Link Building Strategies That Increase Monthly Revenue by

$240,740Ross Hudgens, Founder, Siege Media

@RossHudgens  |  http://siegemedia.com

Slides: http://bit.ly/lb-engage

What is Link Building?Does it Still Work?

Some would argue no.

https://moz.com/blog/the-seo-myth-of-going-viral

Some would argue yes.

https://moz.com/blog/what-link-building-success-really-looks-like

@rosshudgens  |

My answer?Yes, but link

building can’t fix a broken business.

@rosshudgens  |

And link building can’t fix a broken strategy.

The reason their strategy didn’t work is that they were trying to fix a broken business with link

building.

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Throughout that, nobody figured out that the semantic connection on this

site is broken.

If I’m looking for a hotel near a casino to go to a casino, I’m not clicking

“ConcertHotels.com”. I’m not going to a concert.

Yet, they have 7,000+ casino pages.

https://www.google.com/search?pws=0&q=site%3Aconcerthotels.com+casino

@rosshudgens  |

No wonder link building

doesn’t work.

They should rebrand to EventHotels.com or

VenueHotels.com and/or cut down their venues dramatically.

@rosshudgens  |

What about SimplyBusiness.co.uk?

@rosshudgens  |

They had several viral hits, but growth wasn’t amazing.

http://www.simplybusiness.co.uk/microsites/googleplus-for-small-businesses/

http://www.simplybusiness.co.uk/microsites/twitter-for-small-businesses/

@rosshudgens  |

http://www.simplybusiness.co.uk/microsites/google-analytics-guide/

@rosshudgens  |

But where were the internal links? Only in the footer:

http://www.simplybusiness.co.uk/microsites/google-analytics-guide/

What about that reasonable surfer model?

https://moz.com/blog/10-illustrations-on-search-engines-valuation-of-links

Would links pointing in have more impact on pages with 100+ links to valuable internal pages, or 3

and 30 external?

Only ~13% of the links to this resulted in

homepage links.

@rosshudgens  |

30-40% homepage links is achievable.

http://www.siegemedia.com/seo/how-to-build-landing-page-links-with-blog-content

Lack of branding isn’t helping that effort.

WHERE’S THE LOGO?

@rosshudgens  |

All that said, SimpyBusiness.co.uk still grew. But maybe they could have grown

faster.

What is Good Content-Based Link Building in

2017?

In 2016, seven clients made significant

linkable content

investments with Siege

Media.

@rosshudgens  |

These clients saw, on average, a 117,429 visit increase in monthly

search traffic YOY.

@rosshudgens  |

They also saw, on average, a $240,740 increase in monthly traffic

value YOY.

Good, content-basedlink building works.

@rosshudgens  |

Good content-based link building...

..utilizes topically relevant content that is developed in the site

architecture.

..has close proximity to valuable internal links above

the fold.

@rosshudgens  |

..supports the brand topically and indirectly helps bottom-funnel

landing pages.

.. is structured in a way that supports

secondary KPIs such as social

following, email signups, and high funnel rankings.

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..and is aligned with a follow-up campaign that generates landing

page links.

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Great content based link building should help bottom and top funnel content rank.

@rosshudgens  |

Strategies for Taking Content-Based Link Building

to the Next Level

@rosshudgens  |

Prioritize top and middle funnel topics with high average LRDs across the top

~5 results.

For those with great photography, leverage Flickr Creative Commons to

host.

@rosshudgens  |

High Leverage, Low Cost Content-Based Link Building Initiatives

@rosshudgens  |

Single-Question Survey

Time to Create: 16 hours Upside Score: 3 Volatility Score: 7 Non-Labor Cost: ~$200

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Single-Question Survey

Upside: Unexpected stories that come out of data. Risks: Expected stories that come out of the data.

@rosshudgens  |

Two-Question Opt-In Survey

Time to Create: 16 hours Upside Score: 6 Volatility Score: 6 Non-Labor Cost: ~$1500

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Two-Question Opt-In Survey

Upside: Responses are more likely to be interesting.Risks: Data may still not be interesting, collection gets expensive.

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Four-Five Question Single-Answer Survey/”Report”

Time to Create: 30 hours Upside Score: 7 Volatility Score: 5 Non-Labor Cost: $1000

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Four-Five Question Single-Answer Survey/”Report”

Upside: More authoritative, and more likely to result in interesting data. Risks: More $$. Question picking is more difficult due to need for one-step questions.

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City-Based Data Studies

Time to create: 16 hours Upside Score: 7 Volatility Score: 4 Non-Labor Cost: $100-$250

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City-Based Data Studies

Upside: Right brand alignment means high social spread.Risks: Saturated SEO strategy many reporters see through.

Search-Driven Top & Middle Funnel Content

Time to create: 30-50 hours Upside Score: 8 Volatility Score: 5

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Search-Driven Top & Middle Funnel Content

Upside: Additional business value besides links.Risks: Many of these assets aren’t inherently linkable.

a

Non-Search-Driven Top & Middle Funnel Driven Assets

Time to create: 20-40 hours Upside Score: 5 Volatility Score: 2

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Non-Search-Driven Top & Middle Funnel Driven Assets

Upside: Fulfills secondary KPIs: social shares, email signups, brand awareness.

Risks: Lower ceiling due to less time invested, no search connection.

a

“Linkbait” Data Studies/Stories

Time to create:30-100+ hours Upside Score: 10 Volatility Score: 10

a

“Linkbait” Data Studies/Stories

Upside: Only truly consistent homerun opportunity on this list.

Risks: Harder to align with brand guidelines. Expensive, highest risk. Possible Google would devalue link spikes.

a

Search-Driven Top & Middle Funnel Content w/ Additional Shareable

Image

Time to create: 40-60 hours Upside Score: 9 Volatility Score: 3

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Search-Driven Top & Middle Funnel Content w/ Additional Tall, Shareable

Image

Time to create: 40-60 hours Upside Score: 9 Volatility Score: 3

a

Search-Driven Top & Middle Funnel Content w/ Additional Tall, Shareable

ImageUpside: Built-in linkability in addition to search upside.

Risks: Low, but if only value driver from content is links, may not be best opportunity for you.

a

Additional Lever: Original Photography

Add 2 to Upside

Reduce Volatility by 1

Higher Barrier to Entry

a

Additional Lever: Original Photography

Differentiating Qualitative Factor

Submit to Flickr Creative Commons for Additional Links

What OtherNon-Traditional Link Building Strategies

Work?

a

@rosshudgens  |

We Define “Working” as Scalable, Sustainable and Capable of

Generating Sustainable, High Quality Links

a

Link Moves for Brands from Homepage to Category Pages

External Link to https://www.hotels.com/

Homepage Talking About Las Vegas

Email to Request Change to https://www.hotels.com/las-vegas

Brand Monitoring/Link Reclamation for Massive

Brands

https://moz.com/researchtools/fwe/

aDo Links Work?

@rosshudgens  |

Yes.

aAre They Going Away?

@rosshudgens  |

No.

Thank You! Questions?Slides: http://bit.ly/lb-engage

Ross Hudgens, Founder, Siege Media@RossHudgens  |  http://siegemedia.com