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Best SEO Resources For Niche Sites

Justin Cooke Updated on February 29, 2020

Best SEO Resources For Niche Sites

Wouldn’t it be nice if it were that easy?

I really wish there was an answer to this…a tried and true backlinking strategy for niche sites that has and will continue to stand the test of time.  Unfortunately, the SEO game simply doesn’t work that way.

Some of our most popular posts are when we explain our backlinking strategy.  (Part 2 of our Niche Site Backlinking Strategies has over 100 comments…you can check it out here.)  While we’re happy to lay out exactly what it is we’re doing and the reasons we’re doing it, we’re far from experts and a LARGE majority of those that claim to be aren’t either.  So what gives?  Who can you trust when it comes to solid SEO strategy and advice?

We wanted to point you towards a few of the resources we’re happy to turn to when we want to brush up on our SEO skills.

SEOMoz

Check them out at SEOMoz.org

Some complain Rand Fishkin’s content is a bit too whitehat and/or Google friendly, but that’s exactly the kind of SEO content you really should be reading.  Unless you’re well past the beginner level, forget about the shortcuts or the promised riches of ebook-pushing wannabe’s…SEOMoz lays it out as it should be and gives interviews with “real” SEO experts, giving you the fundamentals you need to be dangerous.  Nobody knows for sure exactly how the search engines work, but these guys are about as close to figuring it out as you’re going to get.

Interesting Posts:

Ultimate Study On Duplicate Content Post-Panda

How Google Makes Liars Out Of The Good Guys In SEO

Interesting Penguin Recover Case Study – Another on a larger site here.

Search Engine Land

Check them out at SearchEngineLand.com

Danny Sullivan has turned Search Engine Land into a monster site, bringing together many of the top SEO’s in their respective spaces as contributors.  Search Engine Land is the site many employed SEO’s turn to when they’re looking for the real deal as it applies to Google updates, case studies, and more.  There’s a bit of industry news mixed in that may or may not be of interest to you, but you’ll find some real value at SEL.

Edit:  Here’s an interesting rant from Danny Sullivan regarding today’s linkbuilding climate.  Funny stuff!  (Thanks to Jeff for pointing this out!)

Interesting Posts:

Working At Google Doesn’t Make You An SEO Expert

Why Difficult Links Should Be Your Target

Backlink Analysis From 30 Professional Backlinkers

David Mihm

Check him out at DavidMihm.com

I know that some of you are targeting geo-specific keywords and if that’s the case, David Mihm puts out some quality content you really should be checking out.  There are others in Local Search that are worth mentioning (Greg Sterling, Mike Blumenthal, etc.) but he really has his finger on the pulse of the Local SEO space and puts out some fantastic tips for getting sites like duiattorneyssandiego DOT org ranked.  He mixes in some industry news that helps to give fresh ideas on areas or niches you might want to be targeting.  Excellent stuff here.

Interesting Posts:

Local Search Ranking Factors Vol. 5 – He curates the best information from the top Local SEO’s and breaks each factor down for you…awesome stuff here.

Well…Great!  Now what about the Internet Marketing SEO’s?  To be honest with you, an overwhelming majority of them are fraudsters or snake-oil salesmen.  This is one of those areas or industries that is extremely important for those looking to get exposure, isn’t clearly defined or understood, and is ripe for over-confident and under-knowledgeable scheisters to make a living.

There are a couple I know of, though, that are worth checking out:

Jonathan Leger

Check him out at JonathanLeger.com

Sharp guy who created The Best Spinner.  His site’s not a pitch-fest like some others though…he puts out some really interesting SEO information, especially for Internet Marketers.  I particularly like how he shares his analysis along with his findings.  This part is critical…everyone has an opinion, but it’s so much more helpful when it’s backed up!

Interesting Posts:

Anchor Text Optimization – How Much Is Too Much?

Ranking In Google After Penguin

Joseph Archibald

Check him out at JosephArchibald.com

You might remember him from an interview we did with him regarding backlinking.  He’s a quirky, interesting guy that really pays attention to SEO in the IM space and methodically tests through new strategies himself and shares them with you.  I really like the fact that he freely shares and links out to others who are posting interesting information, so his site is a great “hub” to find out what other IMers are up to.  He has a strong community of readers and some great information comes through in the comments.  Definitely worth checking out.

