Live SEO Support 9/14/22 – Full Episode

Welcome to another episode of Live SEO Support!

Live SEO Support is an hour-long Weekly Livestream where our founders, Nicholas Altimore and Chris Tzitzis, take questions from the audience on anything related to SEO.

It’s 100% free, and anyone can join us weekly in our Facebook Group or on Youtube.

But in case you missed us live this week, here’s the full episode:

This Week’s Archived Livestream:

Summary:

[11:30] I am creating a website in the recipe niche, and my main goal is to get the 3 product pages to rank number 1 on Google. I have placed contextual links to these pages in the 1st paragraph on the homepage. I have also created contextual links from the homepage to every recipe (a total of 15 recipes so far). My question is: Should I keep all those links from the homepage directly to the recipe diluting all the homepage link equity, or should I link from the homepage directly to the main recipe page, and from that page link to all recipes?

It doesn’t matter, though I’d lean towards putting all the links on the homepage. Big news sites have over a hundred articles on their homepage that they’re linking to. It’s actually better to link contextually if you can, but it depends on whether you’re able to maximize user experience doing so. You don’t want your visitors having to deal with huge walls of text to find links. Also make the big important things, like your products, easy to see on the homepage. I wouldn’t worry about diluting homepage link equity unless you’re working with outbound links. When it comes to inner linking, your purpose is to help crawlers get to your site and see that there is connectivity between everything.

[20:49] If I want to rank for the keywords “plumber in Dallas,” do you think using the keyword multiple times would help, like “how to choose the right plumber in Dallas,” “benefits of hiring a qualified plumber in Dallas,” etc.?

First, you need to do your keyword research and find out which keywords are ranking on Google by using a tool like Ahrefs. The way you rank for them is by including them in your content somehow. Using the keyword multiple times will help, but you don’t want to get into “keyword stuffing” which Google will see as spammy and unnatural. Beware of keyword cannibalization as well. We like to use the paid tool Surfer SEO which gives you the top ten sites using the keyword and tells you their average content length and how many times the keyword is included. You can also search for this manually.

[28:08] Do you prefer DA or DR for quality backlinks?

DR is what we use for basically everything. They have the most link data. Moz was popular back in the day, and it still is in some places, but that’s mainly only because you can use MozBar for free. Ahrefs is expensive, but we prefer it. But there is no reason you can’t use both DR and DA if you can afford Ahrefs and use it in conjunction with MozBar

[32:04] I was checking Kyle Roof’s video, and he says strict silos are powerful—that supporting pages should link to target pages and be built only to support. Do you think it is very powerful?

I won’t argue with Kyle Roof because he’s a very experienced SEO. If you copy what he does, you’ll probably be a very successful SEO. But what I will say is that there is a large amount of disagreement on silos, and a lot of very big and successful people use silos in different ways. That tells me that there is no one way to do silos. My approach to silos is to link to things that are useful for the reader: Maximize user experience. The fact that you’re doing inner linking and linking related stuff together puts you above so many people already.

[37:14] If you have over 1000 keywords, what is the best way to content map them? I heard KeywordCupid is good, but I personally don’t like it.

You can do it the old-fashioned way by using Ahrefs and seeing what pages are ranking for. You can take large sets of data from Ahrefs and put them in an Excel file. That way, you can filter them down and determine which are most valuable to you based on traffic, keyword difficulty, etc. Do that to get an overview of what sources you can get the most traffic for in the SERPs. But ultimately, once I’ve got that list of a large portion of keywords that I’m interested in going after for a money site, then I’ll do manual research every month based on the content budget I have. Automation is great for collecting a large amount of data very quickly, but you also tend to miss out on nuances for particular SERPs. You have to comb through it manually and figure out what’s going on. Keyword research is your foundation. It will make everything easier in the long run.

[47:20] Let’s say I want to write an article about “how to find a good plumber” and it has 10 searches. If I use “how to find a good plumber in Dallas,” will it be helpful or is using the original one better?

I don’t think anyone is searching for “how to find a good plumber in Dallas” to find articles on what qualities to look for in Dallas plumbers. You might find lists of the best plumbers in an area by including the area name; but, by using “how to find a good plumber,” you’ll get articles on what to look for in a good plumber. The results are completely different. When in doubt, search on Google and see what kinds of articles pop out. You basically want to follow the search volume.

[49:41] So, that means silos should be built to help the user by answering all the questions he might have related to a topic that I cover on my website regardless of whether the keyword has any searches or not?

Yes, because some of the questions people ask have very low search volume. Google might even show zero search volume. But make sure they have their own standalone pages, which you can double-check by Googling for the keyword.

[53:39] My website is 3 months old with a low-competition keyword. It went from the 50th to the 15th position but got stuck around the 15th-16th position for 2-3 weeks now. 1 lead gen site is ranking (location page). How can I go up?

That type of jump means you’re a contender for one of the best pages already. 2-3 weeks at 15 doesn’t really mean anything. Are you building more links? Are you adding more supporting content? Try adding backlinks, especially to your homepage or the page you’re trying to rank. Do keyword research and imitate what the top pages are doing. Make sure that your inner linking is on point. Aside from all that, time is a big factor if you’re trying to rank higher, especially depending on the keyword. You’re building a business, so keep building.

[1:01:36] What do you guys think about PageSpeed Insights? Can it really improve rankings?

PageSpeed Insights is great. They tell you exactly what Google is saying about what’s going on with your page speed. But I wouldn’t be too focused on page speed because you may end up wasting a ton of time on it when there are better things to improve on. Page speed is a minor ranking signal, and is more important for mobile. We usually just slap a plugin and a CBN on.

[1:05:35] What do you think about KD (keyword difficulty) in Ahrefs? Is it possible to get page 1 for KD 80+ keyword for a small, low-DR website?

Ahrefs keyword difficulty is not something I really pay much attention to. When I do keyword research, I prefer to see the website with my own eyes and not just stop at the score. KD is just the starting point. You’re in this for the long haul, so you can write an article to rank for KD 80+ keyword. Just don’t expect it to rank anytime soon. Slowly build authority and links on your site, and over time, it will move up. Especially for these really difficult keywords, it is good to have these articles up for a long time. For really competitive stuff, Google likes articles that have been around for a while.

[1:12:57] If I rank a local website in 1st position on Google, do you think I can get a VA or full-time job much easier? What are some ways to get hired after you have a case study?

Just build up your resumé. It’s good to have a case study, but it’s not necessary if you want to get hired for a job. You can gain more experience by doing work on Fiverr, Upwork, and LinkedIn, and by joining Facebook Groups and grinding there.

[1:22:50] Can I start building links without getting organic visitors?

Absolutely. I’ve never waited. In fact, you have to build links to get those organic visitors. The sooner you start building links, the better. It takes a long time to build authority, so the earlier you start to build authority, the faster growth will come.

Related Posts