Link Building the Right Way

Chicago | November 12–16

Link Building the Right Way Chuck PriceMeasurable SEOCEO

Chicago | November 12–16, 2012 | #SESCHI

Link Building Post Penguin

@ChuckPrice518


Link Building Starts at Home

• Panda was a game changer. For the first time, a minimum level of content quality was necessary to achieve top rankings.

• From a UX perspective, this was always important, but now it's mandatory in order to rank well.

• Leveraging your existing link juice and trust is logical place to begin and is a no risk, yet highly rewarding task.

• It all begins with a good website architecture

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What Makes for Good Architecture?

Many of us Ponder the Question – WWGD?

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If Google Operated a Website like yours, what would it look like?

This isn't a hypothetical question...

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Google will gladly provide you with a list of website that they own and actively consult on.

Just navigate toJust navigate to GoogleVentures.com

for an answerfor an answer

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Over 75 Websites that Google has invested in are listed here

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“...every VC has a mentor network these days. We provide unparalleled (and real) access to Google’s massive network of employees and alumni”.

Source: http://www.googleventures.com/hands-on

Google Is investing MUCH more than just cash into these websites

@ChuckPrice518


GV is a great resource for competitive or comparative analysis

Let's say you have a client similar to a company that specializes in:

Custom Made Furniture - Home Decor - Custom Jewelry-Custom Home Renovations- Made in the USA

Then you have something in common with Google: www.custommade.com

> 1.4 Million pages indexed

@ChuckPrice518


Follow Googles lead – Incorporate Lots of Exact Match Anchor Text for Navigation Links

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Internal Linking Structure

CustomMade.com

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Myth Buster:Detailed Footer Links are NOT SPAM

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@ChuckPrice518

100% increase in SE traffic

According to Boston.com: “Google Ventures sent in one of its research partners, Michael Margolis, a developer … after the makeover,

Custom Made saw a 200 percent jump in the number of people logging in to start projects

Source: http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2012/02/06/google_ventures_gives_start_ups_cash_and_hands_on_hel

p/


On-Page / Interlinking TakeawaysInternal links can have a BIG impact, as you control everything from location on the page to the

anchor text.

• Use the Home page extensively. Google consistently rewards sites with lots of EMAT links & big fat footers

• Use OSE to identify your most powerful sub-pages

• Interlink power pages to your most important (target) pages

• Use Bread Crumbs

• Use an interlinks plugin if you have a wordpress site.

@ChuckPrice518


• Link Schemes that run contrary to Google’s guidelines• “Unusual” or unnatural linking patterns• Low Value Websites• Low Value / non-editorial Links• Velocity of Link Growth

Link Building Post PenguinPenguin is just the latest in a series of Google Algorithm updates targeting

Penguin is also commonly credited for targeting aggressive exact match anchor text and spammy on-page optimization techniques. This has not been supported by our research and is likely a correlational issue.

@ChuckPrice518


• Audit and remove bad links. A tool such as Link Detox can be useful.

• Find or create something to leverage that is link worthy. Perform outreach to facilitate a content / social strategy. The best links require editorial approval – target those links in your link acquisition efforts

• Diversify your Anchor Text. Actively build brand links, but don't be afraid of exact match anchor text (EMAT) or partial match anchor text (PMAT)

• Invest in the right tools: SEOMoz, Majestic, ahrefs, LRT all do a good job

The “Do's” for Creating a Natural Backlink Profile

@ChuckPrice518


A natural backlink portfolio contains an assortment of link types pointing to your website. It's a good idea to focus your link strategy around these common link types”

Brand links – Variations include: Your Domain, YourDomain.com, www.YourDomain.com, YourDomain

Exact-match anchor text keyword links – These anchor text links should point to the most appropriate page on the website (the one you are optimizing)

Partial-match keyword links – It’s important not to over-optimize with exact match keywords, otherwise you could trip a phrase based filter.

Generic Links – like “Read More” or “Click Here.” Keep in mind that good content should fill this need with little if any work required on your part.

Page title links – Some of your links should be the same as your page title.

