Rank with no backlinks?

[mariahm]

Hi I was just wondering everyone's experience with backlinking. Have you ever got a website on the first page of a google search with no backlinking?

[jenrus]

Hi miriahm,
Been frequenting this forum for a while and picked up a lot of seo nuggets here. My site ranks on pg 3 on google after a posting this morning. Only did on page seo for the keywords, no backlinking. Don't know how long i'll stay in that ranking though.

I'm just documenting my steps so I can replicate them for other posts/pages.

[Edge88]

mariahm,

yes. You can do it. it depends on some factors such as competition for the keyword. longer tail keywords sometimes are easy to rank on the first page if you do proper on page SEO. one of my websites ranks between number 9 and 11 without any backlinking. but the keyword sucks, it wasn't even a keyword I am targetting, it just happened to start ranking for it.

Another example is if you submit to article databases. Some people get articles to rank on the first page with solely doing a good job including the keyword in the body of the article. I ranked something on the first page like that (position 9) as soon as I published the article. but it was a long long tail keyword. Now I'm backlinking to it to hopefully move it up.

So there you go, it can be done. its easier to do with longer keyword phrases and article databases that google likes.

[steveweber]

Because it does depend so much on the competition, virtually every site can rank #1 for something...if the long tail is long enough, you'll rank #1 usually for it. And ditto if the keyword has little competition. But the more competition, the more you need back links.

[kkchoon]

Originally Posted by mariahm

Hi I was just wondering everyone's experience with backlinking. Have you ever got a website on the first page of a google search with no backlinking?

Hi Mariah,

You can easily do that with low competition keywords, these are long tail keywords. And Your domain to host the article must be strong enough to make it rank on page 1, even without backlinks!

However, backlinks is the most important key element to rank for any keywords, that's why you need backlinks for your website.

[be strong]

I've done it before on page one because the keywords are weak with little competition

[Ehsan_am]

You can even do it for semi competetive keywords if you have the exact keyword as your domain.

[turbohips]

try making a domain like www.aldk;sfj;askdfjlsa;dfjl;askdfj.com and doing a search on it. You'll be #1 baby.

[Prashant_W]

your articles (hosted on ezinearticles.com or goarticles.com) can rank on the 1st page for a long tail keyword with low competition.

but its always better to have backlinks.

and as turbohips (the post above mine) said, its practically impossible not to rank for something no one is searching for (assuming you put the effort into it).

so basically, do your keyword research properly. and get backlinks. why would you not what to do that in the first place? it helps to ensure your website stays up!

[KiDkillER]

You can rank very well even the site doesn't have backlinks at all, but you need to pick the least competition keyword. But you'll soon be outranked when there is competition does better than you. Also, your content must be useful and help people, then the chance Google rank you well is high.

[anu_smart]

i agree with the above replies.. One of my friend owns a website, in which he nver opted for any kind of On page or Off page optimization.But the sites stays up on second page in google consistently!! i wonder only google knows how and why!!!

[seoshopping]

Sometimes it happens but those are because of domain name you have. But will some amount of social bookmarking only at small intervals i have got many sites on page 1.

[CliveG]

When I was developing my recent software product I came up with a new name AdsReact and registered the domain name adsreact.com. As soon as I started developing the website, well before any promotion started, the site ranked number 1 in Google without any backlinks, simply because there was no competition at all for the exact term. There was competition in the form of the two word phrase 'ads react' but it was not strong.

As soon as I started promoting the name it gained quite a few backlinks "automatically", i.e., links by others beyond my control. However, the website could not possibly rank highly for terms that people unfamiliar with the product are likely to search for unless there are relevant backlinks to the website.

[SellDGuide]

Yes, it is possible. However, it depends on the competition. If your competitors have optimized their sites and have done extensive link building on the same keywords you intend to target then it will be difficult. If there is no competition, then yes you can.

[andrewhayn1]

Originally Posted by mariahm

Hi I was just wondering everyone's experience with backlinking. Have you ever got a website on the first page of a google search with no backlinking?

