SEO for novices (or how I got my site to the top spot on Google)
So let me start be prefacing this with I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing. Be that as it may, my random stabs in the dark seem to be working. Maybe they'll work for you too.
My project is Minecraft Playdates, a Minecraft server hosting service for parents. We focus on simplicity, and ease of setup, while giving parents some unique tools to control playtimes and durations.
TL;DR: We currently rank #2 for searches for minecraft playdates, and about half of the page 1 links are related content. Next goal is to move up in the minecraft playdate (note singular vs plural) rankings, where we're currently on page 3 of the results. I achieved this by publishing content on Indie Hackers, Reddit, and listing the site on Product Hunt, Side Projectors, and getting written up in Issue #2 of Maker Work.
Start state: We don't exist. New domain, just deployed the MVP to it.
With such an awesome domain name as this, which really nails the value prop, I was a bit stumped as to what to do next... Nothing on the internet links to my super awesome site (yeah, we all think this, right? It's not really we all know that too), hmmm?
OK, so after some Googling around, I figured out I can tell Google my site exists. The trick there is to visit the Google Search Console, and add the newly launched site. A couple days later, buried deep, deep in the search results (maybe page 10 or 20!) for minecraft playdates, I finally discovered my site! First impressions: Whoo! Second impressions: Nobody clicks past page 1 or 2 except for weirdos like me trying to launch their stuff... Parents searching for Minecraft server hosting? No way.
New state: Google knows we exist
So, the good news is now I'm on the board. The bad news, is I still don't have any clue how to do this... So I abandon this approach for now to concentrate on the real problem: How do I acquire users? So, using some techniques I've heard about (thanks Indie Hackers!) — such as frequenting forums my customers frequent, being useful in those forums, occasionally mentioning the service when it makes sense, etc — I come to the realization that I really have no idea where parents of Minecrafters hang out, but I am part of the Indie Hackers community... And we're scrappy...
So I start thinking. Hmm, Some Indie Hackers must be parents! Now I go about writing up some milestone posts to give a bit more background around the service, and announce a user study which includes a free server for a week plus compensation upon completing the study. If you try this YMMV, but signups have been few and far between, so maybe everyone here is sans-kids. On the one hand, this hasn't been as expensive as I planned for... but that's not really a good thing. (shameless plug: please sign up if you're a parent!)
New state: top of page 6 of the search results
A few days later, I realize that I've moved up to the top of page 6 of the search results as a side effect of working directly on acquiring users. What an awesome side effect! So I double down on content creation, and eventually found a list of places to post. I figured out that this must be the SEO trick. For a newbie to SEO like me, the name of the game is to cause there to be enough content pointing to your site / keywords to raise it above the noise level. So I doubled down on this approach.
I picked the following places to launch and create content:
Then reading Indie Hackers, I saw that @dennislwm had just launched a newsletter and was seeking makers to profile. I submitted my info, and was gratified that Dennis chose me and Minecraft Playdates for Issue #2 of Maker Work!
Goal Achieved: Minecraft Playdates ranks #2 in the search results, and a total of 3 out of the 9 results on page 1 of the results are content I created promoting it!
What's next?
I've achieved the SEO goal for "minecraft playdates" (plural), but we're still only ranking on page 3 of the results for "minecraft playdate" (singular). After getting to page 1 of the results for these very specific terms I want to tackle broader search terms which will be much harder to rank for due to more competition (such as "minecraft server hosting").
Summary of Advice
- Register your site on the Google Search Console. And once it's crawled, address any issues that show up.
- Find keywords that are narrowly specific to your value prop, so that you can quickly win some narrow ground without too much competition
- Find forums that Google indexes to post about your site on. Try to create value while doing so, and use the specific keywords you want to rank for when referring to your site.
- Side note: Indie Hackers results are trending high for me, so creating value like this post is definitely worthwhile!
- Wait for Google to crawl, and update the index
- Rinse and repeat
This is all self taught over the last month, so it's definitely achievable for a novice.
I'm sure I've got some things wrong. Please let us know in the comments!