Link Diversity – Diversify your anchor text

@ChuckPrice518


DON’T bring a shotgun to the rifle range – don’t remove links just for the sake of doing so; make sure they’re actually causing a problem.

DON’T “de-optimize” Without a Plan – have a plan in place as opposed to acting blindly.

DON’T Submit a Reconsideration Request – the Penguin Update is algorithmic, which means it will refresh itself (i.e., a manual reconsideration won’t help).

DON’T be too quick to Use the Link Disavow Too – This tool should be used as a last resort for a website that has burned to the ground and has not recovered after a link clean up and Penguin refresh.

The “Dont's” for Creating a Natural Backlink Profile

@ChuckPrice518


Link to Targeted Sub-pages NOT just the Home Page

Penguin Winners, on average, have 53% of all links pointed to the Homepage. In contrast, the losers had 68% of their links pointed to The Home Page.

Source: Christoph Cemper / Link Detox

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Penguin hits websites with a High Percentage of Links from low quality sites

The Penguin losers have a link porfolio in which 20% of all backlinks come from low quality Spam sites with no trust or authority. Compare this to the winners, which have only 1% coming from those types of sites (primarily scrapers).


@ChuckPrice518


Domain Authority is a BIG factor

Penguin winners have 18% of their links coming from domains with high trust & authority. In contrast, only 3% of the losers' links came from powerful websites. It’s very clear the winners have a higher proportion of links from more established and bigger websites.


@ChuckPrice518


Myth Buster: Exact Match Anchor Text Isn't Dead

Penguin winners have a 46% mix of Trophy KW phrases in their backlink profile as compared to 30% for the losers. Brand links account for 41% of the mix for winners and 48% for losers. - Source: Christoph Cemper / Link Detox

@ChuckPrice518


“… every single site we looked at which got negatively hit by the Penguin Update had a ‘money keyword’ as its anchor text for over 60% of its incoming links.” “… if under 50% of your anchor text for incoming links were ‘money keywords’ it’s all but guaranteed you weren’t affected by this update.”

The Exact Match Tipping point is pretty high

Source: Microsite Masters

@ChuckPrice518


Growth of new linking root domains per month is a Key factor

The winners have more than double the linking domain growth, per month, as the losers. Winners have acquired, on average, 133 new links per Month. Compare this to 51 for the losers, over the past two years.

@ChuckPrice518


• In EVERY case, the losers had a higher proportion of links from websites with no trust nor authority.

• In EVERY case, the losers had a considerably higher distribution of brand links vs. EMAT or Money Links.

• In EVERY case, the losers had a higher proportion of home page links.

• It’s not enough to just build links. More links and better quality is the right way to build links in 2012 & beyond.

• Diversity Traffic Sources – look for other sources of traffic (Social media) to help protect against future Google updates

Penguin Analysis Takeaways

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Safe and EFFECTIVE Link BuildingStrategies For 2012 and beyond

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Doing it the Right way means that you'll never find one of these “Love Letters” in your GWT:

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Step Oneto creating an effective link

building strategy:

Assess the current

situation:

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Optimize Existing Links

Export Your Links

Separate the <a>noText<a> back links

Sort by Rank

Reach out to Webmasters where links appear on high value pages and ask for A/T if appropriate

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Free Links from Google ~ sort of:)

• Reclaim Links that you already “own”

• Use GWT to discover broken links

• Go to GWT, click on your website, then "Site health" then "Crawl Errors" in the left Nav. A list of urls and response codes will appear at the bottom of the page

• "Repair" the broken links by using a 301 redirect

@ChuckPrice518


Using your favorite backlink tool, export your competitors' backlinks to a CSV. Using link metrics, sort the links and focus on the best opportunities.

Research competitors – The Micro perspective

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• Identify what your competitors are doing and emulate the “best of”...

• Do they have a press release strategy?

• Are they submitting their site to niche directories?

• Are they utilizing content marketing?

• Are they performing Blogger outreach?

• Are they building partnerships or sponsoring events?

• Are they buying links?

