smx search marketing bootcamp march 2014 - the art and science of links

Link Building BootcampThe art and science of links.

Debra MastalerAlliance-Link.com

@debramastaler

• Slides on SMX Slideshare but note taking highly recommended

• Q&A at end of session

• Tweet this session But! Please respect request not to tweet

• This presentation is copyrighted and cannot be reprinted

©Copyright Alliance-Link

@debramastalerAlliance-Link.com

MarketingTools247.com

Agenda

• Search algorithms – The influence of link popularity & social signals

• Link building trends – What to avoid.

• Tactics – What is working?

Copyright Alliance-Link



Search Engine Rankings January 2014

http://www.comscore.com/Insights/Press_Releases/2014/2/comScore_Releases_January_2014_US_Search_Engine_Rankings

67.3%

18.2%

10.8%

2.5 % 1.3%

© Alliance-Link.com @debramastaler #SMX

Organic vs. Paid




Organic

Paid

What Makes A Page Rank? (Google)

Copyright Alliance-Link @debramastaler

Alliance-Link.comMarketingTools247.com

http://moz.com/blog/ranking-factors-2013

http://www.google.com/competition/images/search-algorithms.png

Google = 200+ ranking signals

Bing = 1000+ ranking signals

http://moz.com/blog/ranking-factors-2013

http://www.google.com/competition/images/search-algorithms.png

http://searchengineland.com/schmidt-listing-googles-200-ranking-factors-would-reveal-business-secrets-51065

http://www.bing.com/blogs/site_blogs/b/search/archive/2011/02/01/thoughts-on-search-quality.aspx

What Makes A Page Rank? (Google)




“long clicks” and “short clicks”

What About Social Signals?



Google Bing

FacebookTwitterQuora

Says:




http://www.thedrum.com/news/2013/02/11/eric-schmidt-confirms-google-content-given-search-priority

…”Within search results, information tied to verified online profiles will be

ranked higher than content without such verification, which will result in most

users naturally clicking on the top (verified) results. The true cost of remaining

anonymous, then, might be irrelevance.”

http://www.thedrum.com/news/2013/02/11/eric-schmidt-confirms-google-content-given-search-priority

Using To Rank

• Build a strong network , find active and influential people to add to your circles.

• Get links from sites/pages in the Google + network.

• Include your Google + profile in your author bio




Bottom Line? Link Popularity Still Dominate Factor




“…we have run experiments internally and the quality looks

much worse,

turns out backlinks, even though there is some noise and certainly a lot of spam, are still a really really

big win in terms of quality for search results.

…backlink relevance still really helps in terms of making sure we return

the best most relevant…search results.”

Feb 2014

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCY30WhI2og

Google Engineer Matt Cutts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCY30WhI2og

What Is Link Popularity?




• Link popularity measures the quality and quantity of links pointing to a page.

• Considered an off-page factor

Slang: link juice, link pop, link love

Link Popularity – Four Components




Quantity Quality

RelevanceAnchor

Text

Link Quantity




Link QualityDetermined by the authority of the host sites and the sites linking to them.

Quality flows from one page/site to the next through links.




Your page

Site X

Site A

Site B

Site Y Site C

Link Quality, Also Known As:

All three engines have a formula to measure and compute quality:




PageRank™

TrustRank

NetRank(?)

RelevanceWorks to establish your topical and/or geographic dominance




Links to

and from

contextually

relevant or

thematically

related sites

convey more

authority.

Anchor Text




• The clickable part of the link you see

My child and my money go to The University of Virginia.

My son spends a lot of money buying college text books.

Visit us at www.instatetuitionrocks.com for more information.

• An endorsement of what is to come

• Provides ranking weight and semantic value

Branded anchor

Keyword anchor

URL anchor

Your Goal When Building Links:




Secure a lot of links from (quantity)

Quality pages using (quality)

Appropriate anchors on (anchor text)

Thematically related pages using (relevance)

Authoritative social media profiles (G+/FB/T)




Part Two

• Scalable tactics devalued

• Flags and footprints

• Cleaning up “bad” links

Algorithm Changes, Tactics Devalued(Google gets specific)




Forum links Forum comments with optimized links in the post or signature

Directories Low-quality directory or bookmark site links

Promotional Links Sending someone a “free” product in exchange for them writing about it and including a link

Widget marketing Keyword-rich, hidden or low-quality links embedded in widgets that are distributed across various sites

https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/66356?hl=en




Algorithm Changes, Tactics Devalued




Press Releases Links with optimized anchor text in articles or press releases distributed on other sites. For example

Guest Blogging Large-scale article marketing or guest posting campaigns with keyword-rich anchor text links

Content Outreach Services Using automated programs or services to create links to your site

(Google gets specific)

creating links that weren’t editorially placed… can be considered a violation of our guidelines.





