KEY LINKBUILDINGSTRATEGIESPatrick AltoftDirector of Search

Links Are Important

Link Analysis• Very important to carry out link analysis for

your site and your competitors before you start to build links

• Every site needs different links and you don’t know what links you need until you have carried out the analysis

• We offer free link analysis & link strategy suggestions to anybody who emails us

Competition Link Profile AnalysisClient Anchor Text Distri-

bution

BrandBrand + KeywordKeywordNoise

Competitor 1 Anchor Text Distribution

BrandBrand + KeywordKeywordNoiseCompetitor 2 Anchor Text

Distribution

BrandBrand + KeywordKeywordNoise

Competitor AnalysisCompetitor 1 Anchor Text Vari-

ations voucher codes

voucher codes UK

discount codes

Net Voucher Codes

promotional codes

netvouchercodes.co.uk

free voucher codes

park resorts discount codes

discount voucher codes

Expedia Voucher Codes

Hotels.com Discount Code

thomson voucher codes

Thomson Holidays Discount Codes

Competitor 2 Anchor Text Variation

vouchercodes.co.ukVoucher Codeswww.vouchercodes.co.ukVoucherCodes(img alt) [No Anchor Text]http://www.Voucher-Codes.co.uk(img alt) (img) [No Anchor Text][No Anchor Text](img alt) 215x224 Fash-ion 100 Banner

Domain Authority

1 5 9 13 17 21 25 29 33 37 41 45 49 53 57 61 65 69 73 77 81 85 89 93 970

50

100

150

200

250

Linking Domain Authority

NVCVouchercodesMyVoucherCodes

Different Types Of Links

Link Type

s

Linkbait

Paid Links

Guest Content

Syndication

Exchanging Links

Social Links

Giveaways

Prospect List• The easiest links to get are from people you

already knowo Customerso Supplierso Friendso Bloggers

• Email everybody you know asking whether you can contribute some content to their site in return for a link

Outreach• Once you have emailed your initial list you

need to broaden your reach• Find blogs in your sector, make friends with

the editors• List sites and email lots of people offering

content or other incentiveso Pay for links (carefully)o Give products away for reviews, competitions

Linkbait• Linkbait is the art of creating a piece of

content to place on your website with the aim of attracting links

• It’s pretty hard to do and should only be done after you have explored other easier options

• Sites are reluctant to link to commercial sites which reduces the impact of your linkbait

• Links usually point to the linkbait page rather than your commercial page

• Hard to control anchor text

Linkbait Is Not About Social Shares

Linkbait Has to Get Links

Link Penalties• Bad links can hurt sites and the only way you

can recover is to remove the links and submit a re-inclusion request

• The biggest risk is if you acquire links through a link network

• If you outsource to an agency they should send you a link report every month – you need to look through this and see if you think the links are on good sites

• If the links look bad they probably are

Don’t get links from these people

Or these……

Example Strategy – Travel Site, Cumbria• We shortlisted all tourist attractions & asked

for links on their “How to find us” or “Where to stay” pages

• We wrote about things to do in Cumbria and mentioned the best tourist attractions in return

• Published travel guides to Cumbria on lots of travel blogs

• Arranged for sites about mountain biking, walking etc to add links to local accommodation for each ride/walk

Example Strategy – Gadget Retailer• Made friends with 100+ blogs and give away

products to review• Arranged a scheme with bloggers where they

link to our clients product page when they write about a new product

• Allow bloggers to use high quality images as long as they add a link back to the source

Example Strategy – Financial Site• Publish regular press releases commenting on

stories in the press and releasing statistics on financial issues and products

• Our in-house journalists cover the story on lots of relevant blogs

Example Strategy – High Street chain• High Street chains offer a unique local

opportunity• We spoke to local newspapers across the UK

and published dozens of interesting stories about their specific local business

• For example a newspaper in Manchester could talk about how the Manchester branch of a particular department store was running a promotion on a certain product & link to the ecommerce page

Example Strategy – Flight Comparison Site• Targeted tourist attractions with “how to find

us” pages and placed links to the “flights to xxx” page

• Published travel guides on blogs for each major city in the UK with an airport

• Arranged for 100 tech blogs to review iPhone and Android apps

Example Strategy – Bingo Site• Targeted mummy blogs with infographics• Arranged articles in local newspapers

focussing on local bingo trends

Questions?

• www.branded3.com• patrick@branded3.com

• twitter.com/patrickaltoft• www.blogstorm.co.uk