Brilliantjeni’s Big Bang Theory.

business woman sitting down on a chair - isola...
Not Alison Moore Smith Sitting in a Chair

this is a bit of an advanced blogging strategy, integrating a keyword hierarchy strategy for optimal, long term SEO success. If applied correctly, & combined with proper, ethical backlinking tactics, this strategy can ultimately place you in the position to take over any major keyword phrase, regardless of competition.

The good news is, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is relatively easy and you don’t need to be an SEO blogging master to reach #1 in the SERP’s (Search Engine Result Page) for even highly competitive keyword phrases. In fact, blogging with WordPress alone has already given you an advantage since many SEO features come integrated. I’ll be honest, I don’t go overboard with my SEO tactics. Instead, I tend to stick to a few tried and true long-term strategies that result in consistent, repeat traffic that increases over time with little additional effort. The first of these strategies is keyword research and implementation… a strategy my peers have collectively nicknamed my big bang theory.

First step…

Do your keyword research. Choosing the right keywords can make or break your blogging efforts. Most bloggers know this but surprisingly, the majority of bloggers I coach, (both beginners and experienced bloggers) don’t know that how you apply those keywords can also make a huge difference in your blog’s traffic.

There are a number of keyword research tools available these days (you youngsters… I remember back in the day when we didn’t have anything other than Yahoo’s advertising keyword tool, which quite frankly sucked for this purpose.) I know bloggers who are happy with Market Samarai, however I prefer Micro Niche Finder by James J. Jones. Not only does it allow you to easily research keyword trends but also features stats for estimating per click earnings, commercial opportunity value, etc. While these stats can fluctuate, it’s still helpful to decide if you’d rather target “Kimora Lee New Baby” which estimates $.60 per click or “Kimora Lee Simmons New Baby” which estimates $2.00 per click. Nice huh? As I said, these stats can fluctuate, but if you’ve been blogging about something for long period of time, these stats can help you know your keyword phrases inside and out, giving you an edge over the competition in the long run.

If you’re not ready to pull out your credit card and buy your keyword research software, there are other options. Google AdWords (which, by the way, is where MNF pulls data to formulate its stats) and SEO Book’s Keyword Research Tool, for example.

Implementing keyword research:

1. Learn to identify the right keywords. Let’s say there are 50k monthly searches for the phrase, “Kimora Lee New Baby.” Now let’s say, as an example, that there are next to no searches for “Kimora Lee Simmons New Baby.” You are better off writing your post to target the keyword phrase “Kimora Lee New Baby.” It should go without saying that if you’re writing about this topic, you would NOT want to write “KL’s New Baby” since chances are, no one is specifically searching for those words. This is an easy example, but believe me when I say, I talk to dozens of bloggers every month who are writing the equivalent of “KL’s New Baby” when going for “Kimora Lee New Baby” as their keyword target.

2. Make a list of your targeted keyword phrases. Main reasons for doing this: A: You can track these over time, (I keeping date-titled exported excel sheets from MNF.) Sometimes it’s helpful to be able to review keyword stats over time, to see if spikes in traffic are permanent or temporary. Afterall, maybe the 50k monthly reader stats for “Kimora Lee New Baby” was only the result of an E News Special last month. It’s also helpful to see when trends are shifting- maybe “Kimora New Baby” is rising in stats and about to takeover “Kimora Lee New Baby.” Love it when this happens- Time to place yourself in position for #1 before anyone else even knows what’s going on. B: It’s easy to refer to your list of targeted keywords for the following tactics.

3. Take that list of keywords, and create a category for each in your blog. With similar keyword phrases, select the most highly searched phrase rather than listing all.