How You Use Anchor Text Makes A Difference




• My child and my money go to The University of Virginia.

• My son spends a lot of money buying college text books.

• Visit us at www.instatetuitionrocks.com for more information.

Branded anchor

Keyword anchor

URL anchor

…”The following are examples of link schemes…

Large-scale article marketing or guest posting campaigns with keyword-rich anchor text links…”


Anchor Text Best Practice

Example 1: What Not To Do



No image

Branded anchorLink to G+ profile

Image also featured in G+ profile

Example 2: Best Practice

Flags And Footprints To Avoid




• Do not secure the same type of link over and over

• Avoid linking with low quality pages

• Stay out of known networks

• Avoid placing links in navigation and sponsored areas

• Avoid pages/sites hosting excessive reciprocals and site-wides

• Avoid sites with ads above the fold or excessive Adsense

• Don’t use a directory mentioning the word SEO

• Avoid sites with no Contact or About Us info

Before You Link Checklist

Is the page your link will sit on in the index?

Has the page been cached lately?

Is the site/page tied to an active Google + profile?

Does the site participate in social media (FB/Twitter/Pin)

Is the website tied to a network or content service?

Are all the posts written by guest authors?

Is my content competing with Adsense?

Is the host site topically compatible with mine?

Site/page have contact information?




Cleaning Up Bad Links

• Pull links from Google Webmaster Tools link list

• Pull links from two additional sources (Majestic/Ahrefs/Moz, etc)

• Keep detailed notes

• Make multiple efforts to contact webmasters

• “Some” is not enough.

• Wait two weeks after using disavow to submit reconsideration



Part Three




What Works? (Which strategy and set of tactics should you focus on?




Attraction Content Universal

Foundational Links

Content

Sourcing

What Works? (What should you be focused on?)




Attraction Content

Reviews

Interviews

Crowd sourced articles

White papers

Case studies

Newsletters

Universal

Video

Image sourcing

Webinars

Infographics

Media links

Social networks

Foundational

Directories

Reclaiming broken links

Email outreach

Comment dropping

Reciprocal linking

Forum links

Sponsorships

Content

Sourcing

Article writing

Guest blogging

Widgets & Badges

Attraction content

50%Universal

25%

Foundational

15%

Content

sourcing

10%

Column1




Attraction Content

How Do You Attract People To Your Content?




Relationship Channelscustomers

family/friends

influencers

business associates

memberships

1.Relationship channels

2.Traditional media outreach

3.Social media outreach

4.Paid ad campaigns



• Search social media profiles by keywords

• Lists # of followers

• Free and/or paid versions

• General alert service (free)

• General alert service (free)

• General search

• General search

• Lists forums by keyword

Tools To Find Influencers Attraction Content

Outreach Example




TIP: Search Google + Communities to find influencers

Using Memberships To Attract Traffic And Links

Chamber of Commerce

Associations

User groups

Clubs




Getting a link from these organizations is

“nice”, but the real gold is in their membership

lists.

Attraction Content

Finding Media Contacts

• Media wants “fact based” information/content

• Infographics work best on media outlets




Attraction Content

Buy media listshttp://muckrack.com/

Gebbie PressBacon’s Media List (Cision)

Search Twitterhttp://www.presspass.me/

http://www.journaliststoolbox.org/archive/twitter-resources/

Tap an industry Association

Online Researchhttp://journalisted.com/list

http://www.helpareporter.com/

http://muckrack.com/

http://www.gebbieinc.com/

http://us.cision.com/media-database/media-database-overview.asp

http://www.presspass.me/

http://www.journaliststoolbox.org/archive/twitter-resources/

http://journalisted.com/list

http://www.helpareporter.com/




What Attracts The Most Links And Traffic?

Influencers

Crowd sourced articles (egobait)

White PapersInterviews (video)

Business associatesInterviews (written)

White papers

Traditional MediaInfographicsCase studiesReviews (third party)

Through paid adsWhite papersNewsletters (with free offer)

Universal Linking Strategies




Universal

Video

Image sourcing

Webinars

Infographics

Media links

Social networks

Offer images and/or content in exchange for link credit

Search for blogs (keyword + blog)

You must own the image!

Using Images To Net Links




When you find someone using your image without linking back, write and ask for the link.

