Just Launched New Site - First Steps to Get it to Rank?

[Prime85]

Good Morning Mozzers...

We just recently launched a brand new site and now the fun part begins: trying to get it to appear in the SERPS.

I'm wondering if you guys can share your best and most proven secrets/tricks to get brand new sites to rank in Google.... For example, what are the first directories you add the site to?  What are some links you try and aquire first?

Looking for some tips and ideas for a brand new site.

Thanks in advance.

[Prime85]

Thanks for your advice --- very very helpful -- greatly appreciated.

[ATP]

Hi Prime,
On the presumption that your onsite SEO is complete and your content is indeed excellent I would do the following.

My no1 tip on getting your site index'd would simply to be to simply fetch as google and submit the main page. Set up your analytics and then focus on your local SEO. Do all your local listings, and basically everything moz recommends about local SEO. This should be plenty for you to be index'd.

Then I would stop thinking about "Link Building" in the traditional sense.

Don't fall into the trap of thinking
links = ranks = clicks = visitors

instead try to think of it as
publicity = visitors = natural links = ranks = more visitors

Take some of your excellent content and begin marketing it. Get social media happy, g twitter, facebook, google+ and every other platform you can think of active. Social media activity is a good ranking factor, use it. Get active on niche forums, other niche websites and begin spreading your brand. By this I don't mean spamming forums with links to your website I mean offering excellent advice and relevant links where appropriate. Ensure profiles are complete with links to your website so when you have helped someone and they check you out they find their way back. If you have a marketing budget get some PPC to begin driving traffic, and look at other forms of advertising. If your content really is excellent odd links will begin to sprout up.

This achieves 2 things. It spreads your brand and builds relationships and reputations within your niche.

I would do this from anywhere from 2 to 6 months. Asking for links as a new website even if your content is top notch is hard and has a very low success rate. Asking for a link from a website you have spent 2-6 months supporting and having a presence on is a lot easier. Especially if you can design a piece of content you know that site needs. Is a certain question being asked a lot on a website? Make something providing the answer then approach them with the content.

Alternatively make the first move. Found another website that cracking in your niche but not directly competitive? Review them, award them, and tell them about it. Websites like to brag when they receive a 5* award or review and will often link back to it.

Don't act to receive a link, act to advertise your brand.

I apologise if this isn't a direct answer to "how to link build". But i wanted to stress the difficulty of link building, even more so for new sites. I would rather spend 6 months of time on social media, building relationships and working myself into a position into the niche to ask for a high authority link with some success rather than spend 6 months of NO responses from link requests.

[Andy.Drinkwater]

Link building for any site is a huge subject - certainly not something you can cover here.

However, your best links are going to come from amazing content / linkable assets. If you have something that your niche are going to enjoy reading, then you will find links will happen.

If you are happy performing outreach, you can speed this process up and let key influencers know what you have, but tread carefully... If you just started to Tweet someone you have never spoken to before and asked for links, it can be taken badly and you can ruin your chances for the future.

Here are a few resources to read:

-- MOZ beginners guide to link building -- Backlinkto -- Point Blank SEO -- Post Penguin Link Building (Disclaimer... This is my site)

Hopefully you will get some good pointers from there.

-Andy

[Prime85]

ok - great advice on the blogging outreach attempts, will definitely try that.

Any other tips/suggestions?

I'll report back on how all of the tips and suggestions worked out.

Thanks

[O2C]

I don't know what market your website is in but maybe there are a few blogs/news websites that would write a small article about how your website is new and launching, maybe you have something unique that people will be happy to share with their readers?

It might be worth trying to come up with an outreach strategy and target website owners directly about how your new website is so amazing, and new, and useful etc.

Local directories are good to start with but I don't think its as easy as there being a specific set of link building tips that people run through when they first launch (although if I'm wrong I would love to know them!!).

[Prime85]

Hey Andy,

I agree with everything that you just said, but after all on page optimization is complete, and we are confident that our content is excellent (we are constantly adding new, high quality content), where do you begin in the link building world?

Got to start somewhere, niche directories may not help for link purposes, but at least they will drive targeted traffic ...

But I'm looking for ideas on how to get started with link building for new websites.

Thanks again

[Andy.Drinkwater]

Hi,

...what are the first directories you add the site to?  What are some links you try and aquire first?

I wouldn't be starting here. Directories for the most part are pretty useless, unless you are adding yourself to a niche / local one that might help with specifics.

Follow all best practices with your site. Ensure that you have thoughtful and well phrased page titles that describe the page. Make sure your content is amazing (average isn't going to cut the mustard). Spend additional time to ensure this happens. Don't fall into the trap of overusing keywords and make sure your site is well configured to avoid duplicate pages.

There is so much to cover here, that I would suggest you spend some time reading over the MOZ Beginners Guide. This will give you a good grounding into what you should be doing.

-Andy