There are many different ways to monetize a website, two of the most common are with affiliate links or display ads. Some people go with a hybrid model, which works quite nicely in many cases. Sometimes though it’s best to go all in with one or the other. Most of the time, informational blogs are going to rely on display ad revenue, while websites with commercial intent content is going to rely more on affiliate commissions.
If you’ve got an informational niche blog and you want some quick tips and strategies to help rank your blog posts, then stick around. In this article I’m going to give you 8 actionable SEO tips for niche sites that you can start using today to help rank your display ad monetized niche websites.
You probably won’t find any of these tips are groundbreaking, and some of them are no-brainers, but they are battle-tested and ones that I’ve been using for years to rank blog posts in Google.
With all that being said, let’s get straight to it!
SEO tips for display ad niche sites
The following tips assume that you have already chosen a good, low-competition topic. This list of tips isn’t exhaustive, but just what I could think of off the top of my head.
1. Nail the intro
For me, the intro is just a place to hook the reader in. I hate it when writers have a 300 word intro that goes on and on. Keep it short and sweet, letting the reader know exactly what the article is about. Also, have the primary keyword in this intro if possible.
Give them a taste of what they’re looking for, but don’t solve their problem here yet. We don’t want them to bounce that soon. If we’re dealing with a response type of post, the next section is where the answer target lives. Not in the introduction.
2. Use short sentences
Shorter sentences are easier to read, scan over, and understand. Don’t make reading a chore by having these long run-on sentences with 4 commas in each one. Keep sentences short.
3. Use short paragraphs
You should also keep paragraphs short. The more line-breaks we have, the more places we have for display ads to show. That potentially means more money in your pocket.
4. Use the target keyword in a subheading
Whatever your target keyword or topic is, use it in a subheading. I usually use it in the very first H2 subheading, then answer it the best I can in the following sentences.
5. Stay on topic
One of the main issues I have with outsourcing content, is getting writers to stay on topic. It’s easy to think that a topic is covered well enough and to move on to some semi-related topic, but it’s vital that you stay focused. That alone can be the difference in a good article and a dud.
6. Use images
This is 2021, images are important for blog posts. You don’t have to go crazy with them, but having a featured image and at least a couple of others in the content is important. It also makes your post longer and creates more places to show ads.
If your website is properly setup to optimize images and display them in a next generation format like webp, then your page speed should be fine. I use a minimum of 2-3 images in pretty much all of my articles. Though sometimes the topic calls for me to use 20 or more.
You can find images to use on your website on places like Pixabay, Pexels, and Flickr.
7. Meta description
Even though Google will often choose the meta description for you, I find that if you write a good one to begin with it will usually be used. Try and sneak the primary keyword in there, and keep it short at a couple of sentences.
8. A good title is crucial
I can’t stress enough how important the title is. I’ve beaten sites with 3x my DR with a better title alone. I don’t know for that’s why, but I have a strong hunch.
The title should contain the keyword, almost exactly what the search is you are targeting. Adding a modifier of some sort to the end also, perhaps in parentheses, can also help with CTR. I should probably do a separate post on titles.