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Brighton SEO 2014 presentation by Thomas Whittam from Ayima on being proactive with your websites backlinks.
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Tom Whittam
SEO Consultant, Ayima
Proactive Measures for Good Site Health
Tom WhittamSEO Consultant, AyimaCyclist (the Lycra kind)http://ayi.ma/brightonseo
Tweet us! @AyimaAyima began in 2007Headquartered in NYC & LondonSEO partner to Fortune 20 & FTSE clients
“How businesses can benefit from being proactive with their backlinks”
Why do we need to be proactive?1. Manual Actions2. Penguin
Is Every Site Different?
3 situations you may recognise1. Large corporate website2. SME website3. New agency client
3 situations you may recognise1. Large corporate website• Large backlink profiles• Historic techniques• Affiliates/sitewides
3 situations you may recognise2. SME website• Minimal SEO support• Budget restrictions• Low brand awareness
3 situations you may recognise3. New agency client• What did the old agency do?• Types of link building?• Check their other clients
How Can I Be Proactive?Link MonitoringBacklink Audit
Link MonitoringNegative SEO
Negative SEO1. Ahrefs New/Lost links (<60 days)2. GWT link dates3. Most common anchors4. Who links the most?5. Keep a record of link numbers MoM
Link MonitoringGetting Hacked
Getting Hacked1. Security issues/content keywords GWT2. Update plugins - http://ayi.ma/x3y083. Routine backups4. Regular password updates
Link MonitoringAffiliate Networks
Affiliate Networks1. Affiliate system check2. Block parameter in GWT, GA and
Robots.txt• Use Robots.txt tester in GWT
3. Attempt to implement nofollows4. Disavow
Just so you know…• Affiliate network checks• Is the nofollow attribute used?• Does the link go through a redirect?• Type of redirect?• Redirect path?
Just so you know…• Affiliate link on road.cc
Just so you know…• Inspect element
<a href="/buynow/track.php?buyaid=5&nid=129269&link=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5kZWNhdGhsb24uY28udWsvQy01OTU1NTEtYmlrZS1oZWxtZXRzP3V0bV9zb3VyY2U9cm9hZGNjJnV0bV9tZWRpdW09RGlzcGxheSZ1dG1fY2FtcGFpZ249cm9hZGNjX3Nob3BwaW5n&exact=0&section=1&deal=0" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><img src="/buynow/images/buy-5-top.png" width="120" alt="Buy it now" class="google-buynow"></a>
Just so you know…• Inspect the link path
Just so you know…• Block parameter in GA
Admin / All Web Site Data / View Settings
Just so you know…• Block parameter in GWT
Crawl / URL Parameters / Add Parameter
Just so you know…• Block parameter in Robots.txt• Use GWT Robots.txt tester• Read this - http://ayi.ma/robotsguide• Test here - http://ayi.ma/robotstool
Link MonitoringReferrer Spam
Referrer Spam1. Identify problem sites in GA2. Block bots in Robots.txt3. Exclude in GA & block bots at profile
level4. Disavow
Just so you know…• Identify spam referrers in GA
Just so you know…• Block bots in Robots.txt
#SemaltUser-agent: semaltspiderDisallow: /
Just so you know…• Or .htaccess
RewriteEngine onRewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} semalt\.com [NC]RewriteRule .* - [F]
Just so you know…• Exclude referrers in GA
Admin / Profile / Tracking Info / Referral Exclusion List
Just so you know…• Block all known spam bots in GA
Admin / All Web Site Data / View Settings
Backlink Audit
Backlink Audit1. Download links, use multiple sources• GWT, Ahrefs, Majestic SEO, Moz OSE
Backlink Audit2. Open Excel; remove duplicates, add a
domain column and populate3. Use pivot tables to identify patterns• Anchors, number of links, type of link
Backlink Audit2. Open Excel; remove duplicates, add a
domain column and populate3. Use pivot tables to identify patterns• Anchors, number of links, type of link
Backlink Audit4. Check every domain• Use Google’s Quality Guidelines / your
gut feeling• Keep a record of every website you
visit• Contact details, quality, anchor text,
type of link• Identify if you want to remove the link
Backlink Audit5. Contact Webmasters to remove links• Record date of contact & outcome• Don’t pay them (keep a record if they
ask)• Disavow if they refuse/don’t respond
Remember…Set your own thresholds and don’t be afraid
Example: Sitewide Identification
Example: Sitewide Identification1. Get your domain list2. Add a column, populate with 1URL Domain 1http://www.site-1.com/example/1 site-1.com 1http://www.site-2.co.uk/example/133 site-2.co.uk 1https://www.site-3.net/example/1 site-3.net 1https://www.site-3.net/example/2 site-3.net 1http://site-4.com/example/1 site-4.com 1http://site-5.com/example/1 site-5.com 1http://site-6.com/example/1 site-6.com 1http://site-7.com/example/1 site-7.com 1http://example.site-8.com/example/1 example.site-8.com 1http://site-9.com/example/1 site-9.com 1
Example: Sitewide Identification3. Select your data then the Pivot Table
button
Example: Sitewide Identification4. Sort your data
Example: Sitewide Identification5. Investigate• Footer link?• Banner link?• Forum link?
Submitting a Disavow
Submitting a disavow1. Identify domains for disavow• Add “domain:” to the front of each
one (no spaces)
domain:example.comdomain:subdomain.example-2.co.uk
Submitting a disavow2. Copy into a .txt file• Add a #comment identifying the date
added• Add any old disavow data
#Disavow added 12th September 2014domain:example.comdomain:subdomain.example-2.co.uk
Submitting a disavow3. Visit the disavow tool and follow the
instructions• Add the file to the correct profile
http://ayi.ma/disavow
Submitting a disavow4. View GWT messages for your
confirmation
“If I disavow without getting a manual action, will it hurt my website?”
Search traffic post proactive disavow
Disavow of 339 domains submitted March 201420% of domains pointing to site
5 Takeaways
5 Takeaways1. Complete a backlink audit2. Identify low quality links for removal3. Contact WM’s and disavow where
necessary4. Monitor your incoming links5. Keep a record of everything
Thanks!
Tom WhittamSEO Consultant, [email protected]://ayi.ma/brightonseo