link to their website. Here is one example: https://www.scholarships.com/financial-aid/college-scholarships/scholarship-directory/artistic-ability/art-furnishing-and-design/agl-over-the-rainbow-foundation. 

But I found this, https://www.scholarships.com/scholarship-providers-resources/scholarship-provider-guidelines/, which says, "Scholarship URL must link directly to provider’s scholarship page. Scholarship information landing pages must be hosted on a web page specific to the scholarship, at a domain/URL registered to the scholarship provider." So it seems like you can get a link.

The submission form is here: https://www.scholarships.com/scholarship-providers-resources/list-your-scholarship/create-account

- https://www.listsofscholarships.com

This site lists your scholarship with a followed link. Example: - https://www.listsofscholarships.com/avalaunch-media-scholarship/

To post your scholarship, go here: https://www.listsofscholarships.com/post/

Scholarship Link Building

If you have a scholarship opportunity, you need to advertise it properly to get as many links as possible and to be found by as many college students as possible.

Learn how to advertise your scholarship opportunity as many potential students as possible can apply.

Scholarship Link Building and Getting the Word Out

How to Properly Advertise Your Brand's Scholarship Opportunity - Scholarship Link Building

In order to try and obtain some more links for Nozzle, I found a list of startups from a blog posted by Twoodo.

![list of startups tweedo blog post screenshot](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/1uGXRKvPViIAtYwBpRXMfB/96a68f95115aa71afbf29cdd92e91c05/twoodo.jpg)

As a SaaS startup, we have been looking for places to promote Nozzle and get more brand exposure, traffic, and links.
We came across Twoodo’s list of 33 startup directories that are mostly geared towards SaaS and web apps.

Out of 33 websites, I was able to submit Nozzle to 10 of them with mixed results. Some of the submissions are still pending review. I'll come back and update the following information as we hear back from those sites.

## The 10 sites I submitted to:

1.       Alternative To- This was a really easy submission process. I entered information about Nozzle, as well as added competitors of our product.
![AlternativeTo nozzle submission screenshot ](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/33MXafrHgMNyG0jriBTqzW/ea7809fc991ab65444fbda53f1013c74/alternative_to.png)
 
2.       CrunchBase- Another easy submission asking for company name, description and location. I also recommend connecting founders and employee profiles to the company profile and adding your company’s LinkedIn and Twitter profiles.
![Crunch base nozzle submission screenshot](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/11qmZAN8P39uyAzv42licX/12a7fac7e527628b8adc396d6b2fb998/crunchbase.png)
                                                                                
 
3.       Listly- Listly is unlike the previous two. It’s a website where people can create lists about products, services, and so on. I made a list of 5 rank trackers, and included Nozzle. Listly was more difficult to navigate compared to the others. The list I made as well didn’t come out in the order I wanted it to. I’ll try and see if that can be fixed.

![Listly top 5 rank trackers including nozzle](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/6DLJVdSMlBEqDt1mHdTYlg/d82883829ad58923d8741080e1dc3b31/listly.jpg)


4.       BetaList- BetaList was an easy website to navigate, and I was able to submit Nozzle to be reviewed. I have not heard anything back yet, and BetaList said it could take a month or more for my application to be reviewed.

![Betalist home page screenshot](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/6DlMK341Hg40Fb1E3s568e/45608a1cf33ac772e65b95ca346e5164/betalist.jpg)



5.       Top Alternative- Top Alternative easily allowed me to submit Nozzle for a review. I haven’t heard anything back since my submission.
 
 
6.       Launching Next- Launching Next had an easy submission form in order to submit a startup. Once submitting Nozzle, I had a message pop up on my screen telling me it could be 2-4 months before our application is reviewed. 7.       Killer Startups- Killer Startups was another easy submission to fill out with our information. Once submitted, I was told that it could take up to 90 days to review. 

![Launching next home page](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/4F9Fj5ODYzhbxUe0RYeXPd/2e8b0419281ed1d8a39439c3693507e6/launching_next.png)


Capterra- Capterra’s submission process was easy. After going back on the site, I couldn’t find the exact place where I had submitted our application. I received a  message back that they needed more information about Nozzle in order to process our application. I’m waiting to hear back about what the next steps are.
  
