Find out if it's possible to rank a website in Google only based on high quality content with absolutely zero link building

1. mat t hewwoodward.co.uk http://www.matthewwoodward.co.uk/experiments/google-webmaster-guidelines-experiment/
Matthew Woodward
The Zero Link Building Experiment – How To Rank A Site
Without Building Links
I love experimenting with things when it comes to SEO and the best SEO advice I can give to anyone is that you
should never believe anything you read until you have tested it f or yourself .
You might not have realised it, but this blog is an experiment…
UPDATE: Track the perf ormance of this experiment here. You’ll be shocked.
You can also read the f ollow up post – How I Built A Top 100 Blog .
The Experiment
I have never really payed much attention to the Google Webmaster Guidelines in my SEO ef f orts.
That Matt Cutt’s bloke keeps banging on about them so I thought I’d see what all the f uss is about and decided
to setup an experiment.
Is it possible to rank a website in Google with nothing but high quality content and zero link
building?
To test that theory I have created this SEO blog that does not use SEO to drive traf f ic.
Yes you read that correctly, my SEO blog about SEO will not use SEO to secure rankings and traf f ic. Irony ^^
Kind of like how John Chow makes money online by telling people how he make’s money online.
Instead I’m going to f ocus on sticking to the of f icial Google Webmaster Guidelines as closely as possible.
Af ter reading through the guidelines and brushing up my skills via the Webmaster Academy I setup this blog and
experiment.
The end game is to create a loyal base of f ans and subscribers through E-mail, Social Media & RSS with a
steady f low of traf f ic f rom Google without any link building or PPC.
Want updates delivered direct to your inbox? Just enter your email and click “Subscribe Now!”
The Methods
The methods I’m going to use can be broken down into 2 parts, content creation and promotion.
The Content
Matt Cutts always says that the best way to get links and rankings is by creating great content as that will
naturally attract links.
That makes sense to me, but what is great content exactly?

2. I watched this video f or some ideas-
Create a blog and establish yourself as an authority
Do something that is unique/dif f erent/original
Create content that is usef ul/helpf ul to the community
Answers common questions in your niche
Publish original research
Create videos
Publish how to guides and tutorials
Create lists of helpf ul resources
Can you name an SEO blog that does all of that? No one seems to of f er anything original; it’s just the same
generic around the block advice written in dif f erent ways over and over again.
What makes things worse is that a lot of the stuf f that gets published as f act is actually just baseless thought
and opinion.
Very rarely do I f ind an SEO blog that has something new, unique or dif f erent to of f er.
My Content Strategy
With that in mind I’m going to create the ultimate resource f or SEO’s that is jam packed with helpf ul content
based on my own research, knowledge and experience.
I’m going to tackle a lot of the common problems SEO’s f ace through a series of tutorials in the f orm of videos
and blog posts.
I’ve already published a f ew examples-
1. The Ultimate Guide To Tiered Link Building
2. How To Analyse Your Backlink Prof ile To Fix Current & Future Penalties
The Promotion
I have always relied on SEO to drive traf f ic to my sites. Although I have experience with other methods, SEO is
my bread and butter.
If Matt Cutt’s is right, then publishing high quality content should do the trick when it comes to promotion. As
more people discover my content, they will share it/link to it which will allow more people to discover it and so
f orth.
Ideally I will want to create content that is so good, it will promote itself .
When people read what I have created they should be f alling over themselves to subscribe f or updates via
email, f ollow me on Twitter, sharing the page on social media and so on.
So how can I get the ball rolling?
My Promotion Strategy

3. My entire promotional strategy to drive traf f ic is as simple as-
1. Posting on f orums like Traf f icPlanet, WarriorForum & DigitalPoint
2. Getting involved on Twitter / Facebook (SEO types seem to pref er Twitter)
3. Commenting on blog posts (with links to my tutorials if related)
4. Setting up some ninja Google Alerts to f ind new places to get involved
5. Asking people to share the page to get access to my exclusive personal resources
6. Just straight up asking people to share
Seem’s pretty basic and straightf orward right? I’m also going to make sure that it is easy f or people to share
my content, connect with me on social media and subscribe to e-mail updates.
I’m hoping that the combination of those mechanisms with great content will be enough to snowball the blog to
success.
The Reporting
Every month I will write a detailed report about the sites progress and tell you exactly what I have done to get it
there.
This will be a great resource f or myself and readers of the blog. It will help me keep track of progress
ef f iciently while teaching readers what to do and what not to do.
The reports will be classed as ‘great content’ in their own right.
These monthly reports will include key metrics such as-
Traf f ic statistics
The number of e-mail sign ups
Social media growth
Number of af f iliate links clicked
Income reports
All the juicy details of what I have done and how I did it!
And a bunch of other stuf f
Click Here To View All Of These Reports
Am I Crazy?
Part of me f eels like this is experiment is doomed to f ail and it really does push me out of my comf ort zone
completely. I have never created video tutorials bef ore or used my knowledge and experience to teach/help
others.
I have always relied on creating links to get rankings and traf f ic, but now I’m only relying on creating great
content to get links to get rankings and traf f ic. Scary!
On the other hand I believe this could be one of the most rewarding SEO experiments I have ever done. I have a
wealth of knowledge and experience to share and I’m hoping that will help out real people like you.

4. Will You Help Me?
If you want to help me out with this experiment and say thanks f or my tutorials then please take 60 seconds to
share them.
You can do that by-
Posting on SEO & webmaster f orums
Sharing them with f riends on social media
Writing about them on your blog
Sharing them with your e-mail list
Leaving comments & ratings
Be sure to drop me a mail if you share them and I’ll shout you out in the monthly reports!
Over To You
What do you think? Is this experiment setup f or success or f ailure?
Do you have any tips or advice on what I should be doing to make this a success?