6 Easy SEO Techniques (That Work)

Summary

In this video, Nathan Gotch, founder of Gotch SEO Academy, shares five advanced SEO techniques to drive organic traffic and increase conversions. He emphasizes focusing on keyword intent over search volume, using anchor text cycling for natural link building, and prioritizing relevance in backlinks. Nathan introduces the relevancy pyramid for smart link-building and explains the reverse pyramid strategy to boost valuable assets internally linking to commercial pages. Additionally, he provides practical tips for creating long-form content, using predictive links, and leveraging expired domains to generate backlinks efficiently.

Takeaways

• 🔍 Focus on generating revenue, not just traffic. Prioritize keywords with high conversion intent rather than simply boosting traffic with high search volume informational keywords.
• 📈 Use a bottom-up keyword research approach. Start by identifying keywords that drive revenue and then build a content strategy around them.
• 🔗 Implement anchor text cycling to diversify your backlink profile. Begin with exact match anchor text, then follow up with unoptimized variations like branded, naked, and generic anchors.
• 🏗️ Reassess your SEO efforts if your rankings don’t improve. Focus on improving site authority, the quality of backlinks, and overall topic authority before adding more exact match anchor text.
• 📊 Prioritize link-building based on relevance, not just metrics like domain authority (DA) or domain rating (DR). Relevant backlinks are more valuable than high-volume, low-quality links.
• 🏔️ Use the relevancy pyramid to guide link-building. Start with highly relevant link opportunities and gradually expand to less relevant but still valuable sources.
• 🌍 Create linkable assets such as tools, guides, or original data to attract high-quality backlinks. Use tools like ChatGPT to help develop ideas for such assets.
• 🧲 Leverage existing data for backlink opportunities by curating resources or contributing expert insights to other websites rather than creating entirely new content.
• 📜 Long-form content tends to attract more backlinks. Write in-depth, well-researched articles to increase the likelihood of generating natural links.
• 🔄 Continuously monitor and optimize your SEO efforts by splintering content. Create dedicated, hyper-focused pages for specific keywords when existing content is not ranking well.

Q & A

What is the main goal of SEO according to Nathan Gotch?

The main goal of SEO is not just to increase traffic, but to generate more leads, sales, and ultimately revenue. Nathan emphasizes focusing on intent and conversions rather than just traffic numbers.

Why does Nathan Gotch discourage the focus on informational keywords with high search volume?

Nathan discourages focusing on informational keywords with high search volume because they rarely lead to direct conversions. He advocates for targeting keywords that have a strong potential for driving revenue.

What is the 'bottom-up' approach to keyword research mentioned in the script?

The 'bottom-up' approach to keyword research involves focusing on intent and conversions rather than search volume. It starts by targeting bottom-of-the-funnel keywords that directly impact revenue and then supporting them with informational keywords.

What is anchor text cycling, and why is it important?

Anchor text cycling is a strategy Nathan developed for building a natural anchor text profile. It involves starting with exact match anchor text, followed by variations like branded and generic links. This helps create a diverse and natural backlink profile.

What does Nathan suggest if a page isn't ranking well despite using proper SEO tactics?

Nathan suggests reassessing the site's overall authority, the page's backlinks, the quality of the backlinks, and the page's structure. If all those factors are strong, he recommends hitting the site with another exact match anchor text and cycling through the process.

What is the 'relevancy pyramid' in link building?

The 'relevancy pyramid' is a framework Nathan developed to prioritize link-building opportunities based on relevance rather than metrics like DA (Domain Authority) or DR (Domain Rating). It starts with the most relevant opportunities at the top and moves down the pyramid as you exhaust options.

What is the 'reverse pyramid' strategy in SEO?

The 'reverse pyramid' strategy involves driving backlinks to valuable assets, such as blog posts or tools, instead of commercial pages. These assets then internally link to the commercial pages, passing on the backlink equity.

How does Nathan use ChatGPT to create free tools for link-building purposes?

Nathan uses ChatGPT to help create free tools by generating HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code. These tools, when shared on a website, can attract backlinks due to their utility and simplicity, even if they are basic single-use tools.

What is the 'reporter technique' for building backlinks?