Interesting Posts:

Using Google Images To Drive More Traffic

Top Money-Making eBook…And Post! – A great example as to how he’ll point to content from others (AdSenseFlippers and Steve Scott) when we put out good info!


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Reader Suggestions

We asked you for a few of the SEO sites you’ve found helpful and you did not disappoint!  We wanted to point to a few of those resources here as a thank-you for your suggestions:

QuickSprout – This is Neil Patel’s blog, one of the founders for both Crazy Egg and KISSmetrics.  He puts out some great information on social media, SEO, and traffic generation and has a very engaged audience of readers and commenters.  Definitely worth checking out.  Thanks for the recommendation to Ralph, Marcus, and Kris!  Interesting Posts: Twitter Power Users, 2 Tier Linkbuilding, and Marketing With Pinterest.

SEOBook – Interesting and useful resource for those just starting off in SEO.  Thanks to Steve Wyman for this one!  He also recommended Internet Marketing Secrets and SEO By The Sea – SEO for advanced/intermediates here.

Point Blank SEO – Robert from the ToolTester Network mentioned this post that I have actually read before.  Here’s an interesting post on linkbuilding strategies you should check out.

Alright, if you’re looking for the best SEO strategies for niche websites, that should be PLENTY to get you started!  Still…I know I’ve missed others who are putting out some high-quality information.  Who do you recommend and read regularly?  Let us know in the comments below!  Please include the Site Name, why you think they should be included, and a link or two to your FAVORITE posts!

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Discussion

  • Amandeep kaur says:

    Thanks for sharing that great information

  • J. Waldron says:

    Pat Flyn has a great website at http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/
    Very informative, very transparent.

  • Rabby says:

    Hi guys, I was thrilled after watching your webiner on youtube and quickly downloaded your book (it’s great). These were the first organised set of instructions I found after I started this January. I’ve built around 20 sites following your model and 2 of them earned, some are ranking around the 30s and some didn’t rank at all. I must be doing something wrong and I believe it takes some time to get the hang of things. I noticed you get traffic even if you don’t rank for the keyword, I didn’t get that lucky though! I wanted to thank you guys as my achievements so fur isn’t bad at all for me 🙂 And it would help if you made a post about getting long tail traffic or image traffic.

    • JustinWCooke says:

      Hey Rabby!

      Your success levels are definitely low, comparatively, but it’s hard for me to say why. Know that our first 15 sites or so were COMPLETELY messed up as we were targeting broad not exact match for the keywords, heh. My guess is that your reading of the first page of competition is a bit off and you’re still learning…hard to say for sure, though.

      A post on long tail traffic and image traffic is interesting…will consider!

  • Rob S says:

    I am trying to find a location where you discuss on page SEO tactics. Things like whether you have links to authority/wiki sites from your posts etc. am I missing it in the guide or site somewhere?

  • Leny Pearson says:

    After Adsenseflippers.com I rely on SEO tips from smartpassiveincome.com, Joseph Archibald, SEO Book has some cool tools and good advice as well

  • oddsagainst says:

    Can you explain what the SEO value for the Niche Site Gold newsletter actually means? How is it calculated?

    • JustinWCooke says:

      Hey there!

      SEO Value on the Niche Site Gold newsletter is this:

      # Exact match searches X $CPC X 1% = SEO Value.

      i.e. 1,000 X $1.50 X 1% = $15.00

      This is an EXTREMELY rough estimate on how much “value” the site could make for us monthly. More than an estimate, it acts as a standard with which we can compare potential keywords. If they’re both a 4 on Chance To Rank, I may default to the SEO Value in selecting that keyword for the week…if that makes sense.

  • Sunil from The Extra Money Blog wrote a great post back in January explaining exactly how he uses something he calls the pyramid model when creating the back end structure for his niche sites. According to him, this is supposed to really help with SEO. This may not apply completely for micro niche sites.. but I am trying to follow the model as best I can with my first micro niche site. Here is the post… http://www.easyextramoneyonline.com/blog/2012/01/website-structure/

  • Thanks for this post! Have you checked out PointBlankSEO’s link building list? One of the best resources ever: http://pointblankseo.com/link-building-strategies

  • Steve Wyman says:

    Hi Guys

    Good to see Jo represented on your list.

