What worked best for YOUR rankings in SERPs?

Hi there, guys!

I've got a website in the guitar niche and I've been working quite hard for the past few months to get it high in search engine results pages. Of course my hard work has yielded some results and I am definitely quite satisfied with the way things are going.

However, I'm totally sure there are some tactics out there that are REALLY effective and I just don't know about them. So - could you guys help me? What has worked best for you to get your websites higher in SERPs on Google, Yahoo, etc.

I don't want to be one of those who never give anything back, so I will tell you what I've been doing so far:
1. Really good on-site SEO
2. Outsourcing article writing to CyberHub ($3 / 500-word article)
3. Distributing those articles via iSnare ($2 / article) and publishing them to EZA to get lots of backlinks
4. Outsourcing do-follow blog posting (to some guy here on DP)
5. Writing a post on the website's blog every 3-4 days
6. Writing a free PR once every 2 months

OK, that's me. What have you been doing that has helped you the most with your SERPs rankings?

Thank you very much in advance!

 

1 Really good on site SEO

Other

1 Conforming to guidlelines
2 using the best cross browser combination of (x)html and css

 

1. Really good on-site SEO ...kind-of. Off-site SEO is also very important. Links, links, links! Get as much as you can and get them from high quality sites with related content.

 

-Good On site SEO
-constant link building (try to make it as relevant as possible )

 

Each to their own dude - your experience is what was asked for

I gave mine - links have been far less important for me than good on site seo has been - but heck I don't hold with Page Rank & links links links and prefer SERPS so as I said horses for courses and each to their own preferences.

 

Maybe I didn't word it right. I guess what should have said is that I'm hard core when it comes to on-site SEO. That's the most important. After that I keep it going with good off-site SEO.

I didn't like the way #1 was worded because it specified "on-site". So, I said "kind-of" because it's not the complete picture

 

What normally separates top ranked sites in competitive niches from the others is a superior backlink profile. By superior I mean their backlink profile contains links from highly relevant and highly trusted sites (authority). Now I'm not talking about a post on Adobe's forum with your link in it. I'm talking front page or one level deep natural links from authority sites in your niche. And the funny thing is that the anchor text of these superior backlinks may be something as simple as "click here."

 

For me quality content did it really. Gained natural links etc. Once I stopped stressing about getting in the higher placings and focused on sheerly quality content my serps shot up.

 

I have done the on page optimization to the satisfactory level for one of my sites.
Continuous link building from webmaster forums and from related niches
Have about 50 articles approved in the ezine which will take care of targeted traffic and viral link building
Continuous updating of contents.
I think these factors will take care of my site as for as SERP is concerned.

PS : I never outsource any job to other people. I do everything on my own and it is really a hard work that pays well in the end

 

Hi once again, guys!

@Revelations-Decoder: All the pages of this website are W3C (X)HTML valid with totally separate CSS and JS code.

@oddcomment: The #1 specified "on-site" because all the other tactics I am using are "off-site". So I obviously know that only on-site SEO is not the complete picture, right?

@snowbird: You are exactly right. But how do I obtain this kind of backlinks?

@dairyman: About outsourcing, each to his own. I really dislike writing articles and posting random stuff to related blogs. I earn decent $$$ as a web developer and I prefer to spend my time doing something I am actually good at and leave the work I don't like to others.

To conclude: Honestly said, I think we haven't made much progress in this topic so far. It's obvious from my first post that I know I need good on-site SEO and backlinks - I was asking you for your tactics to obtain those backlinks.

I shared my tactics with you in detail (what am I doing, who am I outsourcing to). What I would like to hear is what YOU are doing to gain backlinks. How do you get those PR5+ backlinks from related sites? Do you buy them, do you negotiate them? What other ways of building links are you using?

Thank you once again.

 

It's just that the others you mentioned are not the kind of off-site optimization I generally put a lot of time into. They are more of the exception for me than the rule.

 

Great, so you are exactly the guy I am looking for. I would be really grateful if you told me what are YOU doing for your off-site optimisation.

This is basically the point of this whole thread - sharing new ideas that actually work and help you get higher in SERPs. Thank you in advance!

 

The best thing I have done for my websites?
Hmm...Reading "Purple Cow" by Seth Godin maybe.
I have thought myself on How to be remarkable! I build my blogs not just with some content to fill the SERP's, but with content that will generate buzz in my niche, content that will get me traffic and links naturally.

 

i'd say link building is my little secret if you do it right and you keep building links each month sooner or later you'll reach the ranking you want.

 

Going after the long tail keywords on individual articles has worked "miracles" for me when it comes to the SERP results for my main keywords. A little here, and a little there allowing to build up over time.

 

Basically I'm looking for:

1. High quality websites to get links and
2. Places I can use my keywords within the link.

There's a lot of work involved because these sources are hard to find, but I think they are worth the payoff. The reason I don't like eZines that much (although I still use from time to time) is that most don't let you link from within the article (you just get a credit at the bottom), and when they do your links often get stripped from your articles during "sharing".

The way I find my most valuable links is to:

1. Search Google using related keywords,
2. Look through the results for site I wouldn't expect to rank high (some home grown "mywhatever.net" type site),
3. Analyze the backlinks to that domain, then
4. Browse through the most promising of those.

As an example, if you had a niche about Glacier Bay National Park you might find that one of these home grown related sites is www.glacier.bay.national-park.com and that they are getting backlinks from an article titled 50 Cool Summer Destinations on Boots 'n All. Just from looking at the page, I can quickly see a box that says:

Share Your Story
You got a cool story to tell?
If so, become a BootsnAll writer. Share your stories & adventures with other travelers.
Submit Your Story Now!
​

Here's one opportunity to create links from unique article within a reputable, high PR, site.

It may take a while, but you can often find a good amount of these ...many that can be used for other niches. I hope that helps.

 

Add one thing more, add blog in your site, this will give the opportunity of adding unique content in your site.

 

...and an opportunity to get links through syndication.

 

Articles distribution has helped a lot
and high relevant links

 

Yeah I get you oddcoments I was referring to and reiterating OP (dunker's) #1 bullet point

1. Really good on-site SEO

Probably due to my continual belief in the old addage "Content is King" still being the bees knees followed by Presentation being King Contents Queen.

I am not however saying a darned good linking strategy has no relevance or importance as everyone ought to know linking is good and most especially when it is done naturally and from a site or person with authority due to the rightly earned merit and originality of the source as the way it get's earned.