How to Achieve Google's Top Rank Without Blog Posts: A Unique Approach

Want to get your website to the top of Google's search results? Writing tons of blog posts might be the only way. But what if I told you there's another way? This post will show you how I helped an e-commerce brand more than double their organic search traffic and rank number one on Google over 200 times in just five months, without writing any blog posts.

The Results

The brand I initially collaborated with had approximately 8,600 organic search visits per month. After implementing the strategies for five months, their organic search visits increased to nearly 21,000 per month, marking a remarkable rise of more than double the previous traffic. Furthermore, this growth was primarily driven by transactional pages, such as product and collection pages, indicating a surge in site visits and product sales.

Why Skip the Blogs?

Many people believe that e-commerce brands require numerous blog posts to achieve success with SEO. While having good content is important, blogs aren't always the fastest way to see results. If you want to improve your website's ranking quickly, focus on other strategies first.

Three Tactics for Ranking Success

I used three primary tactics to help this brand rank higher on Google:

1. Optimizing collection pages

2. Internal linking

3. Backlink building

Let's take a closer look at each of these.

Optimizing Collection Pages

The first thing I did was split the brand's main collections into smaller, more specific collections. For example, they sold different kinds of weightlifting belts. Instead of having just one "belts" collection, I created separate collections for:

• Powerlifting belts

• Weightlifting belts

• CrossFit belts

• Olympic lifting belts

• Belts for women

• Belts for men

By creating these sub-collections, I was able to target more keywords. This helped the brand reach a wider audience.

Think of it like the Moneyball approach. In the movie, the Oakland A's baseball team couldn't afford to replace a star player with another star. So, they hired several less expensive players who, together, produced the same results.

In this case, instead of trying to rank for just one general keyword, I targeted many smaller keywords. This helped the brand increase overall traffic.

Internal Linking

Once I had created these new collections, I needed to connect them. I did this by building internal links. Internal links are links that connect different pages on your website.

I added internal links between all the collections and sub-collections. This helped Google understand the website's structure and identify the most important pages, while also aiding users in finding what they were looking for.

Backlink Building

The last tactic I used was backlink building. Backlinks are links from other websites to your website. They're like votes of confidence from different sites. The more high-quality backlinks you have, the higher your website will rank on Google.

I built backlinks to both the homepage and the collection pages. However, I ensured that I built more links to the homepage than to the collection pages. This helped keep the website safe from penalties.

Examples of Ranking Success

Thanks to these three tactics, the brand ranked number one for many important keywords, including:

• Lifting Belt

• Powerlifting Gear

• Powerlifting Supplies

They also ranked highly for other keywords, such as "deadlift shoes" and "lift socks."

How to Apply These Tactics

Here's a step-by-step guide to applying these tactics to your e-commerce website:

1. Turn collections into collections plus sub-collections. Review your existing collections and determine if you can categorize them into smaller, more specific categories.

2. Build internal links between them. Add links between your collections and sub-collections. Use exact match anchor text when possible.

3. Be a bit more aggressive on backlinks to internal pages. Build backlinks to both your homepage and your collection pages. But make sure to build more links to your homepage.

Important Considerations for Backlinks

Building backlinks to internal pages can help you achieve a faster ranking. However, it's essential to be careful. If you build too many links too quickly, Google may penalize your website.

A good rule of thumb is to build three to four homepage links for every one backlink to an internal page. This will help you get results without putting your website at risk.

Adapt to Your Brand

Remember, every brand is different. What works for one brand may not work for another. You need to tailor your SEO strategy to your specific needs and goals. This adaptability ensures that the strategies can be customized to suit your brand's unique requirements, providing reassurance and understanding.

For example, this strategy worked well for this brand because they already had a strong website with a good reputation. If you're starting from scratch, you may need to focus on building a strong foundation before you begin building backlinks to internal pages.

Want to take your e-commerce brand to the next level? Consider working with an agency that can help you develop a custom SEO strategy.

Conclusion

You don't always need blog posts to rank high on Google. By optimizing your collection pages, building internal links, and acquiring backlinks, you can help your website rise to the top of the search results and drive more traffic to your online store.