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You may have heard that links are essential for ranking a website. And while that’s true to some extent, it’s not the whole story. In fact, there are several ranking factors that don’t involve links at all. Here’s a look at the top 8 ways to rank your website without link building.

1. Publish high-quality content regularly

If you want to make sure that your website ranks high in Google, you need to publish high-quality content regularly. Statisically, high-quality content results in stronger, better backlinks naturally, without the need to manually build links. This means writing articles, blog posts, and other content that people will want to read. You also need to make sure that your content is engaging and interesting, so people will keep coming back for more.

How to create high-quality content:

1. Write articles, blog posts, and other content that people will want to read.
2. Make sure that your content is engaging and interesting, so people will keep coming back for more.
3. Use data and facts to back up your points.
4. Write about topics that you’re passionate about.
5. Spark conversation by asking questions in your content.
6. Share stories and personal experiences.
7. Use infographics and images to break up your text and make it more visually appealing.
8. Utilize video content whenever possible

2. Make sure your website is fast and responsive

Google wants its users to have a great experience, so it looks favorably on websites that are fast and responsive. If your website takes forever to load or isn’t mobile-friendly, you’re going to have a hard time getting it to rank high.

Making sure your website is mobile-friendly is important for two reasons. First, Google wants its users to have a great experience, and second, mobile-friendly websites rank higher in the search results.

To make sure your website is up to par, use the Mobile-Friendly Test tool from Google. This tool will help you identify any problems your website may have and give you advice on how to fix them.

3. Get listed in directories and local listings through Local SEO

Local SEO is a process that helps businesses promote their websites to local customers. It builds backlinks naturally without you needing to actually build links yourself. Local SEO involves optimizing your website for local search results, as well as submitting your business to local directories and listings.

By optimizing your website for local search, you can make sure that your business appears in the search results when people in your area are looking for your type of product or service. And by submitting your business to local directories and listings, such as Yelp and Yellow Pages, you can reach more potential customers and get more traffic to your website.

4. Set up and Optimize your Google Business Profile

You can set up and optimize your Google Business Profile to help your website rank higher in the search results and get more traffic without needng to build links. The first thing you need to do is create a profile for your business. This will include information about your business, such as its address, website, and contact information. You’ll also want to add high-quality images of your business and its products or services.

Make sure that you keep your profile updated with fresh content, such as blog posts, promotions, and articles about your business. This will help keep people interested in what you have to offer and encourage them to visit your website.

5. Optimize your website for SEO

If you want your website to rank well, you need to make sure it’s optimized for search engine optimization (SEO). This means using the right keywords and phrases, having a well-designed website, and making sure your content is easy to find.

Here are just a few simple ways to optimize your website using on-page SEO:

Keyword research

Keyword research is the process of finding and selecting keywords to target with your content and campaigns. The first step is to come up with a list of potential keywords. You can use Semrush, Google Keyword Planner, Moz, and Ahrefs, to find related keywords and see how much competition there is for each one. Once you have a list of keywords, you can prioritize them based on how relevant they are to your business and how much traffic you think you can get from them. You’ll also want to make sure that the keywords you target are included in your content in a way that makes sense and provides value to your reader.

Optimize titles and meta descriptions

One of the best ways to optimize your website for SEO is to make sure your page titles and meta descriptions are properly configured. Page titles are the titles that appear at the top of the browser window, and they’re important because they help people understand what a page is about. Meta descriptions are the short blurbs that appear under the title in the search results, and they’re important because they help people decide whether or not to click on a link.

Both page titles and meta descriptions should be keyword-rich and accurately reflect the content of the page. You can use Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool to check if your titles and descriptions are properly formatted. If they’re not, you’ll need to fix them so that your website will rank higher in the search results.

Use keywords throughout your content

When it comes to using keywords throughout your content, there are a few key things to keep in mind. First, use keywords throughout your content, not just in the title or in a few isolated places. Second, use a variety of keyword phrases, not just one or two. This will help you to rank higher in Google because it will show that your content is more relevant to a wider range of search terms.

Finally, make sure that your keyword phrases are included naturally in your content. Don’t force them in where they don’t belong; let them flow naturally and your readers will appreciate the genuine tone of your writing. By following these tips, you can use keywords to improve your website’s ranking in Google and attract more visitors.

Add alt tags to your images

Adding alt tags to your images will help Google index your website’s images correctly and increase your website’s ranking in Google. Properly labeling your images with descriptive alt text allows search engine crawlers to understand what the image is about, which can help your website’s ranking because it tells Google that your site contains relevant information.

Additionally, adding alt tags makes your website more user-friendly, as blind or visually impaired users can read the alt text to get a sense of what the image is.

To add an alt tag to an image, simply insert the following code into the <img> tag:

alt=”Your alt tag text”

For example, the following code would create an alt tag for an image of a dog:

alt=”A big, friendly dog.”

Focus on long-tail keywords

One easy way to improve your ranking in Google is to focus on long-tail keywords. These are specific, niche phrases that people are more likely to use when they’re looking for something online. By targeting these phrases, you can improve your chances of being found by potential customers.