    I’d have though Arron at SEObook.com would be appropriate as well as

    http://www.internetmarketingsecrets.com/ – Michael Campbell ( the grandfarthe rof the linkwheel/ anchor layer etc)

    Bill Slawski at http://www.seobythesea.com/ [not exactly strategy but a must read for seo and link building etc]

    • JustinWCooke says:

      Hey Steve!

      SEObook is good too, but I found it secondary to SEOMoz and Search Engine Land. Definitely taking a look at the two above. I’ll be adding some to this post in the next day or so!

  • paul says:

    hey justin im not sure if you have heard about this yet as i think its quite new but im using it myself as i went to the world internet summit and it was being previewed there and its pretty good. its called webfire and here is a link , hope its ok that its an affiliate link, .

    Edit: Sorry…no affiliate links…and if I’m being honest, those are the types of resources we’re looking to AVOID here, Paul.

  • Joseph says:

    Yeah, that dude Joseph Archibald is knowledgeable and fun – particularly when he’s got a beer in one hand and a cigar in the other 🙂

    Thanks guys for mentioning me here in the post, and thanks to everyone for the positive feedback!

    Jo

  • There isn’t a definite solution to Penguin yet, because it’s still too early. It will probably take a few more months until we see some real results and start to figure things out.

    I have found some sweet things, but I still need to test them to see if it wasn’t a fluke.

    I also recommend reading Neil Patel’s Quicksprout. He has some awesome posts about SEO. Real high-level content.

    • JustinWCooke says:

      Thanks, Chris!

      Agreed about the Penguin stuff…although most agree that effectively diversifying your links away from only exact match (to domains, partial matches, “click here’s”, etc.) seems to at least be a part of it.

  • Marcus says:

    Neil Patel at Quicksprout is one of the top bloggers I follow for advice on SEO and social media marketing. He’s a genius at getting website traffic. Neil is one of the few bloggers who’s worked with big clients like Amazon, Viacom, and NBC.

    Whenever something gets hot–Pinterest for example–other bloggers will write quickie worthless posts. Neil will write a detailed breakdown with screenshots and explain step-by-step on how to exploit a new traffic source. Hard-hitting and tactical.

    For really high-level conceptual stuff, check out SEO by the Sea by Bill Slawski. He has a law degree, and his angle is to track search engines’ patent filings and white papers. Very deep technical content that most bloggers won’t touch. Good for getting an idea for what direction the search engines are going.

  • Joseph is a very good guy and I like him a lot. He’s such a guy who is down to earth and knows the SEO game especially when he has taken some bottles of beers….

    Sheyi

  • Ralph says:

    Jo’s site is great, exactly as Cristina says – like a form for SEO IMers. SEOMoz, yes a bit goody twoshoes SEO but whiteboard fridays are awesome.

    My new favorite is QuickSprout by Neil Patel. Really great, uniue SEO info. Grt bis ebook its great.

    Thanks for the list guys!

    • JustinWCooke says:

      Thanks for stopping by, Ralph!

      QuickSprout, eh? Checking it out now…I really like his title: QuickSprout – I’m Kind Of A Big Deal – LOL!

      http://www.quicksprout.com/

      Any particular posts that you thought were extremely useful?

      • JustinWCooke says:

        Ahhh…

        So this is the guy that created CrazyEgg and KISSmetrics…sweet! We’ve used CrazyEgg before (Joe did, anyway) I just didn’t know this was the guy that started the company. Will definitely be checking out even further…

  • Kevin Hutto says:

    Jerry West is one of the smartest guys out there i know who is really working on his own sites and not just pitching. http://www.webmarketingnow.com/

    Also, Leslie Rohde knows a lot… not always as actionable as Jerry’s content but he is one of the best too…

  • Joseph Archibald shares absolutely everything he knows. His blog is like a forum. He provides even more value in the comments.

    • JustinWCooke says:

      Absolutely, Cristina.

      Probably not as well known as some of those other sites, but I get quite a bit of value from his blog and his community, for sure…

  • Sudarmajilamiran says:

    Thank for those very useful resources.
    GBU!

    • JustinWCooke says:

      No problem!

      Have any others you could share? I’ve seen your case studies…you must have some stuff you can share with us! 🙂

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