By Albin Sandberg
Are you scratching you head, wondering why your website doesn’t receive the organic traffic you think it deserves? This could be because it’s lacking authority – one of the key factors that affects your rankings in search engines like Google. Let me show you three ways to turn the ship around.
But first, let’s start with the basics. What is an authoritative website?
Well, to put it short, I would describe an authoritative website as a trusted site. A site that is trusted by both users, industry experts, other websites and search engines. Need an example? You’re already on it.
Who decides which sites have authority?
At the end of the day search engines are the ones who decide whether a website have authority or not. However, there is several metrics that you can use to keep track of your websites authority. Or at least get an estimate of it.
The most used one is appropriately enough called Domain Authority (DA). A handy metric that was developed by Moz in order to provide insights into the “SEO-strength” of a website. Remember – with authority comes huge benefits amongst search engines.
In order to calculate DA, some of the following factors are used:
- A websites backlink profile
- A websites organic search traffic
- A websites organic search positions
However, DA was not the first metric of its kind. It’s actually built to simulate Google’s good old PageRank (PR). A mathematical formula that was developed by Sergey Brin and Larry Page in order to estimate the “value of a page” by considering the quantity and quality of other pages that link to it.
PS! Until a few years ago Google even had their own PR toolbar, providing users with insights about the value of a page (read authority). However, the toolbar caused such a stir in the SEO-world that they eventually had to shut it down for the public.
Tactics to improve your websites authority
So, how would you go about strengthening your websites backlink profile, increasing its organic search traffic and positions? By using the following tactics, of course:
Guest posting
Guest posting is about publishing high-quality articles on popular sites within your niche. In other words, sites that is trusted by both users, industry experts and search engines.
The benefits of having your articles published on sites like these are plenty, though most people do it to attract backlinks and drive relevant traffic towards their site. Two of the key things that is needed to gain authority. However, the guest posting space is not what is used to be.
This tactic has actually gotten so misused over the years, that many sites doesn’t allow guest posts any more. Although some of them do, the requirements are much tougher than they used to be, just a few years ago.
So, what does that mean? That you can’t land guest posts anymore? Of course, you can, but you need to have the right approach and tactic in order to succeed. Below are all of the steps that I’ve used to land guest posts on authority websites, just like this one.
- Realize that nobody wants to publish your articles (at first) – For the most part, popular niche sites only accept high-quality posts from industry experts. Meaning that you need to portray yourself just like that. An industry expert with a unique point of view that convey valuable knowledge.
If you’re just getting started, this will be your toughest challenge. So how do you overcome it? You start by publishing high-quality articles on your own website. Use a tool like Ryte Content Success to ease up the process and start crafting content that both users and search engines will love.
- Find high authority domains within your niche – Once your site is filled with valuable, high-quality content, it’s time to start researching. Which are the most popular sites within your niche?
- Reach out to the people behind these sites – Last but not least, it’s time to establish a contact with your targeted sites. Or, as I like to approach it – build a relationship with the site owner(s).
Remember that these are people who probably receives hundreds of emails per day. Emails from people who are asking the exact same question as you. What will make you stand out from the crowd?
Something that has worked great for me, is to reach out to the site owner(s) on LinkedIn. It usually goes like this:
“Hi [name of the site owner],
My name is Albin Sandberg. I’m a digital marketing professional who focuses on content creation and link building.
I really like the articles you and your colleagues publish on [name of the site] and I would love to contribute with an article. What do you think about this idea that just popped into my head [topic]?
Can’t wait to hear from you!”
Make appearances on podcasts
If you feel that guest posting is not for you, you can try to get invited as a guest on podcasts instead. The benefits from the two are exactly the same, with the only difference that the latter takes less of your time.
Let’s be honest – crafting a high-quality and in-depth article takes time. Hours upon hours of hard work. Writing and erasing. Writing and erasing. At the meantime, you could instead attend a podcast that would take up a fraction of your limited time. See where I’m going with this?
To land a podcast appearance, I would recommend you use the following steps:
- Find the most popular podcasts within your niche by exploring platforms like Acast, Spotify and Podcaster.
- Get a feel for the format and topics that are being discussed on the different podcasts.
- Examine whether or not they publish a transcript and link to relevant content on their website.
- Reach out to the podcast host. Something I would recommend you do with the same approach as for the guest post. Remember – it’s all about building a relationship and making sure that you stand out from the crowd.
- Voila – you just landed your first podcast appearance!
Publish articles on Medium
If you’re willing to produce and publish in-depth articles on your own website, you should also consider doing it on other platforms such as Medium. Never heard of it? Think of it as a Twitter for long-form content.
By doing this you have the opportunity to reach a big, new audience and build a following. Something that most likely will result in more traffic to your website. At the same time, you’re also building your reputation as an industry expert.
Last but not least, Medium could be the place where you get discovered by big publishers. The platform has gained a lot of popularity amongst publishers who’s looking for contributors. Think of it – publishers and site owners reaching out to you instead of the other way around.
Want to get started? Simply follow these steps:
- Make an account on Medium.
- Click on your profile picture in the top-right corner to open the menu.
- Choose Write a story.
- Enter a compelling title that will attract people’s attention.
- Write your awesome, in-depth article.
- Click on the + button on the left to enlarge the menu. Then click the camera icon to add relevant pictures.
- When finished, easily click Ready to publish.
- Add tags and customize the preview title if you want to.
- Click Publish now.
- Your article is now published and visible for any Medium user to read.
There you have it, three ways to increase your websites authority as well as your rankings. What tactics will you use?
Albin Sandberg is currently working at a digital marketing agency, called Adsight, where he helps customers with everything from SEO and SEM to social media advertising. He’s also a regular contributor to various publications.
Authorized website stock photo by Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock
