15 Ways to Enhance Your Rankings (That Do not Require New Content material)

website positioning is a long-term recreation.

However that doesn’t imply there aren’t any low-hanging alternatives to enhance your website positioning. Not solely will the techniques under enhance your rankings, however additionally they don’t want you to create new content material.

Let’s undergo them.

The title tag is without doubt one of the first issues a searcher sees:

Making it enticing can entice them to decide on your web page over the others on the SERPs.

Nevertheless, there is no such thing as a level in optimizing the title tags of pages that received’t be seen by searchers. So we need to concentrate on pages which can be already rating excessive, particularly these in positions #2–5.

Right here’s how one can discover them:

1. Go to Ahrefs’ Web site Explorer
2. Enter your area
3. Go to the Prime pages report
4. Set the Place filter to 2–5

We are able to then use ChatGPT as inspiration to create compelling title tags. For instance, let’s ask it to create 10 click-worthy titles for this weblog submit. For greatest outcomes, I’ll give it a working title and ask it to restrict these titles to a most of 60 characters (since Google cuts off title tags past that).

Fairly respectable. And we will make it even higher, utilizing the methods within the articles under.

At Ahrefs, we carry out a content material audit each quarter. In a single such audit, I found that natural visitors to our submit on free website positioning instruments was declining. 

So I up to date it. And visitors shot up.

The simplest solution to discover content material price updating is to put in our free WordPress website positioning plugin and run a content material audit. This can let you know which articles to replace. 

Then observe the steps within the useful resource under to replace these posts.

If the top-ranking pages cowl comparable subtopics, they’re possible vital and what searchers count on to see.

We are able to discover these subtopics by wanting on the frequent key phrases the top-ranking pages rank for. Right here’s how one can discover these “content material gaps”:

1. Enter your goal key phrase into Ahrefs’ Key phrases Explorer
2. Scroll to the SERP Overview
3. Verify as much as 5 related competing pages
4. Click on Open in and select Content material hole

This opens up the Content material Hole report, the place you’ll see the frequent key phrase rankings amongst these pages. Look via the outcomes to see if there are any subtopics you possibly can cowl. 

For instance, if we wished to replace our submit on earned media, we would take into account together with subtopics like these:

• Owned media examples
• Paid media examples
• Paid vs. earned media

Inside hyperlinks are hyperlinks from one web page on the identical area to a different. Inside hyperlinks help the move of PageRank round your website (which is a confirmed Google ranking factor). 

When used accurately, they’ll increase the efficiency of your pages in Google.

Right here’s how one can discover pages so as to add inside hyperlinks to:

1. Join the free Ahrefs Webmaster Instruments (AWT)
2. Run a crawl utilizing Ahrefs’ Web site Audit
3. When the crawl is finished, go to the Inside hyperlink alternatives report

This report reveals you related inside hyperlink alternatives in your website. Seek for your “cash” pages by setting the filter to “Goal web page.” 

Look via the advisable recommendations. The place related, add your inside hyperlinks. 

Damaged backlinks happen naturally as a result of web sites typically take away or redirect pages. 

However when you have damaged pages that many websites are linking to, you’re dropping potential referral visitors and “hyperlink fairness.”

Right here’s how one can discover these pages:

1. Go to Ahrefs’ Web site Explorer
2. Enter your area
3. Go to the Finest by hyperlinks report
4. Set the “HTTP code” filter to 404 not discovered
5. Type the outcomes by Referring domains

Then observe this flowchart to determine how one can “repair” them:

Google typically reveals a full or partial reply to a question immediately on the SERPs.

This is called a featured snippet, and you’ll typically soar forward of everybody else by grabbing it. However how do you win the snippet?

First issues first: From our information, you’d need to be already rating on the primary web page. Which suggests to optimize for featured snippets, you’ll have to seek out key phrases:

• Which can be exhibiting featured snippets.
• The place you’re rating within the prime 10.
• With respectable visitors potential.

Right here’s how one can discover them:

1. Go to Ahrefs’ Web site Explorer
2. Enter your area
3. Go to the Natural key phrases report
4. Set the Place filter to 2–10
5. Use the SERP options filter to seek out key phrases that set off featured snippets “the place goal doesn’t rank”

Look via the record to see if there are alternatives the place you possibly can seize the snippet. 

For instance, we at present rank #3 for “search engine marketing content material technique”:

Appears just like the snippet calls for a definition for “search engine marketing technique,” which we didn’t have on our web page. We may embrace that definition and, hopefully, win the snippet for ourselves. 

FAQ sections reply well-liked questions on a subject. Including them to your web page may also help you rank greater for long-tail key phrases. 

As a result of we answered a standard query associated to H1 tags—the size—we now rank on Google when persons are looking for this reply:

Right here’s how one can discover regularly requested inquiries to reply:

1. Go to Key phrases Explorer
2. Enter your matter
3. Go to the Matching phrases report
4. Toggle to “Questions”

Unlinked mentions are on-line mentions of your model or product that don’t hyperlink again to your website. For instance, this web page mentions us however doesn’t hyperlink again:

Right here’s how one can discover unlinked mentions in your model:

1. Go to Ahrefs’ Internet Explorer
2. Search utilizing these parameters: [brand] -outlinkdomain:yourdomain.com -site:yourdomain.com

On this instance, there are hundreds of thousands of pages to look via, so it’s price filtering the report by Area Score (DR) or referring domains to exclude “low-value” alternatives. 