The 'reporter technique' involves curating or creating data-driven content that other websites want to link to. Nathan suggests using existing data or creating original research to attract backlinks, as people love linking to factual and data-backed content.

Why does long-form content tend to generate more backlinks?

Long-form content tends to generate more backlinks because it provides more in-depth, valuable information. According to a study by Backlinko, long-form content gets 77% more backlinks on average compared to shorter articles.

Outlines

00:00

🚀 Boost Your SEO Results with Proper Techniques

Nathan Gotch introduces his proven SEO techniques for growing organic traffic by over 1,000%. He emphasizes that SEO should focus on revenue rather than traffic, advocating a bottom-up approach for keyword research. Instead of targeting high-volume informational keywords, prioritize keywords with high intent and conversion potential. Nathan explains how to build dedicated pages around targeted commercial keywords and support them with informational keywords for better SEO performance.

05:02

🔗 Master Anchor Text Cycling for Natural SEO Growth

Nathan presents his 'Anchor Text Cycling' strategy for building a natural link profile. It starts with hitting your target page with an exact match anchor text to set the tone. Then, follow up with unoptimized variations, such as branded and generic anchor texts. He advises tracking performance over 1-3 months, adjusting based on page authority and overall link quality. If rankings stagnate, revisit the strategy and continue cycling to rank effectively.

10:03

🏔️ The Relevancy Pyramid for Smart Link Building

Relevance is key to effective link building, according to Nathan. He shares the 'Relevancy Pyramid,' which prioritizes relevant link opportunities over mere metrics like DA or DR. By focusing on relevance, websites can gain impactful backlinks. Nathan also explains how to use tools like Ahrefs and Reddit to find relevant topics and sites for link-building opportunities. He emphasizes starting with the most relevant sources and working down the pyramid for a well-rounded link profile.

🔄 The Reverse Pyramid: Link to Assets, Not Commercial Pages

Nathan introduces the 'Reverse Pyramid' technique, where backlinks should be directed to valuable assets instead of commercial pages. Create 3-5 linkable assets, using ChatGPT to generate ideas if necessary. He also recommends using services like 'Search Intelligence' to get backlinks through expert contributions, noting the power of homepage links for overall site authority. This method can lead to natural, passive backlink growth and improved SEO performance.

🛠️ Build Free Tools for Passive Link Generation

Creating free, single-use tools is a great way to generate backlinks. Nathan explains how he used ChatGPT to create a simple HTML, CSS, and JavaScript tool that served his needs. These tools don’t require advanced coding skills and can drive solid traffic and backlinks. He emphasizes the importance of simplicity and relevance when building tools, which can attract links and serve niche audiences effectively.

📊 Use Data-Driven Content to Gain More Backlinks

Nathan shares that people love linking to data, so creating or curating data-driven content is a powerful SEO strategy. He advises leveraging existing data and compiling resources like studies or reports. For original data, ChatGPT can be used to generate ideas. Long-form, well-thought-out content based on strong data is more likely to attract backlinks and solidify the credibility of your website.

📜 Length Implies Strength: Write Long-Form Content for More Links

According to research, long-form content attracts more backlinks than short articles. Nathan emphasizes that in-depth, valuable content—like his 7,000+ word posts—gains the most backlinks. However, content should not just be long for the sake of length; it must provide unique, high-value insights. The goal is to write comprehensive content that is better and more in-depth than your competitors to earn backlinks naturally.

🔍 Predictive Links: Anticipate and Attract Backlinks

Using the 'Predictive Links' technique, Nathan shows how to identify competitor pages that attract backlinks and create even better content to attract similar links. By examining competitor backlinks in tools like SEMrush, you can target relevant websites for outreach. The key is to create superior content that stands out and then strategically approach those who linked to the competitor for link-building opportunities.

🕸️ Recreate Dead Content to Build Authority Safely

Nathan introduces a white-hat alternative to PBNs by reviving dead content. Using tools like SpamZilla and SEMrush, you can identify expired domains with valuable backlinks, check their content via the Wayback Machine, and create superior versions of those pages. Reach out to websites linking to the old content, offering your updated version to regain those backlinks and build a strong link profile.

