- Apr 25, 2014
- 6,904
- 12,049
Guess who's back? Back again. This will be a Part 2 to the original beginner's guide I wrote a couple years ago. Still mostly for beginners and I tried to keep this guide filled with free options.
Updated Keyword Research
The previous thread linked above contains more keyword research information that's still relevant, but we're just going to provide some mild updates below that get straight to the point.
Updated Keyword Research
The previous thread linked above contains more keyword research information that's still relevant, but we're just going to provide some mild updates below that get straight to the point.
With Google posting constant updates (1 per month for the last 3 months at the time of writing), keyword research becomes more channeled. There are a few things we need to look for on websites ranking on the first page:
- Low DA/PA (Domain authority/Page Authority) on pages that are ranking on the 1st page for any keyword we want to target. That can be done by installing this browser extension: MozBar SEO Toolbar
- Backlinks & RD (referring domains): We want low, ideally less than 100 backlinks to the target ranking page.
- Problems with on-page SEO (see competition research lower down on this thread for examples of problems within competitor content).
- Overall content quality & the length of ranking articles/content. Issues with grammar or factual inaccuracies. Check word count with free word count tool.
- Searchers intent. This is very important. You need to ask & answer as to why these keywords being searched for and if you were searching these keywords, what exact topical information would you be looking for?
We're gonna install an extension to see some of these metrics upon searching for keywords. This is what you'll see after you install MozBar and start a search for one potential keyword:
What you're looking for is circled in red. For a newer website, it will be very difficult to rank for a keyword that has websites with metrics like that already at the top (200+ backlinks on DA 61 & above). So, we want to find easier/long tail keywords.
How do we do that? We use Ahrefs Free Keyword Generator tool: https://ahrefs.com/keyword-generator
Now, when we input our difficult keyword above, we get this:
Now, we're looking a list of keywords with a difficulty rating between 18-28 (we're going to ignore the 30+ difficulty for now), so let's pick one & check it:
So from rank #3 onward we see that even though the DA/PA is moderately high, they're not link building to these pages. Even at rank 3, we can take roughly 10% of the search volume for these keywords:
Google Search Console operator for info/question related search queries:
So, what this operator/command will show is search queries that you've had impressions for with the words in the code below that may not have shown up on GSC:
Code:
^(who|what|where|when|why|how|was|did|do|is|are|aren't|won't|does|if)[" "]
- Go into search console, go to search results, add a query filter, change "queries containing" to "Custom (regex)", and put the string given above in the search field (greyed out the area that says "Enter regular expression (regex)")
- This will give you every query you've had impressions for with any of the above operators - basically questions, which make great short info posts.
- From here, export to excel, order by impressions descending, and either filter for 0% CTR or position over 20/30/40 to get a list of things people are searching for that you're not ranking for.
Shoutout to @RealDaddy for writing a thread from Reddit about this a few months back.
Keyword Research section summary:
Why target only easy keywords that are either medium/long tail keywords or have lower search volume? Because as a beginner, that is going to be your bread & butter of understanding SEO & developing a strategy you're familiar with.
This means that essentially you want to walk (target low-hanging fruit/easy to rank keywords & rank for them) before you run (target difficult, high competition, higher branded search volume keywords).
With that being said, there are multiple more in-depth, comprehensive keyword research guides on the forum that cover
KGR (keyword golden ratio), choosing a domain name, and many other topics, and I will list them below:
https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/g...research-domain-name-choosing-part-1.1181933/https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/how-to-do-keyword-research-for-free.1380646/https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/guide-newbie-friendly-keyword-difficulty-checking.1240721/https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/t...l-change-your-life-a-must-see-thread.1172854/https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/k...d-for-beginners-a-small-newbie-guide.1380093/https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/u...analyse-serp-and-keyword-competition.1118710/https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/g...-research-rank-your-new-website-2021.1361336/https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/method-find-super-low-competition-keywords.1388137/
https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/is-the-domain-name-still-relevant-for-ranking.1172640/ - read the comments of this thread as it has all of the information you're looking for choosing a domain.
AI Generated Content
The original thread covers article scraping, spinning, and the like. In this thread, we're going to talk about content & overall content quality in regards to AI. As most of you know, AI generated content is a hot-topic right now and whether or not Google can detect it.