Right here’s an instance of an unlinked point out we discovered for our model:

Somewhat than simply reaching out and asking the writer so as to add a hyperlink or make the hyperlink “clickable,” take into consideration how one can assist enhance the content material and make it useful for the writer.

In our instance, because it’s a product evaluation and there was no point out of our free website positioning instruments or AWT, we may attain out and let the writer know.

A part of Google’s Page Experience signals, Core Internet Vitals (CWV) encompass these:

• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
• Cumulative Structure Shift (CLS)
• First Enter Delay (FID)

They’re Google rating components.

You’ll be able to test your CWV knowledge utilizing PageSpeed Insights, a free device offered by Google that analyzes a web page’s efficiency and gives recommendations for enhancing its pace and consumer expertise.

You can too join PageSpeed Insights’ API to Web site Audit and see your Core Internet Vitals along with different technical website positioning points:

Google makes use of various textual content (alt textual content) to grasp the subject material of a picture. They’ll additionally assist your photographs rank in Google Pictures and get visitors too.

Run a crawl with Web site Audit (by way of Ahrefs Webmaster Instruments) to seek out photographs in your website with out alt textual content:

It’s then only a matter of going via them and including alt textual content. Maintain it descriptive and concise, however don’t stuff key phrases (e.g., “black kitten”).

When you’ve already created a chunk of content material, you possibly can go the additional mile by repurposing it into totally different codecs. For instance, we turned our website positioning guidelines right into a video:

I additionally turned my submit on the Skyscraper Method right into a Twitter thread:

Does the Skyscraper Method nonetheless work?

We requested our followers this query and acquired 1,242 votes. Listed here are the outcomes: pic.twitter.com/l8qadplDAF

— Si Quan Ong 王思权/思權 (@siquanong) March 6, 2023

However why do that in case your objective is to enhance your Google rankings? Properly, YouTube movies rank on Google search outcomes too:

Google additionally introduced Perspectives in 2023. This can be a tab on the SERPs that enables customers to see outcomes from TikTok, YouTube, Quora, Reddit, tweets, and extra. 

Heads-up! Views rolled out on 6/12 and formally final week, however now I’m seeing the sister SERP characteristic that Google stated would present up within the 10 blue hyperlinks. It’s additionally labeled “Views”, gives playing cards for discussions, social, and so forth. & hyperlinks to the Views filter: pic.twitter.com/0NBEEPI31a

— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) June 29, 2023

Primarily, Google will start exhibiting outcomes from different channels too, not simply web sites. So there might be a risk that “enhancing website positioning” sooner or later means creating content material on different channels too.

Sitelinks are hyperlinks to different pages (or sections of a web page) that seem beneath some Google search outcomes. They offer you extra visibility on the SERPs.

Sitelinks are sometimes soar hyperlinks on the web page:

So a great way to affect them is to create a desk of contents in your pages. That is what we do for each weblog submit:

When you’re utilizing WordPress, you are able to do this by way of a plugin, like Easy Table of Contents.

When you’re a enterprise serving clients regionally, you’ll need to seem on native “map pack” search outcomes too.

The simplest solution to start boosting your native rankings is to assert and optimize your Google Enterprise Profile (GBP). 

As soon as claimed, the data you add to what you are promoting profile can present up in Google’s internet search outcomes and in Google Maps.

Observe the information under to learn to optimize your GBP.

14. Replicate your opponents’ listing hyperlinks

Native citations are mentions of what you are promoting’s title, handle, and telephone quantity (NAP) on-line. In all, 7% of SEOs assume these citations are an important rating issue.

The simplest solution to construct these citations is by way of directories. Right here’s how one can discover trade and native directories:

1. Go to Ahrefs’ Web site Explorer
2. Enter your area
3. Go to the Hyperlink Intersect report
4. Add your opponents to the highest part
5. Hit Present hyperlink alternatives

This can present you the web sites linking to a number of of your opponents’ homepages, however to not yours. Look via the record to seek out websites which can be area of interest and native directories.

When you’re unsure whether or not a website is a listing, click on the caret in one of many competing web page columns to see the referring web page, anchor, and backlink. It’s often fairly apparent from these:

15. Make sure that your pages might be listed by Google

If Google can’t index your pages, you received’t have the ability to rank within the search outcomes in any respect. Make sure that this doesn’t occur by operating a crawl with Web site Audit, by way of Ahrefs Webmaster Instruments.

If any of your pages have a noindex tag—which prevents Google from indexing the web page—it’ll present up as an challenge:

Until they’re inserted intentionally, you’ll need to take away these tags.

Last ideas

These techniques have the potential to spice up your rankings in engines like google. However don’t count on your rankings to leap in a single day. 

Our analysis means that solely 5.7% of all newly printed pages attain the primary web page of Google inside a yr. That’s no shock. website positioning is a long-term recreation. 

So whereas it is sensible to implement these “low-hanging fruit” techniques, they’re no alternative for a long-term website positioning technique. 

Have questions or feedback? Let me know on Twitter or Threads.