🔍 Splintering Content: Unlock SEO Gold Mines

Nathan advises using the 'Splintering' technique to create highly targeted content for underperforming keywords. By analyzing rankings in SEMrush for keywords between positions 51-100, you can create dedicated pages for these keywords, increasing your chances of ranking higher. This method allows you to build more focused, hyper-targeted content that addresses specific search intent, driving better rankings and traffic.

Keywords

💡Keyword Research

Keyword research is the process of identifying the right search terms (keywords) that users are likely to enter into search engines when looking for specific content. In the video, Nathan emphasizes that proper keyword research is crucial for driving revenue, not just traffic, and focuses on intent-based keywords that lead to conversions, rather than just informational keywords that bring non-converting traffic.

💡Anchor Text Cycling

Anchor Text Cycling refers to a strategy of varying the anchor text used in backlinks to create a natural and diverse link profile. In the video, Nathan explains his specific approach, which starts with an exact match anchor text to establish the page's relevance, followed by less optimized variations like branded, generic, and keyword-based anchors. This technique helps prevent search engine penalties and builds a balanced link profile.

💡Relevancy Pyramid

The Relevancy Pyramid is a framework for prioritizing link-building opportunities based on how closely related a website's content is to your own. Nathan suggests starting with the most relevant sources at the top of the pyramid and working down as you exhaust those opportunities. He emphasizes that relevance is more important than domain authority or traffic when it comes to building high-quality backlinks.

💡Reverse Pyramid

The Reverse Pyramid approach is a strategy for driving backlinks to valuable content assets rather than directly to commercial pages. Nathan explains that by linking to high-value assets (like blogs or tools) and then internally linking to commercial pages, you can pass 'link equity' more effectively. This method helps improve rankings for sales-driven pages indirectly.

💡Linkable Assets

Linkable assets are high-quality pieces of content or tools on a website that attract backlinks naturally because of their usefulness or value. Nathan explains that creating these assets—such as free tools, research, or in-depth guides—can significantly increase backlinks, making it easier to improve rankings for other, more commercial pages through internal linking.

💡Informational Keywords

Informational keywords are search terms users enter when they are seeking knowledge rather than looking to make a purchase. Nathan warns that while these keywords can generate traffic, they often don't lead to conversions. He contrasts them with commercial keywords, which are more likely to result in sales and should be prioritized in SEO strategies aimed at driving revenue.

💡Commercial Keywords

Commercial keywords are search terms with high buying intent, meaning that users who search for them are more likely to make a purchase or take a commercial action. Nathan emphasizes using these keywords in SEO strategies to drive revenue, rather than focusing solely on increasing traffic through informational keywords, which may not convert as well.

💡Predictive Links Technique

The Predictive Links Technique involves creating content based on what has already proven successful for competitors in terms of attracting backlinks. Nathan explains how to analyze competitors’ most-linked pages using tools like SEMrush and then create better versions of those pages. By reaching out to sites that linked to the competitor’s content, you can secure backlinks to your improved content.

💡Splinter Content

Splintering content is a technique used to break down a single, larger piece of content into multiple focused articles or pages. Nathan suggests using this strategy when identifying keywords that are not perfectly aligned with existing content but still hold ranking potential. By creating hyper-focused assets around these keywords, SEO performance can be improved for specific search terms.

💡Exact Match Anchor Text

Exact Match Anchor Text is when a backlink's clickable text exactly matches the keyword a page is trying to rank for. Nathan recommends using this type of anchor text for the first backlink to a page, as it immediately establishes what the page is about. However, overusing exact match anchor text can be dangerous, so it’s important to balance it with variations to avoid penalties.

Highlights

Use a bottom-up approach for keyword research, prioritizing intent and conversions over search volume.

Don't obsess over traffic; focus on generating revenue by targeting keywords that drive sales.

Anchor text cycling strategy helps build a natural anchor text profile and avoids penalties.

Prioritize relevance over metrics like DA or DR in link building using the 'relevancy pyramid' strategy.

Investigate competitor websites and subreddits to find relevant link opportunities for your niche.

Use the 'reverse pyramid' technique: drive backlinks to valuable assets and internally link to commercial pages.