We can only assume as of writing this, Google can detect AI generated content and will penalize you in a future update IF you don't edit what the AI gives you. So, what you need to do is:
- Proofread
Read over what the AI output gives you for an article. You want readability to be fair. It needs to read as if a human wrote it.
Re-write or restructure anything that seems off or doesn't form a proper sentence. Sometimes copy/pasting into MS word or Grammarly can help with that.
- Fact check
Outside of weird sentence anomalies, misinformation, clearly false statements within articles are one of the number one giveaways as to whether or not an AI wrote that content.
It may seem like more work, but it's ultimately worth it.
- Plagiarism check
Run your articles from the AI generator through a plagiarism checker. This goes for any content you post. A few modern plagiarism checkers are:
- Grammarly. Decent pricing plan, can find premium accounts on this forum as well. Has free/limited version.
- QueText. Great pricing plan for what you're getting.
- Copyscape. An older plagiarism checker, but still worth purchasing to check for duplicate content.
Here are a few AI content generators:
- Jasper. Is #1 according to most marketers I've spoken to. Their plans are pricey, but ultimately worth it.
- Rytr. Has an unlimited plan option with a built in plagiarism checker.
- Sensit AI. Free trial w/ customizable pricing structure. Great quality content output.
- WordHero. Pricing is similar to those above, also produces good quality content.
- Writesonic. Fully customizable pricing structure, 1 click to Wordpress export.
- Copy AI. Has a free option for 2,000 words per month. Pricing structure per word is a bit higher than some other options.
If you're looking for a discussion on how well AI content performs on the SERPs, there was a thread posted at the time of writing this section; shoutout to @RealDaddy here: https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/ai-content-can-outperform-most-of-the-content-in-the-serps.1423805
Discovering competitor backlinks & backlink metrics
This is something that's essentially common knowledge among most people that do SEO on the forum, but we all learned it somewhere, so don't be discouraged.
This is something that's essentially common knowledge among most people that do SEO on the forum, but we all learned it somewhere, so don't be discouraged.
A fair amount, if not all, of high authority websites (your top competitors) block ahrefs & semrush bots from detecting their backlinks. Ahrefs/SEMRush still gives you a good amount of information.
Ahrefs & SEMRush have free versions of their backlink checkers, website authority checkers, & more but they have limitations unless you buy a subscription. However, some of us can't afford an Ahrefs/SEMRush subscription. So, how can we find our competitors backlinks?
I'm going to show you a simple Google operator that can show you a list of backlinks that a website has. For this example, I'm going to use a random Fitness niche competitor of mine.
Operator to check backlinks: "YourCompetitorURL.com" -site:yourcompetitorURL.com
Copy everything, including the quotation marks. Just replace the text with the competitor URL without the http(s) at first.
What comes up when we type in this operator correctly?
This operator returned 6 pages of links that we can either replicate or attempt (through outreach) to get for our own website:
When you go through these search results, you're looking for the no-brainers. You're looking for the easy links that you can go create yourself. Backlinks from websites which allow you to register & leave your URL somewhere.
Google operator variations:
Now, you can also try that operator with http & https as well. Like this "http://YourCompetitorURL.com" -site:yourcompetitorURL.com
The HTTPS version is similar, just add the "s" on, like so: "https://YourCompetitorURL.com" -site:yourcompetitorURL.com
The www version is also similar, just add in www: "http://www.YourCompetitorURL.com" -site:yourcompetitorURL.com
You can also use an operator to find anchor text, seen here: "YourCompetitorURL.com" -site:yourcompetitorURL.com "Anchor Text"
Ultimate List of Google Search Operators by @Roger Marquez https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/get-ultimate-list-of-google-search-operators.1408839/
For those of you unable to afford ahrefs/SEMRush, here are free Ahrefs/SEMRush threads that have been listed on the forum recently:
https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/free-semrush-reports.1402887
Competitor research with SEO Spyglass (free version)
Now, what you can do with the free version of this software is limited. However, information is information, and backlinks can still be acquired this way.
Input your competitor's URL and click get backlinks.
In either category, look below the backlinks and select "view all":
Here, you'll see a few of your competitor's top backlinks with the free version. Using this information, you can also check these pages for anchor text as well. This should help you understand a small part of large competitor's backlink & anchor text strategy. If you decide to pay for SEO Spyglass, you get more competitor backlink information.