Research competitors – the Macro perspective

@ChuckPrice518


• This approach is akin to reverse engineering backlinks

• Look for “Link Worthy” content ideas.

• Link Worthy ideas are found on urls with lots of BackLinks from unique domains

• Could include great articles, info-graphics, widgets, etc

• Chances are, if this type of content attracted links for your competitor, it will be successful for you, too.

Reverse engineering assets

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Turning Citations into LinksLook for urls that mention your brand & brand variations but are not linking to you.

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Automatic Attribution• Use a copy detection and attribution service like www.tynt.com or a script such as the ones

created by Adam Dimech: http://bit.ly/KcPsT0

• According to Tynt, this automatic attribution link can drive up to 40% more visits to a page. Plus you get a relevant, non-anchor link. Example: http://www.ehow.com/slideshow_12249095_pony-up-ways-revamp-ponytail.html

• When you Copy this:Ponytails aren’t just for school girls anymore—even Hollywood’s hottest stars are sporting the swingy updo everywhere we look.

• You get this, too:Read more: Pony Up: 7 Ways to Revamp Your Ponytail | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/slideshow_12249095_pony-up-ways-revamp-ponytail.html#ixzz2B4fbfxWw

@ChuckPrice518


Guest Posting Opportunities

Keyword + intitle:“write for us” Keyword + intitle:“contribute to” Keyword + intitle:“submit” + inurl:blog

inpostauthor:guest + keyword inpostauthor:”guest blog” + keyword inpostauthor:”guest post” + keyword

inurl:.edu keyword club inurl:.edu keyword group inurl:.edu keyword organization



Or... Just use the SEOteky Guest Post Query Generator@ChuckPrice518


Get image links• If your website is designed in CSS, submit it to CSS directories like CSS Mania,

Best Web Gallery or CSS Elite.

• No time for that? Have your site submitted to over 100 galleries for $20 with CSS Gallery List.

• TinEye is a reverse image search engine. You can use it to track down websites using your images. If you find an unlinked image, ask for a link.

@ChuckPrice518


Broken linksBroken link building (dead link building) involves pointing out a broken link on a website

and asking for a link to your website as a replacement for the bad link.

• Highly Scalable – the web is filled with bad links

• High conversion rate – you are offering a compelling reason to link to your website and have helped to fix an error.

• For details, see this article at SEOMoz: Broken Link Building Guide: From Noob to Novice

@ChuckPrice518


Unlike general web directories, niche specific directories only accept sites that meet a certain criteria.

Insist on:

• Quality – Make certain the directory is indexed. Most quality directories are paid directories – the cost of entry is a barrier to spammers.

• Relevance – must have a suitable category for your listing

Niche Directories

@ChuckPrice518


Create content targeted to your niche for outreach.

• Crawl your target site (The one that you want a link from) looking for outbound links and broken links.

• Look for patterns in the content that is being linked to. Create content in sync with the pattern that you find.

• Create “Better than original” content as a replacement for the broken links. A copy of most anything worth recreating can be found in the Wayback Machine

• This tactic is often used to acquire .edu backlinks.

Targeted Niche Content Marketing

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“How to” guides and tutorials are extremely popular and can attract tons of links ~ especially video tutorials.

It's no accident that YouTube hosts over 6.6 Million tutorials.

Don't let the cost or complexity deter you – the payback is too good to pass up.

How to guides and and tutorials

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Not unlike directories, Quality & relevance determines the value of these links.

Make sure the page is indexed

Make certain that you are comfortable being associated with the other outbound links on the page. Must be related to your niche.

Not to be confused with the millions of Spammy and Link Trade pages

Resources / Links pages

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Search for “keyword niche glossary” and find what is out there. Create a master list from the glossaries that already exist, and consolidate these ideas.

Format the glossary to improve your chances of appearing in Google’s definitions search.

• The longer the glossary is live, the more “authority” and backlinks it acquires. You may need to update it occasionally, but unlike many forms of linkbait, it never gets stale.

• Interlink the Glossary Terms to your target urls

Create a Glossary of Terms

@ChuckPrice518


Using Seasonal content for Link Building

Plan ahead and start your SEO early. Remember, you need to start the process months before the actual season

“Seasonal” content will attract natural links for years to come, so keep it active.