Leverage free tools or software created using ChatGPT to attract backlinks to your site.

Use existing data or curate resources to create data-driven content that attracts backlinks.

Long-form content gets more backlinks; focus on creating detailed and in-depth articles.

The 'predictive links' technique helps you create pages that attract backlinks by analyzing competitors’ most linked content.

Recreate dead content from expired domains and reach out to sites linking to the old content for backlinks.

Splinter existing content by identifying keywords ranking in positions 51-100 to create dedicated, focused content assets.

Target bottom-of-the-funnel pages by building content around high-intent keywords and supporting them with informational keywords.

Homepage backlinks are valuable for passing link equity and trust to other internal pages.

Use predictive data from tools like SEMrush to find opportunities to optimize and enhance content ranking below the top 50 positions.

Transcripts

I use the SEO techniques you're about to

learn to grow organic surge traffic by

over 1,000% and watch this entire free

training because technique number four

is my personal favorite I'm Nathan gotch

the founder of gotch SEO Academy and

I've LED hundreds of successful SEO

campaigns and have been doing SEO

full-time for over a decade so like this

video to show me you're excited and

let's get into it so number one don't

juice your traffic numbers so SEO is

nothing more than a means to an end and

the end is more traffic leads and sales

and that's why you never want to be

obsessed with traffic you need to become

obsessed with generating revenue and

that all begins and ends with keyword

research an SEO specialist can control

product quality how the offer is

presented or how well a business can

sell its product however you can control

the quality of traffic that you send to

the website unfortunately many agencies

know how to lie with data so they target

informational keywords with high search

volume to juice their clients traffic

numbers how ever the client is

ultimately confused about why traffic

has increased but sales haven't grown at

all and that's because informational

keywords rarely lead to direct

conversions and that's why my keyword

research process uses a bottomup

approach instead of caring about sech

volume we care about intent and

conversions then from there every action

is based on improving the performance of

keywords that actually drive Revenue

let's say I wanted to rank four the

keyword SEO training St Louis which has

investig ative intent first I'd build a

dedicated page that Focus 100% on that

Target keyw then I identify keywords

supporting that bottom of the funnel

page such as is SEO a good career or is

coding required for SEO these

informational keywords are designed to

support the commercial keywords so I

recommend beginning with the end in mind

and building your content strategy to

support the keywords that will actually

drive Revenue SEO technique number two

is to use anchor teex cycling so let me

introduce you to a strategy I developed

for building a natural anchor Tex

profile and my strategy is called anchor

Tex cycling and here's how it works step

number one hit your target page with an

exact match anchor Tex now you might be

wondering isn't it dangerous to hit a

brand new website with an exact match

anchor text well the short answer is no

and that's because sites get penalized

for their link profiles as a whole not

just one or two links why do I use use

an exact match anchor Tex for my first

backlink well a I want to see how the

site reacts and B I want to establish

what that page is about right away and

that leads into the next step which is

to hit your site with unoptimized anorex

variations use branded naked link

generic and keyword variations at this

stage and then step three is to track

your rankings and watch the progress you

can get a decent read on your

performance within 1 to 3 months and if

your page isn't moving then you need to

reassess and the answer answer is rarely

to use more exact match anchor Texs

often Pages aren't performing well

because the site isn't strong enough

from overall Authority perspective the

page itself doesn't have enough

backlinks the backlinks you do have are

likely low quality the page is just

poorly built or you just don't have

enough topic authority to rank but if

you feel that you're a 10 out of 10 on

all of those facets then number four is

hit your site with another exact match

anchor Tex if necessary and then just

recycle through this process over and

over until you rank now the point of

using anorex cycling is to build a

diverse and natural anorex profile which

brings me to SEO technique number three

which is use the relevancy pyramid so

the relevancy pyramid is a safeguard

against lousy link building decisions

the truth is most link Builders are

obsess with metrics like da or Dr or

organic traffic to prioritize link

opportunities and while these do matter

they're secondary to relevance relevance

is King when it comes to link building

and Google's John Mueller said that the

total number of website backlinks

doesn't matter to the search algorithms

one good link from a relevant website

can be more impactful than millions of

lowquality links and that's why I

created the relevancy pyramid in short

prioritize the most relevant link

opportunities first and these are at the

top of the pyramid in most cases you

