You caught me on a 3 hour break so I'll be more than happy to give you my input and techniques we used to achieve top spots. Before joining the Soundgine team I was partly responsible for SEO for the video game company EA Sports and other sub company spin-offs. Through the years, we attended Google sponsored events and gained a ton of insight on what works and what doesn't.

Google is always tweaking their algorithm but the core usually stays true.

The first suggestion is finding the right home. Google places more importance on certain domains, and less on others. Be careful with starting websites on cheap platforms. (What rhymes with Nix?) Google wants to know you are serious about your business and with a sea of garbage, you need to actually invest in your business.

The one exception is Wordpress.com. I've seen people rank #1 on Google using a free Wordpress blog, I don't recommend using free Wordpress as your main website, but you can effectiveness build awesome backlinks creating blogs with keywords pointing back to your website.

We had had clients use this method with amazing and profitable results.

Absolutely.

Let's say you have your own website called mymusic.com but you want to rank high for "top edm music"

What you do is create a free Wordpress blog called "Top EDM Music" and add QUALITY information in that blog. Add an "About Me" and write a bio about yourself with the keywords "Top EDM Music" sprinkled here and there, do not overdo it.

H1 tags should have your keyword.

Add different section "pages" to your blog including these elements:

1. - A "How To" page. This can be a how to create a EDM track or anything related to a "How To". Google gives a nice push to websites that include a how-to because you are signaling that your blog is actually informative.

2. - Add 1 Youtube Video. Create a Youtube video titled "Top EDM Music" and add it to your blog. Don't cheat by just adding music to the video and calling it a day, Google is not dumb, talk into a mic. You don't have to be an expert, just talk a little bit about the subject.

3. - Add Images and use "Top EDM Music" in the alt text .

Rinse and repeat.

Use different email addresses for each blog you create. Yes, it's a little work but the payoff is fantastic.

No problem, I always thought this information should be free.

It takes approx 1.5 months before it appears on search engines and approx 2.3 months until it reaches it's top position. If you took your time creating your keyword blog then you will surely place on the first two pages. Not many people take the time to create a blog on ONE keyword so you should do well.

Yes, if you have 5 keywords you want to rank high on, then create 5 different blogs using different email addresses.

The next resource is the use of Hubpages .

By far one of the best and important backlinks you can have to your website if your publication is approved. Hubpages is online space to share your advice, reviews, useful tips, opinions and insights with hundreds of other authors. You must write a quality article about yourself and if approved is an invaluable way to get a great backlink.

The title of your Hubpage should be your main keyword. Hubpages actually helps you to create a quality page so it takes the guesswork out a little. If you are not approved for your Hubpage article, you will get an email with suggested edits. The biggest reason for a failed submission is too many hyperlinks. Only include one.

Trust in the Google Ecosystem.

This means that you need active activity via

- Google + (Personal & Business) page
- Youtube
- Google +1 buttons on your website

Embedding Addthis to your inner pages works just fine.

Try not to use the Social buttons (including Twitter & Facebook) on your homepage. Google calculates the speed of your homepage as a ranking variable. I know it seems natural to place these badges on your homepage and hell it looks cool but it just hurts your ranking.

We experimented extensively and all it did was slow our loading time and dock our ranking down a few slots. Inner pages are just fine.

Short answer: No.

We have spent $0 on SEO specialist and have pretty amazing results, but that's how we do things. We are very critical on how our information is broadcasted. We just feel it's too risky to put our business in the hands of "SEO specialist" that could very well use black hat tactics. You can do everything yourself.

If you ABSOLUTELY have to hand it off to somebody else, make sure the person you hire has a case studies and can be reached via telephone.

I'll tell you though, there is nothing more rewarding than seeing your website rank high due to your own effort. But the biggest advantage is that you can personally see what's working and what's not.

These help your rank in direct and indirect ways

- Linkedin (Make sure you have your bio fully written and a link back to your main website
- Reddit (You don't need to really to post too much here, enough to let Google you've been here)
- Stumbleupon (We didn't think it was actually very relevant in 2015 but it is. Create a profile and add a your page to be Stumbled)

Domain Registration Time Matters

There's a lot Google tries to keep to themselves but one of the best kept secrets to SEO is the length your domain name is registered for. Spammers usually keep a domain alive for less than a year tops so Google doesn't give domain names that are registered for less than a year too much weight.

So if you want to tell Google "Hey, I'm in it for the long haul hommie, power me up" register your domain for 3-4 years +. This is an extremely strong signal that you are here to stay. This is tried and tested for the last 10 years of building websites and marketing. It's the first thing we do.

Where you host your domain doesn't matter but stick with .com's.

You get an initial boost by matching your domain with your keyword but it hurts you in the very end because it doesn't help your brand. The one-two punch to a brand is

1. A clever unforgettable name that doesn't sound like everybody else
2. A logo that impactful

A great place for inspiration is a website called Logoturn . You can find clever domain name brands with good brand logos. I can't express how important this is people that are starting out.

The only time you will use a domain name with the exact keyword is if you are registering a second domain to link to your brand website. (Which is a great idea if you can afford it)

'@SkillyMusic'

There was a time where Google favored full fledged websites, but the problem of keyword stuffing, invisible keyword text, and other blackhat techniques have shifted more importance to votes outside your own website. Yes, VUE is just as good as a regular website in terms of being able to rank high otherwise we wouldn't even both with the platform.

Google see's #sectionname as it's own page.

VUE is basically a supercharged landing page which by the way auto pings search engine once a day. Google has zero issues with one pagers as its all about the quality of content other than quantity. Metadata isn't as powerful as it used to be but it's definitely still being used. Focus more on the description meta tag.

The days of paying for directory inclusion for a boost in rankings is over. Wow, that brought back memories....

Don't bother with paying for Yahoo inclusion or DMOZ. Save you money.