Thread by @cohoist

If you feel like your niche is too small to reach effectively, don't give up! Narrow niche markets have unique #SEO benefits. Once you crawl to the top, you essentially own the niche.

These 6 steps from @krisjonescom and @sejournal will help get you to the top.

THREAD...

STEP 1: Analyze Your Industry’s General Search Volume

1a) Google Keyword Planner is a good free tool for this, but it's not the only one. Ubersuggest by @neilpatel is another great free tool for discovering new keywords and keywords you already rank for: neilpatel.com/ubersuggest/

1b) Snoop on your competition, too. See what they rank for and study what you can do to outrank them. The @semrush Keyword Gap tool is a great way to compare your domain against your competitors.

semrush.com/analytics/keyw…

1c) Mine the SERPs. Here's how:

👉Manually look at the frontpage results for your keyword until you know the searcher's intent
👉Look at snippets
👉Click through the top 10 results and see what type of content they have

Take notes and include similar content in your articles.

STEP 2: Keyword Research

2a) Focus on keywords that match user intent. If you're selling a product, include keywords with transactional intent, but don't forget long-tail keywords. @answerthepublic is a unique tool for finding long-tail Q&A queries: answerthepublic.com

2b) Long-tail keywords are longer search phrases with fewer (but more than zero) monthly queries. They generally have lower search competition.

@Moz has a very thorough guide on keyword research and long-tail keywords:

moz.com/keyword-resear…

2c) The keyword generator from @ahrefs is probably the best tool for identifying long-tail keywords around a central theme. Enter a word or two, then look for long-tail results.

ahrefs.com/keyword-genera…

2d) Using inanchor and intitle searches in @Google is an underused way to truly gauge keyword competition. It goes something like this:
🔸inanchor:"your keyword"
🔸intitle:"your keyword"

Fewer results = better chance of ranking.

The more monthly queries, the better.

STEP 3: Incorporate Keywords on Your Website

3a) Once you've settled on a keyword list, start creating optimized content on your site centered around these keywords. How do you optimize your content?

...

3b) Place your keywords in your
➡️Page Title
➡️Meta Description
➡️Body Content
➡️Header Tags
➡️URL
➡️Graphics (image alt and title text)

STEP 4: Create Great Content

4a) Remember when you mined the SERP results in Step 1c?☝️You did that for a reason. Model your content around existing successful pages, but do yours better. Be informative and write to your audience the way they were intending (match search intent)

4b) Put a strong focus on readability and properly format your content. #digitalmarketing becomes a lot easier once you build authority with an error-free site. @Grammarly will help ensure your content remains clear and error-free:

grammarly.com

4c) Don't make walls of text. Incorporate visual elements and other mediums, like video, into your posts. If you don't have #GraphicDesign skills, use @canva. They have free graphic design tools and free courses to help develop your eye for visual design:

canva.com

4d) Remember to apply the long-tail keyword tricks you learned in Step 3 to each of your articles. Your keyword optimized content is how you'll pass your competition in the SERPs.

Keyword-optimized content with good #branding for your business is a bonus. Think infographics.

4e) Jump to the top of the SERPs with featured snippets. Google's featured snippets frequently come from pages outside the top 3 in the SERPs. Including lists and tables can help.

@michalpecanek and @ahrefs describe how to optimize for featured snippets: ahrefs.com/blog/find-feat…

STEP 5: Perform Technical SEO

5a) There are 3 main areas to focus on for technical #SEO:
1⃣ Site Audit
2⃣ Mobile-Friendliness
3⃣ Website Security

5b) The SEO Spider Tool from @screamingfrog is one of the best tools for performing site audits. It gives you data on things like broken pages, mixed protocols and meta data issues on your site. Run it & fix any problems. Page speed is also important.

🐸

screamingfrog.co.uk

5c) Since Google crawls with mobile-first indexing in mind, you MUST make sure your site is mobile-friendly. @getbootstrap by @fat and @mdo is a responsive, beautiful and flexible #webdesign theme perfect for SEO.

getbootstrap.com

5d) Sites that are SSL secure receive an SEO boost from Google. Google has made it clear they favor secure https sites over unsecure sites. If you don't have an SSL certificate, install one at once. @letsencrypt has free SSL certificates:

🔐

letsencrypt.org

STEP 6: Build Your Link Profile

6a) For this step, make sure your existing backlink profile is clean. Check your profile with backlink-checkers like @ahref or @Linkody. If your profile is spammy, disavow links with @googlewmc Search Console.

🔗

ahrefs.com/backlink-check…

6b) @craigcampbell03 compares a bunch of these tools in the link below so take a look at it if you're not sure which one is best for you.

craigcampbellseo.com/website-backli…

His Backlink King hoodie proves he's backlink royalty 👇

6c) Link building is hard, but you don't need to (and shouldn't) beg for backlinks. @brianclark from @copyblogger offers better strategies for natural link-building, including:
1⃣ Guest Posting
2⃣ Podcast Interviews
3⃣ Tribal Content

copyblogger.com/get-links/

Full article from @sejournal and @krisjonescom 👉searchenginejournal.com/seo-niche-mark…

Thanks for reading!

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