link building bootcamp
TRANSCRIPT
March 3, 2015
Link Building Bootcamp
Debra Mastaler Alliance-Link.com
Link Building Trainer
@DebraMastaler
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
The Agenda
Algorithms
&
Link Popularity
Unnatural Links
Penalties &
Disavow
Link Building Tactics
Insights For 2015
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
Algorithms &
Link Popularity
Algorithms
&
Link Popularity
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
Which Engine Is Used The Most? Google dominates in USA
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
North America 87%
Brazil 98%
Europe 94%
India
97%
Australia
93%
South America Brazil (Google 98%)
Australia 93%
Europe England (89%),France (95%), Germany (93%)Spain (96%), Italy (95%)
Asia China (Baidu) Russia (Yandex), Japan (Yahoo!) India (Google 97%), Thailand (Google 99%)
North America
Canada (Google 88%) USA (Google 78%) Mexico (Google 95%)
Google Used World-Wide We live in a Google centric universe.
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
How Are Pages Ranked?
Page Level Links
Page Level (Title, tags, content)
Social Media Metrics
Location Personalization
Mobile Ready
Paid
Organic
Domain Level Links Query Data (long clicks, short clicks)
Over 200+ factors contribute
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
Link Popularity
Link popularity measures the quality and quantity of links pointing to a webpage. Considered an off-page factor. Engines weigh off-page factors more heavily than on-page. Slang: Link Juice, Link Love, Link Pop, Link Equity
There are four components of link popularity…
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
Link Popularity
Quantity Quality
Relevance Anchor
Text
Four components and a lot of moving parts
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
The number of links pointing to a webpage from different websites/pages.
Link Quantity
Your site
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
X
X C
X
A X
X
My Website
Link Quality Determined by the authority of the host sites and the sites linking to them
B X
X X
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
Link Quality All three engines have a formula to measure and compute quality
TrustRank
NetRank
PageRank ™
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
The power of PageRank™
What Makes A Quality Page
Quality pages have unique characteristics, they show
expertise | authority | trust
Latest changes to Google algorithm focuses on rewarding
quality links
quality authorship
quality content
Not updating
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
Relevance Establishes your topical and/or geographic dominance
Baby
Strollers
Diamond
rings
Costa Rica
Vacation
Rentals
Viagra
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
Relevance Linking out and being linked to establishes connections
From Google…”In the same way Google trusts sites less when they link to spammy sites…parts of our system encourage links to good sites.” .
Link to sites that are “good” and relevant
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
Anchor text is the clickable part of the link you see
My daughter and my money go to The University of Virginia
My son spends a lot of money buying college text books.
Visit us at www.poor-parents.org for more information.
Anchor text is a query ranking factor
From Google: “anchor text influences the queries your website ranks for in the search results”.
From Bing: “anchor text helps define the theme of a linked page”.
An endorsement of what is to come Anchor Text
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
Partial Match 15%
Change up your anchors, use variations
Anchor Text
Related Terms/ Long Tail Keywords 5%
Brand/Company Name 55%
URL 15%
Generic 5%
Exact Match Phrase 5%
Mastaler Book Store
KW: college text books
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
Anchor Text It is best to…
Make your anchor
text part of the
conversation.
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
Your Goal When Building Links:
Thematically (and/or good!) related pages
Appropriate anchors on
Quality pages using
Secure a lot of links from
Quantity
Quality
Anchor Text
Relevance
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
Google would like you to avoid
Unnatural Links
X X X X X X X
Paid Links.
Low quality
directories and
bookmarking sites.
Footer links and links
embedded in
templates.
Reciprocal linking on
a large scale.
Press releases using
optimized anchor
text
Keyword rich anchors
embedded in widgets
and badges.
Forum links using
optimized anchors
Large scale guest
posting using
keyword rich anchor
text links.
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
Unnatural Links Avoid these flags and footprints
• Do not acquire a lot of the same links quickly
• Avoid using same anchors over and over
• Avoid linking with low quality pages
• Avoid placing links in navigation and sponsored areas
• Avoid pages/sites hosting excessive reciprocals and template links
• Avoid sites with excessive Adsense
• Don’t make directory links a large part of your portfolio
• Avoid sites with no Contact or About Us info
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
Think Before You Link Questions to ask
1. Is the page hosting your link in the index?
2. Been cached lately?
3. Do they use nofollow attributes?
4. Does the website participate in social media?
5. Does the webpage rank for relevant keywords
6. Is the website tied to a network?
7. Is the content relevant to my site?
8. Search “complaint” + URL?
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
You are
Outta Here! (sometimes)
Penalties &
Disavow
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
Google Penalty Or Algorithm Update?
