How to do SEO for niche markets

Are you a career switcher who has decided to serve a niche market, but struggling to get your website noticed? Don’t worry, you are not alone. SEO for niche markets differs from generalist websites. We will cover how to focus your SEO efforts on your target audience and niche in this article.

By the end of this post, you’ll have a clear understanding of how to do SEO for your niche market and be on your way to attracting more traffic and customers to your website.

So, let’s get started!

Table of Contents

Why SEO for niche markets is different from general SEO

SEO is the process of optimizing a website and it’s contents for search engines. This process can be done for every website but there are some differences when applied to a niche market blog or website.

Let’s briefly discuss the differences.

Find your target audience

A niche website is not for everyone. Your content will be focused on your target audience – these are the people most likely to buy from you. Before writing any content, determine who your target audience is.

If you need help identifying your target audience then read this related article: The Ultimate Guide to Finding the Perfect SEO Niches for Your Business or Blog

In general the keywords you target will be longer than for a general purpose website. This is because you will be adding context to narrow down or filter the queries to those carried out by your target audience.

For example, consider the keyword you could target for a general purpose health site and a keto diet health site:

Notice the keto diet website doesn’t target any general purpose keywords but focuses on targeted keywords relevant to the target audience.

Keyword research for a niche market

In niche markets, conducting keyword research should primarily revolve around discovering long-tail keywords that are highly specific to the niche. Long-tail keywords consist of longer and more precise keyword phrases, making them less competitive and more likely to rank well in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).

For example, “keto diet plan for beginners” is a long-tail keyword that precisely caters to the keto diet niche.

On the other hand, for general websites, the focus of keyword research should be on identifying broad keywords that are relevant to the website’s overall topic. Broad keywords are shorter and more general keyword phrases, which tend to be more competitive and have a lower likelihood of ranking well in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).

For example, “healthy diet” is a broad keyword that suits a general health website.

Content Creation for niche markets

When it comes to content creation for niche markets, finding relevant keywords is the starting point, followed by generating informative, engaging, and niche-specific content.

There is no point in generating high quality, engaging and entertaining content if it’s not relevant to your target audience and niche.

Let’s revisit the keto diet example. For your blog, you can create relevant content on topics such as:

• keto diet advice
• keto diet for beginners
• keto diet advice for people with [medical condition]
• keto diet for [demographic]

Content aimed at a niche market doesn’t need to be as comprehensive and long-format as that of general websites. Longer keywords provide more context and allow for thorough answers, making it easier to cater to specific topics within the niche.

To clarify this last point consider:

• Money advice (general purpose topic, hard to answer)
• How to make money online using cryptocurrencies (niche topic, easier to write because more context is provided)

Build backlinks

Quality backlinks (a backlink is an external link to your website from another website) are a ranking factor (confirmed by Google in 2016). It’s a sign to Google that other websites value your content and recommend it to their website visitors.

Acquiring backlinks to your website will boost your website authority and visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs).

The best approach to obtain backlinks is to provide high-quality, informative content that naturally attracts backlinks. Consistently appearing on the first page of Google increases the likelihood of your content receiving backlinks.

Additionally, you can participate in online communities relevant to your niche and, in a non-spammy manner, include a link to your content where appropriate.

Outreach to relevant and related websites is another effective strategy. You can suggest one of your articles to be linked to, especially if your content is more relevant and up-to-date than an existing link. Moreover, you can also offer your content as a replacement for broken links you discover on relevant websites.

Measure and track your results

Measuring and tracking your results is crucial for monitoring your progress. For each keyword you target track it using a keyword tracker tool. There are several tools available on the market, such as Ahrefs and SEMRush.

Personally, I prefer using SE Ranking as my keyword tracker. This tool not only tracks keywords but also offers capabilities for keyword research, SEO audits, and competition research.

For new niche websites and blogs, there’s no need to track a large number of keywords initially. You can begin with a basic or budget plan that allows you to track 50, 100, or 250 keywords. As you create more content over time, you will find the need to track additional keywords.

Fortunately, the software you use will likely offer the flexibility to upgrade your plan, enabling you to track as many keywords as you require.

Read more about the SE Ranking Keyword Position Tracker: https://seranking.com/position-tracking.html

On-Page SEO Strategies for Niche Markets

SEO is a big topic that I have written about many times before, see https://www.learntorankyoursite.com/category/seo

Let me briefly explain some basic SEO techniques before discussing the differences when addressing niche markets.

When writing each article, make sure to have a main keyword and optionally a small number of related keywords. Your article should revolve around the main keyword, and it’s essential to include it in your blog title.

Both the related keywords and the main keyword can appear in the following elements:

• URL of the page
• Subheadings
• Table of Contents
• Meta Description (shown on the search engine results page)
• Alt text (textual description of an image)
• Within your text
• Anchor text for internal links

More SEO tips here: 29 SEO Tips and Tricks to help you rank better in Google

In a niche blog, your choice of keyword will decide if you attract your target audience or not. Using words or phrases known in your industry or niche can help. For example, a Yoga Blog for Busy People will likely use yoga terms or positions known and searched for by your target audience.

