'Net Features : link building

Digital Projects for Summer Web Workers

Pete Prestipino — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 19:30:00 GMT

Summer has arrived, but it's not a time to relax. In fact, it should be quite the contrary when it comes to your digital efforts.

Now is the perfect time to start all the projects that you didn’t have the opportunity to begin during the rest of the year. Here are a few general Web improvement ideas that will prove valuable to your 'Net endeavors when site traffic picks up after the summer heat subsides.

IMPROVE DISCOVERABILITY

Build a Link Prospect & Influencer List: There’s no replacement for traditional website-based links as means to improve search engine traffic, but it’s not always easy to acquire them in the quantity (or quality) that your brand deserves. The one mistake that most digital brands make is not spending a sufficient amount of time finding the right potential link prospects and investing in those relationships to ensure that someday they will pay off – and big – in the form of links.

Take the summer months to identify websites that you believe would be beneficial to acquire a link from, noting how they currently link to other sites, and what you might need to do to earn one – be it contributing a guest post or just emailing the site owner. Go it alone and start by exploring LinkedIn, or check out one or two of the most popular SEO software solutions, which are equipped with features for this exact purpose.

Getting new links is the fastest path to improved discoverability, but sometimes it’s necessary to clean up the link profile your site already has. The best way to do that (at least when it comes to Google), of course, is using the link disavow tool in Webmaster Tools. A quick side note: It seems that the best strategy when optimizing your link profile with the disavow tool is to block the entire site instead of individual links on pages.

Internet professionals might also want to consider if they are being associated with the right search terms and phrases. If there’s doubt, the summer presents a perfect time to make over your keyword strategy.

Simplify Share-ability: Social media is playing an increasingly important role in discoverability on the ‘Net these days (subscribers will have access to an informative article on this topic in our August issue, so make sure you’re subscribed to Website Magazine).

Search engines have been quite open about their use of citations as ranking factors on search results. A great deal of effort (from listening and creative content development) is required to receive a citation (be it a like, a retweet or a +1) but those social affirmations don’t just happen on the networks themselves; often, they occur on the website and that presents an opportunity to help your brand increase awareness among key audiences.

Many websites, however, seem to do the absolute minimum when it comes to profiling their social sharing features – relegating these now common website elements to sidebars or worse, to footers. These less-than-ideal placements put these valuable features virtually out of sight of visitors who could potentially share and grant a social citation. Take the summer months to audit your website’s social sharing efforts, focusing on the prominence and ease-of-use of the social sharing elements.

Of course, sharing starts with you, so don’t miss Website Magazine's Big List of Personal Branding Solutions.

REDUCE SUPPORT COSTS

Add a Knowledge Base: It’s not uncommon for Web workers and Internet pros to get lost in the day-day of their digital work managing customers and, of course, all the back-and-forth digital communication that comes with it.

Customers need support – and they always will – but the savviest Internet professionals are actually turning off the business phone and shutting down their support-ticket systems in favor of offering users knowledge bases to help them help themselves in issue resolution. The approach could be a mash-up of a traditional frequently-asked question section with a weblog, and perhaps even some official tutorial videos or a forum. If Internet pros have these solutions in place, they’re more than half way there! All it takes is some forethought and planning about what issues users have, and how they will go about finding them on your digital property.

Knowledge bases are an excellent project for the summer, but if you’re not yet a believer that it’s time to give up your help desk software just yet, check out WM’s 2013 Help Desk Comparison chart.

GAIN AUTHORITY

Develop Acquisition Focused “Special” Content: Authority is a word that has been used with greater regularity over the years, but little has emerged about how search engines or social media sites actually define it, much less how you can go about acquiring it. It doesn’t need to be that complicated though. Authority is essentially a quality that indicates that you (or your brand) is an accepted, and more importantly respected, source of information. Authorities are typically extraordinary people (or companies) meaning that in order to become one, you need to be pretty special. For the most part, the way that happens today is to add value. Write a thought-provoking book/ebook or make a series of exceptional (informative or entertaining) videos. The point is that in order to be an authority, you not only have to do something bigger, but also better. Authority is another topic that Website Magazine will delve into in our upcoming September issue. (Did we mention you should subscribe to Website Magazine?)