won't have many 100% matches from which

to get links but it's just where you

should start and then once you've tapped

it out move down the pyramid which

increases the number of opportunities so

let's say I want to find link opport

opportunities for a beef jerky company

I'd go into hre's keyword explore and

enter the broad topic and then go to the

traffic share section and click buy

domains within seconds you should see

what types of websites rank in this

category next you'll need to investigate

these websites to find additional topics

for example you can do a site colon

search to see what topics they write

about the example above has pages about

Golf and keto and this implies that

jerky is relevant to both of those

niches I also recommend looking at

Reddit to get more broad topics you can

just search reddit.com plus your topic

and within seconds I found multiple

subreddits talking about Jerky like the

jerky subreddit keto cooking hiking food

and meat so now just use chat gbt to

prioritize these topics based on

relevance here's a prompt that you can

use and then here's the output so now

you know what order to find link

prospects so just start with beef jerky

blogs and then work your way down as you

tap out each category and that's when

the fourth SEO technique comes into play

which is the reverse pyramid so instead

of driving back links to commercial

Pages you'll drive back links to

valuable assets and internally link to

the commercial pages so with that in

mind create three to five linkable

assets for your link building campaign

and the good news is that you don't need

to reinvent the wheel just go into chat

gbt and use the following prompt and

then from there it'll spit out many

great ideas based on your Niche and if

you want highquality backlinks without

creating assets then you're definitely

going to want to consider using a

service like search and intelligence

they use a really unique strategy that

doesn't require creating assets instead

you contribute expert insights for other

websites they pitch a huge list of

journalists and you score back links to

your homepage and don't underestimate

the power of homepage links either if

you study the link profiles of the most

successful websites online you'll see

that most of their back links point to

their homepages for example Wikipedia's

homepage has many backlinks and if your

site is structured well the backlink

equity and Trust will flow to other

pages so I'll have a link below this

video where you can learn more about

search intelligence but I also recommend

using some of these Frameworks that are

proven to work which is number one free

tools or software okay so this free tool

was created 100% using chat GPT I don't

personally have a lot of coding

experience I just know very basic HTML

and CSS so I cannot build tools like

this uh just out of the gay I need a lot

of support so I use chat gbt to build

this completely so you go into chat GB

and you can just enter very simple

prompt uh and we'll just go ahead and

actually have this copied over here copy

this and just do like create the HTML

CSS and JavaScript for whatever the tool

you're trying to build okay so we'll put

that in there and then it will start to

build this out for you now it's not

going to be usually perfect out of the

gate you're going to have to go kind of

back and forth with chat gbt so

basically you'll take this code you'll

put it into if you're using Wordpress

you can use a plugin like WP coder and

you go ahead and put the HTML in the CSS

and the JavaScript and you put into each

of these areas and then it will it will

generate a short code for you okay and

then you just go into your post you put

the short code uh element and you just

and then you just put that in there okay

and then I wrote some copy in here as

well but the point is that's how simple

it is to get this up and running and so

it took probably about an hour for me to

go back and forth with chat gbt but

basically I had to go through make sure

it looked a certain way that I wanted

and I went back and forth and made sure

it was working and then eventually it

got to the point where it was absolutely

working perfectly and now this this

works really well like we can go ahead

and enter uh you know 2,000 words and

actually the only reason I created this

because I wanted it for myself okay so I

need to see how long uh you know it

would take me to uh read some of these

scripts okay and you can paste it in

here as well so you know you can see how

many how long this will take yeah so

very simple stuff not super complicated

but when you're trying to build free

tools you want it to be very very uh you

know like single use case type of tools

tend to attract

uh the most back links okay and you can

see this post here like although my goal

was just basically to get links you can

see it's actually generated a solid

amount of traffic coming to my site okay

it's not the most relevant traffic to

what I personally sell but that's

because I mainly created this for myself

and for fun because I really needed this

to uh to use instead of using other

people's so and you can see it actually

has generated Some solid backlinks from

some strong domains so this absolutely

is one of my favorite ways to to build

Link Bas just build free tools build

free resources and put a lot of lines

put a lot of lines out there and that

will increase your chances of getting

back links passively and naturally