Ofcourse possible if your search query is same as your URL.

[webbyworld]

Without any backlinks rank on the first page is possible if your choosen keywords are very less competitive. But choosing very less competitive keywords can't provide you target traffic to your site also.

[kkchoon]

Originally Posted by KiDkillER

You can rank very well even the site doesn't have backlinks at all, but you need to pick the least competition keyword. But you'll soon be outranked when there is competition does better than you. Also, your content must be useful and help people, then the chance Google rank you well is high.

I agree! That's why SENuke is great for these type of research and cherry picking! You can spin multiple articles and rank on multiple result for low competition keywords.

[andrewhayn1]

Originally Posted by Ehsan_am

You can even do it for semi competetive keywords if you have the exact keyword as your domain.

Yes, you are right. To be more clear it is very possible to to rank #1 if your keyword is your domain name... though you don't have any backlinks.

[FlashVideoRecorder]

Sorry guys, I don't agree. If you want to rank for keywords that you will be able to monetize with you will definitely need backlinks.

The site in my sig is number one on Google, Bing and Yahoo and has been for a long time. FlashVideoRecorder.com is ranked number one on the first page for "flash video recorder' and 'flash recorder'. (plus a few others) This is only possible with backlinks.

[jasonmorgan]

Okie dokie...

I want examples. I want to see these sites with zero backlinks that are ranking on page #1

My guess is any site that has accomplished this is some vague, no competition and not worth any money keyword.

Because I think a lot of the comments being made are based on hypothesis, ignorance and 'this one time back at band camp...' stories.

I wanna see some proof.

[kkchoon]

Originally Posted by jasonmorgan

Okie dokie...

I want examples. I want to see these sites with zero backlinks that are ranking on page #1

My guess is any site that has accomplished this is some vague, no competition and not worth any money keyword.

Because I think a lot of the comments being made are based on hypothesis, ignorance and 'this one time back at band camp...' stories.

I wanna see some proof.

Type in your article name, your new domain name and many long tail keywords, they rank without backlinks ...

However, this is because they don't have competition.

[Aditya K]

As said earlier, depends on what keywords you are going to target. Ranking no. 1 for a keyword: "This is my bloody long tail keyword" with a domain like: thisismybloodylongtailkeyword.com is easy. I hope you get the idea.

[youme]

Quality on page optimization for long tail keywords are ranked soon. i have a songs website and it is on 1st page for long tail keywords with 0 backlink

[spyxx]

My site ranked on first. Only have 15 backlinks according to site explorer. The site has no PR or anything. It rank on a product name keyword with 54 million competition without quote and 155k competition with quote. Good luck!

[navaho]

Originally Posted by FlashVideoRecorder

Sorry guys, I don't agree. If you want to rank for keywords that you will be able to monetize with you will definitely need backlinks.

The site in my sig is number one on Google, Bing and Yahoo and has been for a long time. FlashVideoRecorder.com is ranked number one on the first page for "flash video recorder' and 'flash recorder'. (plus a few others) This is only possible with backlinks.

IMHO Google attaches a huge amount of authority / priority / affection to domains that are exact match keyword rich, I have ranked number 1 for domains in this manner, even above high PR / Aged Domains / Wikipedia / edu links ... keyword rich domains rank extremely well but you do have to build backlinks to sustain your rankings! Ranking is a mix of many measures as we all know!

[andrewhayn1]

Originally Posted by FlashVideoRecorder

Sorry guys, I don't agree. If you want to rank for keywords that you will be able to monetize with you will definitely need backlinks.

The site in my sig is number one on Google, Bing and Yahoo and has been for a long time. FlashVideoRecorder.com is ranked number one on the first page for "flash video recorder' and 'flash recorder'. (plus a few others) This is only possible with backlinks.

Of course dude. I totally agree. But there are exceptional cases. If you consider the domain url as a keyword, you will surely be #1 in google positions. It just needs google to just crawl into your website.