Technical SEO Considerations for Niche Websites

Although, you need to have high quality content that is focused on your target audience and niche, that is not enough. Your need to consider some technical factors that could affect your ranking potential.

Mobile friendliness

Mobile friendliness is crucial, considering that approximately half of all website traffic comes from mobile devices (Source: statista 2023). Ensuring that your website looks good and functions seamlessly on smartphones is essential.

Google uses your website’s mobile version for crawling and indexing, which implies that any issues experienced on mobile devices can have negative effects on your ranking potential and reduce user engagement.

Use SSL

Using an SSL certificate for your website is essential to encrypt all website traffic, ensuring secure communication (such as a Contact Form) that cannot be seen by third parties.

Google views non-SSL websites as insecure, which can negatively impact your ranking position. Additionally, users will be alerted by their browsers about unsecure websites.

If you’re unsure how to set up an encrypted website, your hosting provider should be able to assist you. Reputable hosting providers offer tools to easily set up your SSL certificate, such as SiteGround’s SSL management tool.

If you plan to accept payments on your website then an SSL is essential. Payment providers, like Stripe, only accept encrypted transactions so you must set up SSL prior to using their service.

Ensure your website is encrypted by using an SSL certificate

Website speed

Website visitors are not known for their patience. If your website doesn’t load within a few seconds visitors are likely to leave and not come back again.

Many factors can affect the speed of your website, the main culprits for a slow loading website are:

• Hosting provider – budget hosting plans may not provide the best solution
• Slow website – Choose a lightweight, fast website theme
• Too many plugins – plugins are great but too many will slow down your website
• Images are not compressed – use an image compression service or plugin
• Images are not properly sized – scale and crop your images if necessary
• Not using a CDN when targeting a global audience

It will be very difficult to rank on the first page of Google if you have unresolved technical problems on your website.

Crawlable links

Google, once it detects your website, will begin to crawl and index your content. This happens automatically, although you can ask for indexing of individual pages using Google Search Console.

Sometimes, Google may not be able to crawl your site or individual links due to configuration on your website. Specifically the following issues can stop your website being crawled:

• robots.txt file blocks certain pages, sections of your website or the entire website
• a “noindex” meta tag on a page will stop indexing
• very slow website can cause Google to stop crawling your site (temporary issue usually)

Google Search Console can alert you to crawling or indexing issues on your website. It’s highly recommended to use for your website as it has many useful features and is free.

It’s recommended you use an SEO plugin or service to monitor SEO issues with your website. These plugins will alert you to crawlability or indexing issues with your website in addition to many useful SEO features.

Social Media for Niche Market Visibility

Using social media provides an opportunity to engage with your target audience effectively. By including your website in your profile, people who appreciate your posts can easily find your website.

Moreover, you can share links to your website articles in your social media posts, but it’s essential to avoid doing this in a spammy manner.

The relevance of various social media platforms may vary depending on your niche. For visually-oriented content, platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube are more suitable, and you’ll need to produce photos or videos to perform well on these platforms. On the other hand, platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook are more accustomed to text-based content. You can repost blog articles from your website on these sites.

Remember not to limit yourself to just text articles on your website; you can produce different types of digital content for your blog.

Use social media as a powerful tool to build relationships by actively engaging with others through actions like liking, following, reposting, or direct messaging on those platforms. By consistently interacting with your target audience, you increase the likelihood of receiving follow backs and having your website content viewed and reposted.

Additionally, social media platforms offer valuable insights about your niche and target audience. You can gain information about their priorities, concerns, and interests through their posts and interactions.

Leverage the analytics provided by social media platforms to understand how your content is performing. By analyzing this data, you can identify what type of content resonates well with your target audience and what doesn’t. This understanding can be valuable for refining your website content to better align with your audience’s preferences.

Staying Ahead in Niche SEO

To effectively serve your audience, it’s vital to stay up to date in your niche market and provide the latest information. Whether it’s new trends, products, services, or the latest opinions, being well-informed enables you to deliver valuable content.

Your audience will always be on the lookout for the newest and most current information.

Use social media as a valuable resource to help you stay informed. Subscribe to the profiles of social media accounts that cover your niche. This way, you can gather ideas about content and identify the topics you need to cover to keep your audience engaged.

Final Thoughts

I hope you found this article informative and helpful.

Here is a quick recap:

• Know your target audience
• Chose targeted long-tail keywords
• Write content that is relevant for your niche (avoid general topics)
• Consistently produce high quality relevant content to acquire backlinks naturally
• Measure and track your results
• Use niche keywords throughout your content especially in the title and subheadings
• Resolve any technical issues stopping your site from ranking

By focusing on a specific audience and creating targeted content, you can attract more traffic to your website and establish yourself as an authority in your niche.

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