Hacker News- Hacker News is like Reddit, where you submit different ideas or questions as threads. I submitted a question asking if people are looking for a rank tracking tool. 
I don’t recommend submitting to this site unless you are going to invest some time to learn how to properly engage with its audience.

Addictive Tips- On Addictive Tips, I sent in a  message talking about our work here at Nozzle, being an enterprise level rank tracking tool and how we stand out against our competitors. At this time, I haven’t received a link or a message back.

![Addictive tips tip us page](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/7fuJeWArOaTss1pcnWRzFP/f76baf59ff3951f8c1ae99fd5bfea161/addictive_tips.jpg)

 Mashable- On Mashable, I submitted a  “Hot Tip” about Nozzle. I haven’t heard back yet at this time regarding if Nozzle would be featured or not.

## Some of the sites I didn’t submit to:
The following sites require payment and I haven’t tested any of them as of yet: GetApp, Erlibird, Top Alternative, and App Appeal. This next group of sites don’t exist anymore: Maqtoob, Start Up Vid, The Next Web Marketplace, About Your Startup, Launch Sky and Startups FM.
![Money](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/4A5Fw5LRl8c6vCK077D0th/ecdb720180a20dcce5b9e7f763861d73/giphy.gif)

I tried submitting Nozzle to New Big What but after filling out the application I was denied because my browser was a “spambot”. I found that funny.

# And finally, the following sites weren’t a good fit for the industry that Nozzle is in:
Product Hunt, AngelList, All Web 2, TechCrunch, Startup Tank, AppStorm, Upload.com, Fuel Up, Reddit, Gust, and Clpud base 3.

![Not a good fit](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/1Wt49vKl2OeGWA3w4YZOhh/ae8acaecc86ab0de95b2dd24f782c297/giphy.gif)

Overall, submitting to these start-up, SaaS directories was okay. Hopefully my successes and findings above will help you save time so you can focus only on the handful that worked. 


Tanner Linsley

tanner

Finding SAAS Directories from a Blog Post

Our results from submitting to various SAAS directories off the Twoodo Blog

Our Results Submitting to SaaS Directories

Have you ever pondered the time disparity between how long it takes to build something versus destroy it?

For example:

- I spent dozens of hours over the course of five months putting together a 5,000 piece puzzle; it took only 2 minutes to destroy it and put it back into the box.
- A building takes months to construct and days to demolish.
- A great marriage takes years to nurture and develop but can be ruined in a matter of weeks, days, or even minutes.
- A wooden marble track I build with my kids takes minutes to construct but one accidental movement knocks it down in seconds.

The same fast-acting destruction can happen to all of your hard work and efforts in SEO. It takes weeks, months, and years to build up a well optimized site with tons of authority and backlinks and buttoned up technical SEO. In a matter of minutes, it can all be destroyed because of a simple mistake, oversight, or decision made by the upper brass.

Let's take a look at five destructive SEO tactics--er--mishaps that can ruin all your SEO progress before you finish reading this post.

## 1. Noindexing your whole site

![car crashing into garage door is like noindexing your website](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/3CEjn5gIFrO1Lna0DYpMao/0a90efcf44da1694285bd4e8ee904bd2/car_crashing_into_garage_door_is_like_noindexing_your_website.gif)

I've seen this happen several times over the years, mostly by accident.

One website I worked on a few years back launched some site updates with their robots.txt file disallowing their whole site. This company lost weeks of organic traffic before anyone realized this huge oversight. Unfortunately, this happened twice.

It makes sense to have your staging site disallow search engine indexing but you need to have a process in place to change that when you launch. Since this time, they have added an automated process that corrects the robots.txt file when moving from staging to launched.