[pioneer1]

I've experienced that with some of my sites already. I created no back-links whatsoever and it ranked well for certain keywords

[HCLee]

I don't think we can do without backlinking work as we rely on backlinks to get to higher search engine ranking. It may be good to always do backlinking for all your main keywords you are ranking. It's a good habit and besides over time some of your new keywords may have more competition so when that happens you will need backlinks to keep them on top of the SERP.

[kkchoon]

Originally Posted by HCLee

I don't think we can do without backlinking work as we rely on backlinks to get to higher search engine ranking. It may be good to always do backlinking for all your main keywords you are ranking. It's a good habit and besides over time some of your new keywords may have more competition so when that happens you will need backlinks to keep them on top of the SERP.

I heard there are people saying they can rank articles without backlinks, but I bet I can easily out rank them with backlinks ...

[GazD]

I've seen it done, but I don't know why you wouldn't at least add a few backlinks.

[warrich]

it is not possible to rank high without backlink

[andrewhayn1]

Originally Posted by warrich

it is not possible to rank high without backlink

Create a post on digg. Copy your post's URL.
Ping that post on various pinging services. Add it to google search engine.
These will not create any backlinks for your post on digg.

After an hour search on google with the digg post url(without http://).
You will find your link o #1

[kkchoon]

Originally Posted by kenzy4real

As long as you use long tail keywords in your content and you're not on a competitive niche you will be able to rank without backlinks.

Agree! But I really would love to know if someone can rank without backlinks in competitive keyword term !

[jasonmorgan]

Agree! But I really would love to know if someone can rank without backlinks in competitive keyword term

That's what I'm asking

Sure, you can rank for random obscure keywords and long-tail keywords.

You can even build a blog that draws traffic based on long-tail searches alone with few or no backlinks.

but once you step-up to the world of competitive keywords I don't believe that any site is going to rank very well based on content and domain name alone.

I would really like to see an example of a site that is ranking well for even a low competition keyword with no backlinks.

[Mike Anthony]

Originally Posted by jasonmorgan

That's what I'm asking

Sure, you can rank for random obscure keywords and long-tail keywords.

You can even build a blog that draws traffic based on long-tail searches alone with few or no backlinks.

but once you step-up to the world of competitive keywords

Right not going to happen. Only way to get ranking for money search terms is to get backlinks. No way around it.

[sweetfranky]

I have a few subpages on the number 1 spot on google with no backlinks. Competition is around 3.5 million but I assume its because there is not a lot of people targeting that KW.

[Mike Anthony]

Originally Posted by sweetfranky

I have a few subpages on the number 1 spot on google with no backlinks. Competition is around 3.5 million but I assume its because there is not a lot of people targeting that KW.

Not real competition because as you indicate the 3.5 million are not trying to rank for the keyword. A competitive keyword is where there are people trying to get ranked for a term.

[sweetfranky]

Right, actually, I think you can rank high for a keyword without backlinks but only on a subpage that has a really high PR on it's index page.

[Lokki08]

Hi Miriahm

I have had my site on Google #1 in 4th position with keywod Affiliate Marketing For All. It had over 89 million pages and I got that place for about 3 months. I did not made so much link exchange, maybe only 10-20. I was only focusing on content writing. So I think content is most big thing that will effect on Google ranking.

[jasonmorgan]

I have had my site on Google #1 in 4th position with keywod Affiliate Marketing For All. It had over 89 million pages and I got that place for about 3 months. I did not made so much link exchange, maybe only 10-20. I was only focusing on content writing. So I think content is most big thing that will effect on Google ranking.

I'm guessing this is no longer the case since every site in the top 10 have 1k+ backlinks with the average being 10k+ backlinks.

Its true,Content is king!

I don't buy this argument.

On-page SEO is king.

Content is an abstract thing to a google bot. Using the correct SEO on-page elements are what matters.

[amber.ella]

It depends on how competitive your keywords are. If you have less competitors, then you'll have higher chance to get into top rankings.

