What should my strategy be if I want to rank my website to be like psychologytoday.com?

[Psych2Go]

Hi,

I run a psychology blog for millennials and I recently started using MOZ trial.

I'm looking for a general blueprint or questions I should be answering as I try to boost my search engine traffic to match up with psychologytoday.com

Aside from link building and writing quality content, what are some other strategies that I can implement?

[EGOL]

I believe that being wise about "what content" you write is very important.  Consider doing research on the following....

1. what type of content your target audience is searching for

2. what type of content currently on your site receives the highest level of  consumption

3. what your current visitors are typing into your search box

These should help you deliver what searchers want to know, what you are currently doing right that needs amplification, and what you are not currently covering that your visitors are asking for.

You might also use competitive intelligence services like semrush to learn what your competitors are publishing that is pulling in the traffic and the keywords that trigger those visits.

[Vettyy]

Create a list of questions that your audience would be searching for like EGOL said.
I do that by going into Google search and starting typing things like

What does type topic here
How will type topic here
How can type topic here
And other 'who, what, when, where, why, how, is there, can you' type questions.
By adding an underscore it usually finishes off the question for you as well as give's you a few more questions or phrases you might not have thought of. This is pretty time consuming though.
After that I put a list of the phrases in Keyword Planner or download the plugin Keywords Everywhere (Free) which will give you an idea on search volume which you can sort in order of importance.

Cheers,

[Hurf]

To expand up the idea of find out what questions searchers are asking in your targeted niche, go to keyword explorer add the keyword 'psychology' (https://moz.com/explorer/keyword/suggestions?q=psychology) See all keywords, and select 'are questions under 'Display keyword suggestions that and then sort by volume (high to low). Then set about writing copy that directly answers those questions. Get it right and you may feature within the Featured Snippets: https://moz.com/blog/featured-snippets-from-start-to-finish, which would give you a real boost.

Beyond that, and based on your niche (which is a subject a lot of people are interested in) I'd consider creating a variety of psychology quizzes - the kind of things people share on Facebook: A psychopath test or things that flatter the ego - as people tend to share their results if they are flattering. (Apparently, my reactions are faster than a fighter pilots and I'm smarter than Einstein - It's true, Facebook said!) and the same sort of thing with Pinterest (Colour Psychology infographics etc.) Producing good quality content that people want to share with their peers and you'll be well on your way.

Guest articles on related sites would be a real boost, of course. The more, the merrier!

Beyond content and link building don't overlook your on-page work: https://moz.com/researchtools/on-page-grader and https://moz.com/researchtools/crawl-test etc.

Good luck!

[BlueCorona]

To add on to what's already been said, consider investing in keyword tools, whether that's AdWords or even using MozPro. That way, you can research keyword volume for topics that you're targeting on your website and see how often they're actually searched.

Additionally, it would be wise to blog frequently and create an authoritative voice in the community. Target long-tailed keywords and set up an FAQ (which you can later build out by posting a blog on each question in addition to the short answer featured in the FAQ).

Since you're targeting millennials, having a social media presence and considering an email newsletter are other strategies that will help YOU nurture your relationships with your users.