Getting more traffic to your website from organic search can be done in three\u00a0ways.<\/p>\n
\nRank higher for existing keywords<\/li>\n Rank for more keywords<\/li>\n Get more clicks<\/li>\n<\/ol>\nThe SEO techniques below all help you do one or more of those things.<\/p>\n
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1. Learn from your competitors<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Competition makes life harder, but your competitors can also be a source of topic\u00a0ideas.<\/p>\n
To find your competitors\u2019 most trafficked pages, you can use the Top pages<\/strong> report in Ahrefs\u2019 Site Explorer<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\nFor example, if we plug a competitor of ours into the tool, we see its guide to Magento SEO gets a fair amount of search traffic.<\/p>\nWe haven\u2019t yet covered this topic ourselves, but it looks like it could be worth doing\u00a0so.<\/p>\n
You can also use the Content Gap<\/strong> report in Site Explorer<\/a> to find keywords your competitors rank for that you don\u2019t.\u00a0<\/p>\nHere\u2019s the process:<\/p>\n
\nEnter your domain into Site Explorer<\/a><\/li>\nGo to the Content Gap<\/strong> report<\/li>\nEnter a handful of competitors<\/li>\n<\/ol>\nFor example, SEJ, SEL, and Moz all rank in the top 10 for \u201cseo content strategies,\u201d but we don\u2019t because we haven\u2019t covered this topic. So it\u2019s probably worth adding to our content calendar.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/g><\/svg><\/a><\/p>\n
2. Prioritize low-difficulty topics<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n It\u2019s worth prioritizing low-difficulty topics if your site is new because you\u2019ll probably struggle to rank for competitive topics out the\u00a0gate.\u00a0<\/p>\n
You can find these with a keyword research tool like Ahrefs\u2019 Keywords Explorer<\/a>. Just search for keyword ideas then filter for those with low Keyword Difficulty (KD) scores.<\/p>\nOld content needs updating periodically because rankings don\u2019t last forever, especially if you\u2019re targeting time-sensitive topics.<\/p>\n
For example, here\u2019s the estimated organic traffic to our list of top Google searches<\/a> over\u00a0time:<\/p>\nEach dip occurred when the content lost its freshness. Searchers wanted an up-to-date list of the top Google searches, but ours was old. That\u2019s why rankings tanked.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Each spike occurred when we updated the content.<\/p>\n
You can find pages on your site that may be due for a refresh in Site Explorer<\/a>. Just plug in your site, go to the Top pages <\/strong>report, set the comparison mode to \u201cPrevious year,\u201d sort the report by traffic change from low to high, and look for topics where freshness may be the\u00a0issue.<\/p>\nIf you\u2019re a WordPress user, you can find pages that no longer perform well by running a free content audit<\/a> using the Ahrefs SEO plugin<\/a>.<\/p>\nOur study<\/a> found that if a page ranks #1 for a keyword, it ranks for almost 1,000 more keywords in the top 10 on average.<\/p>\nMany of these keywords will be different ways of searching for the same thing. But some will likely represent subtopics you\u2019ve covered in your content.<\/p>\n
For example, our guide to submitting your website to Google<\/a> ranks in the top 10 for \u201csubmit url to google.\u201d<\/p>\nThat happens because we\u2019ve covered this subtopic in the\u00a0post.<\/p>\nHowever, we have plenty of posts that almost certainly miss important subtopics. If we can find these and fill the gaps, our page can likely rank for related keywords and get more traffic.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a simple way to find content gaps:<\/p>\n
\nEnter one of your page\u2019s URLs into Site Explorer<\/a><\/li>\nGo to the Content Gap<\/strong> report<\/li>\nPaste in a few top-ranking URLs for your main keyword<\/li>\n Sift through the keywords for content gaps<\/li>\n<\/ol>\nFor example, HubSpot and Neil Patel rank in the top 10 for \u201cwhat are guest posts,\u201d but we\u00a0don\u2019t.\u00a0<\/p>\nThis happens because we didn\u2019t cover that subtopic in our guest posting guide<\/a>, whereas they\u00a0did.<\/p>\nNot only could covering the topic in more depth help us rank for more long-tail keywords<\/a>, but it could also serve the user better with information they might\u00a0want.<\/p>\nContent hubs are interlinked collections of content about a\u00a0topic.<\/p>\n
For example, our beginner\u2019s guide to SEO<\/a> is a content hub. It has a pillar page<\/a> about SEO that links to and from subpages about how search engines work, SEO basics, keyword research, etc.<\/p>\nThe main benefit of content hubs is that link equity flows to and from all the pages in the hub via internal links<\/a>. In other words, if one of your subpages gets lots of backlinks, they all get stronger and potentially rank higher.<\/p>\nIf you already have content on your website, the easiest way to create a content hub is to reorganize related pages around a new \u201chub\u201d\u00a0page.<\/p>\nIf you want to create a new content hub, one of the easiest ways to find topics is to look at your competitors\u2019 top subfolders.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For example, let\u2019s plug DietDoctor into Site Explorer<\/a> and go to the Site structure <\/strong>report. We see 30 pages under the \/low-carb\/keto\/recipes subfolder that get an estimated 143K monthly search visits in\u00a0total.<\/p>\nIf we click the number of pages, we see all the pages under that URL structure along with their estimated traffic and top keyword.<\/p>\nMany of these topics will make sense for a content hub.<\/p>\n
Learn more<\/strong>: Content Hubs for SEO: How to Get More Traffic and Links With Topic Clusters<\/em><\/a><\/p>\nBacklinks are one of Google\u2019s top ranking factors<\/a>, but getting high-quality ones is easier said than done. It\u2019s arguably one of the most challenging parts of\u00a0SEO.<\/p>\nFor that reason, before you start trying to build more backlinks to a page, it\u2019s worth checking whether this is likely to\u00a0help.<\/p>\n