## 2. Deleting all of your informational pages

![shooting a pole at a window pane is like deleting all of your informational and authoritative web pages](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/2qxfOayNOxVc4Ytv6LkM8X/e5c8a1ad426d0d07106a4adac23f9bfb/shooting_a_pole_at_a_window_pane_is_like_deleting_all_of_your_informational_and_authoritative_web_pages.gif)

Rankings and organic traffic can suffer as a result of business decisions. Eoghan Henn, co founder of <a href="https://www.searchviu.com/en/" target="blank">searchVIU</a>, shared a case study that showed the <a href="https://searchengineland.com/case-study-the-true-value-of-informational-content-for-e-commerce-seo-327692" target="blank">negative impact of deleting informational pages with link authority</a> from a website.

The homepage and category pages lost most of their top rankings for search queries responsible for generating revenue for the company resulting in a loss of about one-third of its overall visibility in the SERPs. Ouch! 

## 3. Failing to redirect an old domain to a new domain

![knocking down shelfs with a forklift is like not implementing 301 redirects properly](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/PWv0RVJUaC8A4qJJdb5oe/3d5942acf73dd3e91d514c2c411e01c0/knocking_down_shelfs_with_a_forklift_is_like_not_implementing_301_redirects_properly.gif)

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">A disappointing few months on this one...client moving domains wouldn&#39;t redirect the previous domain. Even worse, they then let the old domain expire &amp; it&#39;s been grabbed by someone else. We gave them *plenty* of warnings...it had 1 million links pointing to it 😱 <a href="https://t.co/Zbd0hC44W2">pic.twitter.com/Zbd0hC44W2</a></p>&mdash; Will O&#39;Hara 👨🏽‍💻 (@willohara) <a href="https://twitter.com/willohara/status/1132750204661305351?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 26, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

This has to be one of the saddest SEO stories out there. Unfortunately, it happens way more than it should.

Here's another example from the same twitter thread. As you can see, we SEOs like to commiserate with each other.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Been there. Site&#39;s blog had 800k links, 10k pages of content, and back when we measured those things? A PR10. <br><br>They moved it to Tumblr, carried over none of content, and redirected none of the pages. <br><br>I nearly cried lol<br><br>So hard to save clients from themselves at times :)</p>&mdash; Kristine Schachinger (@schachin) <a href="https://twitter.com/schachin/status/1132952136730308608?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 27, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


## 4. Removing a large quantity of valuable backlinks

![exploding a watermelon with rubberbands is like deleting your backlinks one by one](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/5FUWKi8EPbH76qBlTVXARV/ec96b5e5d586b0226393d63b70b191fc/exploding_a_watermelon_with_rubberbands_is_like_deleting_your_backlinks_one_by_one.gif)

One healthcare company, after an FDA inspection, decided to immediately ask hundreds of websites to remove the link pointing to their website until approved content could be verified.  As a result, a large quantity of their links disappeared over night.

Eventually, most of those links were reacquired once they could verify that all verbiage on each individual site was compliant with the FDA's approved messaging.

## 5. Not adding optimized content to every important page

![house falling into a river is like ignoring adding optimized content to your web pages](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/7LfeTRdr7tSLSLCMQPCwL2/f0dffbbf4ac70eecc3d23b798371cba9/house_falling_into_a_river_is_like_ignoring_adding_optimized_content_to_your_web_pages.gif)

Every important page on a website will fare better with optimized content. Choosing to not add more content to important pages can hurt your ability to rank for more keywords.

I recently wrote about the <a href="https://nozzle.io/blog/success-story-adding-content-to-ecommerce-category-pages" target="blank">results of one ecommerce site</a> that added a few paragraphs of content to all their ecommerce category landing pages. After it was all done, they ranked in the top ten for 800 more phrases than before they added the content.

__In Conclusion:__

Sometimes frustrating decisions are made that affect your job as an SEO. Do your best to communicate to the decision makers the ranking and organic traffic consequences and what that will mean to the bottom line. You can't win them all but you can come out looking like you know what you're talking about.

In the end, if you can avoid any of the above SEO disasters, then give yourself a pat on the back.


car crashing into garage door is like noindexing your website

In business, decisions sometimes are made that will impede or destroy all of your SEO progress. Look out for these and good luck.

