Want to drive more organic traffic to your website in 2024? Of course you do! After all, search is still the #1 driver of website traffic, with Google alone processing over 8.5 billion searches per day.
While SEO has gotten more complex and competitive, the good news is there are still plenty of tactics you can use to boost your rankings and get your content in front of your target audience. Some are quick and easy, while others require more time and effort – but they‘re all extremely effective when executed properly.
In this post, we‘ll break down 10 of the most impactful SEO tactics you should be using in 2024, including:
- Optimizing existing content
- Earning backlinks from unlinked mentions
- Participating in expert roundups
- Getting featured in "best of" lists and newsletters
- Leveraging internal linking
- Securing recurring guest contributions
- Linking to influencers
- Optimizing for featured snippets
- Improving core web vitals
- Creating topic clusters
Whether you‘re an SEO beginner or a seasoned pro, this guide will equip you with the knowledge and strategies you need to level up your organic search performance this year. Let‘s dive in!
1. Optimize and Refresh Your Existing Content
One of the quickest and easiest ways to boost your rankings is by optimizing content you‘ve already published. Go into your Google Search Console and identify pages that are ranking on page 2-3 of the search results for your target keywords.
Then, update those pages with more comprehensive, in-depth and up-to-date content. Aim to make it the best resource on that topic on the internet. Expand short articles into long-form guides, replace outdated information and stats, add new images and media, and improve the overall readability and user experience.
Google loves fresh, thorough content and often rewards substantial updates with higher rankings. In fact, websites that consistently publish new blog posts and update old ones tend to have 434% more indexed pages than those that don‘t.
Pro tip: If a post has been significantly updated, change the publish date to send a freshness signal to Google. You can add a note at the top indicating it‘s been revised.
2. Find and Secure Backlinks from Unlinked Mentions
Backlinks remain one of the most important Google ranking factors. But you don‘t always have to create new content to earn them. Chances are, your brand, products, content, or team have been mentioned around the web without being linked to.
Finding and reaching out to these websites to request a link is an easy way to turn those mentions into valuable backlinks. After all, if they like you enough to write about you, adding a link is a no-brainer!
To find unlinked mentions, use a tool like Semrush or Ahrefs to search for your brand name and exclude your own domain. Then visit the top referring pages and use CTRL+F to look for a link back to your site.
For pages that mention you without a link, reach out to the author with a friendly, personalized email thanking them for the mention and politely asking if they‘d mind adding a link for their readers‘ benefit. Keep it short, sweet and mutually beneficial.
3. Participate in Expert Roundups
Expert roundups are a popular format where multiple thought leaders in an industry answer the same question, which is compiled into a single post. Participating in these is a great way to build your authority, reach a new audience, and earn a high-quality backlink.
To find opportunities, set up Google Alerts for queries like "[your keyword] + roundup" or "[your keyword] + experts". Then when one pops up, reach out to the author thanking them for the great post and offering your own unique insights, should they decide to do a follow-up.
You can also create a dedicated page on your website indicating you‘re available for interviews and roundups. This makes you easier to find for bloggers and journalists on the hunt for expert sources.
4. Get Featured in "Best of" Lists and Newsletters
Another effective link building strategy is to get your content featured in curated industry newsletters and "best of" lists. These roundups typically link out to the top content in your niche, giving you exposure to a new audience and a high-value link.
To find these opportunities, search Google for variations of:
- Best [your industry] blogs to follow
- Best [your industry] articles of the week/month/year
- Top [your industry] newsletters
Make a list of the roundups that are the most relevant fit for your business and content. Reach out to the curators and editors with a compelling pitch, highlighting your top content and why it would be valuable for their audience.
Keep in mind these roundups feature the best of the best content, so yours needs to be top-notch to be considered. Focus on creating your most in-depth, well-researched, visually engaging content for these pitches.
5. Strengthen Your Internal Linking
Internal links are vastly underrated for SEO, but can be incredibly effective for boosting pages stuck on page 2-3 to the first page. The concept is simple: Find your highest authority pages (by backlinks) and add keyword-optimized internal links from those to pages you want to rank better.
Use Google Search Console to identify pages that are ranking in positions 11-30. These have the most potential to make the leap to page 1. Then, using a tool like Ahrefs or SEMrush, find your most linked-to pages.
Finally, go into those top linked-to pages and add relevant internal links to the keyword-targeted pages you want to boost, using descriptive, keyword-rich anchor text. As a rule of thumb, the more relevant the link and the more authoritative the source page, the more "link juice" will be passed.
