Let us be very clear on how to rank a keyword without backlinks.
Many people want to know if it is possible to rank a keyword without backlinks.
If your goal is to build and grow your blog into a website that people can easily find on search engines – Most experienced SEO experts will tell you that backlinks are inevitable.
But is it possible to rank a keyword without backlinks? You bet you can. It is possible.
Although backlinks are still the most important factor in ranking web pages, it is not the only one.
This article will consider the other factors that search engines take into consideration in ranking web pages.
Below are the other factors that will help you rank keywords without backlinks.
What are backlinks?
A backlink is simply a link from one website to another. Backlinks occur when a website mentions another site and links back to it.
Backlinks are seen as votes by search engines. Search engines rank websites with backlinks. The more the link, the higher the rank.
Backlinks from authoritative websites are more valuable than those from low authority sites.
Webpages with more backlinks from high authority sites will rank higher than other websites if all other things are equal.
Why rank without backlinks.
If backlinks are important in ranking a website, why try ranking your webpages without them?
The following are some situations when trying to rank a keyword without backlinks is your best bet.
- New Websites.
If you have a brand new website, you will find it difficult to get any site to link to it.
Your best option, in this circumstance is to try to rank the website without any backlinks from other sites.
- Unique Websites.
Some websites focus on unique niches that it is difficult to get other sites to link to them.
So if you are in these situations that make getting backlinks difficult, try ranking without backlinks.
Create Top Quality Contents.
The contents of a website are one of the factors that search engines consider in ranking web pages.
The contents of your website are ranked by its quantity but by its quality. Quality contents educate, inform, and entertain the readers.
The search engines love web pages and websites that provide answers to people’s questions.
Use Long-Tail Keywords.
While some keywords and easy to rank for, others are difficult. Some keywords are so difficult that they are simply way out of your league.
To stand any chance of ranking, go for long tails keywords because they have lower search volume and less rank difficulty.
Search for Non-Competitive Keywords.
Some keywords are non-competitive because nobody or few people are ranking for them.
Once you create content on a non-competitive keyword, you stand a good chance of ranking for it.
Although most non-competitive keywords have less traffic, you can still find some with high traffic volume.
Study your Competition.
Those who’ve been in the SEO game for a long time will tell you that your competition is your friend. If it’s good enough for your competition, it’s good enough for you.
To stand a chance to rank for any keyword, it makes sense to research the sites ranking for it.
Apart from backlinks, you can only outrank your competition if you write better content.
By studying your competition, you can discover how they’ve used the keywords in their article. You’ll also see how they’ve used and optimized images, graphics, and videos.
Your research will also reveal not only their backlinks but also the anchor text and specific keywords they are ranking for.
There are many tools, both free and paid, that you can use to research and study your competition.
Optimize your Internal Links.
If backlinks are difficult to get, why not take advantage of your internal links.
Like we mentioned earlier in this article, search engines consider a lot of factors in ranking sites. One of those factors is how you use your internal link.
Every website that’s worth anything has internal links and can conveniently interlink its pages.
The use of internal links in a website is a good SEO practice and can help a web page rank for keywords.
Reduce your Website’s Bounce Rate.
Have you ever visited a website and decides to leave the site because you don’t think they have what you are searching for?
Once you visit a website and leave almost immediately without further exploration, you have bounced.
The bounce rate of a website refers to the percentage of visitors that leave or idle on a webpage for a long time.
Every website has got a certain percentage of bounce rate. Any Website with a bounce rate of over 70% is unhealthy.
The factors responsible for the bounce rate of a website are:
- Slow loading page.
- Poor content.
- Error pages.
- Deceptive titles.
Some of the ways to reduce your website’s bounce rate include:
- Increase your site’s loading time.
- Use call-to-action buttons.
- Fix your broken links.
- Create easy-to-read content.
- Use different content types.
- Use few pop-ups.
- Optimize your internal links.
The bottom line in reducing your website’s bounce rate is to give your visitors a good user experience.
Search engines consider the time spent on a page to rank how important or not a page is.
Wrapping Things Up on Ranking A Keyword Without Backlinks.
There is no doubt that building external backlinks to your pages is the surest way to rank a keyword.
Acquiring external backlinks to your site from relevant sites should always be your long-term goal in ranking your website.
But in the meantime, when backlinks are difficult to get, you can utilize other tactics to improve your rankings.