For example, if you plug our guide to SEO analytics into Site Explorer<\/a>, you see it has backlinks from 57 referring domains (websites):<\/p>\nThis page currently ranks #2 for its main target keyword:\u00a0<\/p>\nBut if you check the top-ranking pages for that keyword in Keywords Explorer<\/a>, you see that the page outranking us has significantly fewer referring domains.<\/p>\nThese numbers don\u2019t consider backlink quality, so it could be the case that the top-ranking page outranks us because it has more high-quality backlinks. But generally speaking, it doesn\u2019t look like a lack of backlinks is the\u00a0issue.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, if you look at the SERP for \u201cwhat is seo,\u201d you see that our page has significantly fewer backlinks than those outranking us.<\/p>\nBuilding more backlinks is probably the way to go\u00a0here.<\/p>\n
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7. Optimize internal links<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Internal links are links from one page on your website to another.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Like backlinks, they transfer \u201clink equity\u201d from page to page. Unlike backlinks, you have complete control over where and how you internally link on your website. That\u2019s why a popular SEO technique is to point more internal links at pages that need a\u00a0boost.\u00a0<\/p>\n
To find these pages, plug your domain into Site Explorer<\/a>, go to the Organic keywords<\/strong> report, and filter for keyword rankings between 2\u201310.\u00a0<\/p>\nYou can then sift through this report for your main target keywords.<\/p>\n
For example, we rank #7 for \u201coff page\u00a0seo.\u201d<\/p>\nTo find relevant and contextual internal link opportunities for this page, we can add it to the target page filter in the Link opportunities<\/strong> report in Ahrefs\u2019 Site Audit<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\nIn this example, the report suggests we internally link a contextual mention of \u201coff-page seo\u201d in our on-page SEO\u00a0guide.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Learn more:<\/strong> Internal Links for SEO: An Actionable Guide<\/em><\/a><\/p>\nBroken backlinks are a common problem because people often delete or move pages over time. Unless you redirect these pages to their new URLs, any backlinks pointing to the old ones will effectively point to nowhere.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s how to find broken pages with backlinks on your\u00a0site:<\/p>\n
\nPaste your domain into Site Explorer<\/a>\u00a0<\/li>\nGo to the Best by links<\/strong> report<\/li>\nAdd a \u201c404 not found\u201d filter<\/li>\n Sort the report by referring domains from high to\u00a0low<\/li>\n<\/ol>\nFor example, we have backlinks from 57 referring domains pointing to the old URL for our SEO Toolbar<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\nGiven that our \u201cSEO toolbar\u201d page still exists, we can reclaim those backlinks by redirecting the old URL to the new\u00a0one.<\/p>\n
Learn more:<\/strong> How to Find and Fix Broken Links<\/em><\/a><\/p>\nRanking high on Google is only part of the battle. You also need to entice searchers to click on your result.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Here are a couple of ways to do\u00a0this:<\/p>\n
\nWrite a compelling title tag and meta description<\/li>\n Add schema markup for rich snippet eligibility<\/li>\n<\/ol>\nGoogle often shows title tags and meta descriptions in the search results, so making them as compelling as possible without creating clickbait is important.<\/p>\nHere are a few\u00a0tips:<\/p>\n
\nMatch search intent<\/a><\/li>\nAvoid truncation (use a free SERP snippet optimizer like this one<\/a> to\u00a0check)<\/li>\nAddress the searcher directly<\/li>\n Include your main keyword<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nYou can also use schema markup to make pages eligible for rich snippets. This is where Google shows additional information below the search snippet, such as review ratings and\u00a0FAQs.<\/p>\nGiven that these optimizations take time, it\u2019s worth prioritizing pages with the most search traffic. You can find these in Google Search Console or get an estimate using the Top pages<\/strong> report in Ahrefs\u2019 Site Explorer<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/g><\/svg><\/a><\/p>\n
10. Optimize for featured snippets<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Featured snippets are short answers that show in some search results. Google pulls them from one of the top-ranking pages.<\/p>\nYou can effectively shortcut your way to the top of Google by winning featured snippets. But first, you need to find the best opportunities.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s how to do\u00a0it:<\/p>\n
\nEnter your domain into Site Explorer<\/a><\/li>\nGo to the Organic keywords<\/strong> report<\/li>\nFilter for top 10 rankings<\/li>\n Filter for SERPs with featured snippets where you don\u2019t\u00a0rank<\/li>\n<\/ol>\nYou should now see all the keywords you rank for in the top 10, where Google shows a featured snippet from another result.\u00a0<\/p>\nFor example, we rank #2 for \u201cgoogle operators,\u201d but Google pulls the featured snippet from another page.<\/p>\nThere\u2019s no exact science to winning featured snippets, but you\u2019re unlikely to do so unless your page has the information Google wants to\u00a0see.<\/p>\n
For example, it\u2019s clear that Google wants a short definition here, but our page doesn\u2019t have\u00a0one.\u00a0<\/p>\nWhile adding one to our page doesn\u2019t guarantee Google will choose us for the featured snippet, it will improve our chances.<\/p>\n
Final thoughts\u00a0<\/h2>\n Getting more search traffic to your website is about ranking higher for existing keywords, ranking for more keywords, or getting more clicks. There are plenty of SEO techniques you can use to do that. These are just a few of\u00a0them.<\/p>\n
If you want more, read our list of SEO tips<\/a>.<\/p>\nGot questions? Ping me on Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n