In a previous post, I discussed ranking a website with no backlinks. This was something that I had always wanted to test and finally I have the evidence to prove to you that it is possible. First, if you did not read my previous post, you should go back and read it. I did include some general rules I was going to follow for this test. Here are the following rules I followed for this particular niche site:- Find a keyword with at least 1000 searches per month: This is low enough to keep things less competitive but high enough to get some traffic and hopefully some income. In addition, I want to pick a keyword which provides me further options for other secondary keywords.
- Pick a domain I have already register or one that has been registered for at least a year: I, and you should not want to spend $300 on an aged domain name unless you are really invested in making it an authority website. Here, I am simply trying to rank this website without any backlinks. Now, the reason I do want a domain already registered is because it, if parked or with some content, already has some traction.
- Create 20 high quality articles of 800 words or more focused on similar keywords: The goal here is to create excellent content without going overboard with 100 or more articles.
Niche Website Details
As I mentioned in the previous post, I was not and am not going to disclose the domain name for this website. The reason for this is that I would inherently get backlinks. Obviously that would completely void any progress I have made. Nevertheless, I do want to provide you with some details in hopes that you can replicate this process. It was not easy but I ended being able to do it.
Keyword
I spent a lot of time doing keyword research on domains I currently have. I honestly have a lot that I am just sitting on, but for all of them I followed my outline for researching a niche. Going over search terms and data could not have been done without using seomoz so I want to thank that group for a wonderful product. Now, the keyword I chose was actually a phrase. The phrase does include a term that is a fairly competitive term. By way of example, a similar phrase would be “best dog beds” and the keyword that is competitive is “dog bed.” The statistics for the term fit nicely within my first rule. The phrase itself gets 1400 searches per month. Now, I should note that the competitive keyword within the phrase gets over 20,000 searches per month. The biggest issue here is that I knew the search time received over 1000 searches per month.
Sub-Keywords: Article Titles
Once I figured out the keyword I was going for, I used google’s keyword tool to find similar terms that were less competitive. This normally included terms that received less than 300 searches per month. I then used Keyword Magnet to find additional terms. The problem with Google’s keyword tool is that it is limited. In this case, I really wanted to go after those additional non-competitive terms for articles. For example, if I used “best dog bed” Keyword Magnet was able to help me find “best dog bed for small apartments” and “dog beds for puppies.” Once I had a list of 100 terms, I decided to sit down and search them on Google to see what was out there. Often, the first three results were somewhat useful but because these are long tail keywords, often they were not competitive at all.
I decided on 20 keyword phrases to go after when writing my articles. This really helped me get the traffic I needed though. If you can find 20 keyword phrases that get 200 searches per month that equals 2000 searches per month. If you can rank in the top 10 for each of them then you will certainly get some clicks. At least that is and was my general thought.
Domain Name
As I mentioned before, I used a domain I previously owned. The biggest reason was that I was trying to rank for a search term with no backlinks and I did not want a new domain name to hurt my chances. However, I am interested to see if this would work with a brand new domain name. To be clear, the domain I have is a .com and it is the exact phrase of the primary keyword. For example, it could be www.bestdogbeds.com. This allowed me an excellent chance to rank for a keyword with 1400 searches per month. If you are looking for domain names, use Bustaname, it is an excellent website and a great resource when deciding though. I actually debated about using another domain name and keyword because I found a less competitive search term but ended up using a domain I had registered 2 years ago.
Building the Website
I followed the tutorial I wrote on building your website and used a theme from DIY Themes. Bear in mind, that I only wrote the mandatory pages such as a contact us or about page along with the 20 pages which were the articles discussed previously in this post. The point here is that I did spend time building a fully functional niche site. This was not something I just threw up there with some articles. I believe this played a role in my success because this is actually a useful website that visitors enjoy!
Results!
Now, I have had this website up for about 3 months. Within the first month I was finding my website in the top 10 for a few of the articles. Within the second month, I main homepage was ranked in the top 10 of Google. Keep in mind that my main page has 1000+ words and articles discussing the primary topic. Here are my results below:
No Backlinks Proof
Now obviously some of you may believe these sites showing the statistics below are not the same. Sadly, without revealing my domain name, it would be impossible to prove. Take my word for it though, IT IS ABSOLUTELY TRUE. Why take my word for it? Well, I have spent a lot of time trying to help others and quite frankly, this site has been built to help people understand that Google wants quality websites. The site I created, in my opinion, is an excellent resource.
Statistics – Per Month
- Search Terms Getting Me Traffic: 289 according to Google Webmasters Tools
- Impressions (the number of times people see my website in search results): 14,532
- Clicks Per Month: 1,198
- Ranking for Main Keyword: 7
- Ranking for Next Competitive Term with 900 Searches Per Month: 3
- Visits (Past 30 Days): 1,604
- Google Adsense Revenue: $35.32 Last Month ($72 total)
- Pages Visited Per Visit: 3.51
- Bounce Rate: 1.31%
The craziest thing here is the bounce rate. My website is an excellent resource and this means only 1.31% of visitors visit the site and leave without clicking to another page on my website. Meaning, 98% of visitors visit other pages on the site!
Lessons
To me, the biggest lesson I learned is that Google really does reward value. This website, currently, has no backlinks at all except internal ones. I researched the necessary terms and developed articles ranging from 500 to 1200 words. All of these articles I wrote and I spent time really trying to help others understand an important issue. Never let anyone tell you that it is not possible! My goals for this niche site are to further monetize the site and hopefully continue to grow without any backlinks. Everyone says you need backlinks and I fully believe that this is a major portion of how Google works. However, if you have something that is not competitive and something that people find useful, Google recognizes this. If you have any questions, please leave a comment below. Until next time!
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