Many people now have an idea of what SEO is all about. They understand that it is the use of the appropriate keywords, titles, meta tags and links to ensure that your content ranks high on search engine results. They also understand that high quality, relevant and fresh content that is useful to users is vital. Many brands have therefore invested heavily in content creation. However, there seems to be no strategy with regards to content distribution. Below we look at the importance of distribution in SEO, and how you can achieve it in your company:
If you write great content but have low domain authority, your site will not receive much traffic. Distribution is what will help your site rank high in search engine results.
Link building
At the core of distribution is link building. Link building is not always easy. If you link to low quality, spammy websites, you will get penalized by Google. Below we look at the various types of links and how best you can utilize them in your SEO distribution efforts:
Brand name links:
These refer to the name of the brand. The trick in using these links is that your brand name is unique, so you will always rank high for it. It is advisable to use brand name links at least 40% of the time.
Optimized links
These links are the phrase of the keyword that you are looking to optimize for. If you want to rank for ‘best sports gear in Ohio’, you can use a link that exactly matches the keyword. Strive to use this type of link at least 20% of the time.
Generic
These refer to links like ‘learn more’ or ‘click here’. Use this 15 % of the time.
Backlinks
Backlinks help your site achieve authority and credibility, something that Google’s algorithms are really looking out for. When authoritative sites link back to your site, Google begins to view your site as authoritative too.
External blogs
If you have a new site with barely any traffic, you need to reach out to larger external blogs in your niche. You can ask to contribute to the blogs. This way, you get insights and other perspectives that you can use to better your own content. The owner of the blog is a good source of these insights since he is much more experienced. His audience’s comments are also invaluable. Ensure that you have a topic or article that you will use to pitch. Review their guidelines first and understand them before pitching.
Local newspapers and media
Reaching out to local newspapers and media outlets gives your site a chance to become a reference point, even if just for quotes in your niche (for a start).
Other local businesses
A smart way to work with local businesses is to reach out to those that are related to your niche. You can then contribute to their site. For instance, if you sell sports gear, you can approach a local bar and request to contribute to their site by creating content around your favorite beer. This relationship is important: people talk about sports as they drink, and even more importantly, watch sports as they socialize in bars. A win-win.
Content Distribution Networks (CDNs)
Content distribution networks allow you access to bigger audiences that you cannot possibly reach on your own.
To succeed when using CDNs, you need to set specific goals. You need to know who your audience is, and whether they exist on these platforms. You also need to define your KPIs – key performance indices. What is success to you? Is it more traffic, retweets, more customers?
Note that different CDNs will meet different goals. Do your research and get to know the channel that will best suit your needs. Ask someone in your network what works for them. Get to know what content your audience loves sharing, and where they share it. After setting your goals, try different CDNs until you discover what works best for you.
Below are some content distribution networks that you could incorporate into your SEO efforts:
Medium – you need to build a readership first
List.ly – good platform to build a community and audience
Daily by buffer – this increases Tweets and traffic to your site too
Hacker News – great place for startup stories, investment and raising rounds. Difficult to penetrate, but when you do so, traffic to your site increases massively.
Product hunt – only post real products
Reddit – Posts will do great here. Do however only choose relevant subreddits.
Growthhackers – you need to be active in this community, comment, ask questions, give advice and share valuable content.
When choosing CDNs, you need to go for those with audiences similar to your target audience. You also need to know the trending content on the forums your target audience is on, the keywords being used and referral sources in Google Analytics.
Social Media Channels
The prime lifetime of a Tweet is 18 minutes. You need to share one piece of content multiple times, two to 3 times a day after publishing it. For two weeks, you need to continue sharing it daily, 2 to 3 times. Better still, you need to re-share your most popular content even months later. This is the only way to gain traction and become an authority on social media. When you have a lot of posts on social media channels, you build credibility, improve your rank on search engine results and increase traffic to your site.
Better still, you need to post some quotes from the article. Adding the share option in your posts makes it easier for readers to share quotes from the quotes.
Build relationships
Building relationships is the easiest part of the distribution, but it is also quite hard. You have to prove that you can add value before anyone trusts you to occasionally or frequently write for their audience. Once you achieve this, you are able to easily get quality, authoritative links to your site.
All in All
The importance of distribution in SEO cannot be underestimated. If you are a one-man or woman business, it can be overwhelming to try and implement all the above strategies all at once. The best thing to do is research on one thing and implement it. It is all about a step at a time.
Jay
I've worked for WooRank, SEOptimer, and working on a cool SEO audit tool called SiteGuru.co. Now I have build Linkilo and SEO RANK SERP WordPress theme. I've been in the SEO industry for more than 5 years, learning from the ground up. I've worked on many startups, but also have my own affiliate sites.
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