Which SEO techniques have the highest ROI? — Pt. 3

Question for the Expert:

Which SEO techniques have the highest ROI?

Answer from the Expert:

In parts one and two, we looked at User-Facing On-Page Tactics and Behind-the-Scenes On-Page Site Tactics respectively. In this post, we’ll look at Off-Page Backlinking tactics to boost your site’s SEO value. Like the previous posts, they’re listed in order from highest ROI activities to lowest.

1. Blogger outreach

This tactic looks to create links between your site and third-party sites to build relationships for the benefit of your customers. The goal is to create links between high authority sites and yours in a way that delivers added value to your customers. If you benefit your customers, you’ll also benefit. Here are some examples of blogger outreach.

Become a guest blogger on another site. Offer to write a post on an industry site that welcomes guest contributors. Many sites are always looking for fresh, new content and subject matter experts to share their knowledge and experience to keep their readers coming back. This tactic offers an opportunity to link to content on your site as well as tap into a new audience to grow your brand and increase your visibility.

Interviews. Do an interview and publish the transcript with an influential blogger or industry expert. Better yet, record the interview and post the video.

Build Relationships and Share your Content. Use content to build collaborative relationships with businesses that complement and align with your business objectives. Through this approach, you’ll tap into new markets, add value to your customers and theirs, and push your content out to sites in a helpful manner.

2. Backlink Requests

Requesting a backlink from partners or industry leaders relies on established relationships to or your ability to demonstrate the value you offer as a backlink. Find authoritative sites in your industry and reach out to them asking if a specific page you have found on their site could contain a link back to your page. Choose a page on their site that is highly related to your page and would be beneficial for their users to gain more information.

Alternatively, you could reach out to a publication and pitch an article. This tactic is similar to guest blogging with the exception that a publication will have a much stricter editorial process. For the best result, do your homework first and uncover the articles they have published that have gotten the biggest response in comment sections or social media. Armed with this knowledge, offer to write an article on a similar topic.

3. Social

In 2014, Google’s Matt Cutts made it clear social signals don’t figure into Google’s search algorithm. This means it doesn’t matter how many times a link gets shared or tweeted, it won’t affect Google search results. So why use social to create backlinks?

Well, for one, Bing does take social shares into its search results. For Google, the search engine crawls social sites the same way it does websites. While the social site may not have authority, any links present may register as credible backlinks.

Social search also requires attention. Twitter reports 2.1 billion searches every day! Facebook says it has 2 billion searches a day up 33% since July of 2015. In addition to backlinking potential, social search deserves attention and should be viewed by marketers as an integral part of SEO.

To capitalize on social search and backlinks, setup accounts on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter as well as Pinterest, Instagram and Google+. Make brand and product pages easy to find as well as easy to connect and engage with.

Over the last three posts, I’ve shared the SEO techniques that offer the best ROI. For the fastest results, start at the top of each list to capture the “low-hanging” fruit and the biggest SEO bump. Then, work your way down for even greater SEO value.

One final thought… when it comes to SEO, the search engines want to deliver content and information their users find valuable. With this in mind, approach every tactic with the question, “will this improve the user experience?” If the answer is yes, you’re likely on the right track!

Learn how to measure the return on investment from the SEO techniques you implement, right here.

Originally published at Digital Marketing Agency | BFO (Be Found Online).