6. Secure Recurring Contributor Roles
Guest blogging has long been an effective way to reach a new audience, build credibility, and gain backlinks. But securing a recurring contributor or columnist role at a relevant industry publication is even more impactful.
When evaluating publications, look for sites that are highly and trusted visited by your target audience. Alltop is a good place to start your search. Once you have a list of targets, check if they have a "Write for Us" or contributor page with instructions.
Before pitching, get on their radar by leaving thoughtful comments on their posts and sharing their content on social media. Craft a compelling, personalized pitch that demonstrates your unique expertise and how it will benefit their audience.
7. Link to Influencers Within Your Content
Contrary to popular belief, linking to other relevant, authoritative websites not only doesn‘t hurt your SEO – it actually helps it. Outbound links to high-quality sources helps search engines understand your content‘s context and demonstrates you‘ve done your research.
But instead of just linking to faceless websites, why not link directly to influencers‘ content? Find popular articles, videos, podcasts, or social posts from influencers in your niche and incorporate them into your content.
Then after publishing, reach out to those influencers via email or social media, letting them know you featured them in your post. No need to ask for a share or link – if your post is high-quality and relevant to their audience, many will share it on their own. Even if they don‘t share, it‘s a great way to start building a relationship.
8. Optimize for Featured Snippets
Getting the coveted "position zero" featured snippet at the top of the search results is one of the best ways to leapfrog your organic competitors. Featured snippets get more visibility and a higher click-through-rate than the #1 organic listing.
To optimize for featured snippets:
- Identify common question-based queries in your niche using tools like Answer the Public or Semrush‘s Topic Research tool
- Create concise, direct answers to those questions using the exact query in a header (H2), followed by a 1-2 sentence answer or bulleted list
- For existing content, add a "FAQ" section at the bottom of the post using this format
- Aim to keep the answer around 50 words – brief and to the point
- Add relevant images or videos to increase your chances of being featured
9. Improve Your Core Web Vitals
Google has stated that page experience signals, known as Core Web Vitals, are an important SEO ranking factor. These signals measure how fast your page loads, how soon it becomes interactive, and how stable the layout is as it loads.
Improving these metrics can give you an edge over pages that are slow and provide a poor user experience. Use Google‘s free PageSpeed Insights tool to analyze your Core Web Vitals and get recommendations on how to improve them, such as:
- Minimize your page‘s total file size and use lazy loading
- Reduce the number of render-blocking resources
- Choose a fast and reliable hosting provider
- Use a content delivery network (CDN)
- Enable compression and browser caching
10. Create Topic Clusters
Lastly, a more advanced SEO strategy is to create topic clusters around your core products, services, or content themes. A topic cluster consists of one comprehensive "pillar page" that broadly covers a topic, surrounded by multiple in-depth "cluster pages" on related subtopics.
All of the cluster pages link back to the main pillar page, and the pillar links out to all the cluster pages. This signals to Google that the pillar page is an authority on that topic and helps all the pages rank better as a whole.
For example, let‘s say you sell marketing automation software. You could create a pillar page on "The Complete Guide to Marketing Automation", with cluster pages on subtopics like:
- Marketing Automation Tools & Platforms
- Marketing Automation Workflows
- B2B vs. B2C Marketing Automation
- How to Measure Marketing Automation ROI
- Marketing Automation Case Studies
By interlinking all of these topically related pages, you‘re creating a seamless user experience while demonstrating expertise for the entire topic, not just a single keyword.
Boosting Your Rankings in 2024 and Beyond
With over 200 factors in Google‘s algorithm, it can feel overwhelming to identify which SEO strategies to focus on. But by mastering these 10 proven, powerful tactics, you‘ll be well on your way to higher rankings, more qualified traffic, and increased revenue from organic search.
Keep in mind that climbing to the top of the search results takes consistent, strategic effort over time. There are no overnight hacks or shortcuts. Focus on creating the most relevant, comprehensive content for your audience, then amplify it using the techniques above, and your hard work will pay off.
As you implement these tactics, stay on top of the latest SEO trends, algorithm updates, and best practices. The fundamentals of great content and authoritative links are unlikely to change, but the specific factors Google emphasizes in its algorithm will continue to evolve.
Now go forth and put these strategies into action – your target audience is out there searching for what you have to offer. Make sure they can find you!