4. Write one post for each keyword in your list (go ahead and save the post’s url in your keyword list- you’ll need that shortly.) We’ll call these pillar articles. Drop each one in the appropriate Category, or multiple categories if appropriate. Title it exactly as it reads in the list- even if you have multiple keywords that are closely related. Schedule these to be published sporadically to avoid “Kimora Lee New Baby” being published right after “Kimora Lee’s New Baby.” I will actually create an empty post, with just the title and All in One SEO filled out to get the ball rolling. I go back later and write the actual article. We all know Google loves fresh content and this includes updates- I really believe updated pages score well with Google so this also helps to raise your blog in the SERPs for these phrases. NOTE: From this point on, your goal is to get each of these pillar articles to rank #1 for their keyword phrase.

5. Interlink your blog’s pages to push your pillar articles to #1. To date, I haven’t come across a plugin that does this exactly as I’d prefer (I’m harassing Jarret Cade, code genius & all around good guy, to come out with this) but KB Linker comes close. Take your keyword list and add these to KB Linker, making each of the list’s pillar articles the url link. Now, each time you use these keywords in a post, they will automatically link to the appropriate pillar article.

6. Supporting articles. Your pillar articles are set to go- now it’s time for all those other posts, which we’ll call supporting articles. Supporting articles are not named exactly as the keyword phrases, but instead, are named preferably with the same keywords as the pillar articles but titled differently. Example: “Kimora Lee’s New Baby Named Cutest Baby of the Year by E!” All keywords are in that post, now the related keywords from your list are used within the article and automatically (ty KB Linker) pointed to the pillar article, helping it to raise in the SERP’s.

7. File your supporting and pillar articles under the appropriate categories. Remember your categories and Pillar articles will have the same names. Category pages, Tags, etc, should all be made up of words from your keyword list. Remember, when a category is created, it is its own page- giving you yet another page with the appropriate keyword phrase in the title. Since this page also contains links to your pillar page, this is just an example of how well your site will now be interlinked. In actuality, it is creating what I call a pyramid strategy, with the pillar articles at the tip of the pyramid for each keyword.

This is just a starting point for SEO’ing your blog. From here, there are literally hundreds, if not thousands of ways to maximize your SEO efforts efficiently. Really, this allows you to both divide and focus: Divide, meaning you can go for dozens of keywords easily and hundreds or even thousands potentially. Focus, meaning you are not SEO’ing each and every page on your site, but rather only the pillar articles.

I realize this is a bit of a pretzel strategy. Believe me when I say I could have made it more complicated ;) If this is at all confusing for you, especially if you’re a beginning blogger, by all means feel free to ask for clarification. If you’ve got it down and want to hear more… stay tuned- I’ll cover backlinking for this in the next post. Happy blogging!



Related posts:

  1. SEO Tips for Bloggers: Brilliant Blog Linking Strategy Part 1
  2. SEO Basics for Bloggers
  3. Paid Inclusion, PPC, or SEO for Bloggers
  4. Keywords and SEO
  5. Keyword And Internet Marketing Tools


  1. Excel Forum (Reply) on Friday 16, 2010

    Keyword Research is ultimately about knowledge. Knowledge about your target market, knowledge about your products & knowledge about the problems your customers have!
    Excel Forum´s last blog ..reverse sum formula My ComLuv Profile

  2. Engineering In India (Reply) on Friday 16, 2010

    need to think about the keywords users will type in at a search engine when they are looking for products or services like yours.

  3. nakliyat (Reply) on Friday 16, 2010

    For centuries mankind has heard of the wonder of living environment on earth, an event that will raise living

  4. Jack from Office Phone System (Reply) on Friday 16, 2010

    Its nice to see that these seo tips still work today, even though they are over a year old.

  5. Elijah (Reply) on Friday 16, 2010

    I first heard of “Pillar Articles” many moons ago, courtesy of Yaro and his Blog for Profits Blueprint – and even years later, the concept still stands true.

