What are some practical ways to move keywords from Page 2 up to Page 1?

[MichelangeSEO]

I posted about leading a team in SEO for a successful ecommerce site. Things are going well and we're seeing movement for some good keywords. For a month or two, we've seemed to be "stuck" on page 2 for some really good keywords. We've gotten links from some high authority sites doing outreach, using infogrpahics and just acquiring the easy type of links anyone can get.

Just wanted some input on how anyone else here would move these keywords up to page 1. I've been doing some on page techniques and have optimized the site very well, but any on page or off page techniques would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Nate]

There's nothing inherently different about page 1 vs page 2 in Google's algorithm. The only real practical difference is that they're the ones who've invested the most into ranking, so its generally going to be more competitive.

Its not a page 1 vs page 2 issue. The more important question is, what do these specific SERPS look like, and how does your page/site compare? What do the sites that outrank you look like in terms of metrics? DA, unique links to page, TF/CF etc. Some SERPs can have fairly low competition overall, but the sites at the top can be extremely dominant.

Either way though, you'd move up the same way you'd move up in any other SEO scenario, if you've already match/exceeded them on-page, then just keep building more links. Understanding the metrics just shows you how far you have left to go - or whether its even do-able with your resources.

You might also want to take a closer look at the top 10 and see if there's anything in their link profiles you can match.

 

[stackcash]

"Just build more links" may not be the best advice here. There are other variables at play here. You need to know what your stats are compared to the top 3 sites on the SERP.

If you're a relatively new site, but generally have better stats (more links, better onsite, lengthier content, faster load time, etc) than the first page of the SERP, it's likely you're still in the sandbox and Google is waiting to see if you're a site that can be trusted or if you're a site that's trying to game the SERPs. If you start slamming the site with links to force yourself onto the first page, you might end up with some poor results.

Alternatively, if you have a site with some age, first page rankings on other serps, and have already generated some trust in the eyes of the engines, then "build more links" is probably the way to go.

You always need to account for yourself, the competition, and the search engines. Ignoring any one of them can be dangerous.

 

[Nate]

"Just build more links" may not be the best advice here.

I think you may have taken that phrase out of context.

In any case, OP works for an established ecommerce site, so its probably safe to say this isn't a sandbox issue.

 

[jakesnke]

Both arguments are valid here. It really depends on your specific serp, and the ranking factors that are pulling the most weight.

Take another look at the top 5, there may be clear stats that are putting them above the pack. If your site measures up, pivot your SEO efforts to start building rankings for new keywords.

If it's time to put up or shut up, shift to traffic leaks. Drive immediate traffic and present the new traffic source as an indicator that the top rankings are soon to follow.

 

[Ryuzaki]

There's a phrase I've liked and saw again recently. It's something like:

"Links are the rising tide in which lifts every page."
​

If you've tapped out just about all you can do for a specific page or angle, move to a different angle and start trying to rank new pages and pieces of content. Interlink your new pages to your old as you do this so the link metrics flow all throughout your site and everything should rise together. Kind of like tiering through your own site's pages.

 

[Stephen]

Usually I would say if you are at the bottom of page one, it should be possible to move up just the addition of quality content, but it really does depend on how competitive the niche is.

 

[MichelangeSEO]

Thanks every one for the advice. Building more links is definitely a priority. We have acquired some great links from some big sites, but the competition still has more. And, we have more work to do with our On-Page SEO (our competition's pages that are ranked at number 1 have way more content than us, in word count). As for as content creation, we have expert writers who write content for use multiple times a week, so it's really just a matter of leveraging that content.

I actually just bought a PBN building service... I've been reading the guy's blog for a while now and he seems legit... any one had any experience with this guy:

authoritywebsiteincome.com/done-for-you-expired-domain-private-blog-network/

I'm just going to test it out... pretty much going to use it as a "high quality" tier 2, to boost some of our existing links and maybe rank some smaller domains that are more link small niche sites related to our industry.