Link Building Basics for Businesses
Rachel McCombie
@RachelsWritings
Today’s talk will cover:
Why rank well in Google?1
How does Google know what websites to rank highly?
The characteristics of a great link profile3
White Hat versus Black Hat link building4
A word on Google’s infamous Panda update5
Top link building tips for you to take away!6
Rachel McCombie – @RachelsWritings2
2
Why rank well?
Most people click on the first few results
The higher you rank, the more traffic you will get and therefore the more business
Brand recognition – ranking highly for relevant terms conveys authority, trustworthiness and market dominance
Rachel McCombie – @RachelsWritings3
Higher Rankings
Off-siteOn-site
How does Google know which websites to rank?
Two main categories of ranking factor – on-site and off-site
Rachel McCombie - @RachelsWritings4
Keyword use in meta data and on the page
SEO-friendly site architecture
Volume, quality and relevance of links
Social signals
Relevance
Quality Quantity
The characteristics of a great link profile
A good link profile combines quality, quantity and relevance
Rachel McCombie – @RachelsWritings5
Links from sites that deal with similar areas to yours carry more weight Quantity isn’t the
be all and end all if the links are strong
Links from high quality sites carry more weight
White Hat versus Black Hat
White Hat Black Hat
Which link building practices put your website at risk?
White Hat link building is what the ‘good guys’ in SEO do
Involves building high quality links
Tries to trick Google Unethical/spammy Puts your website at risk of being
penalised or even deindexed Includes:
– Paying for links
– Article spinning
– Suddenly acquiring hundreds of thousands of links is a dead giveaway!
Rachel McCombie – @RachelsWritings6
A word about Google’s Panda Update
The Panda update devalued links from low-quality sites
It’s part of Google’s attempts to reduce internet spam
Rankings of many sites plummeted after Panda
This means link building needs to be higher quality
If you’ve done link building in the past, some of the links in your backlink profile may have been devalued
Rachel McCombie – @RachelsWritings7
Directories
Generally low-quality links but quick & easy, and some are still worth having
Directories Often get control over anchor text Easy to submit to and therefore a ‘quick win’ Even quicker win: use a cheap service such as Directory
Maximiser to get someone to do it for you
CSS Galleries Showcases good web design Links back to your site Quick win: use MeeCSS to submit quickly and easily, or pay
them a small fee to do it for you
Rachel McCombie – @RachelsWritings8
Article Directories
Quick win but use in moderation
Like directories, generally poor quality
Can submit the same content to more than one
You get a link with the anchor text you want from a page on a relevant topic
Quick win: use a service such as Copify to get some articles written on subjects relevant to your business. “How to” articles work well. Then copy and paste!
Rachel McCombie – @RachelsWritings9
Press Releases
Media exposure = links and more links
Allows you to get more mileage from existing content – fast
You get extra media exposure as well as links
Often picked up by news aggregator sites for extra links
Quick win: submit your existing press releases to a press release submission site such as PR Web.
Rachel McCombie – @RachelsWritings10
Write for other websites, raise your profile and get great links!
Guest blogging
Rachel McCombie – @RachelsWritings11
The process of guest blogging
How to get great links through guest blogging
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Write a great piece of content
Publish
Step 2
Step 1
Step 3
Write a blog post on an interesting topic related to your business The more original, topical and interesting, the better
Find the blogs you’d like to publish on – not all blogs accept guest posters Contact with a personal message to pitch your post
Include a link back to your site in your author bio Promote the blog post in social media channels
Identify influential bloggers in your field
Infographics
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Come up with a good concept relevant to your business The more original and interesting, the better
Design it (or pay a designer) Write a press release to promote it, linking back to you
Contact sites in relevant fields asking them if they want to feature the infographic Be sure to ask them to link back to you as the source
Submit to infographic directories for extra links Host it on your own site with an embed code linking back to you
Infographics – the process
Done properly, infographics can bring great links and traffic
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Step 4
Step 3
Step 2
Step 1
Some other great link building tactics
Link bait RSS Feeds
Even more great link building tactics for you to try
White papers Widgets Competitor backlinks
Host great content on your site
Watch the links come flooding in
Provocative, striking or shocking works best
Write a detailed PDF about a topic relevant to your business
Send it to relevant sites in return for a link
Presents you as an authority
Create something useful or fun that bloggers want to share
Link back to your site in the embed code
Run a report through Open Site Explorer to find your competitors’ backlinks
Replicate!
Submit your RSS feed to news aggregator sites such as alltop.com
You get a link for every new story you add
Link back to your site from video sharing sites such as YouTube, Vimeo etc
Rachel McCombie – @RachelsWritings15
Video content
Q & AAny questions?
Questions & Answers
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Thank you!
Rachel McCombieSEO, Copywriter and Editor
Email: [email protected]: http://rachelswritings.com Twitter: @RachelsWritings
Contact
Rachel McCombie – @RachelsWritings17
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