Isn’t SEO all about On Page Stuff?

SEO Without Link Building

On Page SEO Summary

• Establish Relevance!• Can’t compete for a term without it• Critical to SEO• But how do the search engines decide which

relevant pages to show first in the results?

Links Are Like Votes in an Election

Who Rank’s First?

Joe’sBookStore

Algorithmic Ranking Factors

Links Are Not Created Equal

Web Site A

Web Site B

KillerLink 1

Link 1Link 2……..…1,000

#1!

#2

Search Results

The Flow Of PageRank

All pages have a tiny, amount of PageRank

Pages gain PageRank from links that point to them

The Flow Of PageRank

The page can pass only a portion, f(x), of it’s PageRank to other pages

X

F(X)

PageRank

Passable PageRank

PageRank is Split EvenlyBetween the Links on a Page

X

Link

Link

F(x)*0.5

F(x)*0.5

Not 100% true, but a good working estimate

PageRank is an Iterative Algorithm

X

Link

Link

F(x)*0.5

F(x)*0.5

F(y)

Link

y

y

Page A

Page B

Page C

Google Toolbar• View PageRank of current page, once turned on.• Available for:

– Firefox– Internet Explorer

Toolbar PageRank

• Not the same as “Real” PageRank

• Logarithmic scale from 0 to 10

• Assigned to web pages, not sites

• Still, a useful metric

Culligan

0

ebay

10

12

34

5

6

7

8

9

Google

Amazon

Disney

Gap

Relative number of pages with PR ratingRelative number of pages with PR rating

E

F

F

O

R

T

Sampling of Homepage PageRank Ratings

Sampling of Homepage PageRank Ratings

Boston Store

Google Says they use PageRank to Crawl

Role of Relevance

Your Page

(Used Ford Mustangs)

CasinoGambling

Online Prescriptions

Car and Driver

Magazine

Ford vehicles .c

om

Low Value

High Value

The Concept of Authority

A A

A

All Websites about Used Cars

Search Engines Do Not Count All Links

• Links they can’t read:– 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

Editorial Citations

• The algorithm is based on editorially given links• You aren’t supposed to buy votes!• Must earn the links with quality content/tools/…• Citations from relevant trusted authority sites

count the most

Why do People Link?

Graphic by SEOmoz

The 8 Basic Kinds of Link BuildingLink Building Methods

#1 – Manual Requests

1. Develop list of relevant sites

2. Research who to contact (and how)

3. Send an email (or call) requesting a link

ScalabilityValueDownsides: Hard to scaleUse: For highvalue link building

Will you link to us? Hmmm

#2 – Competitive Research1. Use tools to see

who links to your competition

2. Pursue top targets manually

3. Research competitor link building strategies

ScalabilityValueDownsides: Hard to scaleUse: For high value Link building, to understandcompetition

How did heget so big?

#3 – Distribute cool tools

1. Create a cool tool2. Allow other web

sites to include it on their site

3. Embed a link back to your site

3rd Party SiteCool Tool

LinkBackYour Site

ScalabilityValueDownsides: Success uncertainUse: If you haveunique andcompelling tools

Making Content Easy to Share

#4 – Linkbait and Viral Campaigns

1. Create unique, killer content that every-one wants to link to

2. Let market influ-encers know about it

3. Watch the links roll in

ScalabilityValueDownsides: Success uncertainUse: If you haveunique andcompellingcontent

Blog Media

Social Site Hobbyist

ViralContent

#5 – Content / Data Syndication

1. Create content others may want to place on their sites

2. Offer it to other sites

3. Require links back in return

ScalabilityValueDownsides: finding partnersUse: If you haveunique andcompellingcontent

YourContentOr Data

Site1

YourSite

Site2

Site3

LinksBack

Infographics Example

Guest Posting

• Find sites that accept guest posts– <your-market-keyword> “guest post”

• Determine what content they might want• Contact them and offer them that content• Write it and deliver it

– Write high quality stuff – the effort will pay you back in the long haul

• Get one or more links back

#6 – Link Reclamation

1. Get a list of 404 errors found by the search engines

2. Determine which ones are from bad external links

3. Request list or 301 redirect

ScalabilityValueDownsides: Hard to scaleUse: Always,it’s easy

404Page

YourSite

FixedLink

GoodLink

Source

BrokenLink

Google Webmaster Tools 404 Report

Strategies to Avoid

#1 – Exchanges and Trades

1. Research relevant sites

2. Figure out how to contact them

3. Suggest trading links

ScalabilityValueDownsides: Search enginescan discountUse: Only withquality relevantsites

Dude, wanna swap links? Hmmm

#2 – Buy the Links

1. Research relevant sites

2. Figure out how to contact them

3. Suggest trading links

ScalabilityValueDownsides: Search engineswant to discountUse: Never

Hey Dude,Want some dough? Hmmm

Finding High PageRank Pages

Google Directory• Pulls from

DMOZ• Ordered by

Google’s PageRank.

