Google and other search engines have always placed much value on the quality of your content but to some extent, you need some other major factors to rank better on search pages. I have done a study on popular Nigerian blog "Linda Ikeji's Blog" and I have come up with these 5 SEO ranking factors.
I was shocked when I saw Linda Ikeji ranking better for the keyword "Garanntor" than other big Nigeria blogs including TechCabal, Misstechy, InformationNg, and others. Also as a brush up to those who feels WordPress is SEO!!.. Linda Ikeji and Ogbonge blog are hosted on BlogSpot - They are 2 among the 10 most ranked blogs in Nigeria.
SeoSiteCheckup - 59%
That is very poor..!
The basic and most recommended SEO practices for a blogger include the numerous tips which I have covered in various posts, but I still want to remind you that Linda Ikeji doesn't even have meta tag and keywords on her posts.
Linda Ikeji's Blog is one of the oldest blogs in Nigeria and google has placed much value in her posts because of this. Even when she write 5 lines of sentences in her blog, she still ranks better than you writing a whole textbook as a post.
At first, all blogs get the same crawling and indexing rate but with time when some stop posting regularly, their crawls per day drop while others who keep posting get higher crawl rates and quick indexing.
The is the exact same reason while a news article published on big News sites such as Punch, Naij etc get index within few minutes, same also apply to Music websites. If you run a curation site, then you should as experience this.
Linda Ikeji Blog is a gossip site which has free and quality backlinks all over the web. Nearly 80% of blogs in Nigeria have a link which directs to Linda Ikeji. Now, why won't google take her as important?.
Even Wikipedia linked to Linda Ikeji's blog. All other top blogs in Nigeria and in the world, at one time or the other link to Linda Ikeji blog and these links, are called backlinks acting as SEO supporting pillars.
For every comment a user paste on Linda Ikeji's blog, he or she does these three things
Generally, her longest blog post will contain about 200 words and if that post gets 10 comments with each having 10 words, the post's content has just increased to 300. These comments also increase the ranking keywords of her post. You will users add more similar and related words to the post and this will increase the keywords of that post.
Regular comments what let google know your blog is Active. Google uses crawlers and not humans. These search bots will just come and count the words, comments and that all. These same happens with Nairaland. A post with just a link will still rank well in NairaLand.
So a blogger should practice more social media sharing and marketing to get his blog ranked better on search engine pages. Linda Ikeji even has a twitter slider on search pages showing her latest tweets.
What should you do?. Do what she is doing and what she is not doing. Get yourself a custom domain, SEO optimize your blog, starting promoting your blog on social media, learn how to use Keywords, get focussed on one specific niche, get a well SEO optimized blogger template. increase you blog loading speed etc.
Believe this or leave it. A platform is not SEO. You are the SEO of your blog and the more you work on your blog the more it get's optimized. Don't expect to SEO optimized your blog and just let it die there. Hopefully, you have read 5 SEO Ranking Factors Learnt From Linda Ikeji Blog.
Who and What is Linda Ikeji?
Before I dive into telling you my 5 SEO ranking tips learned from Linda Ikeji blog, first let me introduce Linda Ikeji to you. You know Linda Ikeji as a popular news/gossip blog but Google knows it as one of the oldest blogs, with high backlinks and insane active hours.I was shocked when I saw Linda Ikeji ranking better for the keyword "Garanntor" than other big Nigeria blogs including TechCabal, Misstechy, InformationNg, and others. Also as a brush up to those who feels WordPress is SEO!!.. Linda Ikeji and Ogbonge blog are hosted on BlogSpot - They are 2 among the 10 most ranked blogs in Nigeria.
Linda Ikeji's SEO Practices.
The internet is fast developing and every blogger in taking a drive towards SEO (Search engine Optimization). Well after reviewing Linda Ikeji blog, I tell you brother Linda Ikeji's Blog is not SEO friendly. You want to argue? I have proof.Linda Ikeji Blog SEO results
SEO Chkme - 36%SeoSiteCheckup - 59%
That is very poor..!
The basic and most recommended SEO practices for a blogger include the numerous tips which I have covered in various posts, but I still want to remind you that Linda Ikeji doesn't even have meta tag and keywords on her posts.
What's The Difference Between Ranking Factors and SEO?.