    I have pillar articles from two years ago that still to this day receive the most traffic out of any of my other posts on the blog… and I’ve written some gold since then!
    Elijah´s last blog ..Follwers, Fans, Bloggerhood, Lend Me Your FearsMy ComLuv Profile

  6. hottest deals (Reply) on Friday 16, 2010

    I personally do not think that that is a good idea, but I believe in many of these cases where there’s real dispute in the country, these things are not going to be ever resolved.
    hottest deals´s last blog ..New Arrive – Plastic Storage Shelf – 4 Levels with Slide-Out Drawers Black – $25.95My ComLuv Profile

  7. seo web service (Reply) on Friday 16, 2010

    What a great resource for beginning bloggers! As a newbie myself, I know how daunting it can be to crank out a steady volume of posts. What’s helped me has been to focus the post on one topic, mind-map to come up with sub-points, and set a timer so the post doesn’t take me all day to write.
    seo web service´s last blog ..Off Page Optimization in SEO ServiceMy ComLuv Profile

  8. white board (Reply) on Friday 16, 2010

    This means that you get on with the job of implementation and gaining results, rather than wasting valuable budget on research.

  9. kadin saglik (Reply) on Friday 16, 2010

    need to think about the keywords users will type in at a search engine when they are looking for products or services like yours.
    kadin saglik´s last blog ..Cinsel Yolla Bulaşan HastalıklarMy ComLuv Profile

  10. white board (Reply) on Friday 16, 2010

    Let me tell you that your going about it all wrong. A very, very famous got away will calling me an idiot, and imbecile, and other names (OK, not quite those words) by using the phrase “Some guy said”.

  11. hottest deals (Reply) on Friday 16, 2010

    I think Nancy probably got put on the spot and that slide was taken out of context… it’s quite likely that what she was really debunking was the stupid myth that you go out and try to find “long tail search terms.”
    hottest deals´s last blog ..New Arrive – Raffaele Iannello Five Finger Fillet Kitchen Knife Block Set with Six Steak Knives – Red – 9995My ComLuv Profile

  12. stag do (Reply) on Friday 16, 2010

    That was such a great thread, Loretta – and you made sales right away after changing your keyword strategy! It’s a very simple shift, with huge profit potential.

  13. Engineering In India (Reply) on Friday 16, 2010

    We created a fictional company, Virginia Veg, and asked experts to provide real answers to the problems facing its CEO, Susan Webster :kiss:

  14. ahlaksizlik (Reply) on Friday 16, 2010

    This means that you get on with the job of implementation and gaining results, rather than wasting valuable budget on researc ;)

  15. Escort Service London (Reply) on Friday 16, 2010

    Indeed a brilliant strategy in having a fantastic keyword research skill.

  16. asdasd (Reply) on Friday 16, 2010

    We created a fictional company, Virginia Veg, and asked experts to provide real answers to the problems facing its CEO, Susan Webster :kiss:

  17. teknoloji haberler (Reply) on Friday 16, 2010

    Let me tell you that your going about it all wrong

  18. stag do (Reply) on Friday 16, 2010

    A great lesson for me on marketplace. I’ve been trying to figure out how to get my posts which are more informational than commercial to attract readers interested in my affiliate offers. I can’t believe it never occurred to me to look for “buyer” clues in the long-tail keyword phrases I was using in Market Samurai to look for useful keywords.

  19. Engineering In India (Reply) on Friday 16, 2010

    There are few people in the world that know more about how Google works than Matt Cutts, and he’s here to help us separate the wheat from the chaff in the wild and wooly world of search engines.

  20. hottest deals (Reply) on Friday 16, 2010

    We should decide where our ads are placed. Many of these garbitrage sites have very poor conversion rates, and the advertisers should be able to exclude them.
    hottest deals´s last blog ..New Arrive – Single Sized Bed Quilt Cover – Pillowcase Set – Leaf Design 310TC – 295My ComLuv Profile

  21. Bidet (Reply) on Friday 16, 2010

    These are nice SEO tips choosing the right keywords is very important for ranking well and getting traffic.

  22. Excel Forum (Reply) on Friday 16, 2010

    It obviously is going to be very productive approaching SEO and keyword research from a unique angle as in this e-book than from the same congested old ways of many other authors.

