Introduction To Keyword Authority
October 6th, 2008 by CourtGetting ranked in search engines is largely a matter of keyword authority. If you’re not ranked, you probably don’t have enough keyword authority and it’s usually that simple. In other words, you either don’t have a solid piece of content about that keyword or there aren’t enough sites out there that know about your piece of content.
Please give the last sentence some serious thought. If you’re site is struggling, I’d bet the farm that you have one of those two problems.
Most sites don’t have the rankings they would like to have, but I guess that’s obvious. Based on the number of people reading this site and others like it, we can reasonably assume that people still aren’t getting to the traffic numbers they’re looking for.
Search engines can be literal gold mines for individuals that are able to take advantage. Google especially can provide you with a residual influx of traffic, amazingly composed primarily of a specific group of people that are looking for the information, product, or service you provide.
So what do you have to do to get Google to see you as an authority for the keyword you would like to get ranked for.
The Quickest Way To The Top
With this game, there are a lot of ways to play. The easiest way to win is to enlist the help of the ‘authorities’ - better said, the people that Google already trusts for the keyword you would like to come up for.
Let’s say that I wanted to become an authority for a keyword phrase like ‘how to teach a gerbil to swim’. Well, first things first, who are the ‘authorities’ for this keyword?
Doing a quick search in Google will tell you exactly who Goog believes the authorities are, and it all starts there. If you could get the top ten URLs that are ranked in Google to link to you, you would become an instant authority and would likely have earned a great ranking for that keyword. With an easy keyword like this, you would probably get ranked first, unless your site was brand new.
Yeah I hear you, “Well how do I get those sites to link to me, Court?” Well that’s the question isn’t it?! It’s not always going to be possible. I said this was the quickest way to the top - it’s definitely not easy to get everyone to link to your site.
That said, if I wanted to get sites like these to link to my gerbil-swimming site (ha, can you imagine if I really had a site about this?), I would probably create some kind of free download that I could offer. For some reason, I have always had better luck getting people to link to downloads (as opposed to posts or articles).
Alerting a bunch of gerbil sites about your download would likely draw some links.
Most people never get this far because they don’t want to create something of value in the first place. If you honestly created the best report ever written about ‘how to teach a gerbil to swim’, it’s very likely that you would eventually climb to number one for that keyword, based on the fact that gerbil lovers would link to you. Creating a garbage page would put you in a much more difficult position.
The reality is that some keywords are much more difficult than this one, but the same principles apply. If you want to rank first for cell phones, they keyword authority you need will be a lot harder to get. Why? Because the sites that are currently ranked are seriously strong sites.
I would say that a healthy majority of you will never try to create the amount of keyword authority it would take to get ranked for a term like cell phones. Why? You don’t believe that you could do it. I think that many of you could achieve something like that. The problem is that people tend to quit before they get there.
I think if you took a hard look at the sites that currently rank for anything, you’ll find that they don’t do the greatest job ever of explaining their information. Any of us could probably do a better job and if we did, we would create some keyword authority out of thin air. Why? People always link to the best site that covers a topic.
I bet a good 90% of you would be capable of getting on to the first page in Google for a term like ‘cell phones’, if you were willing to pay the price. Of course, it wouldn’t be mathematically possible for you all to do it at once. It doesn’t matter anyway because 99% of people would just quit anyway - that doesn’t have to be you. You can be different, if you want to be.
How To Get Started With Your Site’s Keyword Authority
Going after a huge term like cell phones usually isn’t the best way to build keyword authority. If I had a site about cell phones, I would break it down into tons of subtopics that I could provide solid information about.
A subtopic like ‘how to change a cell phone battery’ or ‘which is the best hosting company‘ would be easier to move up the rankings for, and would still help you to build authority for ‘cell phones’. Stringing together 50 or so keywords like that one on a single site will help you to start getting somewhere for ‘cell phones’, even though you haven’t tried specifically for cell phones. Why? Google and other search engines know that the terms are related.
The more specific, sub-topical terms you can rank for, the more keyword authority you will build for the more difficult keyword - the keyword most people would call a pipe dream.
Make a list of keywords that work well with your site, use those keywords to create awesome articles, notify other sites that cover the topic, and repeat.
So What Is Keyword Authority Exactly?
It’s a measure of how good your site is for a specific keyword. Google uses a lot of metrics to determine this, including use of keywords in your site (throughout your entire site), which sites you’re getting links from (and how authoritative they are for the keyword), and what words they use when they link to you (anchor text). Improve any of those metrics, and you will improve your keyword authority. Improve more than anyone else, and you will find yourself with a #1 ranking for your keyword.
