Link Building The Key to Rankings Eric Enge CEO, Stone Temple Consulting.
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Link Building The Key to Rankings Eric Enge CEO, Stone Temple Consulting
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Transcript of Link Building The Key to Rankings Eric Enge CEO, Stone Temple Consulting.
Link BuildingThe Key to Rankings
Eric EngeCEO, Stone Temple Consulting
On Page SEO Summary
• Establish Relevance!• Can’t compete for a term without it• Critical to SEO• But how do the search engines decide which
relevant pages to show first in the results?
Links Are Like Votes in an Election
One Method For Valuing Links is PageRank
Role of Relevance
Your Page
(Used Ford Mustangs)
CasinoGambling
Online Prescriptions
Car and Driver
Magazine
Ford vehicles .c
om
Low Value
High Value
Anchor Text also plays a key role in establishingrelevance!
The Concept of Authority
A A
A
All Websites about Used Cars
Search Engines Do Not Count All Links
• Links they can’t read:– Encrypted JavaScript– In an iFrame
• Links on pages that they can’t crawl– Can’t find– Marked as NoCrawl in Robots.txt
• Links marked with NoFollow Attribute
Links Should be Citations
• Search engines do not want you to buy links• Search engines do not want you to get all your
links through link swaps• These are compensated links, not citations• So you must create a reason for people to link
to you
Algorithmic Ranking Factors
The 8 Basic Kinds of Link Building
#1 – Manual Requests
1. Develop list of relevant sites
2. Research who to contact (and how)
3. Send an email (or call) requesting a link
ScalabilityValueDownsides: Hard to scaleUse: For high value link build
Will you link to us? Hmmm
#2 – Competitive Research
1. Use tools to see who links to your competition
2. Pursue top targets with manual link building
3. Research competitor link building strategies
ScalabilityValueDownsides: Hard to scaleUse: For high value linkbuilding. Get ideas fromcompetition
How did heget so big?
#3 – Distribute cool tools
1. Create a cool tool2. Allow other web
sites to include it on their site
3. Embed a link back to your site
3rd Party SiteCool Tool
LinkBackYour Site
ScalabilityValueDownsides: Success is notcertainUse: If you can create aunique and compelling tool
#4 – Linkbait and Viral Campaigns
1. Create unique, killer content that every-one wants to link to
2. Let market influ-encers know about it
3. Watch the links roll in
ScalabilityValueDownsides: Success is notcertainUse: If you can create trulycompelling and uniquecontent
Blog Media
Social Site Hobbyist
ViralContent
#5 – Content / Data Syndication
1. Create content others may want to place on their sites
2. Offer it to other sites
3. Require links back in return
ScalabilityValueDownsides: Creating thesyndicated content/dataUse: If you have a rich array ofunique content or data
YourContentOr Data
Site1
YourSite
Site2
Site3
LinksBack
#6 – Link Reclamation
1. Get a list of 404 errors found by the search engines
2. Determine which ones are from bad external links
3. Request fix, or implement 301 redirect
ScalabilityValueDownsides: Hard to scaleUse: Always, it’s easy
404Page
YourSite
FixedLink
GoodLink
Source
BrokenLink
Google Webmaster Tools 404 Report
Strategies to Avoid
#7 – Exchanges and Trades
1. Research relevant sites
2. Figure out how to contact them
3. Suggest trading links
ScalabilityValueDownsides: Search enginescan detect and discount linksUse: Only with qualityrelevant sites
Dude, wanna swap links? Hmmm
#8 – Buy the Links
1. Research relevant sites
2. Figure out how to contact them
3. Offer to buy a linkScalabilityValueDownsides: Search engineswant to devalue these linksUse: Never
Hey Dude,Want some dough? Hmmm
Evaluating Link Value
Google Directory
• Pulls from DMOZ
• Ordered by Google’s PageRank.
Google Toolbar
• View PageRank of current page, once turned on.
• Available for:– Firefox– Internet
Explorer
Toolbar PageRank
• Not the same as “Real” PageRank
• Logarithmic scale from 0 to 10
• Assigned to web pages, not sites
• Still, a useful metric
Culligan
0
ebay
10
12
34
5
6
7
8
9
Amazon
Disney
Gap
Relative number of pages with PR ratingRelative number of pages with PR rating
E
F
F
O
R
T
Sampling of Homepage PageRank Ratings
Sampling of Homepage PageRank Ratings
Boston Store
How well does PR predict Ranking?