  23. ahlaksizlik (Reply) on Friday 16, 2010

    We created a fictional company, Virginia Veg, and asked experts to provide real answers to the problems facing its CEO
    ahlaksizlik´s last blog ..Erotik Shop ÜrünleriMy ComLuv Profile

  24. sağlık haberleri (Reply) on Friday 16, 2010

    I personally do not think that that is a good idea, but I believe in many of these cases where there’s real dispute in the country, these things are not going to be ever resolved.
    sağlık haberleri´s last blog ..Bebek Hastalıkları Şişme SorunlarıMy ComLuv Profile

  25. SEOninja (Reply) on Friday 16, 2010

    I like how you make the content of your blog support all the other content. It shows the serps that your content is focused and relevant. Great strategy!
    SEOninja´s last blog ..Essential Tools For Ranking High On Google!My ComLuv Profile

  26. hayranlik (Reply) on Friday 16, 2010

    Now I have a place to point my clients for a very practical tutorial! Thanks for your efforts.

  27. hottest deals (Reply) on Friday 16, 2010

    The brilliant plan just requires all unemployed individuals to become so disgruntled with the lack of employment prospects that they stop seeking work…

  28. vinyl graphics (Reply) on Friday 16, 2010

    The rationale for this is that “Search Engines give more weight to folders closer to your root directory.” Hmmm. Because I use WordPress a lot for SEO, I researched it a bit as the book is not big on technical details.

  29. Printer Ink Man (Reply) on Friday 16, 2010

    I have my blog set up and get lots of comments, but a lot of them seem to be advertising ”pills”, do these damage my blog if I accept them?

  30. vinyl graphics (Reply) on Friday 16, 2010

    I never looked at keywords like that before. I definitely see your point that getting 5000 visitors is not as good as getting 10 visitors who are looking to spend money.

  31. tricia (Reply) on Friday 16, 2010

    Very educative post. I have learnt more on keyword strategy
    Thanks for sharing

  32. Awesome article post really. The brilliant plan just requires all unemployed individuals to become so disgruntled with the lack of employment prospects that they stop seeking work. Awaiting for your next informative post.

  33. value of website (Reply) on Friday 16, 2010

    Keyword research is one of the main task in successful Seo campaign. The whole work process is working around it. This is a really excellent read for me. Must admit that you are one of the best bloggers I ever saw. Thanks for posting this useful article.
    value of website´s last blog ..gadgetlifecn- Website value- Traffic reports- Whois lookup and Domain informationsMy ComLuv Profile

  34. value of website (Reply) on Friday 16, 2010

    Keyword research is the main task and responsible for all Seo campaign. if someone choose wrong keyword for their business optimizing task, he/she then can’t get huge benefit from it.
    Thanks for such nice post.
    value of website´s last blog ..floppybankcom- Website value- Traffic reports- Whois lookup and Domain informationsMy ComLuv Profile

  35. Tailors (Reply) on Friday 16, 2010

    I have been trying to figure out how to get my posts which are more informational than commercial to attract readers interested in my affiliate offers.thanks..

  36. Tailors (Reply) on Friday 16, 2010

    The brilliant plan just requires all unemployed individuals to become so disgruntled with the lack of employment prospects that they stop seeking work. thanks for shearing..

  37. book buyback (Reply) on Friday 16, 2010

    that is a great strategy. It is hard to get everything down to a science. Keyword research is a pain and so is building links, all necessary evils though!

  38. book buyback (Reply) on Friday 16, 2010

    This is a great guide for beginners. Thanks I have just forward this to a couple friends.

  39. Prasenjit from Make Money Blogging (Reply) on Friday 16, 2010

    SEO is very very important. You should do keyword research and find out the best keywords to write your article about.

    Thanks.
    Prasenjit @ Make Money Blogging´s last blog ..8 First Step SEO Ranking Factors for BloggersMy ComLuv Profile

  40. I appreciate your knowledge. The brilliant plan just requires all unemployed individuals to become so disgruntled with the lack of employment prospects that they stop seeking work…


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