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Here are 5 proven ways to Increase Search Traffic without building backlinks

increase search trafficThere are many ways to increase search traffic.

I’ve asked search traffic expert, Anil Agarwal, to show you how to do it without building backlinks.

This is important to know because, hey, search traffic is free traffic.

People simply search for your content via search engines like Google.

And if you’ve used some of the suggestions Anil gives you in this article, your article could appear in the top listings.

That can drive lots of traffic your way, and you don’t have to pay a penny for it!

Now, do you have your blog set up to actually make money?

How to make money with a blog for beginners

If so, you’re all set to go.

Increasing search traffic will certainly improve your chances for having a profitable blog.

So let’s see how to do exactly that.

Here Are
5 Proven Ways to Increase Search Traffic
Without Building Backlinks

by Anil Agarwal

Hands down, building quality backlinks to your site is a surefire way to increase your search rankings.

 

But link building is NOT the only way to get more traffic from search

 

You can do it even without links. Link building is becoming harder day by day and you really need to put a ton of effort to attract quality links.

 

So if you’re someone who hates link building but looking for proven ways to increase your search traffic, this post is for you.

 

Can You Increase Search Traffic Without Backlinks?
Here are 5 Ways to do it

 

1. Focus on the “long tail”

 

Long tail keywords are low hanging fruits. They usually contain 4 or more keywords. It doesn’t matter what industry you are in.  If you want quick results with SEO, you need to start targeting long tail keywords.

 

Why focus on long tail keywords?

 

Long tail keywords have so many advantages including;

 

  • They are easier to rank in search engines. (That’s because they usually have low monthly searches when compared to head or short tail keywords)
  • You can target a more specific audience with long tail keywords
  • They also cost you less per click (PPC ads) while doing paid advertising 
  • Above all, long tail keywords convert better as they are laser focused!

 

So how do you find long tail keywords?

 

One of the easiest and fastest ways to find long tail keywords is to use Google autosuggest.

 

Just enter a keyword phrase of your choice in Google search. It then starts showing you keyword suggestions automatically.

 

Here’s what it looks like:

keyword suggestions for increasing search traffic

 

As you can see above, “benefits of lemon juice” is a 4 word long tail keyword.

But you can find even more detailed long tail keywords with low searches and competition. Google autosuggest helps you with that as it is suggesting a ton of keyword variations like:

 

  • The “Benefits of lemon juice on face”
  • And “Benefits of lemon juice for hair”
  • Or “Benefits of lemon juice on skin”
  • And so on

 

Long tail keywords convert like crazy.  That’s because they help you with everything on your topic.  Even if you’re looking to increase your sales through deal pages – just target highly specific long tail keywords.

 

Quick tip: Install Keywords Everywhere (a free browser extension for Chrome).  It shows you useful Google keyword search volume and cost per click data on multiple websites. As you can see above, it’s displaying the monthly searches along with CPC value just adjacent to the keyword suggestions. 

 

Here are few more tools which are extremely helpful in finding really profitable yet low competitive long tail keywords.

  • LSI Graph
  • Serpstat (of course, it has great features)
  • Keywordtool.io


2. Google loves in-depth articles

 

Gone are the days where you can get first page rankings on Google by writing a 500 word article. Google loves in-depth articles that adds value to the people.

 

In fact, 2000+ word articles perform really well in Google search.

 

Brian Dean from Backlinko did an interesting analysis on search rankings. He found that the average word count of a Google first page result is 1890 words.

longer content length can increase search traffic

 

And it’s not just Brian Dean’s findings.

 

There are so many case studies that have been performed by authority sites like Buzzsumo and HubSpot.

 

And they conclude that “long form articles perform really well in both the search engines and social media.”

 

So if you’re looking to increase your search traffic without actually building backlinks, creating in-depth content is the key.

 

Are you wondering about how to create in-depth articles to increase your organic traffic?

 

Here are few incredible tips for you.

 

Come up with an evergreen topic idea:

There’s no point in writing in-depth articles around “ordinary topics” which fade away after a year or two. You need to find “timeless topics” which can be relevant to your target audience even after 3 to 5 years. 

 

How can you find evergreen content ideas?

  • Analyze your competitors.
  • Ask your target audience.
  • Brainstorm various topics.
  • Use tools like Buzzsumo.
  • Find questions on Quora.

