3 Advanced SEO Tips Every Blogger Should Know

There can only be one person ranking for the number one position. In some niches, competition can be fierce and require extreme attention to detail in order to win and take that number “1” spot.

These are some techniques I use when competing for a competitive term.

#1 Use archives and categories to keep posts close to the home page

There are two categories of metrics at work on your Web site. PageRank and domain authority (sometimes called “domain trust”). Each and every page within your blog has a specific PageRank. You can increase it or decrease it by internal and external inbound links to that specific page. Domain authority is the collection of PageRank and other factors across your entire site.

However, not all pages on your site get to enjoy the benefits of your domain authority. The further away a post is from the home page in terms of clicks, the less benefit it will receive from domain authority.

Google assumes that the most important page on your site is the home page. They also assume that you will have other important pages as close to the home page as possible and less important pages are deep within your site.

Their algorithm takes this into account by stopping the benefit of domain authority past three clicks deep. In order to spread as much domain authority to as many posts as possible, use numerous categories and archive pages getting as many posts within three clicks of the home page as possible.

Action Steps

  • Create as many categories as possible and spread your posts across them
  • Create an archives page and link to it in the header

#2 Allow PageRank to move freely through your site

In the not so distant past, in order to preserve the amount of PageRank passed to important pages, one could use a combination of rel=”nofollow” and robots.txt to keep the authority focused on the most important pages.

Since Google has changed the way they treat nofollow, you cannot prevent wasted PageRank. So if you are using that tactic still, chances are you are wasting your PageRank.

By removing nofollow from all internal links and not blocking pages in robots.txt, you allow PageRank to flow freely throughout your site. Pages that are not important for SEO, can still pass PageRank to important pages.

If you block the page with Robots.txt, Google will not be able to see the links on that page and not pass any PageRank to them. Thus, the PageRank sent to that page will be lost.

The above graphic depicts the flow of PageRank from internal links (without nofollow) within the site to the terms of service page. The PageRank passed to the TOS page is lost due to the use of robots.txt.

This graphic shows how PageRank flows around your site without nofollow links and if the pages are not blocked by robots.txt. If you do not want the page indexed, use the meta “noindex, follow” in the head section of the page.

Action Steps

  • Remove nofollow from internal navigation links
  • Remove pages such as “terms of service” from robots.txt
  • Use “noindex, follow” in the head section on pages or archives you don’t want in the SERPS. PageRank is still passed through them.

#3 Get links in content sections of sites

Google is on a constant quest to keep their SERPS untainted by spammers. They have modeled where the most trusted, untainted links typically appear.

Here is the order of importance for links within a site layout:

  • Content section: high value editorial links appear here and are the most valuable
  • Header: most sites do not engage in selling head navigation links, thus these links are also valuable
  • Side navigation: due to large scale abuse through link exchanges, link schemes and link selling; Google tends to devalue some of these links, especially external links
  • Comment sections: comment sections can pass some value, depending on how the site is designed. But due to constant spam they are of little value most of the time.
  • Footer links: basically worthless

The 80/20 rule comes into play here. Spend 80% of your time getting the 20% of links that are the most valuable. Forget about the other less valuable links. I have seen rankings shoot up from just one good editorial/content link.

Action Steps

  • Guest blog and provide a blogger with excellent content in exchange for an editorial link.
  • Create link bait and build relationships through social media to get inbound links

Related posts

Google’s Take on Mobile Search and What Websites Must Do

Google’s 19th Birthday Surprise Spinner

What You Need to know about Google’s Featured Snippets?

