“Hands On Approach to Link Building”

Peter van der Graaf

Workshop

1. The importance of links2. Three stages of link building3. Link requirements

-- Coffee break --4. Strategy planning5. Execution6. Monitoring and continuing relations

Today’s programme

Are links really that important?

1. The importance of links

• Technical guidelines– Is the site readable and understandable by

machines?

• Content in text or other formats– What is this content piece about?

• Opinions of others– Is this source important?

SEO ingredients

The ideal situation

A hands on approach to link building

2. Three stages of link acquisition

1. Preparation and research

2. Link bait creation

3. Distribution

Logical steps

Preparation and research

3. Link requirements

• Good links have RAT– Relevance– Authority– Transfer

Characteristics of a good link

Relevance

Domain authority

Linkpower transfer

1/3

1/12

1/2

1/8 nofollow

• Link profile: The full collection of incoming links

• What is a natural link profile buildup?– Both masses and authorities– Both relevant and irrelevant– Both perfect and seemingly worthless– Don’t depend too heavily on one type

What is a link profile?

Acquisition timing

link acquisition

ranking effect

quick link acquisition

time

normal link acquisition

time

social media links

time

• Value is reduced for single link or all similar links• Link source could risk penalties (not the target)

• Common unnatural characteristic– Block duplication

• Bigger block, more pages, more sources = more certain• Certainty determines dampening strength

– Round Robin• Link network without external links• Single ownership/hosting/etc.

Unnatural links

Analyzing your link profile

• Where should you spend yourlink building effort?

• Desired search terms– Search volume and chance of conversion– Conversion value and ROI timeframe certainty

• Theme clustering– Linkbuilding effect is broad!

Link building goals

Link building effect on search phrases

any dedicated page will rank

dedicated page high in navigation or some link building required

link building needed

heavy link building needed

authority links

broad thematic links

very specific links

required effort from current situation

• Screening a top-10– Chance on a top-10 position?– Top-10 requirements?

• Additional amount• Theme of additional links• Authority or masses

Competitive analysis

many toolbarslimited sources

Potential link partners

1. Finding potential link partners

2. Categorizing them by possible approaches

• Current– Links– Partners– Name occurences

• Scoring for search term(s) (narrow or broad)• Linking to your competitor• Generic authorities

– Sites like big companies, press and news, government, charitable organisations andsocial platforms

• Set alerts for future articles

Finding potential link partners

• What person is behind this website?• What do they already link to?

– Bing “linkfromdomain:domain.com”– Can I provide a simular type of

information/trade?

• How competitive are they with me?• Would the same approach work on the

entire group?

Categorizing link partners

Back in ... minutes?

-- Coffee break --

• Existing links• Search terms• Competition• Best link partner groups

What is your situation?

What makes us linkable?

4. Strategy planning

• Get the mindset of a link builder– Example strategies for any industry

• Choosing the right strategy for the right job– Managing budget, link partner type, reputation

risk and chance of success

Strategy choice

Strategy: Cold mailingDear webmaster,

I love your website and would like to know if you’d want to place a link to mine.http://www.mysite.com

If needed I can place a link back to you. This will help your ranking in Google.

Kind regards,

John Doe

$Hello Mike,

It seems we’re both Yankees fans and I agree Girardi should be replaced. Keep up the good work on your baseball blog.

I just created a plugin that would be perfect for your loans website (loans.info). It instantly shows interest rates for all mayor banks and is very easy to implement. I placed helpful instructions on http://www.mysite.com/plugin.htm

Let me know if you need any help or would like additional features in the next version.

Kind regards,

John Doe

Strategy: Cold mailing (personalization)

% s

ucce

ssfu

l req

uest

s

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

Travel client Finance client Casino client

Dear webmaster,

Hello John,

I'm a … fan too

Strategy: Optimizing existing links

Strategy: Link trade

• Can you arrange an uneven trade?• Promotion vs link value

– Give promotion (testimonial), link not always needed

– Make sure you recieve link value– Yes, reciprocal links are dampened!

