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In the next 8 minutes, I'm going to show
you timeless AI proof tactics that
actually work along with real examples
how I've used them to rank number one in
Google. And it all starts with knowing
exactly what searchers need. Google
gives you all the clues in the people
also ask box, related searches, and now
even an AI overviews. You just need to
know how to use them. Take the query
best running shoes for flat feet as an
example. Right away, we see that people
are specifically curious about brands
like Hoka, Brooks, and OnCloud. Scroll
down and the related searches show us
people are looking for options for both
men and women for running and walking.
And some are worried about common issues
like over pronation. And the AI overview
highlights key features people care
about, things like stability, arch
support, and cushioning. And guess what?
The top ranking page for this query
covers every single one of these points.
That's not a coincidence. Someone took
those clues, wrote them down, and
obsessed over what a searcher looking
for running shoes for flat feet actually
wants and delivered on it. And one of
the smartest ways to put this into
action. And the fastest way to rank
number one on Google is by updating what
I call sleeper content. Sleeper content
means pages that used to rank but
slipped over time. They've kind of been
neglected and are just sitting there
waiting to be woken up. But here's the
thing, not every page that used to rank
and doesn't today is sleeper content.
True sleepers have three specific
attributes. So attribute number one is
that your page has enough links to
compete with the top results. And you
can check this using any SER overview in
HFS. Just look at how many links the top
pages have compared to your page. Then
click the domain number to see the
actual websites that are linking to
them. Stanford clearly has more links
than philosophy now and there's a lot of
legit sites linking to them. Check
attribute number two. The page must have
ranked high before and definitively lost
positions over time. So I'll take
Stanford's URL and put it in HF site
explorer. And right away there's a very
clear loss in traffic. But you need to
dig one layer deeper. So let's head over
to the organic keywords report and look
at the ranking history for their main
keyword. You can see Stanford held top
three positions for a while, but has
clearly lost ground over the past year
and a half. Check. And on to attribute
number three. There has to be a clear
content issue. And that could mean the
content isn't matching search intent,
which I already showed you how to
master, or the content is outdated,
which matters a lot for freshness based
queries, or there's a poor user
experience. In Stanford's case, the page
hasn't been updated in over four years.
And honestly, it reads like an academic
paper, just a giant wall of text. So, if
I were Stanford, I'd be looking at a
rewrite. I've done this hundreds of
times, getting tons of number one
rankings in as little as 24 hours. I've
even documented it twice in videos on
this channel. This works, so do it now.
And once you've got a page ranking and
it's getting regular traffic, you have
to do this next tactic because it's one
of the easiest ways to attract backlinks
naturally. And the best way to do that
is to frontload your content with
linkable points. Linkable points are
things like stats, quotes, key
takeaways, or basically anything people
find so useful or interesting they feel
compelled to share or reference it. Take
our SEO stats post as an example. Once
that page ranked, it earned thousands of
referring domains without us having to
send a single outreach email. And just
look at the anchor text. People linked
to us because of stats like 68% of
online experiences, 60% of marketers,
1,000% more traffic. Now, look at our
post. We frontloaded the most
interesting stats right at the top of
the page, making it easy for people to
find something they'd find interesting
enough to link to. And you can do the
same. Drop your URL into HF site
explorer. Check the anchor report and
look for any text containing the percent
symbol or any other linkable point
footprint. Now take that stat and either
frontload them higher on the page or use
them inside other relevant posts where
it makes sense. The truth is people link
to content that makes their content look
more credible. And if it's your page
they're citing, every one of those links
is going to help you stay ranking higher
in Google. Now, if you really want to
maximize the links you're getting from
those linkable points, you need to take
it up a notch because the next tactic is
one of the sneakiest ways to earn back
links naturally, and that's to turn data
into sharable images. Take our study on
how AI overviews have reduced clicks to
websites as an example. In that post, we
use just three simple charts to
visualize the findings. And those charts
have driven a bunch of backlinks from
authoritative sites that used our
visuals and linked back to us as a
source. Images draw the eye and they
stick with people more than text. They
make people want to share. So look
through your content. If you've got an
interesting fact, stat, or insight
that's earning links, turn it into an
image that people will want to steal
because every time they do, there's a
chance they'll link back to you. Now,
this next tactic is about futureproofing
your SEO because let's be real,
informational content is already getting
eaten alive by AI. But you know what? AI
hasn't replaced free tools. Free tools
solve real problems and because they're
inherently useful, they often have huge
search demand and attract backlinks
naturally. Take our top 10 free SEO
tools. They generated over 13,000
referring domains and drive 1.5 million
monthly organic visits. Even small sites
using this strategy, like this random
picker wheel site, has pulled in over
3,000 referring domains and gets over 2
million visits a month from Google
alone. And the best part, AI makes
building basic tools like this insanely
easy. Whether it's a calculator, a quiz,
a generator, or a randomizer. Just open
your favorite AI tool, ask it to
generate the code, and within seconds,
you've got a working tool you can tweak
and style however you want. Then you
just need to build some back links which
we cover in our free SEO course. And
once your tool is ranking, it can keep
earning links and traffic passively
month after month. One good tool can
outperform 50 generic blog posts in both
traffic and back links. So don't sleep
on this. Now, everything I've shared so
far works for Google SEO, but here's the
truth. Optimizing only for Google isn't
enough anymore. You need to diversify
your traffic sources. Platforms like
Reddit and YouTube now rank for nearly
every niche query. In fact, Reddit alone
has 10x their search traffic to nearly a
billion visits per month from Google
search alone. Here's the good news. Your
SEO skills are perfectly transferable,
which actually positions you to dominate
on these platforms. Here's how you can
put your SEO skills to work beyond
Google. Start by answering niche
questions on Reddit and forums. But not
just any questions. Use Google search
ranking data to guarantee yourself
exposure. Start by looking through
Reddit's keyword rankings in HF Site
Explorer. Filter for a word related to
your niche and click on relevant Reddit
threads that are getting a good amount
of traffic. Then answer those threads
and if your comments rank high there,
your answer will get exposure from all
that Google traffic. You can also go and
rank organically on other platforms like
YouTube, which is like doing Google SEO
on easy mode. Just follow the steps in
our YouTube SEO tutorial. That's all
we've done. And last year, we got 1.5
million views from just YouTube search.
Basically, if you can rank in Google,
you can be successful on other
platforms, too, because no one has
invested more time or money into search
than Google. Use the foundations you
have in search to win on other
platforms. Now, if you want to learn
directly from the world's leading
digital marketers who are in the
trenches testing and shaping the future
of SEO, join us at HFS Evolve, our
annual conference which is happening in
October. Get all the details at
hrsvolve.com and I'll see you
Neil Patel