 

There are so many ways to find evergreen topic ideas. 

 

Research, research, research:

The key to writing in-depth content is this: spend more time on research. The more you spend on the research part, the easier it gets for you to write longer articles. Try to cover A to Z information about the topics you’re going to cover.

 

Write, don’t edit until you finish:

One of the common mistakes most people make while writing is they often edit. Just outline your article. Use Google Docs. Put references and start writing. Don’t edit until you finish writing. That’s the key to writing long form articles really quickly.

How to Share Your Unique Voice to Write Popular Blog

 

3. Rank for the “featured snippets”

 

Have you heard about Position Zero in Google search?

 

Position Zero is an incredible feature that Google has implemented. It provides “faster information” to users above the fold on Google. If you’re ranking for Position Zero, you’ll be getting more visibility in Google organic search results than any other result.

 

Position Zero is also known as “Google featured snippet”.

 

Here’s what a featured snippet aka Position Zero looks like:

google featured snippet to increase search traffic

 

As you can see above, when you enter a search term like “who is Elon Musk”, Google shows a featured snippet. It includes all the quick information about Elon Musk, who is the real world Ironman.

 

That means, searchers don’t have to scroll through a ton of web pages to find key information about Elon Musk.  They can simply read the featured snippet to get a quick idea about him.

 

That’s why Google is more inclined towards showing featured snippets.  They want to improve searchers’ experience while browsing on Google. 

 

How to rank for featured snippets:

 

According to Ahrefs, 99.58 percent of the featured snippets are already in the top 10 positions in Google. That means, if you want to rank for featured snippets, you must first get into the top 10 search results for your desired keywords. 

 

To get into the top 10 search results for a keyword, you must choose low competition keywords. 

 

Analyze your competitors to see what type of content they are creating to get into top 10 search results for a keyword.

 

Above all, try to answer users’ queries.  Google wants to provide direct and relevant answers in the search snippets most of the time. 

 

So you must answer your target audience queries.

 

You can use platforms like Quora to find what are all the questions they have in their minds. Answer them in the form of your blog posts. 

 

Refer our detailed guide on getting Google featured snippets. It gives you more in-depth data and tips on how to rank for featured snippets. 

 

4. Find and improve underperforming content

 

Updating old content is one of the most underrated SEO strategies. To get more traffic from search engines, you don’t always have to create new content. 

 

Update your old posts with new improvements (along with relevant keywords). This can help you a lot in bringing more visitors from search. Make sure to use tools like Google Analytics to find underperforming content on your blog.

 

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Build “Content Upgrades” + “Landing Pages” Into Your Blog Posts, Seamlessly & Fast

 

If your old blog posts are not bringing you any traffic or links, it’s time to start working on them.

 

Here are a few things you can do to improve your old content.

  • Update
  • Merge similar posts
  • Remove (and use 301 redirects)

 

Let’s talk about each one of them. This will help you can understand how to improve your old content.  And that will help you to get more traffic from search engines in 2019 and beyond.

 

Update old blog posts

Let’s say your old blog posts are not bringing you any traffic from search engines.  It might be mostly for one reason: “missing keyword research and optimization.”

 

Make sure to come up with at least one primary keyword to target in every blog post you publish. If your old blog posts are missing keywords, then find relevant primary keywords to optimize your existing content. 

 

Also, improve your old blog posts.

 

Do this by 

  • tweaking your headlines,
  • and your meta description,
  • adding more images,
  • linking to other relevant pages,
  • adding new information,
  • and so on. 

 

The key here is to make your old content as helpful and as relevant as possible. This will impress both your audience and the search engines. Once you’re done with updating your posts, use Google fetch to let search bots crawl your URLs quickly. 

 

Merge similar posts into one

If you’ve been running a blog or website for some time now, you’ll probably have few (or a lot) of similar blog posts. They are likely to be targeting the same or relevant keywords. 

 

It’s better to find all such relevant pages and merge similar posts into one. Make it a mega blog post. It helps you avoid keyword cannibalization. But it also helps you get better rankings and links in the long run. 

 

Delete (if all fails)

If your old blog posts are not relevant or useful to your audience, you should probably remove them.  And make sure to use 301 redirects so that the link juice can be preserved to existing posts. 

 

5. Optimize your blog posts like a pro

 

On page optimization can help you move your keyword rankings in Google search.