There are, of course, lots of different methods that you can use to create keyword authority. We’re not going to cover them all today but I hope that this lesson will help you to understand a little more about what keyword authority is. Please let me know in the comments if you have any questions!
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October 6th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
Thanks, Court. Great post, as usual. Long time no hear from you. Been missing your insights. Hope all is well.
October 6th, 2008 at 7:20 pm
What a useful post you have done…!!! Thank You!
October 7th, 2008 at 1:09 am
My only comment is great post. I do a lot of keyword work and SEO with my VA, and getting ready to take on a 2nd VA too (more an SEO expert though)
Good stuff mate
October 7th, 2008 at 3:16 am
Thanks Court! I’ve GREATLY missed your insight as well. Just so you know, my site is now making over $100 a month just from your teaching. This is just the start.
Ok, so, question, what about social bookmarking sites? I imagine it takes a bit longer to reach that authority place because the social bookmark sites (most likely) don’t have the keyword authority you’re looking to earn.
When I look at the first page in Google for my keyword, it’s all corporate sites. Those are going to be very difficult to crack. In Yahoo I’m #4 for my keyword, but I can’t seem to do it in Google.
October 7th, 2008 at 6:29 am
Good to see you posting again Court =P
GL with your rankings and all.
I agree that most people just don’t have the confidence to archive rankings. When I wanted to go after “SEO” as a keyword, some told me I was crazy. In two month or so, I am now floating around page 3 for SEO =P
Now the real work begins, since I’m up against people like Quadzilla, Rand Fishkin, and Aaron Wall. (that and the wikipedia article has sick authority)
October 7th, 2008 at 8:03 am
I agree completely. My website currently has 42 keywords (or phrases) that are ranked 100 or less for Google (Geeksquad only has 39.) and I am working on more. Some of them are my name or company name but others are important terms like Computer Network Consulting. That is an important term to me and I have worked very hard to cultivate my authority on that term. Next I’m going for Computer Networking.
October 7th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
This is a very helpful post. Thanks for sharing.
October 7th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
Court,
This was extremely informative. Most of my traffic (a resounding 60%) comes from social networking and I’ve been learning how to rank for keywords. This post was explained clearly and was to the point. Awesome content. I appreciate you!
Dali Burgado
October 7th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
Very helpful post. I have just began to start learning about SEO since I don’t own bloggin-ads anymore. An arcade site has a lot of competition and I believe that SEO is the key to success. I guess certain keywords do add up
-Mike
October 7th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
Very helpful indeed. thx for that
just gave me an idea of how to structure my autoblog. had a look at the top ranked google sites. Motor authority is pretty sick. Autoweek is another top one.
October 7th, 2008 at 6:36 pm
FINALLY!
I really waiting for another court series like Keyword Snipping! Woo Hoo, I will following this, (You will make the series of Keyword authority, right?)
October 7th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
Keep this topic rolling please. I am just really getting to understand the concepts.
October 7th, 2008 at 10:26 pm
Great to hear from you again Court! Great post and a great reminder about the importance of link building, especially with the right anchor!
JR
October 8th, 2008 at 5:51 am
Thanks I’d like to read more about keyword authority and ranking well
October 8th, 2008 at 8:18 am
I see your new views on content really shining through, here, Court - am loving the discussion - please keep it up!
October 8th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
It is a good idea. For me I didn’t really think of keyword and stuff. I just keep posting some Stock education post everyday to let people who love my post coming in.
October 10th, 2008 at 6:42 am
Is really hard this days to rank high, probably always was , in my opinion there are “strong people” who can buy links or already own some sites in top 10 for some keywords, they use the “keyword authority” to promote other sites/services. This guys rule the world.
October 10th, 2008 at 7:23 am
High ranking also means hard work and money. If you don’t have this, I don’t know what will happen to your site.
October 10th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
[…] Introduction To Keyword Authority […]
October 11th, 2008 at 9:43 am
[…] Court at Court’s School of Internet Marketing wrote about how to rank high on a particular keyword. This is one approach that can help your SEO efforts to rank on very competitive keywords. We apply many approaches based on the need of the business or client and their budgets. […]
October 11th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Thanks Court, I found this post motivating. Some times spending hours searching for the low hanging fruit is too much. It’s nice to know that broader terms can be taken over too. It just takes the time and effort. Having a large site with lots of keyword authority would be a nice accomplishment.
October 11th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
Very Informative Post
Keep Coming Them
October 13th, 2008 at 8:03 am
Thanks for the great information. Link-building and content writing are not glamorous. They take a consistent effort. Most people give up before they really see results. Like just about anything else, sticking with it will pay off.
