6. Links are not treated equally #1 Killer Link 1 #2 Super Website A Regular Link Search Results Regular Link Regular Link Super Website B
7. How PageRank works All pages have a little bit of PageRank Pages gain PageRank from links that point to them
8. Search Engines Do Not Count All Links 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
9. Why do People Link? Clean, simple navigation with great content Messy navigation, bad content and awful design Who should I link to??
11. #1 – Manual Requests Develop list of relevant sites Research who to contact (and how) Send an email (or call) requesting a link Scalability Value
12. #2 – Competitive Research Use tools to see who links to your competition Pursue top targets manually Research competitor link building strategies Scalability Value
13. #3 – Distribute cool tools Create a cool tool Allow other web sites to include it on their site Embed a link back to your site Scalability Value
14. #4 – Linkbait and Viral Campaigns Create unique, killer content that every-one wants to link to Let market influencers know about it Watch the links roll in Scalability Value
15. #5 – Content / Data Syndication Create content others may want to place on their sites Offer it to other sites Require links back in return Scalability Value
22. Social Media Value PR Channel, much like TV and radio People use social sites to consume content Provide useful content and spread your message Customer service channel Market Testing / Feedback Oh, and links …
23. Value of Social Links Most do not pass PageRank However, PageRank is not “all” Regular social media placements could be a trust signal Feeds “query deserves freshness” However, fades with age The true SEO value is in the signal to influential humans that see you there And the links that they give you!
24. Wikipedia If you can, obtain a profile page on Wikipedia Links to your site do not pass link juice 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 article changes
25. Digg / Social News 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
26. Digg Guidelines Strip away commercial links while promoting on Digg 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”
27. StumbleUpon Build relationships / subscribers Use “Send to” function in toolbar Subscribers will view your stuff Always get some traffic If it becomes popular … Traffic will be immense
28. ...and if you need the proof Happy days for these pages
29. YouTube Post great videos on YouTube The videos on YouTube get most of the links Consider developing additional videos that you show on your own site Consider creating a microsite and making the microsite URL your username. Run a contest and recruit popular YouTube users to enter. Their submission will get pushed out to all their subscribers
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31. LinkedIn Add 3 links to your public profile Search for influencer’s LinkedIn profiles Use InMail to contact them Much higher open rate than e-mail Add a LION (LinkedIn Open Networker) or two to your network. Use the TopLinked.com list. (http://www.toplinked.com/top50.html)
32. Facebook Create a fan page or group or both Use fan pages to build long term relationships Fan pages get indexed Use Facebook ads to build audiences faster Use groups for quick discussions and viral activity Groups are limited to 5000 members Customize your fan page or group Update regularly!
33. Twitter Pick a good account name (memorable) Customize your background Follow people with lots of followers Many will follow you back Now you have a channel for your tweets Cater to that channel! Use hash tags for Twitter search Include URLs and references where appropriate Contribute regularly
34. Blogs Write unique and compelling stuff Interact with other bloggers. Comment on their blogs Link to their good stuff from your blog Get to know them DON’T SPAM them Build an audience through these relationships In time, people will link back to you
35. 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
