An SEO run is simply a coordinated effort to execute a goal, similar improving your website’s rankings successful Google oregon different hunt engines. Campaigns commonly impact keyword research, contented optimization, and nexus building.

Learn however to make 1 successful 3 elemental steps. 

Anything tin beryllium an SEO run goal, but present are a fewer communal ones: 

• Rank higher for a keyword (or keywords) 
• Get much integrated postulation to a leafage (or a acceptable of pages) 
• Build much backlinks 

For example, we precocious had a extremity to amended the rankings of our list of “blogging tips” from #7 to #1.

Our nonfiction connected “blogging tips” was hovering astir #7 and #10 from 28 June to 25 September this year. 

If your extremity is to physique much backlinks, the process tin beryllium analyzable truthful I urge speechmaking our link gathering guide.

If your extremity is to fertile higher and get more integrated traffic, you’ll apt person to audit your people page(s) to recognize what you tin hole to execute your goal. 

First, you privation to marque definite your people pages tin beryllium crawled and indexed by Google. In our case, our blog station is ranking #7, truthful it’s wide that crawlability and indexability are not issues. 

Beyond that, the astir communal issues are: 

No postulation potential

You tin lone get hunt postulation if you’re targeting a taxable radical are searching for. 

So, if you’ve not been doing keyword probe to find topics to target, it’s clip to start. Install our SEO toolbar and hunt for your taxable successful Google. 

Our toolbar volition amusement you if the top-ranking pages are getting hunt traffic. 

Our SEO toolbar shows you the hunt measurement and postulation imaginable (TP) for immoderate keyword you enter. You tin besides spot the magnitude of hunt postulation (ST) each top-ranking page gets. 

In our case, we were already targeting a keyword, “blogging tips.” It had 1,000 monthly searches and a traffic potential of 800. 

So, this wasn’t the main issue. 

Not capable backlinks

Backlinks are an important Google ranking factor. If the pages outranking you person mode much backlinks than you, it could beryllium a crushed wherefore you’re not ranking. 

To cheque this, participate your people keyword into Keywords Explorer and scroll down to SERP Overview. Then, look astatine the Domains file to spot if you’re successful the aforesaid ballpark arsenic the different top-ranking pages. 

If you person astir the aforesaid fig of referring domains, it’s a bully thing. Otherwise, links could beryllium the contented down wherefore you’re not ranking as high. 

For our example, backlinks weren’t a problem. We had much backlinks from much unsocial websites than the different top-ranking pages. These backlinks were coming from morganatic domains, too: 

If backlinks are an contented for your page, past you’d person to absorption connected gathering much backlinks. Check retired the resources beneath to larn however to get much links to your people page. 

Not hitting the people successful presumption of content

If you’re targeting a keyword with postulation potential, person capable backlinks, and still don’t fertile high, it’s apt your contented is missing something. 

There are 3 areas to focus on: 

Check if you’re aligned with hunt intent

Search intent is the wherefore down a search. If your contented isn’t matching wherefore radical are searching, Google won’t fertile it high. 

That’s wherefore we ne'er ranked for the keyword ‘backlink checker’ successful the aboriginal days. We created a landing leafage erstwhile searchers were looking for a free tool: 

Our archetypal landing leafage for our backlink checker 

The SERP Overview for the keyword backlink checker 

We jumped to #1 erstwhile we changed it to a free backlink checking tool instead. 

To cheque hunt intent, Google your people keyword and spot what pages are ranking. For example, radical searching for ‘blogging tips’ are beginners looking for a database of tips: 

In our case, we’re matching hunt intent, truthful it’s astir apt not the main issue. 

If your contented is not aligned with hunt intent, you’ll apt person to rewrite and republish your page. 

Check if your contented is comprehensive

Even if your contented mostly aligns with hunt intent, you whitethorn not beryllium giving searchers everything they want. There whitethorn beryllium subtopics they expect to spot successful your content. 

For example, the top-ranking pages for ‘mens sneakers’ see a size filter: 

This is due to the fact that searchers volition inevitably privation to filter for shoes that fit. 

Here’s 1 mode to find subtopics you should see successful your content: 

1. Go to Keywords Explorer
2. Enter your people keyword 
3. Go to Related terms
4. Toggle Also speech about

This study shows you which different keywords and phrases the top-ranking pages for your people keyword often mention. 

A speedy eyeball of this study already tells maine that we’re missing immoderate important subtopics successful our content: 

• Social media
• Content strategy
• AI

Check if you tin optimize for the featured snippet

A featured snippet is simply a afloat oregon partial reply to a query straight connected the SERPs. 

If you tin triumph the snippet, you tin leap up of different websites. 

However, to triumph the snippet, 2 things request to be true: 

• Your people keyword shows a featured snippet 
• Your leafage is already ranking successful the top 10 

You tin cheque this easy successful Keywords Explorer. For our example, a featured snippet exists and we fertile successful the apical 10 positions. 

So, there’s a accidental we could drawback the snippet by cautiously analyzing what Google is looking for and reworking parts of our content. 

You’ve present audited your leafage and person an thought of what to bash next. And the adjacent measurement is nary different than to execute connected what you’ve decided on. 

If your leafage is wholly misaligned with hunt intent oregon isn’t astir a taxable with hunt postulation potential, past you’ll request to spell backmost to the drafting committee and rewrite.

Fortunately for us, this wasn’t the case. Our audit suggested we could scope #1 by reworking immoderate parts of our content. In fact, determination were 2 imaginable actions we could take: 

1. Fill the missing content gaps
2. Format the station amended to triumph the featured snippet 

Since the second was the easier mode to execute our goal, we decided to bash that first. Comparatively, the featured snippet was a database of tips with wide subheadings, whereas ours was connected the vague side. 

Our subheadings were vague and didn’t intelligibly pass what the tips were about. 

We utilized ChatGPT to simplify the headings with this prompt: 

I’ll springiness you our blog contented and I privation you to rephrase the main tips which are heading tags truthful it’s clear, direct, and casual to recognize astatine a glance.

We past updated the station and asked Google to recrawl the leafage connected Google Search Console. A fewer hours later, we saw a leap successful our mobile rankings, landing close down the People Also Ask (PAA) boxes. 

However, our desktop rankings didn’t budge, truthful we assumed the effect was temporary. We past decided to update our post. 

We did this by downloading the database of keywords from the Also speech about study successful Keywords Explorer, pasting it (alongside the content) into ChatGPT, and prompting it to archer america which keywords, entities, oregon subtopics we’ve missed. 

We past refreshed our contented with these new tips. 

The adjacent day, we captured the featured snippet successful New York. Five days later, we had the snippet successful each 50 U.S states. 

Today, adjacent aft the run ended, we’re inactive ranking #1 successful the U.S. for “blogging tips”: 

Final thoughts

We’ve really documented our travel trying to boost our blogging tips blog station to the #1 position. I highly urge watching it here:

Whether your run succeeds oregon fails, you tin larn from it. 

• If it’s a success, see whether you tin bash the aforesaid with other pages. 
• If it’s a failure, excavation deeper and recognize why. You’ll besides privation to look for different opportunities that mightiness assistance you execute your goal. 

Any questions oregon comments? Let maine cognize connected X (Twitter).