Are you struggling to drive traffic to your niche website? While you can always test your luck with paid ads, a safer and more cost-effective way to attract visitors is search engine optimization (SEO). Even if your niche website focuses on a narrow subject with low monthly search volume, you can optimize it for high search rankings by following these 10 tips.

1) Choose a Brandable Domain

A common mistake webmasters when developing niche website is using a keyword-rich domain. They assume Google will increase their website’s search rankings for any keywords included in their domain. In the past, using a keyword-rich domain was an effective SEO tactic, but Google’s algorithm now includes a filter that lowers the search rankings of low-quality websites with keyword-rich domains. Therefore, you should develop your niche website on a brandable domain rather than a keyword-rich domain.

2) Target Long-Tail Keywords

Focus on targeting long-tail keywords associated with your website’s niche. Long-tail keywords typically generate fewer searches than short-tail keywords, but they can drive even more traffic to your website because of their low competition. With less competition than long-tail keywords, you can achieve high search rankings for short-tail keywords more easily. Check out the free-to-use Google Ads Keyword Planner tool at ads.google.com/home/tools/keyword-planner to research long-tail keywords associated with your website’s niche.

3) Publish Relevant Content

Creating content is an essential step when optimizing any website for higher search rankings, and a niche website is no exception. However, you should only publish content that’s relevant to your website’s niche. Writing articles, blog posts or news stories on narrow topics can be difficult, but it will help establish your website as an authority. And once search engines recognize your website as a leading authority, they’ll increase its search rankings.

4) Add Transparency Web Pages

What are transparency web pages, and why are they are important for niche websites? Transparency web pages live up to their namesake by increasing your website’s transparency. They reveal information about your website and who runs it. Search engines will look for transparency web pages when crawling your website. By publishing these pages, you’ll show search engines that you aren’t afraid of revealing your true identity, which may compel them to give your website higher rankings.

Transparency web pages include the following:

About us
Terms and conditions
Privacy policy
Contact

5) Use Target Keywords Sparingly in Content

When creating content for your niche website, use your target keywords sparingly. Forcing a keyword into a web page for the sake of SEO will only make the content look unnatural. It hurts the web page’s user experience while also raising a red flag to search engines. Google’s guidelines state that webmasters are prohibited from filling web pages with target keywords for ranking purposes — a tactic referred to as keyword stuffing. If Google believes your niche website is engaged in keyword stuffing, you can expect abysmal rankings on the world’s most popular search engine.

6) Build Backlinks Slowly

Once your niche website is up and running, you may feel compelled to build as many backlinks as possible to boost its search presence. Backlinks can certainly help with your SEO efforts, but you should build them slowly and over a long period of time. Because they revolve around narrow topics, niche websites don’t attract as many backlinks as other, broader websites. If you build backlinks to your niche website too quickly, search engines may assume you are trying to manipulate your site’s rankings.

7) Enable Visitor Commenting

If supported by your website’s content management system (CMS), allow visitors to leave comments at the bottom of web pages. Visitor comments can help your niche website achieve higher search rankings by adding new, relevant content to your site. If a visitor wants to leave a comment, he or she probably has a firsthand knowledge or experience with the associated topic. As a result, the visitor’s comment will add value to your website’s content, enhancing it with new information from a different perspective.

8) Promote Website on Facebook

There are dozens of places where you can promote niche websites, but few offer the SEO benefits of Facebook. Regardless of whom your website is trying to reach, they probably have a Facebook profile. Using Facebook, you can connect with and drive these users to your niche website. It’s a safe and effective way to get the ball rolling with your SEO strategy. These users may share links to your niche website’s content on their Facebook profile, or they may link to your site from their own blog or website.

To promote your niche website on Facebook, set up a Page and start posting relevant text, images and videos on a daily basis. As users begin to follow your Page, you can share links to your niche website.

9) Wait to Monetize With Ads

Don’t monetize your niche website with ads immediately after launching it. New websites are often scrutinized more closely by search engines than older, more established websites. If you include ads on your website immediately or shortly after launching it, search engines will think you are simply trying to make a quick buck, so they won’t rank it high. Instead, wait at least six months before placing any ads on your niche website.

10) Be Patient

Your niche website won’t rank on the first page of Google’s or Bing’s search results overnight. SEO is a long game, and to succeed, you must wait patiently. In the meantime, you can continue creating new content and performing other on-page optimization. Just remember to avoid building an unnatural number of backlinks, which could raise red flags with Google’s or Bing’s ranking algorithm. If you’re patient, search engines will reward your niche website with higher rankings.

Not all websites revolve around a broad topic. Some involve narrower and more focused topics. If you run a niche website such as this, you’ll need to show search engines that your site is valuable enough to merit a first-page ranking.