 

You need to be careful while optimizing your blog posts for your target keywords, though. Most people end up stuffing the same keywords again and again.  That’s called keyword stuffing. It’s bad for your rankings in the long run.

 

You should know how to properly optimize your pages. And you need to include your target keywords in the right places.

These include…

  • Title tag
  • Meta description
  • Image ALT tags
  • URL 
  • Subheadings such as h2, h3, h4 etc
  • Throughout the body. Sprinkle LSI keywords to avoid keyword stuffing.

 

If you’re using WordPress, there are 2 incredible optimization plugins you can use.


These are:

  • WordPress SEO by Yoast
  • Rank Math

 

Let’s briefly talk about the two.

 

WordPress SEO by Yoast: This is the ONLY plugin we’ve been using on all of our sites for a long time. In fact, we’re using the premium version of it because it is worth every penny. If you’re looking to easily optimize your blog posts for a focus keyword, this plugin helps you with that.

 

The plugin also suggests you where to put your focus keywords. This is to better optimize your blog posts to get more visibility in search engines. I highly recommend it for all kinds of bloggers. 

 

SEO by Rank Math: This is new to the party, but is creating a lot of positive buzz lately. It helps you target multiple keywords and .  This will optimize your posts for rich snippets.  It easily integrates with Google search console.  SEO by Rank Math even tracks your keyword rankings. You can do a ton of other incredible things with this plugin. 

 

Conclusion about increasing traffic without backlinks

 

Link building is definitely one of the top ranking factors in Google. But still, there are many more ways you can grow your organic traffic without links. In fact, there are over 200 ranking factors.

 

The key to ranking high is to create evergreen content that adds value to your target audience. In addition, you should be using long tail keywords. And frequently update your existing content with relevant information.

Learn More About Donna’s Top Tier Mentoring ProgramTop Tier Coaching

So how do you try to increase search traffic to your blog or website?

Do you spend way too much time trying to build backlinks?

How helpful is it to you to have learned of these 5 Proven Ways to Increase Search Traffic Without Building Backlinks?

Please leave your questions or comments below.

And also, be sure to share this article on your favorite social sites.

Thank you.

-Anil

About The Author

6 Most Effective SEO TipsAnil Agarwal is the guy behind Bloggers Passion blog where he is helping newbie as well experienced bloggers in taking their blog’s search traffic & revenue to the next level. You can connect him on Facebook here.

 

 

 

Donna Merrill
Donna is a well known blogger and creator of "Blogging Magic" - an intensive guide to blogging. "Blogging Magic" is for beginners who are trying to figure out how to bring their blogs to life with tons of visits, comments and social media interaction. It's even for advanced bloggers looking to reach new levels of authority and engagement with their audience.

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23 Responses to Here are 5 proven ways to Increase Search Traffic without building backlinks

  1. Sumit Sao
    Twitter:
    July 5, 2020 at 2:31 pm #

    Hi Anil Sir & Donna Ma’am,

    I agree with you that we should use long-tail keywords and publish in-depth guides. Because a few days back, I published a 6,300+ words article and it’s ranking on #5 position for a money keyword without building a single backlink.

    Also, it’s a good idea to update our old article with more long-tail and LSI keywords to get more organic traffic.

    Keep up the good work. Tweeted this amazing article.

    Regards,
    Sumit Sao

    Sumit Sao recently posted.. Blog Description: Tips to Write Killer One With Examples

  2. Mishal Soni
    Twitter:
    December 10, 2019 at 10:02 pm #

    Thanks Anil and Donna, for this excellent piece of content.

    Many beginners think that they cannot get search traffic to their blog without backlinks, but this is not true at all. There are many ways by following, they can get a ton of traffic on their blog. According to me, backlinks are working just only for growing the authority of your blog.

    I love your 4th tips, For gating premium search traffic updating the old post works like a charm, this is the best way to get recurring traffic, it is also the best formula to always be on the top result of search engines.

    Mishal Soni recently posted.. How to Get Your Blog Noticed in 2019? 13 Proven Ways to Get Readers

  3. Amar Kumar October 5, 2019 at 6:28 am #

    Hello Donna,

    We all want more traffic, because more traffic means more leads and customers, and more awareness surrounding our businesses. Increasing your website’s traffic isn’t easy, and increasing your organic traffic can be time consuming.