One way to find good long-tail keywords is to use Google’s Keyword Planner. This tool lets you see how often particular terms are being searched for online. You can also use it to get ideas for new keywords to target.

Once you’ve identified a few good long-tail keywords, you can start using them in your content. You can include them in your titles, descriptions, and even in the text of your articles. By doing this, you’ll help Google understand what your site is about, and you’ll be more likely to rank higher in search results.

Create and submit a sitemap

A sitemap is an XML file that includes a list of all the URLs on your website. It’s important to create and submit a sitemap to Google because it helps Google index your website’s content correctly and increases your website’s ranking in the search results.

You can create a sitemap using a variety of tools, such as Google’s Sitemap Generator or XML Sitemaps. Once you have created a sitemap, you can submit it to Google by following these instructions.

Adding a sitemap to your website is a simple way to improve your website’s ranking on Google and ensure that your website’s content is accurately indexed. 

6. Actively promote your content on social media

One of the best ways to promote your content without needing backlinks is on social media. Social media tools like CoSchedule, Hootsuite, or Buffer allow you to schedule your posts ahead of time, so you can make sure they go out at the best times. You can also use them to track how well your posts are doing, so you can see what content is resonating with your audience.

Another great way to promote your content on social media is by using influencers. Influencers are people who have a large following on social media and can help promote your content to their followers. You can find influencers by using tools like BuzzSumo.

Finally, always make sure to tag your posts with relevant hashtags. This will help your posts show up in more search results and reach a larger audience.

7. Monitor your site’s technical health regularly

Technical site health is one of the most important aspects of a website. Without regular monitoring, it can be difficult to identify and fix problems that may be hurting your site’s ranking in Google. Technical health includes factors such as website speed, mobile friendliness, and indexing. 

One of the best ways to keep on top of your technical health is to use a tool like Google PageSpeed Insights. This tool will analyze your website and give you feedback on ways to improve your technical health. 

Another great way to monitor your technical health is by using a tool like Screaming Frog or Semrush. This tool crawls your website and gives you information on things like response codes, broken links, and server errors. 

By monitoring your site’s technical health regularly, you can ensure that your website is running smoothly and that you’re doing everything possible to increase your ranking on Google, despite its ever-changing algorithms.

Some of the key things to look for during your site health audit are:

• Your website’s speed and page load time
• The number of broken links on your site
• The number of errors in your website’s code
• Your website’s crawlability and indexability

8. Use Google Search Console to track your progress

Google Search Console (GSC) is a free web service offered by Google that helps you monitor and fix issues with your website’s visibility in Google search results. GSC also provides useful data about your website’s traffic, including how many people have visited your website from Google search, and which keywords people used to find your website.

To use GSC, you first need to create a Google Search Console account. Then, you can add your website to GSC by following these steps:

1. 1. Go to www.google.com/searchconsole and click the “Add a Property” button.
2. Enter the URL of your website and click the “Add” button.
3. Verify your website by following the instructions provided by Google.

After you have verified your website, you can start using GSC to track your website’s progress in Google search results. To do this, you can use the “Status” report in GSC. The Status report shows the current status of your website for each of the following:

• Indexed: This column shows whether or not your website is indexed by Google. An indexed website will appear in Google search results when people search for terms related to your website. If your website is not indexed, you can submit it to Google for indexing by following these instructions: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/183668?hl=en.
• Googlebot: This column shows how often Googlebot visits your website. A high frequency of visits from Googlebot means that Google is regularly crawling and indexing your website. If you notice that the frequency of visits from Googlebot is low, you can increase it by following these instructions: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/48620?hl=en.
• Crawl Errors: This column shows any errors that have been detected while crawling your website. You can fix these errors by following these instructions: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/35769?hl=en.
• Blocked Resources: This column shows any resources on your website that are blocked from being crawled by Googlebot. You can unblock these resources by following these instructions: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/6347750?hl=en.

The other main report in GSC is the “Search Traffic” report, which provides data about how people are finding your website from Google search results. The data in this report includes information about:

• Impressions (the number of times your site has appeared in search results)
• Clicks (the number of times people have clicked on your site in search results)
• Clickthrough rate (the percentage of impressions that resulted in clicks)
• Average position (the average position of your site in search results)
• Total organic traffic (the number of visitors who found your site through organic search)
• Estimated organic clicks (the estimated number of clicks generated by organic traffic)

The “Search Traffic” report also includes data about which keywords people are using to find your site from Google search results, as well as information about the average position and clickthrough rate for each keyword. You can use this data to determine which keywords are most relevant to your business and improve your ranking for those keywords.

To wrap it all up

While link building is still one of the best ways to improve your SEO, it’s not the only way. If you find yourself in a situation where you can’t build links, don’t despair – there are still things you can do to improve your rankings.

Hopefully, this post has given you some ideas for how you can improve your SEO without building links. If you have any questions or suggestions, contact the experts at ThinkPod Agency.