SEO Strategy for 2012

[simontts]

I have been refining my SEO strategy based on the direction that search engines are moving and the latest tools that are available. I am also looking to be more efficient and cost effective in the way I approach SEO. I thought I would lay this strategy out in this post in order to:

a) Give something back to this great forum

b) Get something back by way of feedback
So here goes…


On Page SEO
This is becoming increasingly critical and I have been paying more and more attention to this:

Keyword Research – I have been using a new (free) keyword tool called Keyword Blaze and have been finding it to be very effective. It has the same ‘traffic light’ system that software like Micro Niche Finder use but it is much more helpful in supporting competition analysis including domain age, relevancy and number of internal and external backlinks. It is also quick!

WordPress – I have moved virtually all of my sites onto WordPress because it simplifies the on page SEO and enables the use of some excellent plugins. On the few sites where it is not practical to run the site entirely on WP I have added a WP blog.

Method – I am making a conscious effort to keep adding fresh content to each of my sites. I am placing even more emphasis on longtail keywords, LSI keywords, good categorization, better use of tags and labels (in particular alt and title). I have also been using Ogiodo to create audio for each of my blog posts. However, I still need to add more video and images to my sites which I plan to do as and when time permits.

Monetization – I am using a mixture of Adsense and affiliate/CPA programs.


Off Page SEO
I am looking for variety and quality (i.e. backlinks that are most effective) while balancing the time versus money investment that has to be made.

Linklicious – This has been a revelation to me. I simply hadn’t realized how few backlinks actually get crawled and fewer still that get indexed. I have the basic Linklicious membership which means I can get all of my new posts/content crawled very quickly as well as all of my main backlinks. The investment of $14.50 per month is a 10/10 value for me.

High Authority Backlinks – I mainly use Ezine Articles, The Free Library, Squidoo, Hubpages and Odiogo for creating high authority backlinks. Again, I still need to do more by way of video creation and submission. This is time consuming but important – value 8/10 (Odiogo is 10/10 so far).

High PR Backlinks – I have a couple of sites that are very lucrative and operating in highly competitive niches. For these two sites (only) I use High PR society and Build My Rank. The former is pretty pricey (I use homepage links) and the latter is pretty time consuming (I write my own mini-articles). However, both are very effective. My value rating for each is 8/10.

WP Syndicator – This is an excellent premium WP plugin. Each blog post I make syndicates my content to 10 social networking sites as an excerpt with a backlink to my original content. I have a different profile/blog on these social networking sites for each niche I operate in. I also periodically submit each of these social networking blogs to Linklicious to ensure the new content gets crawled. Value is 10/10 (low one-off payment and 100% automated except for the Linklicious submissions).

Social Monkee – 25 DoFollow daily social bookmarks for free (single url per day) as a free member or 300 across 3 urls per day as a premium member. I am still assessing the impact of these backlinks but so far so good. I also submit all links to Linklicious. Value 8/10 as it does require a bit if daily effort writing spun titles, description and tags but as a free program it appears excellent.

Auto SEO Backlinks – This is a subscription software that enables the creation of five 3 tier link pyramids each day. An upgrade is about to be launched that means each of these three tiers involves forum posts (not profiles) providing some pretty powerful contextual backlinks with a lot of link juice. Third tier links are automatically submitted to Linklicious but I also submit the first and second tier links. The subscription is currently $97 per month although I got in via a WSO – value 9/10 (the only downside is relevancy but much better than a lot of the ‘blast’ programs that provide forum profile links and automated blog comments).

3 Way Backlinks – I use a subscription service that creates 3 way backlinks from other relevant niche sites at the rate of a handful each week per site. Overall cost is $7 per month for up to 50 sites. Value 9/10 with the only downside being the maximum limit of backlinks that can be accumulated (250 per site).

Volume Backlinks – Occasionally I will get some volume backlinks using a service like One Hour Backlinks to give me some variety of backlinks. Value 7/10.

Backlinks to Backlinks – Sometimes I get backlinks for my own site (homepage plus deeplinks) and sometimes I get backlinks for my high authority backlinks. In particular, I use this strategy with my daily link pyramids so that I don’t just have backlinks hitting my sites but also link juice coming through from third party sites.


