Can you answer this one question: Why are you relevant to a topic?
In other words, why do you deserve to rank first on Google for your favorite keywords?
How to rank first on Google ?
How do you become famous on the Internet, whether you are an individual, an organization, or a company?
Listen to the podcast:
Let me get into your brain for a minute because I’ve been there before you:
- Are you afraid to wake up and see your ranking dropped when you open up your analytics tool?
- Do you learn one truth about SEO, and then someone says the exact opposite?
- Do you struggle to find the right assets to build a powerful website?
- Did you learn so much about SEO? It’s a big mess cloud in your head, and you can’t figure out where to start and what you are trying to achieve.
- Are you tired of Technical limitations and marketing priorities killing your SEO plan?
- You are chasing algorithms, struggling to stay alive Google Update after Google Update?
- Are you listening to the SEO guy focusing only on the Google Desktop version?
- Do you want to hear again: «It depends »?
By the way, I’ve been an SEO Consultant by day and a Search Engine Hacker by night since 2004.
Let me prove I talk the walk and walk the talk.
Let me explain how and what to feed Google.
We will go way beyond Google SEO, especially when it comes to the desktop version of Google SEO. I will share how to be visible all around the Web, whenever the Intent is Search. I won’t tell you about community management on Facebook or how to stream on Twitch.
My world is about Search.
If people search, I want to be there, wherever it is.
I’m not saying community management on Facebook or live streaming on Twitch doesn’t interest me, and it does contribute to the whole debate about how to become famous on the Internet.
My strategy uses what is called Semantic SEO.
I build a solid SEO layer integrated within a global Multimedia Content Marketing Strategy. We focus on algorithms.
I won’t break your head with math, but you will learn how to give Google what it wants. Also, that includes doing everything around your SEO for your SEO to work. You will learn how to give Google what it wants from an algorithmic standpoint. The only variable remains: how good are you? Can you produce food for search engines only, or will you also be attractive to human users? My job stops there. I’m nobody to judge if you create good content for humans. It will work if you listen, understand, and apply.
What is the Topical Mesh?
I will share my checklist and explain how to get a potential customer’s attention online. We will go from A to Z, providing a proper checklist for moving from wherever you are now to building a brand, getting qualified traffic, and funneling in qualified traffic. Another point is that nobody owes you anything. We live in a noisy world. It’s hard to break through the insane volume of messages geared towards your audience.
Getting attention is the name of my game.
Furthermore, I’m into the game of undervalued attention. On the Web, 90% of the people doing some business are fighting in the last 10% portion of the Information Funnel. 90% of the information funnel is undervalued and underutilized. Please note I said « information funnel » and not « conversion funnel.» 90% of the information funnel needs to be more valued and utilized. Also, if you do your job in this 90% of almost virgin territory, you will gain a tremendous advantage in the fight in the last 10% of the Information Funnel. You get into the famous Conversion Funnel at this stage, but more on this later. What follows is fully packed with high-level information, and the plan works for real.
Let’s start to learn !
Semantic SEO with a Topical Mesh twist
Pre-requisite :
• Notebook + pen
• Project (existing or new)
• Basics of SEO: keywords research, backlinks, Pagerank
• Work
1/ Marketing/ Branding exercices
Understand who you are talking to and who you are.
We will need this to move forward, but there are two other levels of ambition: answering four vital questions in five seconds: how will you help me, who are you, what are we doing now, and why should I choose you? Finally, what is your Unique Value Proposition?
2/ Mindmap Buyer Persona
Forget who you are; you don’t have a website and are not yourself anymore. You will need to immerse yourself into your buyer persona. The first and most challenging step is understanding what you sell beyond the products or services.
From an organic perspective, building the mind map from a buyer’s point of view often leads to your offer being way deep into the structure. It’s ok; we will deal with it next.
3/ Grey Area Keyword Analysis
I call the Grey Area your position on Google, where you rank between the Top 4 and Top 20.
You will have decisions to make :
• It’s all good; my page is perfect and answers correctly to the intent.
• My page needs improvement, but there is potential
• The URL has nothing to do with the intention. Let’s move ahead with a new and better-fitting solution.
4/ The demand match your offer
You become yourself again. It’s time to pull out your keyword research and all your data, including the Grey Area Analysis, and rework the mindmap to make the offer match the demand.
Still, avoid artificially bringing your chosen keywords close to the center. Leave your essential pages where they belong in the structure. We will address this in the next step.
It’s also time to build links between silos. Always remember the basics of my strategy. It’s all about who is related to what and why. Extreme siloing is a neat solution, but I won’t get into it in this post.
Just watch out if you have crosslinks between silos. They may need to merge or be reshaped in a more efficient structure.
5/ Content Hierarchy
Rank each node from 1 to 4. Rank each node and page according to the commercial value. A number 1 page represents around 5% of your content, which equals 65-70% of your income.
SEO ambition is of the highest degree. Investment is no limit. Everything we do is to push these pages to the top. 🔝
Just be careful here. If you want your product page to rank first on Google, but the first 100 results are product pages, this might differ from what Google wants. For now, let’s keep it simple. By default, Google is eager to rank highly informative, evergreen content. I will tell you about the Smell of the SERP. It’s about understanding what Google wants versus what it has.
6/ Internal linking
Understanding siloing is easy. Again, it’s all about who is related to what and why. You build a deep pyramid of content using an intelligent internal linking system. Starting from the top of the pyramid, you go down into silos where each page links to the mother, sisters, and child. Even if we break out the structure with the links between silos, as long as it makes sense, it will work.