Universal

Using Video To Attract Links



Great linkbait for media and .edu sites

Universal

Reclaiming Links




Foundational

Directories

Reclaiming broken links

Email outreach

Comment dropping

Reciprocal linking

Forum links

Sponsorships

Tool Free/Paid

Chrome Plug-in (Check My Links) free

Ontolo paid

Citation Labs paid

Replace broken links on other people’s pages with your links.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/check-my-links/ojkcdipcgfaekbeaelaapakgnjflfglf

http://brokenlinkbuilding.com/

Video

Articles

Coupons

Photos

Contests

Downloads

Employment BlogAffiliate

Foundational Links | Niche DirectoriesFoundational

General & Niche Directories



Directory Source

General

Affiliate http://website101.com/affiliate/directory-listings/

Blog http://www.web-directories.ws/Press/Blogs/

Coupons http://www.onlinecoupon.com/web-directories/

Downloads http://www.dmoz.org/Computers/Software/Shareware/Directories/

Photos http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_photo_sharing_websites

RSS http://www.toprankblog.com/rss-blog-directories/

Video http://www.fridaytrafficreport.com/list-of-29-free-video-sharing-sites/

Avoid using free general directories and making directory links a large % of your backlinks.

Foundational

http://botw.org/

http://botw.org/

Guest Blogging For Links



How do I get influential bloggers to accept my guest post?

– Mutual friend introduction

– Point of commonality

– Showcase past writing

– Flaunt Twitter/Facebook/G+ followers

Content

Sourcing

Article writing

Guest blogging

Widgets & Badges

Where Do I Find Guest Blogging Opportunities?



Keyword + Submit a guest post Keyword + join writing staff

Keyword + Submit an article Keyword + Contribute to our site

Keyword + Write for us Keyword + Suggest a guest post

Keyword + guest writer Keyword + Submit blog post

Tools: SoloSEO Link (free) | Link Prospector | Ontolo

Directories: Google Blog Directory, Technorati Blog Directory

Avoid partnering with blogs where each entry is a guest post.Stay out of the networks!

Content

Sourcing

@debramastaler #SMX © Alliance-Link.com

Where can I find quality sources (not blogs) to host my content?

Author + Keyword

Writer Keyword

Guide Keyword

Columnist Keyword

Contributor Keyword

Editor Keyword

Freelance writer Keyword

Find authors and you’ll find sources

Content

Sourcing

Content Syndication




Presentations for Slideshare

Turn presentation into video

Pinterest board

eBooks

Content

Sourcing

Re-write/shorten evergreen content and syndicate on high volume sites, turn your written content into:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/powerpoint-help/turn-your-presentation-into-a-video-HA010336763.aspx

© Alliance-Link.com

Article Writing For Google+Content

Sourcing

Three times a week, write an opinion piece type article for your Google + page only.

Encourage comments and discussion.

@debramastaler


Tip Lightning Round• Turn all written content into Podcasts, upload to iTunes and podcast directories

• Widgets not a good idea unless you can control where they are placed.

• Contests, sponsorships, scholarships, etc – all good ideas but one-off tactic.

• Follow key media on Twitter, engage.

• Fax press releases directly to media, forget the release outlets.

• Find an SEO forum/community and start listening/sharing.

• Use TalkWalker.com instead of Google Alerts.

• Circle Count tool to find G+ influencers.



Key Takeaways:


1. Keep the key components of link popularity in mind when building links.

2. Always look for partner sites with social sharing especially G+.

3. Don’t scrimp on a copywriter.

4. Invest in SEO/link tools after using free trials

5. Budget the bulk of your resources into creating evergreen content.

6. Add email capture to everything, put content behind it or “content for a tweet”.

7. Remember… it’s not what you do, it’s where you do it that matters.



Thank you!

Debra Mastaler

ADDRESS :

Fairfax Station, Virginia

EMAIL :

[email protected]

WWW :

www.alliance-link.com

www.marketingtools247.com

@debramastaler

Alliance-Link on Facebook

Google+

I specialize in creating targeted link marketing plans for large and small business. If you

need a list of content ideas and titles plus a list of sites to contact for placement, check out

my Link Building Blueprint program on Alliance-Link.com. ~Debra

http://www.alliance-link.com/

twitter.com/debramastaler

https://www.facebook.com/AllianceLink

https://plus.google.com/u/0/103682117587904833322/posts

smx search marketing bootcamp march 2014 - the art and science of links

Marketing

link quality

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link juice

link love

link building bootcamp

quantity of links