October 13th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
You hit the nail dead on when you say most people give up. That’s what keeps me going hard…I know if I keep chugging along doing the proper things, I will surpass most people in my niche as they will eventually throw in the towel.
October 15th, 2008 at 12:52 am
Mate, as always your posts are clear and straight to the point. Cheers.
October 15th, 2008 at 3:59 am
I am very interested in learning about and want to get visitors to my site and I get a new science here.
October 15th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
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October 15th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
I’m doing a lot of keyword research at the moment and I’ve got to say this post has helped clarify things immensely. Building authority from the bottom up takes a lot of dedication to a single goal.
October 16th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
I can appreciate how you say that “there arent enough sites out there that know about your content”
Recently I’ve been getting the word out about my keyword rich content by using social blogging sites…the one Ive had the most succes with so far is http://www.echodemic.com anyone else using sites like this?
Its similar to a digg format, in that you post partial blog posts on echodemic, and they are ranked by a community of users (they call the ranks “echos”). The posts with the most ranks end up on the front page.
None of my posts have ended up on the front page, but I have had good traffic back.
Do any of you use sites like this?
October 17th, 2008 at 7:50 am
I have decided to make my main focus keyword Pool Care, is it smart for me to put that keyword everywhere that I can? Anyway this is the best most insightful blog about internet marketing I have ever read. Thanks for your support!
October 19th, 2008 at 1:17 am
[…] Introduction to Keyword Authority at Court’s Internet Marketing School. […]
October 21st, 2008 at 9:03 am
[…] Tuttle over at Court’s Internet Marketing School who has a great post up about understanding keyword authority and how to get […]
October 24th, 2008 at 2:24 am
verry interest about this post,good job court
October 25th, 2008 at 12:53 am
Thanks a lot. It helped me. I tried this for my friends site and it works. Thanks again.
Smith,
http://www.samudhai.com
October 26th, 2008 at 9:17 am
I was looking for this post and finally found it.
October 28th, 2008 at 11:21 pm
DUDE!!! I can’t believe you aren’t pimping Wordze with this post!!! (You’re still earning affiliate income from my recurring subscription!!!)
Wordze SHOWS you the top “authority” sites for important keywords.
October 30th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Great post as always Court. I’ll echo that you’re right about people quitting. It’s tough going sometimes, but it’s important to never give up. It’s also important not to bite off more than you can chew for your first experiment. Getting started and trying to be #1 for “credit card” is a sure way to end up broke and disgusted.
November 3rd, 2008 at 8:31 pm
Keyword authority is a great concept. It’s important that you layer in different versions of your keyword on your pages and it’s also important that you consider the overall messaging of your keywords throughout all the pages of your site.
November 24th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
[…] Introduction To Keyword Authority […]
January 17th, 2009 at 9:18 pm
great post - i have saw this with real estate websites. Its tough to rank for the word real estate, but if you attached a city to that keyword or a specific area of real estate you have a good shot
February 19th, 2009 at 6:26 am
Keep up the good work! Thanx
April 2nd, 2009 at 2:41 am
Very informative and useful. Thank you!
April 2nd, 2009 at 2:43 am
I’m looking forward to you next post, because until now every post is GREAT!
April 10th, 2009 at 8:37 am
i would like to say this was so motivating to me , i already have a good ranking for highly competitive keywords but never thought to go for keywords like cellphones after this post i will give it a shot and i will update you later with results.
April 14th, 2009 at 8:15 am
Thank you for this post; I bookmarked it! “SEO hot secrets” I am curious about your results, please keep us informed
April 20th, 2009 at 8:40 am
When your not a big fish in a particular market…focus on a niche
June 24th, 2009 at 8:35 am
Придуманная мной теория незначительно отличается от опубликованной автором, вдруг кому-то интересно, могу поделиться своим опытом. Мой ящик:sdsrtfh@rambler.ru, Стас.
June 25th, 2009 at 3:40 am
“kruipruimte isolatie”…your comment is very true!
June 30th, 2009 at 2:43 am
Very motivating article. I will return.
August 11th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
I woukd really love to see my website ranked top on google. I know its not impossible, Thanks for the informative post BTW.
August 17th, 2009 at 10:07 pm
Excelent this post! I’ll bookmark it.
September 2nd, 2009 at 5:59 am
Thanks man! Very good your post.
You will help very novices peopleas same me….=D
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October 22nd, 2009 at 3:12 am
[…] Introduction to Keyword Authority at Court’s Internet Marketing School. […]
January 19th, 2010 at 5:51 am
Very interesting information. I will use it! A big-big thanks to author.