Image courtesy @kikolani
If your site
isn’t appearing
or
has slipped quite a bit
you either have a manual penalty
or
have been affected by
changes to an algorithm
.
Not hard to figure out but bad either way
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
Manual Action Notice Google love notes in your WMT… not so sweet.
*WMT = Google Webmaster Tools
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
Manual Actions Two Types, site-wide and partial
Unnatural links pointing to your site
Hacked site
User generated spam in your blog/forum
Thin content with no value
Cloaking/spammy redirects
Hidden text/keyword stuffing
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
Reconsideration For Manual Penalty
A good reconsideration request does three things:
1. Explains the exact quality issue on your site.
2. Describes the steps you’ve taken to fix the issue.
3. Documents the outcome of your efforts.
Asking Google to review your site after manual penalty (also called “request review”)
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
How do you determine which search engine update affected you?
https://www.rankranger.com/google-algorithm-updates http://moz.com/google-algorithm-change
Google Algorithm Updates History
Check Google Analytics
Rankings Drop Due To Change In Algorithm
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
Rankings Drop Due To Algorithm or Manual Penalty Bottom line?
Can you fix it?
Yes you can!
Should you fix it?
Definitely.
Analyze your website’s backlinks and identify what caused your
rankings drop.
Once you identify the links, try to remove them, and disavow the ones
you cannot delete.
Be proactive
Don’t wait for a slap down.
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
STEP
01 STEP
02 STEP
03 STEP
04 STEP
05
Pull Backlinks
Use links from WMT
and at least one
commercial tool.
Audit Backlinks
List unnatural links in
spreadsheet
Contact Info
Use a tool like
URLProfiler to pull
email from list of
unnatural links
Reach Out
Ask to remove
Repeat after 10 days
List no responses
(provide details!)
Disavow
Lorem ipsum dolor
sit amet, consectetur
adipiscing elit.
Curabitur elementum
posuere pretium.
Two very important points:
1. Uploading a new file will replace those previously uploaded.
2. It takes Google some time to process the information you’ve uploaded, (weeks!), these links will continue to be shown in the WMT inbound links.
Disavow Cleaning up and disavowing links
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
I highly recommend you avoid using a link removal company
that does not fully disclose who they are on their website.
Word Of Caution
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
Remember this one simple fact as you build links:
It is less about what you do and more about where.
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
Questions To Ask Before You Link And some tools to help
Does the page rank well?
RankRanger
AuthorityLabs
Does the site have a varied backlink portfolio
RavenTools
SEOBook Tool Set
OSE
Inbound links use a wide variety of anchors?
Majestic
Ahrefs
BacklinkWatch (free)
Cache date recent?
CachedPages (free)
Lots of social signals from several networks?
Sendible
Buzzsumo
Content relevant to yours? Buzzstream
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
Link Building Tactics
Link Building Ideas
Reclaiming Broken Links
Un-Linked Mentions
Credibility Links
Citation Building
Resource Pages
Image Gifting
Guest Blogging
Content Sourcing
Image Galleries
Product Reviews
Curator Mining
Repurposing Content
Content Marketing
Tactics
Foundational Tactics
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
Foundational Links: Absolutely necessary
• Help position you as a brand expert and credible source
• Help identify you in an ever-growing link graph
• Tend not to change
• Inexpensive to acquire
• Stimulate clicks. Links get you ranked but clicks show you deserve to be there.
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
Reclaiming Broken Links Tools: Citation Labs | Ontolo Tools | Check My Links (Chrome plug-in)
Find broken links
Contact webmaster
Offer link to your content
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
Unlinked Mentions TalkWalker | RankTank
Find unlinked mentions of your brand
Contact webmaster
Ask for hyperlink
Not a brand?
Use the tool to find potential contact sources
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
Credibility Links Establish trust, sets expertise
Establish trust signals
• Chamber of Commerce
• Industry Associations
• Better Business Bureau
• Wikipedia*
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
Find local sources using your keywords and listing businesses.
WhiteSpark Searching By Hand (or Scrapebox)
Citation Building = Mentions Of A Business By Name, Address & Telephone Number.
1. Find #1 site ranking for your keywords
2. Copy their name, address and telephone number
3. Paste into engine using quotes, hit search
4. Website showing are potential sites you can add your information to.
5. Repeat with top five results
Use your competitors to find sources
Tools: WhiteSpark | Scrapebox
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
Resource Pages
Your keyword inurl:links
Your keyword inurl:resources
“useful links” your keyword
“helpful links” your keyword
Tool: SoloSEO (no charge)
use ‘recommended” function.