Competitor research with Seobility (Free version)
This software is by far the worst of any I will list in terms of research for free, but the data is still here & valuable.
What we can use this software for is to see the page & anchor structure, on-page SEO, and overall landscape of our competitor's website. Using the free version of this software, we can submit 1 website for review:
Using the free version, we have limited options as to what we can select, however inputting our start URL, we see:
- Problems with h1 headings
- Problematic page titles.
- 20+ pages with images that don't have an alt image attribute.
- Another page with technical problems.
These problems can effect rankings.
- See where your competitor's on-page SEO can be improved upon. You would make those same improvements on your own site.
Upon clicking one of these items, another sub-section appears with more detailed information:
Competitor research conclusion:
Competitor research can also be done using free trial/tools versions of ahrefs & SEMRush, but have limits. I'm just giving you more options to get even more research done.
Those tools will all be linked at the bottom of this thread.
Backlink metrics of links you receive and of your competitors that you should look for:
- Domain Authority/Page Authority - These two can be boosted (fake) but can still give you an indication of the authority a website possesses.
- Domain Rating - A more reliable metric, but was created by ahrefs. Shows the strength of a domain's backlink profile.
- URL Rating - A rating created by Ahrefs to determine the strength of the specific URL (page) that is ranking.
- Topical relevance - Isn't a metric you can view on a grid, but instead by looking at the actual link & determining if it's relevant to your or your competitor's niche.
- D0 Follow or No Follow - Check to see which links are either do or nofollow, also look to maintain a healthy ratio between both.
- Domain traffic - is important to understand if you'll gain traffic from this specific backlink or not.
On-page/on-site Optimization
The goal for your content:
Targeting multiple keywords that are related to your topic while still targeting the topic.
Steps to follow:
- Researching keywords that are related to your main keyword with free Ahrefs tools: https://app.ahrefs.com/keywords-explorer
- Figure out the searcher's intent. You need to know this to figure out how to write the content the most informative way for the user reading it.
You do this a few ways:
A). Inspect the SERP results for the keywords & topic and review the content that is ranking. This can show you what Google views the searcher's intent to be and what type of content addresses it the best.
B). Checking your keyword or topic in the Google Keyword Planner. Looking specifically at competition level & CPC. A higher CPC (above $1+) can indicate certain success achieved with that keyword from a buyer's perspective.
Next up is to optimize your page/article for the topic/keywords that you're targeting with:
- Title & description optimized with your main keyword.
- URL structure.
- Alt tags/Meta tags
- Internal links (linking to other articles or content posted on your website within the new article/content).
- H2 & H3 need to be optimized for your keyword topic as well.
- Use your main keyword a couple more times throughout the paragraphs/body of overall text between headings. Google needs to know what you're targeting.
- Longer content (1.5k+ words) is easier to optimize for entire topics. How long you decide to make your content is up to you, but the longer the better. The more questions about the topic that your content answers, the better.
All on-page optimization is explained better than I ever could by @splishsplash in this thread right here: https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/guide-full-example-of-how-to-do-on-page-seo.1251425/
Popular plug-ins for on-page SEO:
https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-seo/ - Yoast
https://wordpress.org/plugins/seo-by-rank-math/ - RankMath
https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/f...dated-worth-199-latest-version.1380889/page-6 - Nulled version of RM.
https://aioseo.com/ - All in One SEO
https://theseoframework.com/ - The SEO Framework
https://www.seopress.org/ - SEO Press (Not free, but can be found).
https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-super-cache/ - WP Super Cache
https://wordpress.org/plugins/really-simple-ssl/ - Really Simple SSL
https://wordpress.org/plugins/performance-lab/ - Perfmatters
https://wp-shifty.com/ - WP Shifty
https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/get-wp-shifty-nulled-perfmatters-alternative.1420171/ - Nulled WP Shifty
An eBook to on-page optimization: https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/g...r-better-results-by-daniel-cuttridge.1424237/
Indexing links
During my previous thread, indexing was much easier than it is now. Google has since acknowledged they have an indexing problem and aim to fix it. However, in the meantime, we need to set up a checklist in order to at least get our content indexed.
To ensure that you're doing everything you can for your content to be indexed, your website should have:During my previous thread, indexing was much easier than it is now. Google has since acknowledged they have an indexing problem and aim to fix it. However, in the meantime, we need to set up a checklist in order to at least get our content indexed.