5 Destructive SEO Decisions

Getting your site to rank is tricky business. Just when you think you’ve multiplied your chances of ranking by using the right keyword in your content, you realize you haven’t been paying attention to off-page SEO.
 
Wasn’t on-site SEO enough? You sprinkled in keywords throughout your headings and content, added them to the Yoast SEO plugin, and wrote a tight meta description too. Now you’re hearing you’ve got to pay attention to off-page SEO too. What?
 
It’s simple, really. Off-page SEO means attempting to get backlinks from other, already-established sites so those links can signal Google your site is authoritative and get better ranking.
 
Now how do you get the links?
 
Let’s answer this in this post. We’ll talk about 5 off-page SEO techniques, which can help you get backlinks to your site. Before diving into these, however, let’s touch base with what off-page SEO is and some basics of link building.
 
Let’s start, shall we?
 
### What is off-page SEO?

Off-page SEO involves actions you take to improve your rankings in the search engine. The only thing is, you take these steps outside your website’s realm, much like dining out. On-page SEO is the exact opposite – steps you take on your website to improve your rankings. It’s the eat-at-home version.
 
Notice both off-page SEO, also known as off-site SEO, and on-page SEO share their goal – to get you to rank better on the search engine. A lower ranking reduces your odds of getting better traffic as your page is not very discoverable.
 
Webpages showing up in the first five organic results of Google search <a href="https://www.impactbnd.com/blog/seo-statistics" target="blank">take home 67.60% of the clicks</a>. Besides, people <a href="https://www.conversionguru.co.za/2017/05/29/90-people-dont-go-past-page-1-google-search-results-searching/" target="blank">rarely scroll past the first search results page</a>. So who wants to rank better?

### The basics of link building
It’s settled then – off-site SEO is your bat signal that tells Google you’re trustworthy, therefore, deserve a better positioning in the search results. But are all links created equal?
 
Certain links are trustworthy while others are spam (created through spammy off-page SEO practices). Since we’ll be covering only authentic off-site SEO tactics, you don’t need to worry about those.
 
For now, keep the following in mind:

- The links you’re attempting to get should come from a relevant site. 

If you’re a career coach, it doesn’t make sense to get a link from a food blogger. The link becomes irrelevant. 

- The linking domain and page should have good authority. 

Google’s page authority metric is called PageRank. Unfortunately there is no way to see that metric anymore, but some SEO tools have their own authority metrics, which can give us a good idea. For instance, keep tabs on Moz’s DA (domain authority) and PA (page authority) metrics. Alternatively, Ahrefs’ metrics of DR (Domain Rating) and UR (URL Rating) are also good indicators. A site with low DA or DR doesn’t have the I’ve-stood-the-test-of-time authority to tell Google you deserve better ranking. In short, it doesn’t bring much value to the table.

In a nutshell, you need links from high authority, trustworthy sites that are relevant to your niche. 

What’s next? Getting your hands dirty with off-page SEO. Here we go:


## 1. Build links by guest blogging

Guest blogging involves you writing content for another site in your niche as a “guest” on their page. You either add a link to your page in the content or get one in the author bio that credits you for writing the piece.

![Links in Guest Post Author Bio on GetResponse](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/6pJrw2nhIjEhPsGyWGNNt/66f10015cf9fba5e9a693be13dedcc10/Links_in_Guest_Post_Author_Bio_on_GetResponse.png)

<center><a href="https://www.getresponse.com/blog/emojis-email-subject-line-best-practices" target="blank">Guest post for GetResponse</a></center>

<p>Some say guest blogging has lost its charm. Others, like <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=guest%20blogging%20(from%3AAaronOrendorff)&src=typed_query" target="blank">Aaron Orendorff</a>, promise it works, having guest posted for over <a href="https://copyhackers.com/2019/11/guest-posting/" target="blank">40 leading publications and gotten a job</a> as the editor in chief at Shopify Plus. The correct answer?
 
Done correctly, guest blogging can be a good source of solid backlinks and referral traffic to your site. Just as in the case of any other off-site SEO strategy, there are two ways to build links with guest posting:

❌ __The wrong way__: Writing meh content on every site that can link back to you, never caring if the site is relevant to yours or if its readers are interested in what you have to say.
 