Monitoring
I monitor several things, including:

- Site activity including entry/exit links.

- Keywords that are delivering search results, including visitor volume.

- I regularly review where I am ranking in SERPS for my targeted keywords.

- Monetization success (Adsense EPC and impressions per click, affiliate/CPA programs = conversion stats).


Feedback
I am getting significantly improved results but it is early days for some aspects of this strategy. The biggest winner so far has been on page seo and in particular, longtail keywords (with decent search volume) – often going to #1 with virtually no backlinks other than the social networking syndication. Linklicious has also been a big winner and I suspect the link pyramid subscription software is going to be very powerful once the imminent upgrade takes effect.

All feedback is welcome – hopefully it will be constructive.

Best regards
Simon

P.S. For access to these programs, go to top SEO resources

[Somali]

Thank you sir Simon for sharing your SEO Strategy for this year! :-)

[flipgrind]

Looks like a great strategy. Just organize it properly and it will really work.

[ksimp77]

Much appreciated. Picked up a few good things I was overlooking.

[lukedidit]

Thanks for sharing this Simon, may I ask a question?....

Did you wait until your sites were generating income before starting monthly subscriptions for SEO service?

I am at the position where I know I need that bit more to get traffic to my new sites which I built in December, but i really don't want to start pending much cash until I at least see a little come back, just enough to cover hosting, domain registration and then some tools.

[simontts]

I was already making money online before I really started learning about SEO but it was a grind and SEO is definitely the way to go.

My suggestion would be to do really thorough keyword research and good on page optimization and then get backlinks that don't cost much - maybe social monkee (free), WP Syndicator ($47 one-off), 3 way backlinks ($7 per month). I would say though that Linklicious is a must as this guarantees your posts and backlinks will be crawled (and usually indexed).

Once you start getting search engine visitors coming to your site you can see how they are behaving and tweak your site accordingly. Bottom line though is that you have to invest something in a business to make it work.

[Ivica]

Thanks Simon..this is very helpful for 2012 strategy

[warriorspirit786]

Hi Simon

How does 3way backlinks work and what kind of links are these as i have come across this before?

[simontts]

A links to B
B links to C
C links to A

All sites are in the same niche category but none are reciprocal links.

3 Way Links Automated Link Building with 3 Way Links

Best regards
Simon

[D Alishouse]

Great information Simon. I'm especially pleased to hear your success with Longtail Keywords. Longtails are something I am utilizing more and more and I always like to hear details about other's experience, especially good news.

I'm going to check out Linklicious per your advice. Thank you for putting this information out there. With this kind of wisdom being provided it looks like it's going to be a great year on this forum.

[bermuda]

You have done a great job by posting your main on/off page optimization methods in this page, some of the techniques have been valid for several years and they will definitely remain so in the new year.

[Jokyv]

simon, you didnt mention internal linking at all ?!?!?!

Is it because you dont do it or dont focus with it or you dont see significant results by optimising internal links on your websites?

[simontts]

Good question.

I find that WordPress takes care of a lot of the internal linking needs via tags, categories, recent posts, archives and recent comments. When posting on my blog I also link to other pages of my site (with keyword anchor text) if it is appropriate in the context of the article/information.

What else did you have in mind?

[cfl]

Looks good , Just need to arrange the step for different sites

[Somali]

I am really looking up for the guide you shared to us sir simon.

[webdesigndevelopment]

Thanks for sharing the SEO Strategy for 2012. Please let me know that Link Wheel and Link Bait are worth in 2012 for SEO? Can it be a part of SEO Strategy 2012?

[SinSimon]

What are your monthly cost in total for all these services?

Just wondering.

[Free SEO]

For new SEO Guys this information is great and No doubt with WordPress You can surely get good rankings as compared to simple HTML Site.! But again I am pointing towards quality content!

[kaiserthesage]

Pretty neat plan Simon

Just to share mine:

Most of my strategies for this year are focused on creating more highly resourceful/useful content that can target my campaign's targeted keywords. Building relationships will also play a big role when it comes to generating links as well as referred traffic.