Many bloggers include you reading this post. Yes, you! probably think that SEO is what you need to rank well on search engine pages. Yes, this is true to an extent (about 20% true). Then what do I need to rank posts better on Search Engine pages?. Ranking Factors.Ranking Factors
These are the characteristics of a blog that makes it gain recognition on search engine pages - Especially google and bing. To an extent, Google is unfair to quality post writers because of Ranking Factors. You can write a great post and still don't get ranked. If SEO was all we need, then Linda Ikeji's blog would never be featured on search pages.5 SEO Ranking Factors Learnt From Linda Ikeji Blog
After an intense review of Linda Ikeji's blog, her blog stand to be on of the most visited blogs in Nigeria, her Alexa rank is 28 in Nigeria and 3965 globally(what?) and there is no blogger in Nigeria who doesn't link to her.- Domain Age
- Blog RunTime (Active Hours)
- Backlinks
- Blog Comments
- Social Media Activeness.
1. Domain Age
You simply can't argue the fact that blogs with strong and old domains are not treated specially by Google. I already said good is unfair to some extent. While ranking, Google places attention to the Age of the blog (domain age).Linda Ikeji's Blog is one of the oldest blogs in Nigeria and google has placed much value in her posts because of this. Even when she write 5 lines of sentences in her blog, she still ranks better than you writing a whole textbook as a post.
2. Blog RunTime (Active Hours)
I too have a lot to testify for in this. Google uses crawlers and bots to search for contents around the web. Now once your blog is fully active like Linda Ikeji, google will crawler it nearly every hour.At first, all blogs get the same crawling and indexing rate but with time when some stop posting regularly, their crawls per day drop while others who keep posting get higher crawl rates and quick indexing.
The is the exact same reason while a news article published on big News sites such as Punch, Naij etc get index within few minutes, same also apply to Music websites. If you run a curation site, then you should as experience this.
3. BackLinks
I have never really made much emphasis on BackLinks but they do boost SEO. Even a Google staff talk about how good backlinks help boost SEO on BlogSpot or WordPress.Linda Ikeji Blog is a gossip site which has free and quality backlinks all over the web. Nearly 80% of blogs in Nigeria have a link which directs to Linda Ikeji. Now, why won't google take her as important?.
Even Wikipedia linked to Linda Ikeji's blog. All other top blogs in Nigeria and in the world, at one time or the other link to Linda Ikeji blog and these links, are called backlinks acting as SEO supporting pillars.
4. Blog Comments
Show me a post on Linda Ikeji Blog without up to 5 comments. Apart from Facebook, Linda Ikeji's blog is one of the top 5 blogs that get the highest comments in Nigeria. A tech blogger might call these comments spam but still, they boost Linda Ikeji's SEO.For every comment a user paste on Linda Ikeji's blog, he or she does these three things
- Add more words to post's content
- Increase ranking keywords on that post
- Tell google this blog is interactive (live page).
Generally, her longest blog post will contain about 200 words and if that post gets 10 comments with each having 10 words, the post's content has just increased to 300. These comments also increase the ranking keywords of her post. You will users add more similar and related words to the post and this will increase the keywords of that post.
Regular comments what let google know your blog is Active. Google uses crawlers and not humans. These search bots will just come and count the words, comments and that all. These same happens with Nairaland. A post with just a link will still rank well in NairaLand.
5. Social Media Activeness
Generally, blogs are the most active pages on the web. In case you don't know there is a ranking factor that is called Social media backlinking. Her profiles on every social media network improve her blog's ranking.So a blogger should practice more social media sharing and marketing to get his blog ranked better on search engine pages. Linda Ikeji even has a twitter slider on search pages showing her latest tweets.
How Can I Rank Better Than Linda Ikeji?
Well as difficult this sounds, it's still very possible. If my post "Download Free Ogbonge Blog Template" can rank better than the same post on NiaraLand, OgbongeBlog and others which were published before mine, then you can rank better than Linda Ikeji's Blog.What should you do?. Do what she is doing and what she is not doing. Get yourself a custom domain, SEO optimize your blog, starting promoting your blog on social media, learn how to use Keywords, get focussed on one specific niche, get a well SEO optimized blogger template. increase you blog loading speed etc.
Thanks Admin
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