✔ __The right way__: Contributing valuable content to a guest site in your niche on a topic that genuinely interests readers.
 
So how do you go about doing things the right way?

❌ The wrong way: Writing meh content on every site that can link back to you, never caring if the site is relevant to yours or if its readers are interested in what you have to say.
 
✔ The right way: Contributing valuable content to a guest site in your niche on a topic that genuinely interests readers.
 
So how do you go about doing things the right way?

### How to guest post the right way?

The best (and most effective) way to guest post starts with building relationships in your industry. Discover potential target sites by googling:
 
[Your niche] + [write for us] or [guest post] or [contribute to] or [guest writer]
 
For instance:

![SERPs Query - marketing write for us](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/dSMkXT5nvWiSrzO1bXob6/d4df25466c4b3f0c9b73f88fa8a91a2b/SERPs_Query_-_marketing_write_for_us.png)

(On a side note, find several dozen more search operators to use <a href="https://www.iqseo.org/search-operators-for-seo/" target="blank">here</a>.)
 
Next, start networking with editors of publications that are on your to-guest-post list. Eventually, <a href="https://bloggingwizard.com/the-best-guest-post-pitch/" target="blank">pitch</a> your topics.
 
I like to think you need to interact with someone at least 6-7 times before you pitch, it’s something I’ve picked from the <a href="https://www.krusecontrolinc.com/rule-of-7-how-social-media-crushes-old-school-marketing/" target="blank">marketing rule of 7</a>.
 
Pitching this way increases your chances of getting a reply from busy editors. But what confirms your chances of getting your pitch approved? Studying the target site to pitch topics that their audience will enjoy.
 
<a href="https://twitter.com/jennals" target="blank">Jenna Scaglione</a>, the Managing Editor for Foundr magazine <a href="https://foundr.com/how-to-pitch-a-blog" target="blank">shares</a>, “The goal is to show the editor that you did your homework and you understand the blog’s style and audience. You don’t have to even tell editors that you did this research. They will know right away from your pitch email.”

Alternatively, cold pitch editors of your target site. Use a tool like <a href="https://respona.com/" target="blank">Respona</a> to schedule an outreach campaign. However, warm your pitches by personalizing your emails to editors. How? Read about the person who you’ll be emailing to develop a personal connection or share what you liked in one of the pieces you read on the target site.
 
### Where should you guest post?

Go for sites with:

- High DA and PA
- Active presence on social
- Engaged audience (hint: look at the comments or, at least, the social shares)

### Best practices:

- Never pitch a site before first studying it.
- Pitch 3-5 topics to give the editor a choice.
- Don’t just pitch a topic. Pitch a short outline to show the angle the piece will take.
- Establish your credibility in your pitch, for instance, by sharing links to what you’ve written.


## 2. Tap into off-page SEO with HARO

<a href="https://www.helpareporter.com/" target="blank">HARO or Help A Reporter Out</a> is a platform where journalists get sources (aka quotes) from experts for their content. You can benefit by signing up as a source that offers valuable insights to pitches shared. For instance, Nozzle <a href="https://nozzle.io/blog/haro-link-building-success-story" target="blank">acquired a link from a DA 53 (DR 75) site via HARO</a>.
 
Two ways to go about using HARO:
 
❌ __The wrong way__: Replying to every pitch with poor quality answers that lack depth and clarity.
 
✔ __The right way__: Replying to selected but highly relevant pitches where your expertise matters. Moreover, giving an in-depth answer that is clear, focused, and meets all requirements listed in a pitch.


### How to build backlinks with HARO?

Every pitch that accepts you as a source links back to your site. That’s a backlink. Bingo! So you need to kick things off by signing up for HARO and keeping an eye on the pitches pouring into your inbox. Once you spot a relevant pitch, hit reply.
 
### Where and how should you respond on HARO?

Respond to relevant pitches where you understand you can add value. For instance, I can best offer my opinion on writing, blogging, and content marketing. I can never offer advice on pet matters.

