How I Increased My Search Engine Traffic By 1,000% in 4 Months

Google currently uses over 200 signals to examine the entire link structure of the web and to determine which pages are important and relevant to particular user search queries. The weight and importance of each signal / factor differs greatly and practicing the right search engine optimization techniques is vital to your online success through search.

Since the launch of Sam’s Web Guide, I have experienced an increase of over 1,000% in search engine traffic and the method for achieving this was not very difficult but has been very specific. Although there are so many factors that search engines use for determining ranking, today I’m going to share the most important techniques I employed that have helped my blog to soar even in tough times.

Gaining Relevant Links

Acquiring relevant links is one of the most important and effective elements when implementing your SEO strategy. Quality backlinks to your site improves its trustworthiness and weighs your position excellently when they are relevant to the content they are pointing to on your blog.

My most relevant and powerful backlinks were gained through guest posting on popular blogs that have already acquired massive authority in search engines. Regardless of what others may be saying about guest blogging, it provides solid benefits for strengthening your blog’s position and promotes you as an online publisher / blogger. Ensure that you are able to include a few relevant links back to your site with the correct use of title tags and keywords.

There are blogs that I have guest posted on that resulted in an increase of up to 10% in search engine traffic within just a week, so gaining those quality backlinks is very important for your SEO goals.

External Links

Don’t be mean with your outbound links. In fact, use links whenever they are necessary and ensure that they are pointing to trusted websites that have maximum authority. So if you’re supporting your articles with outbound links to sources of information, use sites like WordPress.org, Google.com, Wikipedia.org or any other site that provides the best official material. When writing anything about WordPress, I always include relevant links to their official site.

These outbound links contribute to the relevance of your blog posts and thus rank better in search results.

Using The Right Keywords

I have realized that this is something that most bloggers either overlook or overdo. Aim for a keyword density of 3 to 8% and write with your users in mind, ensuring that your articles are understandable and easy to read. The keywords you use basically help provide a map for users to find your posts through search engines. Its very important that the backlinks you gain are supported by the right keywords in both the link text and title tag. Spend the extra time when creating your links to get these just right.

Posting Frequency

Although I have not been posting frequently recently due to some offline challenges, my blog has a very good history of posting consistently and on relevant topics and provides lots of data. Maintaining a healthy posting frequency indicates to google and other search engines that you are a provider of fresh content. In fact, your fresh content may even gain higher priority in search results at times than articles that are well placed on established sites.

The foundation built in the earlier days of my blog through consistent posting and other SEO techniques have been able to continuously capture a decent number of search engine visitors even though my blog was dormant for a couple of weeks.

So create a schedule and stick to it.

The Results

When my blog was first launched only about 10% of my total traffic came from search engines and most of my traffic was from connecting with other bloggers through blog commenting and social networking. My search engine traffic now accounts for 50% of total visits and the numbers are steadily rising each month. This figure can vary depending on your activities online and how you gain your traffic.

So I am quickly answering some of the questions posed in my previous article, “Will Social Media Marketing Consistently Outperform Search Engine Optimization?” I will soon be writing a report on my findings and how Social Media Marketing compares with SEO. So be on the look-out for it.

Conclusion & Discussion

Search Engine Optimization has become much simpler to implement and with plugins like the All In One SEO Pack, more labor intensive SEO tasks can be automated giving you lots of free time to focus on the tips and techniques mentioned above. There really is no secret formula but only consistent practice of some basic fundamentals.

How has your search engine traffic improved as your blog grows and how much has it changed since you first started blogging? Please share your experiences with us by leaving a comment below. We would love to hear from you.

Related posts:

1. 17 Killer Techniques For Driving Massive Search Engine Traffic To Your Blog
2. 26 Major Google Search Engine Ranking Factors Every Blogger Should Know
3. Will Social Media Marketing Consistently Outperform Search Engine Optimization?
4. The Evolution of Search – Google’s New Social Search Results
5. 23 Easy Ways to Guarantee More Links to your Site

Tagged as: google, Search Engine Optimization, Search Engine Traffic, seo, SEO Techniques