1. specialize in Low Competition Keywords
The first step for how to rank without backlinks is to focus on keywords with the lowest competition. this enables you to get some quick wins in the SERPs without needing very many, if any all, backlinks.
There’s an entire guide you can read for how to find low-competition keywords here, but below are the highlights to urge started:
Use a keyword research tool like Keyword Chef or KWFinder to uncover terms that have a coffee keyword difficulty score. this suggests lower domain authority websites are ranking at the top of the SERPs.
Sort the keyword list by search volume so you’ll find the keywords with the most monthly searches.
Pick the keywords that have low difficulty scores and high search volumes for easier wins.
2. Rank Without Backlinks Using On-Page SEO
Another important step for a way to ranking a website without backlinks is to do better on-page SEO than your competitors.
It’s often that you simply find websites in the top 10 SERP positions having poor on-page SEO. and therefore the only reason they’re ranking that high is that their PageRank is being inflated by a high number of backlinks or other off-page optimization techniques.
However, don’t let that scare you.
Good on-page SEO is often the differentiator that helps rank your website above the competition without needing backlinks. this is often especially true if you follow the previous tip about targeting low-competition keywords.
Check out this complete guide on how to put keywords in an article for SEO for the full details on this strategy. The highlights of where your main keyword phrase goes are below:
- Meta page title
- Meta description
- Article URL
- Introduction paragraph
- Several times within the article
- Summary paragraph
- Headings
- Image ALT text
3. Meet User Search Intent
In my post on the way to write content that ranks on Google, I speak about the importance of user search intent.
As stated: “In 2013, Google released the Hummingbird algorithm update that helped the program understand the true intent behind users’ searches, called semantic search. Semantic search was a serious breakthrough because it attempts to match appropriate web pages in Google’s index to the language of a user’s query beyond just individual keywords. This new semantic search algorithm takes the broader context under consideration to pair up SERP results that truly match the needs of the user (whether implicit or explicit).”
What this suggests for ranking without backlinks is that you need to analyze the top-ranking pages in Google for your target keyword to find out what type of content is being delivered for that search query.
- You’ll then find common patterns within the SERPs such as:
- Informational pages (e.g., how-tos, lists, and guides)
- Transactional pages (e.g., e-commerce product listings, registration forms, and payment gateways)
- Navigational pages (e.g., company homepages, contact pages, and open office hours)
After you choose up the pattern that Google is rewarding with page one rankings, you then have to create a similar type of content. Otherwise, you won’t be meeting the user search intent and can not rank as high in the search engine.
4. Create Better Content Than the Competition
Meeting user search intent is simply one part of the puzzle to ranking without backlinks. the opposite part is creating better content than the competition.
If your articles aren’t providing any additional value above and beyond what the current ranking pages include, then Google’s algorithm has no reason to put you in the top results.
The fact is that good on-page SEO and meeting search intent will only get you so far in the rankings. so as to rank a website without links (or very few), you would like to create more in-depth and comprehensive content than your competitors.
This is an easy way to win high-ranking positions that last for a long time. So put an honest amount of effort into your article to satisfy the searcher’s query better than every other website.
5. Rank With Topic Clusters
A topic cluster content strategy for SEO is another way to increase your rankings without needing so many backlinks.
Topic clusters are like content silos on steroids. a subject cluster is a group of highly-related topic posts under a master pillar page. Each topic post usually links back to a parent pillar page and therefore the pillar page will often link to the essential topic posts, but not necessarily every post.
The purpose here is to establish topical authority on a key subject area. and therefore the more content you can create that’s based on this topic, the more you’re proving to the ranking algorithms that your website is an authority in this area, and will be ranked higher for related search queries.
6. Improve Your Internal Links
Internal links are an excellent way to boost the SEO for a target page. whenever you link internally to another page on your site, you’re casting a vote for that content.
This SEO strategy is analogous to acquiring external backlinks (more votes means it’s more worthy to users) but the links are happening on your site. With internal links, you’re signaling to Google’s algorithm that the target page is vital to your visitors and should be seen by more people.
Several SEO case studies are performed to test the ranking power of internal links and the results are clear: well-optimized anchor text for internal links can help a page rank higher in the SERPs for its target keywords.
7. Use Schema Markup to Rank In Google
Schema Markup also referred to as Structured data, is another easy thanks to rank in Google without backlinks.
The schema may be a special code that you can add to your web pages to describe individual elements of your content to search engines so they can better understand the content on your pages.
Search engines like Google can then use this information to display your content in additional useful ways in the search results that don’t always require links for them to appear.
These coveted positions are mentioned as “Rich Snippets” or “Rich Results”.
Examples of Structured Data in action include:
You can learn more about the best types of schema in SEO here. And these are a number of the top structured data types for improving your search engine visibility:
- Review rating stars
- Recipe information
- Event dates and locations
- Hours and phone numbers
- Organization details
- Top news stories
- Video information
8. Improve Your Website’s CTR
There are many other SEO case studies that show how click-through rates (CTR) in SERPs can significantly impact rankings. although this article by Search Engine Journal says it is not a ranking factor.
But if you examine this tweet by Danny Sullivan, it says “Google confirms watching clicks to gauge results quality.” But it won’t definitely state publicly if it’s a ranking signal or not.
Regardless of who you believe, the simplest approach for SEO is to get more people to click on your website listing on Google.
The trick here is to repeatedly optimize your meta page titles to increase the number of clicks. you’ll use emotion in your titles, add numbers, create curiosity, etc, to entice people to click on your listing.
9. Lower Your Bounce Rate
There’s an SEO term called pogo-sticking, and it’s bad for your website rankings.
Pogo-sticking is when the searcher clicks on a link within the SERP, sees that it’s not what they were trying to find (or doesn’t enjoy the user experience), and immediately bounces off the page by hitting the rear button.
If your sites are suffering from pogo-sticking it can lower your rankings.
So you would like to work to lower your bounce rate as much as possible by satisfying the search intent, reducing any unnecessary distractions, having fast page-loading speeds, and offering the visitor other content to consume through good internal links.
10. Publish More Content
A final way for ranking without backlinks is to publish more content.
Instead of focusing so heavily on trying to get a single page to rank for a specific keyword, it is often a better use of your time to just publish more pages. The more content you produce, the more chances you’ve got to rank high in the SERPs without being dependent on only a few web pages for success.
And if you follow the SEO tips outlined above, you’ll increase the chances of your articles hitting the top of the SERPs without needing to do as much link building.
