an introduction to seo link-building concepts

Link-Building 101for search engine visibility and optimization

Jonathon D. ColmanSearch Engine OptimizationREIburkinaboy@gmail.comtwitter.com/jcolman

LinksConnect peoplewith meaningonline

How?By creating trust,authority, rank,quality and relevancy

Search engine index

Discovery and discoverability

Search engines index the entire Web by following link after link to page after page of content. Brand new pages can be hard for search engines to find because there aren’t any pre-existing links built to them.

Strongly interlinked sitewith numerous inbound links

New pages without links areisolated from search engines

Links are signs of trust

For a search engine, links from one site to another are like a vote of confidence and trust. If a page on Site A links to a page on Site B, the page on Site B can be said to be “a trusted resource” of value to visitors of Site A.

Page onSite A

Page onSite B

Link“I trust you!”

Trust can aggregate into authority

As search engines index the Web, they count one-way, inbound links to each page online. Pages with more links can be said to be more “authoritative” because more individual sites “trust” their content resources.

Page on Site A

Five inbound linksfrom external sites

Page onSite B

Ten inbound links= more authority

Authority can influence rank

All else equal, pages with more authority will rank higher in search engine results than pages with less. Gaining a higher listing than a competitor for a popular search term greatly impacts both traffic and demand.

Users associate rank with quality

Studies have shown that users place confidence in the very first results appearing for a search query. A click-through from a search engine indicates that a searcher thinks the resulting page will be relevant.

Checklist: new landing pages & campaigns

Link to the new page(s) from existing, high- ranking pages on your site

Solicit new inbound, one-way links from external web sites

Bonus points if those external sites are thematically related to your content

Include links to the new page in pitches, press releases, print collateral, e-mail, social media, etc.

Try to include relevant keywords in the link text of any new links built to your page(s).

In conclusion…

• Search engines discover new content via links• Links are signs of trust• Trust can aggregate into authority• Authority can influence rank• Users associate rank with quality• Trust + authority + rank + quality = relevancy,

which is a key factor in conversion

Questions? Comments? Contact!

Jonathon D. ColmanProgram Manager, Natural Search Engine Optimization (SEO)Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI)

• E-mail: burkinaboy@gmail.com• Twitter: http://twitter.com/jcolman