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/the-science-of-ranking-correlations
Quantitative Metrics
• # of Linking Root Domains to URL• # of Linking Root Domains to Domain• Homepage PageRank; Domain mozRank• URL PageRank; URL mozRank• mozTrust• # of Links to the Page (Yahoo!, GG Blogsearch,
Linkscape)
• Twitter mentions (Backtweets.com)
Subjective Metrics
• Brand name reach/recognition
• Quality of other links on page/site (Bing - Linkfromdomain)
• Attainability and Effort
Link Building Tools
Example Yahoo! Link Commands
• linkdomain:hulu.com –site:hulu.com– See links to hulu.com, but exclude links from
hulu.com
• Linkdomain:hulu.com linkdomain:youtube.com– See who links to hulu.com AND youtube.com
Social Media
Leveraging Social Media
to Create Buzz and Links
Proceed with Care!
• Social communities do not like to be “used”• People in the communities take action• So do the social media properties themselves• Play nice!• Be a member of the community• Contribute to the community• And it will pay you back
Wikipedia• If you can, obtain a profile page on Wikipedia
– Links to your site do not pass link juice, but still valuable– Builds credibility with media and others
• Don’t go add it yourself!– Against Wikipedia guidelines– Become a contributor, add lots of value, make friends,
establish credibility, then suggest it• Must meet notability test• Suggest relevant category tags• Monitor your articles with a tool that emails you
when the article changes (trackengine, urlywarning).
Wikipedia Summary
Wikipedia
ScalabilityValueDownsides: Time investmentUse: Only if notable
Benefits: Builds CredibilityBrings traffic
Your Name
This guy must be the
real deal
Play by the rules
Digg
• An article that makes the Digg home page:– Can get tens of thousands of visitors– Can get hundreds, or thousands of links
• Getting there is the hard part• Create great content
– Use Digg to research other articles on your topic area that have made it
• Target the audience (13 to 28 year old males)• Befriend or hire a top Digger
Digg
• Strip away all commercial links from your article• Friend popular Diggers. Better yet, get a popular Digger to
submit your story. • Craft a killer title using this formula from Muhammad Saleem:
number + adjective + key phrase– E.g. “13 Most Chilling Haunted Hotels” or “16 Incredibly
Unconventional Hotel Rooms”
Digg Summary
16 most…
ScalabilityValueDownsides: Home Run BallUse: If your site lends itself to
the right type of content
Benefits: TrafficLinks
Your Article
DiggHomePage
Tons of VisitorsTons of Links
YouTube
• Create great videos• Post on YouTube• If related to a current event, that’s a plus• The videos on YouTube get most of the links• Stack the odds by creating a microsite and making the
microsite URL your username.– E.g. “willitblend.com” is BlendTec’s username
• Use as many tags as possible while still being accurate
YouTube Summary
Create Great Video
ScalabilityValueDownsides: Home run ballUse: If you have a killerconcept for a video
Benefits: BrandingTraffic & Some Links
YouTube
LinkedIn• Add links to your website, and two other
URLs and select “Other” so you can specify theanchor text.
• Include it in your public profile• Add a LION (LinkedIn Open Networker) or two to your network.
– Try to find a “promiscuous sneezer”– Use the TopLinked.com list. (http://www.toplinked.com/top50.html)
• Add your email address to your “professional headline” so folks 4+ degrees away don’t have to waste an InMail to contact you
LinkedIn Summary
LinkedInProfile
LinkedInCommunity
ScalabilityValueDownsides: Labor intensiveUse: To build high valuecontacts
Benefits: Spread ideasReach thought leadersBypass spam filters
• Update regularly• Create a fan page or group or both• Use fan pages to build long term relationships
– Fan pages get indexed
• Use groups for quick discussions and viral activity
• Customize your fan page or group• Update regularly!
Facebook Summary
TrafficYourSite
FacebookCommunity
ScalabilityValueDownsides: RequiresCommitment!Use: To build reputation,traffic and links
Benefits: Branding,Traffic & Some Links
FanPage Group
• Plan to contribute regularly• Pick a good account name (memorable)• Customize your background• Create a microsite dedicated to Twitter• Use hash tags for Twitter search• Include URLs and references where
appropriate• Contribute regularly
Twitter Summary
TrafficTwitterAccount
YourSite
TwitterCommunity
ScalabilityValueDownsides: RequiresCommitment!Use: To build reputation,traffic and links
Benefits: Branding,Traffic & Some Links
Blogs• Start One• Update regularly• Interact with other bloggers.
– Comment on their blogs– Get to know them– DON’T SPAM them
• Update regularly
Blog Summary
YourBlog
Blogoshpere
ScalabilityValueDownsides: RequiresCommitment!Use: For links andrelationships
Benefits: Links andRelationships
WebLinks
Put it all together
• The best link building plan for you is unique. To figure it out, you must:– Study the market– Find out what your competition is doing– Figure out where the best links for you can be found– Determine what it will take to get links from them– Support the campaign with content, tools, or whatever– Experiment, experiment, and then experiment again
