Many business owners understand both the benefits of SEO and the sheer potential for transforming organic visitors into long-term paying customers. But the issue isn't so much realizing that there is a benefit as much as it is finding strategies that work.
Instead of providing you with hypothetical ways that can contribute to the increase in your site's organic traffic, I asked 17 SEO experts for their proven strategies that have led to their own businesses' growth.
1. Connect with influencers
Finding and building relationships with influencers in your niche can have incredible advantages.
Jason Quey, a growth hacker who is known for his ability to connect with influencers and share their growth stories, says: "I build relationships with influential bloggers in my niche and find ways to authentically feature them. When I've done this in the past, I've managed to quickly build over 40 high-quality backlinks in very little time."
But Jason isn't the only one using this technique. Daniel Knowlton, an experienced digital marketer, says: "I create a list of the top influencers on a specific topic and then reach out to them via email and on social. My Content Marketing 2016: Top 100 Influencers post gets more organic traffic than any other page on our website due to influencer shares."
Benjamin Beck uses a similar method as well: "I've found that the best way to increase organic traffic is to get links from the influencers in the niche I am working in. One of my favorite ways to break the ice and build a relationship with these influencers is by creating a badge and post that features them as the experts they are.
"Who doesn't like getting recognition?
"I let each influencer have a badge so they can show it off on their site which builds links back to my site. Even if they don't use the badge I now have a relationship with the influencer and can find several ways to work together. Which will help my organic traffic even more!"
The added benefit of including influencers in your content is that you build an ongoing relationship with them and can continue working together in the future.
2. Use Facebook groups
There are hundreds (if not thousands) of marketing-related groups on Facebook, and a vast majority of these groups are open to anyone interested in joining.
Danavir Sarria of Copy Monk uses Facebook groups to interact with other marketers. He says: "If you become friends with group owners, deliver content, and become part of the community, Facebook groups become an amazing source of organic traffic. Plus, because of the nature of the group, word spreads fast. So you may get a lot of benefits besides traffic, such as general awareness, influence, and you may even be followed by other influencers in your market."
Some Facebook groups you might join are The Content Marketing Lounge, Women in Content Marketing, Digital Marketing Questions, and MarketingProfs.
3. Prioritize keywords
Having a strong keyword strategy is vital, not only to increase your traffic but also to increase traffic that converts. Identifying which keywords to rank for is a strategy in and of itself.
Shanelle Mullin of ConversionXL says: "My 'quick strategy' for boosting organic traffic is to play the long game. It's the only way to win in the long-term.
"Find the most impactful keyword, find the content that's already ranking well for that keyword, write something that's better than everything else out there, promote it far and wide (cold outreach, warm outreach, outreach to those mentioned, etc.), and then reach out to everyone who is linking to those lesser pieces of content to tell them about your extraordinary piece of content.
"Repeat that process for an entire list of prioritized keywords."
That method is a scalable process for increasing your organic traffic long-term.
4. Create noteworthy content
What exactly is "noteworthy content"? Well, Ashley Faulkes of Mad Lemmings says: "To boost my organic traffic I create noteworthy content that gets influencers' and webmasters' or gatekeepers' attention. That means creating the best piece of content on a given topic and then using outreach to get links—in roundups, specific posts, guest post placements, or any other way I can. You can see a recent example of this with a post I did on creating the best SEO content."
Ashley's strategy also has the beneficial side effect of getting a lot of social shares!
5. Track your competitors
If your competitors are already ranking for all of the same keywords you're trying to target, and they are getting tons of organic traffic, clearly they are doing something right.
Ajay Paghdal, the owner of a search engine optimization company, says: "I develop a premium piece of content blueprinted from a previously successful competitor post and target 500+ bloggers who would find it linkable with a compelling offer."
It's important to offer those you are outreaching to, something of value. Otherwise, why would they help you out?
6. Use affiliate marketing
An affiliate marketing strategy includes benefits for both parties. Wilson Hung of Kettle and Fire, a grass-fed-beef bone broth vendor, says: "If you have an affiliate marketing strategy, leverage your existing affiliates' relationships to build links to your pages by contributing high-quality content to them. Aim for just a couple link placements; one will be the affiliate link, and the other will be a link to the page you're aiming to rank for.
"It's a win/win because affiliates get content as well as affiliate commissions, and you become a regular contributor. It's much easier than sending cold guest post pitches."
Finding a mutually advantageous transaction can lead to better results at a much faster pace.
7. Use data and metrics
Sounds straightforward, right? But some marketers fail to remember the advantages of good old data and metrics. Casey Armstrong of Bigcommerce, says: "Stop neglecting Google Search Console and dig into query data for top-performing URLs."