7/ On-Page SEO Optimization
Let’s play the mystery word game.
I have the word “the jaguar” (the car) on a card, and I want to make you guess it. If you understand the mystery word game, you know the Topical Mesh. It’s happening on the page, around the page, within the site, and around the URL « off-site » with backlinks.
8/ Link the Topical Mesh to the rest of the site
We can apply many solutions. Each case presents technical limitations and marketing priorities that will cause SEO to step back.
To high-level on you for a second, I recommend cloaking if you want a perfect structure for GoogleBot and still have a Christmas tree of links for the user.
Check out In-Cloaking-Veritas.com if you want to know more.
A former student of my BootCampSEO (french) created this open-source cloaking solution. He upgraded my old cloaking codes to a fantastic 100% free solution.
CLOAKING IS NOT A CRIME
It’s a discussion for another day, but if you modify the internal linking using cloaking, it’s not Black Hat SEO. Giving different content to the human user and the robot violates Google guidelines. It’s not illegal or forbidden; it’s just not what Google likes. The simplest solution is to create a directory or subdomain (I like directories better) and install WordPress. I recommend using the pages instead of the posts because you won’t have to deal with chronology. WordPress arranges posts by date. Chronology does not work from a semantic perspective. It works if you keep a personal diary, but not if you want to do Semantic SEO and the Topical Mesh.
9/ Smell the SERP
Smelling the SERP is the most challenging skill to acquire, but it’s the most rewarding. Once you understand what Google wants, it’s magic. Once you can analyze what Google has compared to what it wants, it’s incredible how well your content gets rewarded. Look at everything on the SERP. Compare [Olympic Games] with [women shoes]. It takes thousands of hours to stare at Google results pages. After a while, you will figure out what Google wants. Google wants to answer different intents; some results do an average job. Especially when it comes down to nuance, Google AI is dumbing out the information. Help Google by feeding it what it wants instead of what it has. It’s the most powerful SEO superpower I know. Not many SEOs master this skill because they don’t know how to see. You learn how to see by practicing and testing. There are no shortcuts, no magic tools.
10/ SEO layer within a global Content Marketing Strategy
With one topic we will create dozens or hundreds of text, image, video, and audio content.
The first step is to create the content. Around one topic, I make dozens, hundreds, and thousands of pieces of multimedia content.
Step two is distribution. Throughout the week, flood the Web with your content. You are not spamming; you can’t saturate social media if you do it right. If your content is interesting, people will like it.
If you suck, improve.
Step three involves promotion. Nobody does it, but it’s the key. Enter the conversation around your topic. Wherever it takes place, whenever, always make sure you get into the conversation. Don’t be a fool, saying, «Hey, I love your content. Can we be friends? Check out my profile ». Take the time to read, watch, or listen. Then, write a thoughtful comment, something meaningful. Try to engage in a conversation with the author or other people. Give your point of view, even if you disagree.
Step four is about analytics.
Data is power. Base your decisions on data.
Step Five: Rinse and repeat.
Do this once a month if you suck. Do this once a week if you are average. Do this once a day if you want to be a Rockstar.
11/ Private Link Network
Build one site per week, and you will end up with 50 at the end of the year. I’m not talking about some ugly, smelly PBN, Private or Public Blog Network. My way is a link wheel, a continuation of the Topical Mesh spirit. Build a decent private network to control some of your backlinks. The detailed post is here: My Own Private Link Network. Be creative and build small websites that don’t smell SEO from 10 miles away. Of course, you have to pretend these websites are not yours. You have to do everything you can to make it « natural.» For example, build tons of outbound links. Don’t just buy expired domains; link from every homepage to your homepage. Less is more; work more intelligent.
12/ Feed it to Google, then adjust
It’s simple. The truth is on the screen. You prepared well, but Google will tell you if you are right or wrong. It’s binary. Usually, I give it around three months, then I adjust.
In The End
The Topical Mesh is the best solution for ranking first on Google and winning the game of undervalued attention throughout the Information Funnel. Today, the world is complicated. To break through the noise requires a solid strategy and rigorous execution. If you want to rank first and stay first, you must decide if you have the means to achieve your goals. Depending upon your ambitions, I won’t lie. It’s work. It’s a lot of work.
SEO is hard, but it doesn’t have to be a mysterious
magic trick performed by some SEO Gurus.
Today, the spirit of my strategy is the same as in 2004 or 2012. It’s all about who is related to what and why. Of course, today is a much different world than when I started. It blows my mind that so-called SEO Experts still teach you how to rank on Google’s desktop version… I know that people spend days and nights on a smartphone device. Still, if the intent is there, I want to be there if that person is looking for answers to questions or solutions to a problem. Wherever people are searching, I want to be present. I want to be present throughout the entire information funnel vs. fighting for SEO on Google; the desktop version is still alive. It’s still going strong. However, the game has changed. Technology has evolved, and behaviors are changing, for the better or worse, I don’t know. Even if we only focus on Google, being visible on Google’s mobile version is way more complicated than on the desktop version. On the desktop, you might be happy with ranking somewhere on the first page for a competitive keyword. On Google Mobile, there is no space for a second. The real estate of the SERP is expensive. Only the first organic result wins. If I mention vocal Search, there is also no spot for number two. I showed you that winning at SEO or Content Marketing with a solid SEO layer is no mystery. I have a sound solution that works.
Just do it. Inaction is the number one enemy here. If you do stuff, you will get results. I just showed you how to work smart. Still, you’ve got to do the work.
Never give up. You won’t bleed; you won’t even sweat. It won’t hurt, I promise.
Please test it out and get back to me.