Find opportunities on academic and government outlets
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
Image Gifting Giving the gift of an image to an article that needs it
• Search for blog posts and magazine articles using your
keywords.
• Offer photo at no charge
• You MUST own the photo!
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
Before we move into Content Marketing for links, remember:
It is less about what you do and more about where.
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
Still OK to do!
Guest Blogging From Google:
• Don’t over use keyword anchors in blog posts or your author bio
• Don’t partner with blog networks
• Don’t write short, stupid blog posts
• Don’t partner with blogs not using social media to promote content (especially G+)
• Use Google to search “keyword” + blog. You’ll find blogs and they’ve done the work for you.
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged.
How to get your foot in the door
Guest Blogging
How do I get influential bloggers to accept my guest post or take me on as a columnist?
Mutual friend/associate introduction
Point of commonality
Showcase past writing
Flaunt your Twitter, Facebook, G+ followers
Offer “fun” images
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
Also known as a .gif”
Images Good, Cinemagraphs Better
• Fun images help sell content
• Creates memorable content
• Stimulates linking!
-------------------------------------------------
Make your own http://makeagif.com/
-------------------------------------------------
Backlink topical gif’s found in directories:
http://giphy.com/search/gif-directory
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
Content Sourcing Blogs not only outlets for content, find authors and you will find sources
Author + Keyword
Writer + Keyword
Guide + Keyword
Columnist + Keyword
Contributor + Keyword
Editor + Keyword
Freelance writer+ Keyword
Tools: https://drive.google.com/templates
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
MOBILE & TABLET
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged.
Highly sought after written and video content
Product Reviews You Create
• Written reviews with images are most frequently linked to
• Keep best reviews on your site, promote from there
• Issue press release for substantial reviews
• Target social networks for distribution
• Bundle reviews into ebooks with email paywall
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
Use what other people have written to gain links
Product Reviews By Others
1. Search for older reviews
2. Back link, look for sources
3. Offer your “newer” review as a source, or
4. Write a comparison piece
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
Get your content added to curation outlets Use to find new sources
Curator Mining
Paper.li “paper.li + keyword”
Rebel Mouse “rebelmouse + kw”
FlipBoard “flipboard + kw”
Delicious (must be signed in)
Kw: accounting software
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
Recycling content in different forms reaches wider audience, attracts links, avoids duplicate content issues
Repurposing Content
In-depth article with images. Evergreen piece.
Product Review
1 3 4
Create presentation on each section, add to SlideShare.
Presentation Create video using presentations, upload to YouTube and Vivemo
Video
Each blog post covers a section of the review.
Multiple Blog Posts Create infographic using steps in product review
Infographic
Film a how-to webinar using product review as outline, email paywall
Webinar Create multiple podcasts from blog posts. Add to iTunes and podcast directories.
Podcast Extended G+ posts, Tweet series, posts on FB
Social Media Snippets
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged.
Good tips
Lightning Round
APPLICATION
• Contests, sponsorships, scholarships, etc – all good ideas but one-off, time sensitive tactics.
• Follow key media on Twitter, engage.
• Fax press releases directly to media, forget the press release submission outlets.
• Find an SEO forum/community and start listening/sharing.
• Use TalkWalker.com instead of Google Alerts.
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged.
Good tips -2
Lightning Round
APPLICATION
• Interviews work well with local media outlets (unless you are a celebrity)
• Use infographic directories as back-linking sources
http://infographic-directory.com/ http://infographicjournal.com/
• Boost your efforts by co-creating content with an “influencer”
• Write links in the top half of your content as a call to action, you want people to click!! (Remember: links help you rank but clicks show you deserve to be there!)
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged.
Key Insights For 2015
APPLICATION
• Keep the key components of link popularity in mind when building links.
• Don’t scrimp on a copywriter.
• Invest in SEO/link tools after using free trials
• Create evergreen content that has been personalized for your target audience.
• Add email capture to everything, look into “content for a tweet”.
• Remember: Google wants pages that impact a person’s health and wealth to be high quality.
Make your pages high quality. Partner with like-minded websites.
searchmarketingexpo.com
@DebraMastaler #SMX #12D
For customized link building training and blueprints, visit
www.alliance-link.com or email [email protected] Debra Mastaler
Quality means doing it right when no one is looking. ~Henry Ford