Keyword Strategy Case Study

For this, our site audit provided some great insights. We kick-started the process by the good old move of tracking their rankings for each keyword before implementing any changes to their website. Once we got a solid list of keywords, analyzed them (Tools we used: Keyword Planner, Keyword.io, Ubersuggest, Ahrefs, and SEMRush) and grouped them based on relevance.

We also removed the no-index tag from all the pages for which our tech team extended their support and we were able to rectify the issue within a day.

Although Real estate syndication software is a relatively niche market and there aren’t similar software out in the market we had to compete with, but ranking only for their “software” wasn’t going to work; our goal was to establish SyndicationPro as the GO-TO place for Investors and Syndicators and since the SERPs are filled with real estate masters and hundreds of competing blogs.

Now was the time to SUIT UP!

We had to build their “Resources” section strategically and had to choose topics to target wisely; evergreen topics built around untapped keywords. Interactive infographics, well-curated blogs and value-jammed podcasts were the key content types we focused on.

We enhanced our clients’ Keyword Strategy by focusing on long-tail keywords, low volume, and high intent and built a list of keyword opportunities. Our team also shortlisted a set of unique keywords, prepared a Google Sheet with over 1000 niche-focused keywords. Here’s a glance:

Here’s how you can prepare that:

Head over to the Keyword Explorer in Ahrefs and search some product or service related seed keywords, and since our client is targeting real estate industry –

We sorted the sheet based on competition, and picked medium traffic keywords with high intent and low competition and prepared a list of keywords we could target along with the rank we expected to rank for, here’s a snapshot:

Another important part of keyword strategy is targeting a group of related keywords instead of focusing on just one, you can check it in the Keyword Ideas section.

To check what queries we could address with content, we checked the Questions part and added the terms based on Search Volume and Keyword Difficulty we selected a bunch of relevant keywords.

We selected the keywords we wanted to target and exported it as a CSV/Excel sheet, (you can also check Google AutoSuggest and Answer The Public for the same). You can also check “People Also Check” section:

These are the exact questions their audience usually targets. These questions were added as new sections in our client’s blogs.

Once we had a solid list of primary and secondary keywords, the next step was to identify the terms we could rank in the top 5 positions for and we were pretty realistic here and we also leveraged competitive analysis.

Based on our thorough keyword research, we mapped various keywords and keyword variants specific to onsite content. We also focused on different keywords for different pages and ensured that each web page was positioned on the first page in SERPs, not just the Home Page. Before optimizing the onsite content we assessed their quality by taking a note of the following points:

• Length of the content
• Multimedia used (images and podcasts)
• Type of onsite content (Podcasts, Blogs, Infographics)
• Keywords used – Primary and Secondary Keywords
• Readability of the content – UX
• Is the content up-to-date
• Social media optimization

Once we got a list of top ranking pages, we knew we had everything in place and now was the time to implement our strategies and crush the numbers.

We started with Content Optimization – Our content team optimized each page, blog, and infographics for specific targeted keywords by adding the keyword variants in the header tags, not the keyword stuffing way but wherever there was a dire need to make the content relevant. Here’s a peek at the top pages Syndication Pro ranks for right now:

Based on the keywords and keyword variants, our content team mapped important topics and subtopics to add in fresh content. When it comes to content, it’s quality over quantity, which is why focus on creating value-jammed content is important, as it can prove a great way to establish and build a backlink profile.

The final step in keyword qualification is assessing the type of content you intend to use these keywords in. From working on pillar content (content that ranks for more competitive terms and serves as an anchor on the site) to regular content update to implementing content syndication strategy (Guest Posts, Web 2.0, and Press Release), we left no stone unturned. While writing new content, we made sure our content was:

• In-depth
• Up-to-date
• Provides a better user experience
• With a better CTA

A keyword density of 3- 5% (target keyword appears about 1-2 times/100 words) was maintained across all the pages to avoid readability errors.

Although On-page elements have a small impact, they still influence rankings, it helps Google understand what the page is about – relevance of the content, keywords targeting and quality of the content.

For our client, we tweaked the:

• Meta Title – Adjust the SEO title and meta description
• URL – Short and descriptive URL with Keywords
• Metadata – Curated unique metadata for each page

Also, it’s not the Primary Keyword you can use, but secondary keywords (LSI – synonymous keywords) can be used as well. Here’s a glimpse:

Since Google can’t read images including target keywords in alt text can help it understand.
While implementing the aforementioned points, remember, don’t stuff keywords, place them wherever it’s possible and wherever it seems natural.

One of the easiest way to funnel traffic and make sure their site visitors stayed on their webpages was adding relevant, useful links wherever possible:

As simple as it sounds, internal links are often ignored by companies, despite the fact that it’s a great way to strengthen their authority, and also it literally takes only 5 seconds. To add valuable internal links, here’s what you need to do:

Proper and relevant internal links were added to ensure every page is accessible to crawlers so that pages aren’t invisible to Google and other search engines.

Having worked with top-notch SaaS companies in the past, we knew that to achieve position #1 we need to build high-quality backlinks with relevant and top-ranking domains, so we focused on that for a while.

We started the process by analyzing our client’s competitors backlink profile (that’s a treasure), and checking which domains have linked to their content. We prepared a list of such referring pages and domains (with strong Domain Authority) and mapped the links with our client’s relevant content pieces. Here’s how you can generate a list:

• Add a keyword you intend to target (Primary or Secondary Keyword) in Ahrefs Keyword Explorer
• Scroll down to SERP overview to check SERP ranking content
• Export the report as a CSV file and sort it on the basis of the number of backlinks
• Click on the backlinks to view the exact report

Check for Do-follow links, preferably; this will give you a list of domains you can reach out with your optimized content. You can also check the keywords they are targeting with their content (add-on to your keyword strategy)
Shortlist 25+ similar links with keywords to get you started

You can also check the Link Intersect report by adding your competitors to check if they are linked to the domain you intend to target. If they have, there might be a higher chance of them backlinking with your website as well.

A random search shows the opportunities SyndicationPro can leverage that the other companies are using already (Note: The companies mentioned above are not the competitors of SyndicationPro).

Once you have a list of over 100 sites in place, you can start an outreach campaign and send a personalized email to these sites sharing the content they might be interested in.

The data extracted from here can aid in your keyword strategy as well as help you prepare a list of websites you can build backlinks with. Here’s a snapshot of results our efforts yielded for SyndicationPro.

Key points we focused on while building backlinks:

• Backlinks are from relevant sites with high domain ratings
• Backlinks are from authoritative sites
• Looked for both no-follow and do-follow links

Regular content updation (Google loves up-to-date content) and implementing content syndication – republishing blogs, articles, and infographics on third party sites (Guest Posts, Web 2.0, and Press Release) were the pillars of our content promotion strategy. Content was also promoted actively across Social Media platforms to build authority and establish them as PROS of the real estate industry.

Additionally, with the thought of leaving no stone unturned, we analyzed most visited platforms of our client’s target audience and provided solutions for recurring problems so they know who they can turn to. Key platforms include – Biggerpockets, Medium, etc.

This helped us boost referral traffic, which according to Google plays an important role in determining page rank.