Launch a Referral/Partner Program: Taking the time to write the next amazing, thought-provoking work isn’t for everyone – fortunately, there are some shortcuts. If you make great products (be they information or tangible goods) and you and your customers believe in them, another way to gain authority, or at least some additional awareness, is to launch a referral or partner program to help those loyal users spread the word. Explore solutions like Ambassador, InviteBox or Refer.ly, which offer trackable refer-a-friend functionality. Other options include gamification providers (e.g. Bunchball, Badgeville, etc.) to incentivize use, or even traditional affiliate networks to start rewarding brand loyalty.

MODERNIZE DESIGN

Redesign Everything: Design is a fluid, ever-changing and essential component of your Web success. It’s a real challenge to redesign with users (and their future expectations) in mind. This means you’ll need some time to think it through to ensure you make the right decisions. Fortunately for Website Magazine readers, our Design & Development channel routinely features a roundup of interesting articles, such as the recent ‘9 Rules of Portfolio Site Creation’, that can serve as terrific inspiration for your summer design projects. For example, you might want to give your 404 pages a worthy makeover, retool your menu designs, create some modal windows or better yet, optimize what’s behind the UI.

The summer is a perfect time to reimagine your Web property, so don’t waste any more time; why not get started today? Tell other Website Magazine readers what’s on your digital summer project list by sharing a comment below!

4 Backlink Myths Busted

Administrator — Tue, 21 May 2013 15:30:00 GMT

:: Travis Bliffen, Seo Proz ::

SEO is the magic of the digital marketing world with experts promising to pull rabbits out of hats for first-page search engine results. But as search engine providers continuously update their ranking algorithms, SEO success becomes an elusive and shifting science - even for those with all the tricks. So, how can you separate fact from illusion? Let's start by busting four backlink myths.

Myth: All backlinks should be created within content that is relevant to the page being optimized.

When a page or content goes “viral,” it is rapidly shared across both new and established blogs, social networks and the net as a whole. As a result, backlinks are created on a range of sites, many of which have absolutely no relevance to the content being linked. Therefore, even if your content is about, say, puppy dogs, if you create a link on a high-quality site about apples, the backlink is still advantageous for your search engine ranking. This doesn’t mean that spamming links all over the place is a good idea though. Natural link building involves creating backlinks in a manner that does not appear spammy, because the links are relevant in some way, but not necessarily to the content of the page. In our puppy dogs and apples example, perhaps there is a forum post where an apple grower is having trouble with his dog. While the content of the backlink site isn’t about the subject-linked content, the link would still seem natural and relevant.

Myth: All backlinks should be from PR2+ sites or better.

When we look at the nature of viral content yet again, we see links going up in all manner of places. You can’t stop PRzero sites from linking your content any more than you can force a PR9 site to link it. Nonetheless, the PRzero backlink is not going to sandbag your content’s search engine rank. When creating backlinks, the focus should not be the on PR status of the site, but the quality of the link itself. All backlinks should be considered from the perspective of a Web-goer. Ask yourself, if SEO didn’t exist, and all of my links were legitimate, “real” people, rather than crawler bots, would this link be something I’d click or does it look like spam? If you wouldn’t click it, don’t create the backlink. Common sense viewers generally won’t click links within sites that appear to be less than reputable. This may include porn sites, casinos, make-money-fast scams and link farms.

Myth: You should create this many backlinks.

The suggested perfect number of backlinks to improve search engine ranking varies, but more often than not it’s a lot—or as many as you possibly can. Truthfully, though, just how many backlinks you should create is a trick question, because you shouldn’t be creating them all. Viral content does not become viral because the creator links it hundreds of times, it becomes viral because the content is timely, high quality, and useful or interesting. The same way creating backlinks with the same anchor text every time or linking from the same site repeatedly can make a link look like spam, being the only person creating backlinks can as well. Instead of aiming to create backlinks, focus on creating content that encourages other people to do it for you.