I have a list that I recently wrote and it's published here:

SEO Strategies and Inbound Marketing Best Practices for 2012 | Kaiserthesage

You guys might find something that you can use there.

BTW, happy new year everyone!

[soharox]

Thanks for the info.

[stephaneM20]

Great! Your on page and off page strategies really sound good! It seems that you deeply thought about making such a constructive planning.

[stefijain]

thank you so much for this nice post. i have read this post and i like so much, very informative and interesting post.

[simontts]

Originally Posted by webdesigndevelopment

Thanks for sharing the SEO Strategy for 2012. Please let me know that Link Wheel and Link Bait are worth in 2012 for SEO? Can it be a part of SEO Strategy 2012?

Link wheel I think is not as good as the link pyramid. Link bait is very effective and I use in a couple of niches where it is most appropriate. These niches are areas that interest me and I do my own link baiting.

[simontts]

Originally Posted by SinSimon

What are your monthly cost in total for all these services?

Just wondering.

Link Pyramid Sofware - $97 pm (although I got it in a WSO).

Linklicious - $14.50 pm

3 Way Backlinks - $7 pm

WP Syndicator - $47 one-off investment

All of the above can be applied to multiple sites, so this is the total investment for my whole business.

On top of that I do selective homepage links on High PR Society and occasionally I make a small investment on One Hour Backlinks.

It's largely automated and pretty cost effective overall I think.

[simontts]

Originally Posted by kaiserthesage

Pretty neat plan Simon

Just to share mine:

Most of my strategies for this year are focused on creating more highly resourceful/useful content that can target my campaign's targeted keywords. Building relationships will also play a big role when it comes to generating links as well as referred traffic.

I have a list that I recently wrote and it's published here:

SEO Strategies and Inbound Marketing Best Practices for 2012 | Kaiserthesage

You guys might find something that you can use there.

BTW, happy new year everyone!

That looks like a really good article - I have bookmarked it to have a closer look tomorrow.

Thanks for sharing.

[discustipated]

Looks like a great strategy man. There are some resources I may check out here. I am currently trying out a lot of new services that have been popping up as of late.

[ralchevd]

What about the Build My Rank services?

[simontts]

That costs $67 pm and is time consuming but effective. I would only recommend using it for high competition niches.

[techihunt]

W0w! Your a busy guy.. Im still w0rking my site and your p0st give me an idea. .thanks!

[ralchevd]

Originally Posted by simontts

That costs $67 pm and is time consuming but effective. I would only recommend using it for high competition niches.

Prolly you talk about BMR (59$ pm), but what about link quality that they provide? Isn't the 59$ worth ?

[Sohel Parvez]

check out Authorship markup Impact for Google SEO & Top 11 Google SEO Golden Rules for 2012

[simontts]

My bad on the $ - I was writing from memory. I don't use BMR to its max. I only post 1 article most days in order to build rank for a site I have that it is in a very competitive niche. It has been very effective at building rank for that site but honestly, writing articles for SEO (and BMR are fussy about quality of content which is one reason why they are a well respected blog network) is time consuming and I only invest that time when it is needed. For sites in less competitive niches I haven't found BMR necessary.

Hope that helps.

[hamzidosh]

Thanks for sharing...Very helpful post here.

[ralchevd]

Originally Posted by simontts

My bad on the $ - I was writing from memory. I don't use BMR to its max. I only post 1 article most days in order to build rank for a site I have that it is in a very competitive niche. It has been very effective at building rank for that site but honestly, writing articles for SEO (and BMR are fussy about quality of content which is one reason why they are a well respected blog network) is time consuming and I only invest that time when it is needed. For sites in less competitive niches I haven't found BMR necessary.

Hope that helps.

Thank you, it definitely helps!

Okay let's say that Build My Rank is not the cheapest service around, but it builds quality links and requires quality content as well.
But what is the alternative of BMR for low-competative websites?

[justindann]

Great share. It's time to try something new.

[gearmonkey]

Have you tested this method?