### Best practices:

- Take your time to craft your response. Journalists reject thin responses right away.
- Provide unique insights, an answer that you think others wouldn’t have covered.
- Read through the pitch to see if you meet the journalist’s requirements and answer everything they ask for.
- Wait. Don’t expect backlinks to roll in with your first reply to a HARO request itself.


## 3. Use Quora to build links

<a href="https://www.quora.com/" target="blank">Quora</a> is a Q&A platform where people connect to ask and answer questions in areas where they’re experts in.
 
But here’s the catch – Quora doesn’t offer do-follow links. Instead, it offers no-follow links which don’t pass on link juice..
 
So why should you chase Quora in the first place? Because you need no-follow links too. A link portfolio that includes no follow links looks more natural. Moreover, your answers on Quora increase your content’s exposure to niche-specific audiences, who can link back to you. That’s mission accomplished, except, indirectly.
 
So, what’s wrong, what’s right here?
 
❌ __The wrong way__: Responding to whatever questions you see in your stream with half-baked answers immediately linking to your content.
 
✔ __The right way__: Engaging with community members by adding to others’ answers and pairing this with answering relevant questions that link to your page.

![Imran Esmail on Quora](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/6dnbvqp1XVxxqUF8mC18XE/75b68dce292799ea969bf46010922571/Imran_Esmail_on_Quora.png)
<center><a href="https://www.quora.com/profile/Imran-Esmail" target="blank">Imran Esmail on Quora</a></center>

### How to build backlinks with Quora?

You need to start with engaging on the platform just like you do on social media. Read responses and add your take to them. Eventually, start answering questions yourself. But the trick is in making your answer valuable enough for the viewer to click your link.
 
You have two options for this:
 
One, write a solid introduction that hooks the reader and gets him to click on your link.
Two, share pointers answering the question, but tell readers to get more details on your page.
 
### Which questions should you answer on Quora?

Answer questions with good followers. This shows several people are interested in the answer. You’ll also need to pick a question with as few answers as possible, so your response has a better chance of getting the exposure it deserves. Lastly, answer recently asked questions. Check the last asked date to learn how fresh or stale a question is.

### Best practices:

- Use a friendly, professional tone.
- Add visuals that supplement your answer. Not many people include visuals so it’s a good way to standout in the crowd.
- Don’t just write an answer, humanize it – share your experience, what you’ve learned, and so on.


## 4. Build backlinks on social media

Sure social media is a good place to promote your content, but it’s an equally good place for building backlinks. You only need to be good at making useful connections and become part of active communities.
 
Check out the wrong and right ways in this case:
 
❌ __The wrong way__: Spamming social media, for instance, joining Facebook groups and sharing your links there without context.
 
✔ __The right way__: Engaging with people, offering value, making meaningful connections, and building links when the opportunity arises.


### How to build backlinks on social?

Ready to get backlinks from social media? Let’s dig into networks individually. But remember, it all starts with engagement.
 
<a href="https://twitter.com/boydnorwood/status/1222956358535761920?s=20" target="blank">https://twitter.com/boydnorwood/status/1222956358535761920?s=20</a>
 
<h4>Facebook</h4>
Join niche-relevant groups. Certain groups offer PR opportunities. Others, put up collaboration threads where you can connect with people to guest post or exchange links. Still others, ask for contributions like in the example below:

![Contribution links Via Quuu Promote Facebook Group](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/3LVVzf6HdKYZcj78mfb7tM/898231a8c412e3048cfd0ad8274f198d/Contribution_links_Via_Quuu_Promote_Facebook_Group.png)
<center><a href="https://www.facebook.com/quuuco/" target="blank">Via Quuu Promote Facebook Group</a></center>

<p><h4>Twitter</h4>
Connect with journalists and writers who are always on the lookout for contributors. Looking for a shortcut? Track the #journorequest #PRrequest #bloggerrequest hashtags. These are dedicated to connecting experts and writers.
 
