Howdy,
Everyone and their brother is fighting for pole position on Google. SEOers, SEMers, article marketers, giant corporations, medium size companies and even spanking new marketing rookies all know that you can get a ton of free traffic by ranking well in the search engine. No big revelation there.
So while I'm pondering the sheer power of Google (and trying to think of tweaks for better rank), an idea hit me like a ton of bricks...
... could there be a way to tap into the all-powerful Google juice itself and use it for my own selfish purposes?
The answer is YES. And not just one way either - several. And they are totally ethical. No black hat stuff and not some off-the-wall loopholes.
You're probably wondering why I call these "underground tactics" if they are above board. The answer is simple: not a whole lot of people are using these methods and if they are, they're being pretty hush-hush about it. (Do a search for "how to get traffic using google" and you'll see what I mean). This is good news for us.
... One more thing before we get into the meat of this post. I just put up an article at Ezine that explains three of these tactics. If, by chance, that is how you ended up on my doorstep, you should still pay close attention. This post is stuffed with juicy material that's NOT in the article ;)
... Let's do this already
At first glance you will probably understand why these tactics are often overlooked as viable traffic sources. They are lame looking to be perfectly honest. But stick with me here... I promise the light bulb will pop on as we drill down and analyze just how to use them for guaranteed targeted traffic.
Here they are:
Google Knol
Official Google Blogs
Google Docs
Google News
1. Google Knol is best described in a nutshell as a reference site that is made up of articles submitted by contributors. Each article is called a Knol. Google defines the term Knol as a unit of knowledge. The power of Knol to drive guaranteed targeted traffic rests in your resource box, much the same as submitting articles to directories, except most Google Knol pages carry a PR rating of five. If you make the front page the PR is a massive seven.
There are are some caveats to be aware of. First, Google has openly stated that the nofollows will be used abundantly on all submissions until the author builds a large following and a positive reputation on Knol. So if you're looking for back links, you'll need to work at it by building your readership and your credibility.
Secondly, their submission guidelines are strict. They simply don't want any junk (this is a good thing), so be prepared to put in the effort. The payoff is well worth it. In fact, it is so much worth the effort that I would recommend you consider hiring someone to write a Knol for you if you do not have the confidence to do it yourself.
2. I believe that official Google blogs are often overlooked as source of guaranteed targeted traffic because they appear scary to regular people. They are operated by the big company itself, Google, and it makes people shy away because they feel they are just a regular ol' Joe. It's the mentality of the little guy versus the big corporation and if they dare to participate without exclusive permission, they will be punished or something. Truth is, this simply is not the case. Just as you can get traffic by posting to "regular" blogs, you can do the same thing using the official Google blogs.
Google has somewhere in the neighbourhood of 75 plus official blogs. You should be reading some of these daily for the simple fact that what Google has to say about page rank, position in the SERPS and link popularity is important and you can use this information to tweak your site.
When it comes to getting targeted traffic, first, use the appropriate blogs in the same manner you would any other; make comments in a meaningful, relevant and constructive way. Second, if you find information on Google's official Blogs that contain content that would interest your visitors, summarize it in a section on your website and upload it regularly. Make sure to credit everything properly.
3. Google Docs. If you're like me and this is the first time you've heard this as a guaranteed targeted traffic source, you must be thinking it's crazy. But here's the deal. There are many creative ways in which you can use Google Docs to drive traffic to your site. For instance, you can create an informative, easy to read article about your niche with specific reference to your website. Then set the article privacy setting as a public document and viola. Google may just index your document which means not only do you get targeted traffic, you get a valuable back link from Google itself.
4. Submitting to Google News. If you do not have a news website (or news section) already, set one up. It is well worth the expense because the traffic rush to your website will amaze you. Expect to see a high page rank for your Google compatible news website in only a few months because Google News generates traffic in the millions every day. You can get the news for your site/pages several different ways:
- Hire a freelance newswriter to create newsworthy content in your niche
- Reproduce free content from press release websites
- Borrow content from news sites that do not copyright their material
- Get them articles from article directories such as ezine Articles, Go Articles and Article Base for your features section
- Solicit contributions from your readership
- Reproduce content from blogs, newsletters and ezines after seeking permission
Try not to link to other websites very much at all. You want to keep the traffic on your own website. Visit Google’s News Help page for instructions on how to create a Google News friendly website:
Google News Technical Requirements Article
Ok so there you have it. Four pretty damn cool underground tactics. Using Google juice to get google juice. Who would have guessed.
Do they take some work and a little time to set up? Sure they do, but anything worth a darn usually does. And hey, don't forget it's free.
Until next time...
To Bigger, Faster, Stronger Traffic
(always!)
-Paul Kaiser
P.S. How would you like laser targeted traffic from Google in about 15 minutes? Read what my man Simon has for you. It's Cool. Google Cash Pump. Check it out.