.Seasonal + Data = Infographic

@ChuckPrice518


Using National Holidays & Events for Content Marketing

Winner in this category: Pumpkin Giving Birth:Posted to Facebook by Blessed Birth Doula Services. This is a great example of creative and linkworthy content for a difficult niche.

@ChuckPrice518


Egobait

Appeal to market influencers by writing a flattering commentary in a blog post ~ one they can't resist linking back to.

For ideas, check out:

How I Got an 80% Success Rate on My Latest Outreach Campaign

By Anthony D. Nelson

@ChuckPrice518


Free Online ToolsEveryone loves tools – especially when they are free and they are useful. Aaron Wall of SEOBook.com has leveraged his free tool suite into a link Juggernaut

http://tools.seobook.com/

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Creating Widgets for Link Building• Just like Free Tools, Widgets are virtual link magnets, IF they are useful or clever.

• I recommend Widgetbox.com as a platform for building Widgets. They offer free (ad supported) and low cost paid options.

• Submit to the widget directories. They’re not highly visible, so it’s best not to rely on them for distribution.

• Contact Webmasters in the targeted niche, to explain the benefit of placing your widget on their website. Sometimes in may be useful to offer a compelling reason to do so (ex: $25-$50 credit against a purchase, etc)

@ChuckPrice518


Blogging contest: Require participants to post about the contest on their blog & link back to you, the sponsor. Typical Cost $25 - $50

Clubs: Do a search for “Keyword” club (This may require a little bit of creative thinking and stretch in relevance). Many of these clubs will be happy to have you as a sponsor and link to your site. Typical cost $50

Events: Do a Google search for “Keyword” sponsors needed and you will find no shortage of sponsorship opportunities. Typical cost $100 - $200.

Industry Conferences:Sponsorship Options: SES Chicago 2012 - November 12-16 - SES ...sesconference.com/chicago/sponsorships.html

l "Premium Sponsorships: Platinum, Gold, Silver. Price, $38,000, $24,000, $12,000. Booth Size, 20x20ft, 20x10ft, 10x10ft. Complimentary Passes, 10, 5, 5. Website ...

Sponsorships Opportunities that Yield Links

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Donate to charities & non profitsRun a search for “donators page” and “donations page” and you will be presented with a virtual menu of options for organizations to donate to.Typical cost $100 - $200

Karma: Priceless:)

@ChuckPrice518


Using Scholarships for .K12 and .edu Link BuildingScholarships can easily become link magnets for .k12 and .edu backlinks. Award a moderate scholarship in the $300-500 range and begin your outreach to every High School and College that may be interested. The scalability of this one is off the chart and the conversion rate is incredible. Not to mention that you are doing a good thing.

An example of a company effectively using this approach is CustomMade.comhttp://www.custommade.com/scholarships/Check out our current scholarship opportunities:··“Consumer Advantages of Buying Custom Furniture” Scholarship··“Consumer Advantages of Buying Custom Jewelry” Scholarship

@ChuckPrice518


Links from the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and the Chamber of Commerce are great for both link building and Trust Building.

Consider your membership fee as a cost of doing business. Not only do you benefit from some powerful links, but you're building trust and adding a new source of local traffic.

Local Business Groups

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Twitter - Use Your Twitter Profile for Link BuildingHere's Fifteen sites that will either automatically link back to you using information in your Twitter profile or will allow you to sign in with Twitter and add links because of it

• Klout• Twitter Grader• Twellow• TwitterCounter• Twitaholic• Listorious• TweetLevel• Favstar

• twtBizCard• Favorious• Retweet Rank• TagWalk• Crowdreel• SNpros• Twitperts

– source: Kristi Hines

@ChuckPrice518


Questions?We absolutely love them

Chuck [email protected]

www.measurableseo.com@chuckprice518

518-396-5550Skype: Prowebpromo

You will find this Presentation At http://www.measurableseo.com/link-building-the-

right-way

Link Building the Right Way

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