Myth: High-link velocity will hurt your search engine ranking.

Falling under the old quality-is-better-than-quantity adage, it’s often suggested that backlink creation should be staggered as rapid link velocity makes a site look like spam. When content goes viral, however, it is indeed rapidly linked from all over the place, so if this rule is true, why aren’t all those pages sinking to the 150 page? While it is true quality counts more than quantity, if your backlinks are being followed and not just created it doesn’t matter how fast they appear. One hundred backlinks in 24 hours that nobody clicks might be seen as spam, but 100 backlinks that are getting active traffic are a seed to viral content. If your aim is to plant that seed, you need to mimic the process by which content becomes viral to the best of your ability. News and social signals play a massive role in the virility of content, so with a viral-style link building campaign, don’t forget to introduce the content to social networks and news feeds.

The truth about launching a successful SEO backlink campaign is just that, dismiss all the rules. Forget about the experts stabbing in the dark at the magic behind scoring the first page, and think like a real human being from the perspective of the people that you want to view your content. After all, it is people that make content go viral, and when content wins the people, it scores the first page of search engine results as a trophy.

Travis Bliffen is the founder of The Seo Proz a search marketing company located near Marion, IL. After working in the industry under the guidance of other search-marketing professionals, he launched The SEO Proz in early 2012. Since then he has worked with numerous local, national and international clients to improve their search rankings.

Big List of Link Building No-Nos

Michael Garrity — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 19:30:00 GMT

Link building is one of the most basic methods that Web professionals use to grow their businesses online. It’s a pretty great system because there are so many different ways to build links on the Internet, but it’s also really difficult because there are so many ways to build links, meaning there are a lot of ways to screw it up.

So, while getting links is an essential task for website owners, they should also make sure that they’re doing it the right way. Otherwise, their brand can be seriously (and in drastic cases, even irreparably) damaged. But with so many options for link building, how do you know what to do and what not to do? That’s easy! Just check out this Website Magazine guide to link building no-nos.

Irrelevant or Duplicate Content
If you’re trying to garner links from websites, the first thing you should do is make sure you’re worth linking to! That means producing original and valuable content that is going to have some relevance to the people visiting the pages you want links from. Also, avoid running duplicate content (either content previously published on your site, or that you’ve written and published elsewhere) and writing guest blog posts for irrelevant sites. This will make your site feel authoritative and be more attractive to high-quality links.

Don’t Spam or Leave Irrelevant Comments
Look, nobody on the Web likes a spammer, so don’t be that guy (or gal). It’s fair game for you to want to visit websites or forums that are relevant to your audience or niche and spread the word about your great site in hopes of building a few links, but that doesn’t mean you should just drop in context-less comments or replies that don’t really help progress any discussions or provide value to other readers, all in hopes that they’ll pay attention to you. Instead, take part in ongoing discussions to build your presence as an authority, and only add references or links to your site when it will add value to other visitors. And if you’re on a forum, you can even include a link to your site in your signature.

Be Social – Not Pushy
Social media marketing is basically a necessity on the Web these days; you’re just not going to get anywhere without it. However, just having a profile on Facebook, Twitter, etc. is not enough – you also have to be social and engage with your fans/followers and other big names in your niche. Be friendly and open, and under no circumstances should you simply and blatantly engage in self-promotion, or spam the walls (and news feeds) of your fans with promotional links.

Don’t Buy Crappy Links
The ultimate goal for people looking to build links is to find those that are high-quality and relevant to your site, so not only is it a waste for you to try to buy links from low-quality sources, it’ll also get you in trouble with Google, which keeps a cautious eye on low quality link sites that engage in a nefarious practice called “link farming.” When it comes to getting quality links, your site and content should be all you need. And while you’re at it, don’t bother with “trading” links with low quality sites just to have them. You’re better than that…

Slow Down on Submitting to Directories
Directories, either paid or free, are great because they can seem like they're these big fields where links grow just for you, but don’t be tempted to just submit your site to a bunch of directories the week it goes live. Remember, good links come naturally and are built up over time. Plus, search engines can totally tell when you’ve just acquired a lot of links by going directory crazy, and that’s going to do more harm than good for your site in the immediate future.