number two the reporter technique so

people love linking to data and the cool

part is that you don't need to create

the data from scratch you can leverage

existing data and create a curated

resource like how I gathered multiple

studies to prove that backlinks still

matter but if possible try to create

original data like I did for the best

CMS for SEO because it's more likely to

attract backlinks just use this chat gbt

prompt to get some ideas for creating

data driven content number three is the

Lis technique so what qualities make

people want to link to your website well

there are many qualities but one that

helps enormously is called length imply

strength or Lis for short so have you

ever seen one of those super long sales

letters that seems to scroll for decades

well that's not an accident Long sales

letters leverage horis sixs in short we

as humans are lazy and hate thinking so

we use Mental shortcuts to make

decisions solve problems and pass

judgments now what does this have to do

with link building well according to

backlinko study long form content gets

an average of

77% more links than short articles so

that means if you want more backlinks

then create more long form content for

example if you examine what pages have

attracted the most backlinks on my

website goo.com you'll see that they are

all of my longest pieces of content in

fact the average word count for my top

four most link to assets is over 7,000

words so here's the main takeaway if you

want more links just write longer more

in-depth content but please don't take

this out of context it needs to be well

thought out and add massive amounts of

unique value number four is the

predictive links technique so what if

you could create pages on your site that

attracted back links like clockwork well

that's possible when you use the

predictive links technique the best part

is that it's super simple here's what

you need to do step one examine your

competitor's most link two pages so just

enter a competitor's domain in sem rush

and then go to the backlink audit and

Target pages and you'll immediately see

what pages have attracted the most

backlinks for that specific website step

two create a page around the same topic

but make it 10 times different and

better step three reach out to the

people that linked to your competitor's

content I recommend testing the waters

before pitching your content when you

use this strategy just send a simple

Outreach email like this and then if the

prospect complies send this email and I

do recommend testing many templates for

the second email until you hit the sweet

spot but just make sure you're giving

something valuable when asking for a and

now number five is recreate dead content

so I call this the white hat alternative

to pbns or private blog networks it's

super simple so just use a tool like

spam Zill to find qual expired domains

paste the prospective expired domains

into semrush go to backlinks in the

analytics section select follow and

Export now examine what pages have

backlinks copy a URL and paste it into

the way back machine and the first

question is whether or not the content

is relevant to your website and if it

isn't keep searching and if it is the

next question is can you create

something better if so create the asset

then reach out to all the websites that

are linking to that dead page and now

the final SEO technique is to Splinter

your content so if your website

currently ranks for any keywords you're

sitting on an SEO Gold Mine here's what

you need to do so go into semrush and

enter your domain and then go to organic

research and click on positions and then

we're going to do 51 through 100 and

this is where we're going to be able to

find what I call clustering

opportunities so these are opportunities

to create new content assets because

we're likely to find some keywords that

do not perfectly match the existing URL

okay so I'm going to go ahead and go

through few of these and see if we can

find any good opportunities so for

example let's go ahead and take a look

so keywords for dentists okay very

specific keyword and we'll look at the

page that's ranking which is SEO for

dentist so very unlikely that this page

is going to be relevant enough to rank

for this keyword and the way to kind of

check this is we'll go ahead and copy

this and we'll actually just go into

Google and see what is ranking here okay

so what we see right away is at the top

three results and really look at the

ones that are ranking the best don't

necessarily look at the whole first page

but really look at those that are really

dominating here and what we can see is

the top three results are specifically

targeted for that keyword phrase so once

again if I tried to rank for my generic

SEO for dentist page I likely would not

be able to rank in the top three so what

I would do is I would model what's

already ranking and create a dedicated

page specifically for this keyword so

just go ahead and look through all of

the keywords and typically anything

ranking Beyond position 50 unless it's a

brand new page is an opportunity to

Splinter off and create a dedicated

hyperfocused asset and this has a very

very high success rate so those are five

actionable SEO techniques that you can

start using today if you want access to

my proprietary SEO systems that seven

and eight figure agencies use to get

predictable number one rankings in

Google then apply for goio Academy thank

you so much for watching