28 comments

Web Development Company July 16, 2010 - 12:38 am
great seo tips and its very helpful and thanks for sharing.
Property Marbella July 16, 2010 - 1:30 am
Hi Jason, great post, I also use an other thing to get my blog more active for the readers and Google spiders. I often ending a article with “Related articles” to some similarly articles I had write before in the blog.
Laptop Briefcases July 16, 2010 - 12:57 pm
Yes to help both search engine spiders and your visitors it is important to provide good links to other pages on your site. You will be sending more PR to those pages and also keeping visitors on your site longer.
used tires July 16, 2010 - 3:47 am
I am still kind of baffled by the fact that Google has now come out, and said that they've changed how nofollow works. I've always nofollowed the duplicate content on my website such as "privacy policy" and "contact page". ZK do you think it makes sense to dofollow your privacy page, even though it is duplicate content? Till then, Jean
ZK July 16, 2010 - 10:37 am
According to Google, you need to nofollow paid link and links you dont vouch for on your site. Google has a different take on duplicate content check the link below http://www.webtrafficroi.com/dealing-down-the-duplicate-content-debacle/ Btw why do you have nofollow tags on privacy page and content ?
used tires July 19, 2010 - 1:17 am
ZK, I have nofollowed my privacy and the "contact" page because the privacy page is just straight out copy/paste and there are over 30,000 of the same privacy page out there on the internet, so that's why I figured it would be best to just go ahead and nofollow it, and with the Contact Page it was kind of a lack of content which is why I nofollowed it. I guess I will have to think about this one and perhaps re-strategize. Till then, Jean
Dev - Technshare.com July 16, 2010 - 6:07 am
Hey Jason, Awesome post. Those are some great tips. I never though of putting links in content area. Thanks for the tips man. Awesome work. ~Dev
Jason Capshaw July 16, 2010 - 7:42 am
Thanks for your kind words everybody... @Marbella, using related posts plugins is also a great idea! @Jean, nofollow is very confusing and it is not clear why they made the change @Dev Ye, content links rock. Even if they appear in your own Web site.
used tires July 23, 2010 - 12:38 am
@Jason, you are right, it has become more confusing now than ever! :( I am sure that as times goes on the smart SEO's will figure out what the new nofollow changes really mean. Till then, Jean
Colleen July 16, 2010 - 1:30 pm
Very good Jason. In regards to, "Allow PageRank to move freely through your site" we've also been deleting content that is not receiving traffic nor has any links in order to preserve some of the PR we have passing through our pages. No use wasting juice on a page that will never see any traffic, eh.
Harshad July 16, 2010 - 3:01 pm
I made some changes to my blog after reading this post. Lot of useful tips Jason. Thanx!
Jason Capshaw July 16, 2010 - 3:10 pm
@colleen, I would think twice about deleting content. Just move it out of the authority content range of the first three clicks so no PageRank is wasted. But even a low authority page has some PageRank. Michael Martinez, a notable SEO, says that the more content you create and interlink, the less external links you need. Think of your content as a pyramid. You want your best pages to be at the top receiving all of the PageRank you can muster. Other pages, as long as they are not duplicate, can pass PageRank up the pyramid to the top page.
Uzi July 16, 2010 - 3:12 pm
Very detailed and informative post indeed jason. The point #2 is new for me. Thanks
Anil Kumar Singh July 18, 2010 - 10:51 am
I liked the graph you shared...
SEO: Top Commenter July 18, 2010 - 8:44 pm
Are there any wordpress plugins that assist with these new changes? Thanks for the info BTW - didn't know this.
Web Design Los Angeles July 18, 2010 - 11:54 pm
Good points to remember. I would also recommend sitemap a great help for the site. Both html and xml.
smart metering July 21, 2010 - 2:53 am
I think these are really very useful tips that bloggers should consider in their mind while doing the successful blogging.
Mathew Day July 22, 2010 - 5:12 pm
Really thorough article and easy to follow along. The way you explained everything made a lot of sense, appreciate your seo tips. :)
Amanda July 23, 2010 - 12:37 pm
These are all very good tips, you do a great job of explaining them too. Stream Companies Advertising Agency Blog
Jay July 24, 2010 - 11:54 am
Great tips. I'm surprised at how many other people haven't caught on to the death of the nofollow tag for the defunct PageRank sculpting of websites.
free stuff August 5, 2010 - 1:11 pm
Hi Jason Capshaw, Your tips are useful, but I have some other SEO tips. I'm following your tips already on my blog. I have nofollow tag to none of my internal links. Use related post plugin to increase the value of internal link building. For internal links Google gives more importance for links from similar pages.
seo company uk September 16, 2010 - 1:51 am
Blogging is very essential for any successful SEO campaign and getting good quality blog links can predominantly boost your SERP ranking for the campaign you are undergoing, so start thinking twice before running it.
Bill Gassett October 2, 2010 - 3:29 pm
Great advice. I find that many bloggers do not take the time to learn SEO which is one of the most important facets to getting business from your online efforts!
seo services online November 15, 2010 - 11:10 pm
Blogging is a great Web 2.0 tool which can be used as a significant social networking medium and fetching potential traffic for your business as well. Here the 3 advanced SEO tips for blogging is a must known factor for every SEO aspirants and should adopt in the work field.
8iFY Make I.T. Money February 1, 2011 - 9:31 pm
According to Jeremy Dearringer of Slingshot SEO, his biggest sticking point is making sure that your Titles and Description tags are the proper length. Title should be no more than 70 characters and descriptions should be no more than 139.
Manish Singh April 23, 2011 - 5:43 am
These methods are no doubt advanced in the sense that they are new and progressive, sometimes more difficult than basic SEO or require special tools and expertise. Some of the tactics are no short term tactics, they’re probably strategies.
weight loss August 26, 2011 - 10:05 am
These are basic ones but very helpful. I like the idea of repeating keywords in your post but not too many like spamming your content. Thank you for sharing!
website traffic October 19, 2011 - 5:48 am
always believe that basics are important and things are needed to keep remember in mind , and in terms of internet marketing, you should go for such things
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