- At least 500 words of text on each article. Larger pieces of content address searcher's intent more accurately and are thus easier to index.
- Create a sitemap & submit it & all money site article links (content) to Google Search Console
- Ensure your page load speed for the entire site is minimal (as fast as possible). See here:
- Use Rank Math Instant Indexer with the Google API. Follow this link's instructions exactly: https://rankmath.com/blog/google-indexing-api/
- Create a social footprint online using all forms of social media including: Web 2.0's, Social bookmarking websites, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Reddit, etc.
- Your domain to be aged at least 30 days. This isn't a "requirement" and you can definitely start indexing attempts earlier, but Google should index your new content easier the older your site gets.
- Check Page load speed. More information on that here:
https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/wordpress-optimization-guide-from-3-to-1-second-load-time.1230324/https://ahrefs.com/blog/advanced-pagespeed-guide/- Secure your domain with HTTPS.
Submitting website to Google News for purposes of indexing:
This is mainly for news related websites, albeit tech news, gaming news, medical news, fitness news, sports news, etc.
However, blog sites have been approved and you can submit your blog site for consideration. If you do, ensure that your news or blog website:
- Publish Quality, error free, factual content daily or every other day at the least.
- Original content (if you plagiarize, you had better rewrite to make it somewhat unique).
- A news sitemap has to be submitted. Here's how to create & submit news sitemap with RankMath.
- The article/website that you submit needs to be relative to the niche of your website.
Shoutout to @Roger Marquez for this helpful comment in regards to Google News & being accepted/considered into their news, some of the same information but posting to be thorough:
- News-worthy articles should be served from a separate subfolder than the blog like "/news"
- Avoid publishing content like guides, how-to, or informational articles in general
- NewsArticle schema should be implemented. Although Article schema is fine as well you need to make sure to markup some important and news-relevant fields into it
- Publish daily!
- Create and submit a news sitemap to GSC.
- Publish content using multiple authors and not just one
- Also make sure each of those authors has their own, unique, relevant, and fully optimized author/bio page
- Make sure the content is "crawlable".
After doing the above items, you may submit your article URL's & backlink URL's to an indexing service listed below:
shout out to @Steptoe for the spider/crawler indexing services test located here: https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/study-2-using-indexing-services-from-bhw-on-orphaned-pages.1388419/
LinksIndexingApp
Linkdexing
IndexingExpert
Speed-Links
SinByte - Also here's a guide for SinByte
AddToIndex - Has a few positive reviews within the last month, so I included it.
A list of helpful indexing threads that have been posted on the forum:
https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/heres-how-to-index-your-stuff-using-reddit.1409943/ - Thanks to @Alexion for this. Very informative Reddit indexing method.
https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/fast-indexing-of-200-pages-via-google-api.1374768/ - large indexing test. Definitely worth a read if you're having indexing troubles.
https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/2...st-which-ones-actually-bring-spiders.1401239/ - Indexing services test by @ghengis_khan
https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/pbn-website-instant-indexing-method-still-working-in-2022.1389684/https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/m...ays-old-blog-within-12-hours-in-2022.1385453/https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/m...k-indexing-method-confession-the-end.1395514/https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/unlimited-traffic-black-hat-seo-technique-2022.1406577/
Lists of backlinks that can be built for free:
In the first version of this thread that is linked at the top, I listed the most popular paid versions of software that created backlinks. If you're looking for that, visit my previous thread.
Web 2.0:In the first version of this thread that is linked at the top, I listed the most popular paid versions of software that created backlinks. If you're looking for that, visit my previous thread.