[simontts]

Originally Posted by ralchevd

Thank you, it definitely helps!

Okay let's say that Build My Rank is not the cheapest service around, but it builds quality links and requires quality content as well.
But what is the alternative of BMR for low-competative websites?

For me, the strategy that I outlined in the first post on this thread.

[simontts]

Originally Posted by gearmonkey

Have you tested this method?

Yes and no. Some of the tools and techniques I have been using for a while and have found them to be very effective. A couple are relatively new to me and I am in the process of testing and evaluating them, albeit with good initial results.

SEO does not always produce instant results and is an evolving landscape.

One of the reasons for the original post was to invite challenge, to see if anyone could highlight flaws or potential difficulties with my strategy.

[Ferenc Makar]

Thanks for sharing. It looks like you have a plan.

[Laubster]

How does Odiogo create backlinks? I only see how they convert your text to audio...

[TourPlanet]

you are really a hyperactive...

thanks for nice sharing...

Volume Backlinks – Occasionally I will get some volume backlinks using a service like One Hour Backlinks to give me some variety of backlinks. Value 7/10.

any body elaborate it... further...

[Balaji Naidu]

Hi simon, I can see your strategy for the year 2012. Its really amazing, further I have some doubts. Looking to the strategy it seems everything is automated, well whether the Big G not punish you for the same ?

[simontts]

Originally Posted by Laubster

How does Odiogo create backlinks? I only see how they convert your text to audio...

Because for each blog there is a feed that is hosted on Odiogo's pages - it's pretty much the same as your author page on Ezine Articles - and you can send backlinks to it in order to pour link juice through to your own site.

[simontts]

Originally Posted by jeffsmith1

Amazing, useful and helpful sharing, it is kinda advanced, i didn't know about the social monkee and WP syndicator

Both are simple and effective, although you do need to push some backlinks through to them in order for them to give your own site(s) link juice.

[simontts]

Originally Posted by TourPlanet

you are really a hyperactive...

thanks for nice sharing...

Volume Backlinks – Occasionally I will get some volume backlinks using a service like One Hour Backlinks to give me some variety of backlinks. Value 7/10.

any body elaborate it... further...

These are automated blog comments with spun text. They give variety to your backlinks and have some useful effect. The cost is low and the effort is minimal.

[simontts]

Originally Posted by Balaji Naidu

Hi simon, I can see your strategy for the year 2012. Its really amazing, further I have some doubts. Looking to the strategy it seems everything is automated, well whether the Big G not punish you for the same ?

That's a good point. Firstly, not all of the automated links point to my own sites as I use many of them to pour link juice through to my higher quality backlinks.

Second, some of the automation will be very difficult to pick up. For example, Auto SEO Backlinks is (or shortly will) be creating forum posts on 3 levels. Given that many of the natural backlinks around the internet are from forum posts, I'm not sure how the Big G would know whether they were automated or not.

I would also say that even if the Big G identifies some links as being automated it will generally just discount these links - i.e. give them a low or zero weighting so therefore, no actual damage to my sites.

[zombiemich]

Nice layout of what to do for OnPage SEO and OffPage SEO. I'm doing most of what you have outlined. I don't do the adsense because I don't want people leaving my blog. What are your thoughts about that.

[gomzydecor]

Thanx for the post & here i would like to add few more to this; 2011 is the year of “Panda”, more than 10 updates happened and many of the large and small websites got hit by Panda effect.

Here are few additions to the above post :

-- Quality of the content
-- Social Media Strategy
-- Website Design and Coding
-- Speed of the website

[simontts]

Originally Posted by zombiemich

Nice layout of what to do for OnPage SEO and OffPage SEO. I'm doing most of what you have outlined. I don't do the adsense because I don't want people leaving my blog. What are your thoughts about that.

Yes, that part of Adsense is pretty irritating. Some sites though Adsense provides the best option for monetization, others I use affiliate links (some I use both) and on a couple of sites I sell my own products.

Overall, I try to create sites that people will find valuable and interesting so that they will bookmark and return.

[seopratik]

that is really a great strategy i m planning to do this..