Chapter Three
Your Authority
For the most part, search engines aren't hiding their algorithm. And nothing is more critical to use that algorithm to your advantage than your "authority."
Sure, the super technical parts of an algorithm are complicated, but Google has a vested interest in wanting you to understand the basics.
Why?
So that you can feed better content into their machine, to better satisfy their users, to make the search engine more money. That simple realization is the key to you dominating search engine results.
Search engine rankings boil down to which website has the best product, service, or answer for what a searcher searched. Basically, who is the authority? Authority eliminates the impostors and those who try to game the system. The more you can represent your knowledge or superior product or solution, the better you are positioned.
Not terribly long ago, authority and relevance were viewed very differently by search engines than they are today. Relevance was primarily related to the number of times a keyword was used on a page ("keyword density"). Relevance was mainly a numbers game of repeating a target keyword as many times as possible on a page ("keyword stuffing"). The more frequently a word was mentioned often resulted in higher rankings.
This wild west of artificial relevance led to questionable practices like keyword stuffing white-colored text on top of a website's white background so users wouldn't see it, but search engines would. Marketers of the day also began writing absurd title tags like "Best Keyword Keyword Keyword." Those days are over. There's a new sheriff in town, and his name is Authority. Google and other search engines realized that relevance shouldn't be faked so easily. And authority fixed that.
Authority has become harder to achieve for corner-cutters. Although there are still those who continue to try to fake authority, search engines are getting better at seeing through their smokescreen by analyzing a website's trust, quality, and influence.
But if you feel you are lost in the back of the pack, how can you increase your authority?
While your content communicates to a search engine what industry you are in, links and mentions from other websites are what transmit authority. The more links, the better. Furthermore, not just any old link, trustworthy, relevant links from credible websites.
When you know the importance of links, it can be tempting to allow an SEO company to sell you on the idea of large numbers of sketchy links.
After all, any link is better than no link at all, right?
Wrong.
The proper way to build links is quality over quantity. If you aim for quantity over quality, you run the risk of being punished by Google in the form of being pushed so far back search results that they virtually disappear. You might experience a short term improvement, but soon enough you will lose not only your gains but be pushed even further back than before you added the links to begin with.
Search engine algorithms have been refined over the years to distinguish between trustworthy links and low-quality ones. When I take on a new client, I look at their backlink portfolio and address bad links that may have crept in through allowing uninformed staff members or past SEO providers. That way, you have a clean slate before muddying the waters with new link building efforts.
Anyone who promises you fast results for via blasting backlinks is either lying or trying to game the system. Either way, you are headed down a road that will lead to disappointment, wasted investment, and potential repercussions that can take longer to repair than they took to create in the first place.
The era of SEO shortcuts is over. The age of fake SEO is gone. Real influence, real trust, and real quality is the only way to real SEO authority. And real authority takes time - time to build, to promote, and to establish the relationships needed to support your goals.
When it comes to SEO in general and authority in particular, you must have full clarity of your market niche. There is a temptation to want to be all things to all people. This mindset is so prevalent that Mark Cuban, American businessman and investor on ABC's reality show, Shark Tank, refers to it as "drowning in opportunity." The organization that tries to be too broad can't focus, and when you can't focus your content, then you certainly can't focus your SEO authority. Ultimately, if you don't know your specialty, neither will your customers.
It makes no sense to try to grow your rankings until you establish who you are. Of course, if you aren't sure who you are, there is an easy way to get clarity. Ask yourself what you enjoy selling, and then monetize that. Alternately, if you are already selling, look at what makes you the most money. It really is that simple. Follow your passion or profit margins.
One of my clients, Spoonful of Comfort, is an excellent example of following the money to a highly profitable focus, and high authority in their niche. When I was first introduced to them, they were selling chicken noodle soup as a food product. At face value, that would seem logical. However, they tried some trials with a series of landing pages that each contained a different focus and positioning based on "occasion." What they found was both surprising and sensible at the same time. They discovered there was a massive market for chicken soup being sold for emotional gifting more so than to satisfy hunger. When Spoonful of Comfort made the minor shift of packaging their soups as gifts for sympathy, illnesses, childbirth, and other life events, their sales and visibility shot up dramatically. With a simplified site design and new content focused on giving soup by the occasion, transactions rose by 534% within the first month.
This is what happens when you focus.
Your focused knowledge is your ticket to authority. The more targeted your website is, the more it resonates with your customers, and the less competitive noise you'll hear.
Your experiences in life are the foundation of your content, which can only be established based on what you know. You'd be surprised, however, at how many companies still believe they need to hide their most useful knowledge because of a fear that their competition will steal it out from under them. Just the opposite is true. When it comes to SEO, withholding your knowledge is a disadvantage. "Giving away the farm" is one of the quickest paths to authority.
It has become increasingly difficult to express more knowledge or clear expression of differentiation when faced with the sheer volume of competitors online. Transparency and transformation are the new currency. People no longer buy knowledge. There is too much of it readily available online, for free. They buy how you help them be more, do more, and ultimately, transform.
The smoke and mirrors approach to providing value is archaic. Today, there are so many resources online that your unique knowledge has no benefit from staying bottled up. Instead, your unique experiences are your secret weapon to standing out from the crowd.
Creating a powerful impact online starts by strategizing offline. I will use my own company as an example in upcoming pages.
The great news is that you don't need thousands and thousands of links to raise your authority. You need the right links.
For example, it is better to have five good websites linking to you then it is to have a single, low-quality website linking to you across 100 pages. The ratio of domains-to-links is vital, with unique domains being what provide the strongest ranking increases. Still, to get links from domains, you must capture their attention and interest in linking to you.
To take your online credibility to the next level, you must devote your time to identifying other credible authorities to leverage. That might include online publications, podcasts, and influencers on social media. You must actively participate in the same communities where they are participating. You must be part of their ecosystem and give value, and do it for free, before you ask for their influence.
Everybody's overwhelmingly busy. To capture their attention, you must bring real value to the table. We do this by establishing relationships, which is not as mystifying and challenging as it might sound at first. Simply liking, commenting, and engaging are accessible ways to begin a relationship.
There are some helpful tools such as PitchBox, BuzzSumo, and Ninja Outreach, to help streamline your engagement and help you identify your industry's top influencers.
www.seonational.com/ninja
If you hope to be featured or linked to by other authorities, these tools can even help you to initiate outreach using proven, customizable engagement templates. Besides the passive likes and shares online, you can also give via these email templates to provide compliments on articles written by others. By reaching out directly like this, you can share your content and ask the influencers questions like, "What do you think about this article? Would your audience be interested?" Sooner than you might expect, if your content is compelling, you will begin racking up those highly prized links. At the very least, sincere flattery builds mutually beneficial relationships.
Sharing your "secret sauce" content shouldn't be limited to PR and media channels either. My prescription for both my...