wordpress.com
yola.com
blogger.com
cabanova.com
strikingly.com
weebly.com
wikidot.com
tumblr.com
Social Bookmarks:
reddit.com/
pinterest.com/
stumbleupon.com
flipboard.com/
plurk.com
slashdot.org
medium.com/
Press releases:
merchantcircle.com
uberant.com
ibosocial.com
Profile backlinks:
beezmap.com
gamesfort.net
myvidster.com
cplusplus.com
ripntale.com
cycling74.com
telldc.com
List of free backlinks creation threads listed since my last thread:
https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/trick-get-your-d0follow-reddit-backlink.1267916/https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/guides-early-christmas-backlinks-from-santa.1185816/https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/guides-get-this-stayhome-backlinks.1214080/https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/10-websites-for-free-article-submission.1354441/https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/g...blue-backlinks-rachmaninoff-inspired.1220127/https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/g...inks-in-music-entertainment-industry.1150648/https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/guides-backlinks-spree-for-a-good-week.1153186/https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/guides-get-this-bored-af-backlinks.1217703/https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/guide-get-this-telegram-backlink.1154975/https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/its-my-birthday-today-here-some-presents.1172779/https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/s...uality-contextual-link-fast-indexing.1351157/https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/s...uality-contextual-link-fast-indexing.1353429/https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/m...da-74-backlink-on-azure-devops.1312973/unread
Here are compilation threads that contain more backlink creation threads:
Code:
https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/list-create-high-da-links-bhw-collection.1369022/
https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/get-100-web-2-0-2021-site-list-do-follow-high-authority.1361147/
https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/my-free-high-dr-back-links-thread-collection-please-add.1369839/
https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/method-da-78-free-do-follow-backlink.1360177/
https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/free-9-strong-backlinks-for-your-website.1356656/
https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/backlink-similar-to-linktree.1358012/
https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/my-free-high-dr-back-links-thread-collection-please-add.1369839/
https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/step-by-step-guide-to-get-dr-74-da-79-contextual-link.1366074/
There are also several other tools this site offers, but the free backlinks list, just join & click free backlinks (I recommend using as tier 2, sometimes tier 1 depending on the link source): https://h-supertools.com/
List of free tools or free trials that may or may not have been listed in this thread:
Note: some tools can be used for multiple categories listed below
Keyword Research:
https://ads.google.com/home/tools/keyword-planner/ - Google Keyword Planner
https://www.ahrefs.com/keyword-generator - Ahrefs Keyword Generator
https://www.ahrefs.com/keyword-difficulty - Ahrefs Keyword Difficulty Checker
https://www.ahrefs.com/keyword-rank-checker - Ahrefs Keyword Rank Checker
https://www.ahrefs.com/website-authority-checker - Ahrefs Website Authority Checker
https://www.semrush.com/analytics/keywordoverview - SEMRush Keyword Overview
https://www.semrush.com/analytics/keywordmagic/start - SEMRush Keyword Magic Tool
https://answerthepublic.com/ - AnswerThePublic
https://trends.google.com/trends/?geo=US - Google Trends
https://keywordtool.io/ - Keyword Tool
https://kwfinder.com/ - KeywordFinder
https://moz.com/products/pro/seo-toolbar - MOZ SEO Toolbar
https://surferseo.com/keyword-surfer-extension/ - Surfer SEO browser extension
Website analyzer/Audit:
https://search.google.com/search-console/about - Google Search Console
https://www.ahrefs.com/website-authority-checker - Ahrefs Website Authority Checker
https://www.semrush.com/siteaudit/ - SEMRush Site Audit
https://www.semrush.com/social-media/#tracker- SEMRush Social Media Tracker
https://www.link-assistant.com/ - SEO PowerSuite
https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/ - Screaming Frog
Backlink checker/competition analysis:
https://www.link-assistant.com/seo-spyglass/features.html - SEO Spyglass
https://www.seobility.net/ - Seobility
https://www.ahrefs.com/backlink-checker - Ahrefs Backlink Checker
https://www.semrush.com/position-tracking/ - SEMRush Position Tracking Tool
https://www.semrush.com/listings-management/start/ - SEMRush Local Listings Management
https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/ - Screaming Frog.
Final thoughts
As always, do your due diligence with SEO. This can be a lot of information to absorb at one time. Take things in moderation & learn things at your own pace. We've all been where you are at some point in our internet marketing journey.
I'm almost 100% sure I forgot something so if I left out anything or something has become outdated, feel free to let me know, and I'll attempt to add/remove/change it in!
I hope this information finds you well. Cheers and good luck with your IM journey/projects!
As always, do your due diligence with SEO. This can be a lot of information to absorb at one time. Take things in moderation & learn things at your own pace. We've all been where you are at some point in our internet marketing journey.
I'm almost 100% sure I forgot something so if I left out anything or something has become outdated, feel free to let me know, and I'll attempt to add/remove/change it in!
I hope this information finds you well. Cheers and good luck with your IM journey/projects!
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