As digital marketers, we know how important search engine optimization (SEO) can be for driving organic traffic and visibility for our websites. Traditionally, SEO focuses mostly on the use of certain keywords, the quality of content, the website structure, and other technical factors. Yet, there are some powerful yet less-known techniques based on the concept of "co-citation" and "co-occurrence" that can help you to further harness the potential of SEO and boost your search engine rankings.
First, let’s define what co-citation and co-occurrence are. Co-citation is a technique that relies on the linking of related websites, while co-occurrence is a natural phenomenon where certain words often appear together in search engine results. Both of these strategies share the same aim – to signal to search engines the relevance of your website in relation to certain topics and keywords.
So what can you do to leverage the SEO potential of co-citation and co-occurrence? Here are a few things to consider:
-
Monitor Your Links: By taking a close look at the links that point to your website, you can get a clearer picture of how webpages and related topics are associated with your website. You can also use monitoring tools such as Majestic SEO to stay on top of any changes in your backlink profile.
-
Promote Natural Link Building: Link building should always be an organic process. Rather than getting yourself involved with link exchange networks or buying backlinks, you should focus on gaining quality links from relevant sources.
-
Research Keywords: Doing keyword research is essential to identify words and phrases associated with the topics of your website. Having an in-depth understanding of the related topics and words can help you to identify the terms that are likely to appear together in search engine results.
-
Use Rich Snippets: Structured data that is marked with Rich Snippets can tell search engines what is featured on your webpages. As a result, this increases the potential for keyword co-occurrence in search engine results.
-
Promote Content: Finally, content remains key! Properly optimized content that covers relevant topics and includes some related keywords helps search engines to recognize the relevance of your website when it comes to certain topics.
By carefully applying the principles of co-citation and co-occurrence, you can take your SEO efforts to the next level. If done correctly, you will be able to boost your website visibility on search engine results pages and gain an advantage over your competition.