<a href="https://twitter.com/inkandcopy/status/1207406658344882176" target="blank">https://twitter.com/inkandcopy/status/1207406658344882176</a>
 
<h4>Pinterest</h4>
<a href="https://venngage.com/blog/visual-content-marketing-statistics/" target="blank">42% of marketers</a> confirm infographics and original graphics are the most engaging. Naturally, putting them on a visual platform like Pinterest opens doors for backlinks for these infographics and images.
 
What’s more, you can also get links if your visual content ends up in a “best from Pinterest” article such as “<a href="https://www.translationroyale.com/top-content-marketing-pinterest-accounts/" target="blank">8 pinterest accounts every content marketer should follow</a>”.

### Best practices:

- Offer free value to establish yourself as a subject matter authority.
- Solve people’s problems by answering questions they have on social.
- Use hashtag tracking tools to keep tabs on important hashtags.


## 5. Get links by blog commenting

Although blog commenting became notorious some time back, Google’s former head of search spam, <a href="https://twitter.com/mattcutts" target="blank">Matt Cutts</a>, disclosed that even he built links with blog commenting in a video explaining the right way to do it:
 
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNDRlVSWTRY&feature=youtu.be" target="blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNDRlVSWTRY&feature=youtu.be</a>
 
Here’s a summary of the wrong and right way of blog commenting:
 
❌ __The wrong way__: Leaving a large number of meaningless comments with your link.
 
✔ __The right way__: Making comments that add value on relevant sites with high engagement.



### How to build backlinks by blog commenting?
 
The first rule is to always comment on niche-relevant sites. And the second is to read the post before commenting. Take a point and expand on it by adding your experience to it.
 
Make sure your <a href="https://smartblogger.com/blog-comments/" target="blank">comment is offering value</a> and isn’t a mere “great post” or “excellent article.” See that you comment on an engaged, high-DA site where comments are common. For instance, this site:

![Example of blog with regular commenters](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/zlzWoBXwf2VMGWPXSBoqZ/301bfb4bde37d26c3ad0ed6ff71753b3/Example_of_blog_with_regular_commenters.png)

<center><a href="https://dispatch.m.io/" target="blank">source</a></center>

<p>
Don’t overdo comments though. If all the links to your site come from comments without any natural links, Google will sniff that as a link scheme.
 
Anna Crowe, Content Strategy Lead at Leadfeeder <a href="https://www.searchenginejournal.com/link-building-guide/blog-comments/" target="blank">shares a solution</a> to this end, “If you take the time to comment on two blog posts per day, with a backlink back to your website (even if the links are nofollowed), the end result will be roughly 60 backlinks per month, or 720 per year.”

### Best practices:
 
Make highly relevant comments on posts that are relevant to your niche.
Comment with your profile and image rather than a keyword or anchor text.
Avoid sending spam signals to Google by limiting the number of blog comments.

## Ready to make some backlinks?
  
Off-page SEO takes time, but reaps sweet fruit. Get to building links with these five proven strategies. But remember – in all instances, building relationships and basing those relationships on offering free value takes home the trophy. Now, go crush those off-site SEO goals. 🙌




5 Proven Off-page SEO Tactics to Help You Build Powerful Links in No Time

I recently analyzed some of the links we acquired last year by responding to HARO requests. 

If you're unfamiliar with HARO, Benjamin Houy wrote a great write-up on <a href="https://growwithless.com/haro/" target='blank'>how to use HARO.</a>

I want to highlight the process of acquiring one specific link and look at the value of the link itself.

## The Process:

I received the HARO email containing the inquiry on April 29th, 2019 at 10:38 AM.

> "27) Summary: What's ONE important SEO metric all marketers should be tracking? (Besides Organic Traffic.)
> 
> Name: Databox Blog
Category: Business and Finance
> 
> Email: query-9a2j[@]helpareporter.net
> 
> Media Outlet: Databox Blog
> 
> Deadline: 11:00 AM EST - 30 April
> 
> Query:
> 
> We're looking to curate a list of important SEO metrics that
> marketers should track.
> 
> They could be the obvious ones. They could be more of the less
> common or unusual ones.
> 
> Either way, we want to provide marketers with a comprehensive
> list of important SEO metrics they should be tracking.
> 
> What's ONE important SEO metric all marketers should be
> tracking? Why? (Please share ONE metric, why it's important to
> track, as well as any insights around benchmarks marketers
> should aim for.) (Please share ONE metric, why it's important to
> track, as well as any insights around benchmarks marketers
> should aim for.)
> Requirements:
> 
> You have to be willing to answer additional multiple choice questions via email."