Link Building Tools

Yahoo! Site Explorer

Directionally indicativewithin ~50%

Not necessarily followed & in a somewhat random order

SEOmoz’ Open Site Explorer

Open Site Explorer

Highly Correlation w/ Rankings

Data updates monthly from the Linkscape web index (approx. 60% the size of

Google/Bing)

Open Site Explorer

Poor Anchor Text Spells Opportunity

Link Intersect

Find sites that link to multiple competitors, that don’t point to you.

Top Pages

Find which pages are earning links (your own

& competitors)

404s? Reclaim them!

Majestic SEO

What is that Link Worth?

Quantitative Metrics

• # of Linking Root Domains to URL• # of Linking Root Domains to Domain• Homepage PageRank vs. Domain mozRank• URL PageRank vs. URL mozRank• # of Links to the Page (Yahoo!, GG Blogsearch, Open Site Explorer)• Twitter mentions (Backtweets.com)

Subjective Metrics

• Brand name reach/recognition• Quality of other links on page/site (Bing - Linkfromdomain)• Attainability and Effort

Jumping through Hoops (via WKA on Flickr)

Social Media Optimization

Leveraging Social Mediato Create Buzz and Links

The Power of the “Linkerati”

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– Comcast’s Frank Eliason

• Market Testing / Feedback• Oh yes, and links …

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!

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 (trackengineurlywarning).

Wikipedia Summary

Wikipedia

ScalabilityValueDownsides: Time investmentUse: Only ifnotable

Benefits: Builds CredibilityBrings traffic

Your Name

This guy must be the

real deal

Play by the rules

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

Digg• Strip away commercial links while promoting on Digg• Friend popular Diggers. Better yet, get a popular

Digger to submit your story. • Time your presence on the Digg front page for

daylight hours • 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”

Digg Summary

16 most…

ScalabilityValueDownsides: Miss rate highUse: If your sitelends itself to theright type ofcontent

Benefits: TrafficLinks

Your Article

DiggHomePage

Tons of VisitorsTons of Links

StumbleUpon

• Build relationships / subscribers• Use “Send to” function in toolbar

• Subscribers will view your stuff• Always get some traffic• If it becomes popular …

Wow!This Is great

StumbleUpon Summary

ScalabilityValueDownsides: Lots of singlesUse: If yougenerate greatnew content onan ongoing basis

Your Cool

Content Traffic

Stumble Upon

YourSite

SUCommunity

Benefits: Traffic &Some Links

YouTube• Post great videos on YouTube• The videos on YouTube get most of the links• Consider developing additional videos that you how

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

YouTube Summary

Create Great Video

ScalabilityValueDownsides: Home run ballUse: If you have akiller concept fora video

Benefits: BrandingTraffic & Some Links

YouTube

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. – Try to find a “promiscuous sneezer”– Use the TopLinked.com list. (

http://www.toplinked.com/top50.html)• Add email address to your “professional headline”

LinkedIn Summary

LinkedInProfile

LinkedInCommunity

ScalabilityValueDownsides: Labor intensiveUse: To build highvalue contacts

Benefits: Spread ideasReach thought leadersBypass spam filters

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– Must have a hook

• Use groups for quick discussions and viral activity– Groups are limited to 5000 members

• Customize your fan page or group• Update regularly!

Facebook Summary

TrafficYourSite

FacebookCommunity

ScalabilityValueDownsides: RequiresCommitment!Use: Build traffic,links, andreputation

Benefits: Branding,Traffic & Some Links

FanPage Group

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

Twitter Summary

TrafficTwitterAccount

YourSite

TwitterCommunity

ScalabilityValueDownsides: RequiresCommitment!Use: Build traffic,links, andreputation

Benefits: Branding,Traffic & Some Links

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

Blog Summary

YourBlog

Blogoshpere

ScalabilityValueDownsides: RequiresCommitment!Use: For links andrelationships

Benefits: Links andRelationships

WebLinks

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

Thank You!Eric Engeeenge@stonetemple.com@stonetemple(508) 485-7751

http://www.stonetemple.com/bloghttp://searchengineland.com/author/eric-enge http://searchenginewatch.com/sew_author_fullarchive&author=3624376 http://www.seomoz.org/users/view/18040http://www.instantetraining.com/ http://artofseobook.com