[andrewhayn1]

Originally Posted by amber.ella

It depends on how competitive your keywords are. If you have less competitors, then you'll have higher chance to get into top rankings.

This is absolutely right. It purely depends on the competition of the keyword. If you have competition on particular keyword, then you need to find backlinks.

[Playground Equipment]

The more competitive the keyword, the harder it is, but it's possible. if you have a domain name that is identical to the keyword, you'll rank pretty high. But ultra competitive keywords, like playground equipment, are really hard!

[jonnyhardbaked]

Yeah, you can possibly get no. 1 ranking without backlinks. It depends on the level of competition and how you will do with on page optimization.

[concep86]

My experience has been that it is impossible to get first page ranking without quality backlinks...

So much discussion over quality vs quantity....

I say both are good... the quality ones are hard to come by... so get the quantity to offset...

My 2 cents

[Aaronhiscock]

if there is less competition on your targeted keyword then you can get better rankings without rankings with efficient on page optimization. if your targeted keywords are long tail then it is much more easier.

[danoctav]

Yes, with an well writen article on homepage, on-page SEO,keyword in domain and between 10k-200k exact searches....but of course with very low competition...

[SearchingLost]

A lot of things come into factor. How competitive the keyword you are trying to rank for is. How well your competitors do SEO for the keyword... etc. I've seen it done. But not often and the keyword wasn't very competitive.

[jahangir87]

I have found many for different keywords.Google always like content and relevancy.So If your site is relevant to an users putted search term the Google will show it even you dont have backlinks but have some good and useful content related to the search query.

[FraserC]

I think this is a bit of a trap. People are focusing on rank because they really just want traffic. And traffic = money. I did an article on this topic:

----------------------
Do you agree with the following statement?

“If I want to make money, I need to rank #1 for my keywords.”

It seems pretty obvious and completely correct, right? Once you get a keyword to #1 in the search results, you’ll get approximately 40% of the search visitors clicking on your link. Rank = traffic.

Of course you believe this. All search engine optimization focuses on this statement like a laser beam. It’s why there’s search engine spam, massive linkbuilding campaigns, and all kinds of attempts to manipulate and reverse engineer the search results.

Let me give you a new statement, see if you like this one better.

“If I want to make money, I need lots of search engine traffic.”

Disconnect the idea from your mind that high search engine traffic requires high rankings. Don’t you agree that you could get thousands of search visitors across hundreds of search terms and not have a single keyword ranking #1? In fact, wouldn’t you prefer to have this torrent of longtail search traffic, than the traffic from a few premier head terms?

Chasing Rankings is Like Buying Lottery Tickets

The traditional approach to keyword selection is to use some kind of algorithm to figure out which keyword is better. Write an article to target that keyword, and then backlink it until you get to number 1. It might take 100 links, or 1000 links.

This method depends entirely on the keyword itself. If your methodology chooses a “good” keyword, then the time spend backlinking will reinforce that selection and drive you to the top of the search results; although, I’ll argue, only temporarily, and using methods that the search engines frown on. But if you choose the wrong keyword, you’ll spend all that time reinforcing a bad keyword, hundreds of hours wasted, and you never get to #1, or if you get to #1, the traffic doesn’t turn out to be as great as you were hoping.

If that’s what you do, you’re gambling, you just don’t realize it. Only lottery winners think tickets are a good investment.

Building Content is Like Investing in an Index Fund

Instead of trying to rank #1, just create great content on your own website; the kind of content your audience is looking for. Instead of writing 1 article, and then writing 99 more articles to get backlinks, just write 100 articles of great content for your own website. You might not get any to rank #1 for any specific keyword, but that doesn’t matter.

As long as this content is bringing in more search engine traffic, it’s a good thing. Each article you write, every content need you fulfill, every question you answer, brings you more search visitors. After a while, you’ll know with mathematical certainty how much search engine traffic you’re going to bring in for every article you write, and how much you’re going to earn from it.

It’s like investing in a secure, diversified stock market index fund. As you continue to create great content, you’ll see total search traffic (and income) go up and up and up.