I responded with the following on April 29th, 2019 at 10:33 PM:

> "One important SEO metric to track is the click-through rate (CTR) of each landing page and how it fluctuates as you move up in rankings and as you tweak that page's title tag and meta description. Google Search Console tracks this for you automatically; you just need to pay attention to it. 
> 
> Given how simple it is to test title tag and meta description changes, it is wise to take the time to test many variations to find the best combination of highest ranking with highest CTR."

I got an email back on April 30th at 1:49 AM asking me to participate in an SEO tools survey:

> "Hey Boyd,
> 
> Just read through your HARO response. Good stuff. 
> 
> I'd like to include your response, as well as a link back to your website, in a report we're putting together. 
> 
> Before I do that, can I ask you to share what SEO tools you use? 
> 
> Can you tick all that apply via this link?
> (Just copy paste your input into the text box by the open-ended question)
> 
> Thank you"

I filled out the survey later that morning.

On May 8, 2019, the post went live here: <a href="https://databox.com/most-important-seo-kpis" target='blank'>https://databox.com/most-important-seo-kpis</a> and used only a portion of my quote (which is totally fine, I'm not complaining):

> "Given how simple it is to test title tag and meta description changes, it is wise to take the time to test many variations to find the best combination of highest ranking with highest CTR."

I got an email on May 9, 2019 at 1:54 PM announcing the use of my quote and the published article URL.

> "Hi Boyd,
> 
> Thank you for contributing to our greatest article on SEO KPIs so far!
> 
> With your help we compiled another insightful report:
> <a href="https://databox.com/most-important-seo-kpis" target='blank'>*The 49 SEO KPIs That Marketers Are Tracking Most*</a>
> 
> Along with your response, we included a backlink back to your website."

## The link value:

As of today (1/17/20), the Databox article has the following metrics:

- A Page Authority of 36 from Moz on a site with a Domain Authority of 53
- A URL Rating of 21 from Ahrefs on a site with a Domain Rating of 75
- 9 backlinks that I manually checked (3 are nofollowed)
- Those 9 backlinks have a total of 6 backlinks linking to them (4 are nofollowed)

![Link Trail from a Successful HARO Request](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/2cDPJ6mdUIcXzRfQuAfKBc/caa873bd57d6b151d63813899b468427/Link_Trail_from_a_Successful_HARO_Request.png)

Update:

A more recent example from a post I was quoted in about <a href="https://flashpointmarketing.biz/get-featured-snippets/" target="blank">how to get featured snippets</a> on 2/11/30:

- The article has a Moz PA of 20 and a DA of 30 (ahrefs: UR-15 and DR-22)
- 7 backlinks point to this article as of 4/3/20
- Those 7 pages that link to the article have 17 total backlinks linking to them


## Proper Expectations from HARO Link Building:

Not all HARO links are created equal. Some are more valuable and some are less valuable but it can be a great use of time if done correctly.

Keep the following in mind:

- It can be time consuming to read through every HARO pitch, inside each of the three daily emails, looking for pitches that are relevant to you and your business.
- When you do send a response to a pitch, <a href="https://growwithless.com/haro/" target='blank'>"roughly 20% of pitches will get a reply and 10% will be used."</a>
- Most pitches have short deadlines so don't dawdle.
- HARO <a href="https://monitorbacklinks.com/blog/seo/haro-link-building" target='blank'>"[is not] a garden of roses" but is still good to include in your overall link and PR strategy</a>.
- But for others, <a href="https://www.contentfac.com/how-i-got-quoted-in-major-outlets-5-times-in-1-month-using-haro/" target='blank'>it's worked out tremendously</a>!




Link Trail from a Successful HARO Request

One example of a decent link from using HARO.

Blog - Link Building