    You’ve said 100% correct that Google loves quality content which people love to consume. If you want to create tasty content you need to deep research pertaining to that. Thanks for showing these great points.

    With best wishes,

    Amar Kumar

  4. Swaran C T October 3, 2019 at 8:22 am #

    Hi Anil
    I’m into SEO recently and I strongly believed Backlinks are one of the great parts for SEO. Which gives more support to rank your website easily..But after reading this article this really helped me .. I’ll follow things you mentioned here..Thank you for this Content..

  5. Moss Clement
    Twitter:
    September 23, 2019 at 9:07 am #

    Hi Anil,

    Your posts are super helpful. In fact, Donna’s space is the second website, where I have read your post today. And it makes sense to digest your content since they are helpful. Encouraging bloggers to use more long-tail keywords to optimize their posts is agreeable because these keywords generate increasing SEO juices. They are less competitive and have a high search volume, which means that using them strategically in your articles will boost your chances of ranking higher on Google.
    Thank you for sharing, Anil. And thank you, Donna, too for publishing.

    Moss Clement recently posted.. How to Use Pinterest to Gain More Traffic and Subscribers

  6. Sathish Arumugam
    Twitter:
    September 21, 2019 at 4:09 am #

    Donna,

    Excellent ideas. Especially updating the old blog posts will improve the content length. Also, it lets us optimize the article for the missing keywords that actually performs in real-time.

    I used to take those potential keywords brings more impressions from Google Search Console and update the content naturally. That works well.

    Hope you remember one of the expert roundup posts I have published on the same topic. 80+ experts (including you) sharing their ideas to boost SERP ranking without backlinks. Mentioning it here can add more valuable ideas to your readers, I guess.

    Sathish Arumugam posted.. Ideas To Boost SERP Ranking Without Building Backlinks of 80+ Expert Bloggers Roundup

  7. Jitendra Vaswani
    Twitter:
    September 18, 2019 at 7:28 am #

    Hi Anil and Donna,

    When it comes to a search engine traffic you’re not sure when you gonna lose or gain some traffic. But here you have mentioned some of the great ways to improve your search engine traffic. As we all know that content is the king, and nowadays we have to keep on updating our old content in order to be at the top of the SERPs.

    Thanks for sharing such a great post.

    Jitendra Vaswani recently posted.. How to Optimize YouTube Videos to Get More Traffic | 12 Simple Tricks

    • Anil Agarwal September 19, 2019 at 11:32 pm #

      That’s so true Jitendra. You can’t predict search traffic. It can decline or improve depending on your SEO efforts.

      That being said, you’ll always have control over your content, backlinks, authority of your site, user experience and so on which can largely impact your search engine rankings. So make sure to focus on what you can control rather than focusing on improving what you can’t. Thanks for stopping by!

      Anil Agarwal recently posted.. How To Make Your WordPress Site Mobile Friendly: The Complete Guide for Beginners

  8. Marquita Herald
    Twitter:
    September 15, 2019 at 9:36 am #

    A very thorough rundown of actionable strategies Anil and Donna. Several of these are part of my regular routine, especially managing old content, but others are definitely worth a try. Editing while I write was a really tough habit to overcome; I’m not completely there yet, but vastly improved. Thanks so much for all this great information!

    Marquita Herald recently posted.. Strategies to Combat Mental Fatigue

    • Donna Merrill
      Twitter:
      September 16, 2019 at 9:41 am #

      HI Marquita

      Editing as you go along will really slow you down.

      But even more, it takes you out of your rhythm, or your train of thought.

      It’s what usually causes ideas to start rambling all over the place.

      I like to record my articles, just free-flowing thoughts on my topic prior to writing.

      Then I listen to the recording and start building my outline and content from those thoughts, which are usually far more cohesive than if I stopped to edit every sentence as I went along.

      -Donna
      Donna Merrill recently posted..Learn to be a wildcat blogging entrepreneur to build a profitable blogMy Profile

    • Anil Agarwal September 17, 2019 at 12:46 am #

      Hi Marquita, old content works like a charm if you spend some time around optimizing it for users and search engines.

      Updating old content is the most underrated SEO technique to grow your search traffic. It helps you get more traffic without publishing new posts. Just make sure to keep an eye on top performing posts and update them at least once a month (even if it is tweaking your titles).

