Current Trends in Link Building & Content Marketing

#SEJthinktank

15 Years of SEO, Paid Search, Social Strategy, Media Buying, Wordpress

Development & Content Publishing Experience.

• Search Engine Journal

• Alpha Brand Media

• Foundation Digital

• Client Focus on Integrated Content Solutions for Cross Channel Growth

@lorenbaker@SEJthinktank


Takeaways From this Webinar

1. Better Linking comes from better collaboration and looking

at big picture strategy.

2. Linking alone does not build results.

3. Diversifying content mediums leads to more opportunity in

links, sharing, long term benefits.

4. Amazing Case Study Bringing Everything Together


What is Your Project’s Big Picture?

SEO alone is not a sustainable goal for a content strategy, instead that content must live on its own,

which in turn will assist your SEO. Google wants to serve the best content possible for the user

experience, not vice versa.

• SEO Rankings, Links & Organic Traffic

• Social Conversation & Brand Advocacy

• Lead Generation – Funnel into Marketing Automation

• Sales and Conversion Collateral [Online & in the Field]


Content Doesn’t Serve One MasterAll stakeholders must be at the table in order for the content strategy to be a true success. The beauty of

content marketing is that it is beneficial to:

• SEO

• PR

• Branding

• Paid Media (Amplication & Retargeting)

• Communications (Pharma Example)

• CMO / CEO / HR (Recruiting)


Everyone Processes Content in a

Different WayB2C very dependent on blog posts, B2B very dependent on eBooks. Look at

the big picture.

• eBooks - Full of Digestible Nuggets that can be lost

• Blog Posts - Great for Breaking Down Chapters and Thoughts

• Infographics - Still a lot of Love

• Infograms - Not everyone has time to scroll.


Everyone Processes Content in a

Different Way• Video - People learn from movies.

• MicroVideo (Instagram, Vine) - Teens &

Social Friendly

• BONUS - Consolidated Design Efforts


Strategize vs. Seeing What Sticks

Based on Goals, determine themes that support the goals.

• SEO Targets - Semantic Modifiers of Keyword Buckets that Drive Context

• Outreach Targets - What Resonates with Publishers in the Target Verticals

• Social Sharing - What Kinds of Content or Topics Get the Most Interaction

• Social Influencers - Who is Sharing What Kind of Content in this Vertical

• Ad Enhancement - Opportunities to Grow Content Amplification in Paid Channels

• Content Lifespan - Can this Content Live and Breathe on its Own?


The On-Site FoundationYour on-site goals may be different than content syndication or lead gen.

• Syndicated content should not link directly to money pages [not natural or trusted], it should link to

an on-page resource, such as blog or informational pages

• Once on-page source attracts links and value, equity can be routed

• Infographic image files are great for syndication, but not on-site w/o supporting content

• HTML 5 is a preferred and indexable way to support graphic assets and still be SEO friendly, blog

posts or HTML content pages are good too.


Trusted Voices & Warm IntroductionsTurn loyal audiences into your own brand evangelists.

Blogger Outreach - Target publishers during the final stages

of design and offer them an exclusive to be first to publish

Leverage Relationships with Publishers - Can you invite

them in the ideation process?

Leverage Your Audience - Remember, this is a joint effort.


Precise targeting is more important than numbers alone.

• Slideshare - Most Underutilized Infographic Channel. Comes with LinkedIn Integration and Lots of

Google Love. People Share & Embed SlideShare.

• Visual.ly - Set Up Branded Channels for Link Juice Purposes. Bloggers turn to Visual.ly for Content.

Extends the Life of Your Content.

• IMGUR - Imgur gets more traffic than Reddit. No natural links but great for social sharing, view count

& influence..

• Pinterest.com - Especially for B2C, perfect format and paid ad options.

Get in Front of Who Matters


Second Level of InfluencersSites where other blogs and resources find content.

• InfographicJournal.com - Blog that publishes the best infographics daily. Gets own traffic and direct

links, posts do go viral.

• DesignTAXI - Design site that highlights best design stories and pieces of content online. Very

infographic friendly and bloggers will embed and share from DesignTAXI.


Poll QuestionsHow do you distribute your content to build links?

1. Guest blogging and embedding graphics

2. Distributing to infographic sites

3. Social Media Sharing on my branded channels

4. All of the above

5. I don’t share content to acquire links


These should be your site & blog post featured images.

• Facebook & Instagram - Where the masses share, comment, engage & link. Don’t upload images,

share image from the page level on your site.

• Google+ - Like Facebook, page shares result in page level signals.

• Flickr.com - Yahoo!’s sleeping giant. Still relevant, highly trusted w/ embed links.

• Twitter - If your site uses Twitter Cards, default on blog posts. Twitpics. More page level signals.

• Tumblr - Reblogging leads to links, views and brand interaction.

Get in Front of Who Matters


Everyone loves video and YES it can drive signals to your site if done right.

• YouTube.com- World’s 2nd largest search engine. 40% of traffic is mobile. Google

loves promoting its own videos in SERPS.

• Vine.com & Instagram - 2 minutes is too long for most attention spans. 7

seconds or 16 seconds is perfect. Behind scenes / Previews … link to source &

syndicate.

Video - Get in Front of Who Matters


Get in Front Your Established Customers

Your established lists are your true brand ambassadors. Expand the perimeters.

• Email -> Tastefully bring your content to your customer inboxes

• Industry bloggers, influencers, social users follow and love your brand

• Social Media -> Mobilize your audience by giving them the means to become your

brand advocates and spread your message to their connections

• Press Releases -> Good (even Bad) PR gets better with Visual Assets

• Ad Retargeting -> Google, AdRoll, Meteoraand other retargeting tools can serve a

custom message to the users who visited your site or clicked on relevant

Facebook ads


Consolidate Content Into One PageDevelop pages that have the best, most relevant content in your vertical

• Your on-site resource page can now start including the collateral that you have just syndicated.

• Include Slideshare hosted eBooks or Infographics

• Include Video

• Include Embeds to Others who have Tweeted About You

• Include Instagram Embeds

• Make your resource / glossary / hub the best user experience possible


@lorenbaker

/lorenbaker

/lorenbaker

Current Trends in Link Building & Content Marketing

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Transcript of Current Trends in Link Building & Content Marketing