Strategy: Link trade

Provide additional value fortheir visitors

Strategy: Visitors

Strategy: Visitors - information

Strategy: Visitors – discount

Strategy: Visitors - tool

Provide additional value for webmasters or site owners

Strategy: Webmasters

• “I want the link exactly like this: ...”• Make sure there aren’t any paid link signs

– Other links are notorious buyers?– Block type duplication?– Best: site-wide link to an exit-page

Strategy: Webmaster - money

• Alternative form of paid link– No recurring fee!

• Own product sample (ex. for online review)

• Desirable gadgets (ex. i-pad)• Sponsored conference tickets

Strategy: Webmaster - goods

• “If you place this link you’ll recieve ...”• For the masses (ex. Blogs)

Strategy: Webmaster - discount

• Big news portals are generic authorities• Every industry has specific news sites• Competitors might show industry news

• Editorial news vs gathered news– Give scoops and additional assistance– Spread through newswires– Spread through news feeds

Strategy: Press - news sites

Strategy: Press - research

• Reduced or no branding (goes for all linkable content)

• Links from slightly competing sites?• Links from journalistic sites?• Who links to one brand recieves more

requests

Strategy: Satellite - impartial

• Offer an arena for two sides to combat in• Make sure both sides keep interested• Connect a search term to each battle• After reaching critical mass the platform

will run by itself

Strategy: Satellite - social platform

Strategy: Satellite - protest

• Value is in the eye of the beholder• Opportunities can be found in many places

– Bankruptcies– Old campaigns or events– “site:2009.com”

• Current positions can be taken over• Some activities may trigger resets

Strategy: Domain buying

When is a strategy the right one?

Strategy choice

• Risk (range determined by client)

Would they risk a good reputation?• Budget (maximum determined by client)

What revenue could a top position bring them?• Chances of success (desires determined by client)

How certain must a successful outcome be?• Link type (need determined by link profile and competition)

Does ranking require masses or authority?• Potential link partner softspots

What influences your strategy choice?

Reputation riskgo

od b

ackg

roun

d in

form

atio

n

vira

l

pres

s re

leas

e

Reputation risk by strategy

satellitesite-viralsatellitesite-protest

satellitesite- impartialacompetition

linktradesatellitesite-social platform

pressreleaseresearch

coldmailinggoodbackground information

optimizingexisting linkspaid links

trade-discounttrade-sample

trade-productforvisitors-discount

forvisitors- lotteryforvisitors- tooldomainbuying

Budget and effortop

timiz

ing

exis

ting

links

paid

link

s

rese

arch

Budget and effort by strategy

paid linksacompetition

trade-productdomainbuyingtrade-discounttrade-sample

forvisitors- lotteryforvisitors- tool

satellitesite-viralsatellitesite-protest

satellitesite- impartialsatellitesite-social platform

pressreleaseresearch

goodbackground informationforvisitors-discount

linktradecoldmailing

optimizingexisting links

Certainty of a successfull outcome

dom

ain

buyi

ng

cold

mai

ling

impa

rtia

l sat

ellit

e si

te

Chances of success by strategy

paid linkstrade-productdomainbuyingtrade-discounttrade-sample

forvisitors-discountlinktrade

optimizingexisting linksforvisitors- lottery

forvisitors- toolsatellitesite- impartial

researchacompetition

satellitesite-protestsatellitesite-social platform

pressreleasegoodbackground information

satellitesite-viralcoldmailing

• Link partner group (small scan on search term)

• Risk, budget and certainty• Possibilities• Concrete strategy

What is your situation?

From strategy to links

5. Execution

• Link bait creation

• Distribution– Creating contact lists (most strategies)– Reaching possible link partners– Administration for successrates

Stages of execution

• Required skillsEmpathy, copywriting skills, research skills and media knowledge

• The ideal link building team– Mass mailing team (personalization vs cheap

labour)– Strategist (overall and for callscripts)– Client/company representatives

• Administration for discounts and such• Webmasters for mutual promotion• Content managers for linkable copy

• Outsourcing?

A link building team

Monitoring and continuing relations

6. Relations

Good relations build great links

• Re-usable assets?– Meet industry trendsetters

• Continuing placement and importance?– Maintain relations with important link partners

• Changing focus?– Would someone edit your existing link?

• The testimonial effect?– Existing links grow links!

Can you apply this to your website?

Questions?

Need further assistance?

Peter van der Graaf, Search Specialist

peter@searchspecialist.nlwww.searchspecialist.net

Thank you!