      Anil Agarwal recently posted.. How To Make Your WordPress Site Mobile Friendly: The Complete Guide for Beginners

  9. David Smith September 13, 2019 at 2:39 am #

    Hello Donna Merrill,

    Informative stuff. I like your ways in-depth explanation and I think it’s a perfect place to increase website traffic idea. According to my opinion, more than 1000 words content is more popular and google also considers as informative content. Thanks for sharing.

  10. Elvis Michael
    Twitter:
    September 12, 2019 at 11:19 pm #

    Another thing is to compose a similar version of a successful article that you own.

    So if your article about “10 Best Websites to Do XYZ” is popular, be sure to publish a second post highlighting ten additional items.

    Look into your Google Analytics, find the most popular posts and keywords — then compose more content around it 🙂

    Elvis
    Elvis Michael recently posted..10 Tips for a Freelancer to Boost ProductivityMy Profile

    • Donna Merrill
      Twitter:
      September 16, 2019 at 9:30 am #

      Hi Elvis

      Excellent idea for expanding your content by adding sequels or additions to things you see your readers are already interested in.

      Google Analytics is a great way to get that info, and then put it to work as you suggest here.

      Thanks for adding value here, my friend.

      -Donna
      Donna Merrill recently posted..How to give your blog a fresh new startMy Profile

    • Anil Agarwal September 19, 2019 at 11:39 pm #

      Hi Elvis, that might lead to keyword cannibalization. Instead of creating 2 articles on the same topic, it’s better to make it a huge one stop guide. Rest, you can turn them into guest posts or videos – that would generate even better results. Thanks for stopping by!

      Anil Agarwal recently posted.. How To Make Your WordPress Site Mobile Friendly: The Complete Guide for Beginners

  11. Erika Mohssen-Beyk
    Twitter:
    September 12, 2019 at 3:16 pm #

    Hi Anil,
    Interesting post and a lot of good suggestions, things I never thought about. But, ok, I am not after backlinks or traffic like a professional blogger, despite this, I learned a few things which I will implement. I like the suggestion of optimizing and updating old blog posts. This I recently did with some of my older posts and I see there is more to do.
    Thank you for the information.
    Erika

    Erika Mohssen-Beyk recently posted.. Should You Try to Convince Bloggers to Buy Your Stuff?

    • Donna Merrill
      Twitter:
      September 16, 2019 at 9:13 am #

      Hi Erika

      Anil is focused on the SEO aspects of blogging in this article, but that does overlap with other aspects of your blogging business.

      Like you said, the updating of old blog posts is great, not just for SEO, but to keep your content current and relevant for your readers.

      This enhances what is absolutely essential for all bloggers… the UX… the User Exeperience you offer to your readers.

      -Donna
      Donna Merrill recently posted..How to start a blog for financial securityMy Profile

  12. Saurabh
    Twitter:
    September 11, 2019 at 11:34 pm #

    Thanks, Anil and Donna for this wonderful post

    Yes, Writing in-depth content with keeping long-tail keywords in mind, running Old content audits and Updating this with new information, these 2 strategies are evergreen it helps to improve visibility of your site in search engine.
    Saurabh recently posted..Top 6 Best Free English learning Apps for English Language LearnersMy Profile

    • Donna Merrill
      Twitter:
      September 16, 2019 at 8:43 am #

      Hi Saurabh

      People often find it difficult to write long blog posts.

      I think Anil’s idea of outlining in advance really helps that.

      If you have a main topic (your title), then think of 5 ways to build that topic. So you have a title + 5 main points you want to make.

      That makes it much easier than just starting to write on your main topic without direction.

      -Donna
      Donna Merrill recently posted..How to be natural on videoMy Profile

  13. Gaurav Kumar
    Twitter:
    September 11, 2019 at 8:27 pm #

    Hi Anil,

    I strongly believe that as long as you are able to optimize the content according to the interest of users, you will rank higher. Google and other search engines also look for the user friendly content and that is why we see lot of algorithm updates every year.

    Thanks!
    Gaurav Kumar recently posted..5 Benefits of Using Videos in Digital Marketing CampaignMy Profile

  14. Donna Merrill
    Twitter:
    September 10, 2019 at 12:33 pm #

    Hi Anil,

    I want to thank you so much for writing this guest post. I’m sure my readers will love it as much as I.

    -Donna

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