SEO takes a year, and in many cases, up to 18 months to even start showing results. That time frame could be even longer for competitive markets like law or insurance.
…But does it really have to take that long?
Not necessarily.
And you don’t have to cheat or use black-hat tactics to bypass your competition. Once you understand what most SEO companies and consultants do, then you simply do what they don’t do.
By engaging in overlooked tactics used less often, you can rank faster for terms related to your business with less effort. And that means you’re not paying as much for results either.
So…how could you sneak by your competition? Here are a few strategies:
Rank Your Website for Tangentially Related Keywords about Your Products and Services
Let’s say you’re a lawyer. DFW is an intensely competitive legal market. Try to rank for “personal injury lawyer Dallas,” and you’ve involved yourself in a massive undertaking.
You can have that as a long-term keyword. But, if you want to rank faster, you might target keywords like:
- Drowning accidents
- Boat accidents
- ATV accidents
- Forklift accidents
- Highway accidents
…Or whatever’s related to exactly what you do (view our technical SEO services to see what we offer).
Create a Blog Post that Highlights Influencers in Your Industry
Known as “expert roundups,” these posts feature a provocative question that captures the fascination of leading thinkers in your niche and your customers too. So, you contact around 50 of them or so by e-mail. Maybe 100 if you’re feeling ambitious.
Assuming you’ve identified a question that captures their interest, you’ll have no problem driving a flood of high-quality links…and perhaps traffic (potential customers) too.
Why?
You reach out to the experts once you’ve published your post. And because they’ve already agreed to participate, most are happy to link to it and share it.
Constantly Link to Top Resources in Your Niche…And Let Them Know About It
When you link out, you often want a link back. But here’s the thing: the big names where you want links from aren’t looking at their link profiles, eagerly ready to contact someone who links to them.
So…you have to let the big names in your niche know what you’ve done. You can create a blog post of the top 20 resources on a certain subject to your niche.
Let each person know that you’ve done so by e-mail. But don’t ask for anything. Simply allow them to respond how they want.
Some will link back to you. And their links will have so much more power than yours that even if you only get a few back, they’ll far outweigh the link juice you send out when linking to them.
Most SEO Competitors Don’t Do This
Your competition often doesn’t use tactics like this. It’s difficult to estimate the amount of time and effort involved in many cases.
What business wants to sell a service like that?
That’s why, when you put these seo strategies to use, you give yourself a big leg up on your competition.