Don’t Over-Link to Your Own Site
If you’re a hard-working content marketer, chances are you’re producing articles and blog posts pretty regularly, including for other websites or blogs that you don’t run. Naturally, you may want to drop a link to your site once, maybe twice, in said article, if there’s a natural and not-totally-obvious way to do it (most authors save this for their bio section attached to the article). Be careful not to “over-link” to your site in these articles, though. Remember, you’re supposed to be offering relevant and valuable information to your readers, not promoting your website, so never drop in more than one link to your site. Besides, Google is open about the fact that it only reads the first link anyway, so more than one link is not only annoying, but also useless.

Link to Various Pages on Your Site
One of the biggest mistakes that people make when linking to their websites is to link only to their home pages. This is a bad idea, because (A) it makes users have to dig to find certain information, so just link to the pages you want them to see, and (B) it gives your site a bad deep link ratio and negatively affects how well your deeper “child” pages will rank on the search engines. But also, if your site has a canonical issue that gives you a “/index.html” URL in addition to your domain URL, make sure that when you DO link to your home page, it doesn’t send users to this index page (or any other home page extensions).

Change Up the Anchor Text
When you’re targeting a specific term that you want associated with your website, you may think it’s a good idea to use the same anchor text in your links over and over again. It’s not. In fact, this kind of narrow targeting will actually hurt you on the search engines. Instead, try to vary the anchor text you use to include OTHER relevant or related terms, or terms specific to the page you’re linking to. This will help your site rank for more terms, obviously. Plus, it would be helpful to include your company or website name in a percentage of your links, as well.

SEO Mechanics - Anchor Text

Michael Garrity — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 19:25:00 GMT

The Internet has done a lot to make it easier to spread and digest information at a faster pace than ever before, but the really great thing that Web content is able to do is insert supplementary information right into the text on a page in the form of a hyperlink. However, what many up-and-coming Web pros don’t realize is that these hyperlinks, when paired with the right anchor text, can actually play a significant role in improving their SEO efforts, as well.

Quite simply, “anchor text” is just the clickable text in a hyperlink; that is, those specific characters and/or words that a hyperlink displays in the text portions of a Web page that link out to other locations or documents on the Web. When it comes to the coding on a page, anchor text looks like this:

<a href=http://www.exampleurl.com>Anchor Text</a>

But you may be wondering just what kind of a role this actually plays in search engine optimization. Well, as it turns out, search engines tend to use anchor text to figure out the subject matter of the linked-to Web page or document. This means that they get a chance to learn what a page is all about, so if they see that a number of websites link to the page using terms related to its content, Google, Bing and others will note that the page seems relevant to those keywords, and it will begin to rank the page higher, even if those terms never appear in the actual text. Like at all.

See, since search engines tend to heavily weigh inbound links, it is important that they have as much information as possible about the page’s being linked to. In other words, it kind of tells Google or Bing or whoever not only which Web pages the linking site is vouching for, but also why has selected them.

Seems pretty simple, right? The problem is that that many people don’t use anchor text correctly, and that makes it difficult for search engines to glean information about the content of the Web page or document being linked to. This more or less cancels out the SEO benefits of using anchor text in the first place.

The Right Anchor Text Says A Lot
For the most part, the biggest problem that people seem to have with anchor text is that they tend to put links inside text that reads something like, “Click Here,” “Next,” “Read More” or something of that ilk. Of course, by now it should be clear that these sorts of link “descriptions” are inadvisable, as they don’t provide any information about the actual contents of the linked-to page, which makes them virtually useless for search engines and, thus, doesn’t improve the page’s standing in the SERPs.

Instead, anchor text should include targeted or branded keywords often as possible, or at least some sort of descriptive information about the page being linked to. That way, crawlers will be able to quickly find the keywords in their directories.

Just remember that people tend to link to content using anchor text that is made up of either the linked-to website’s domain name or the title of the page in question, so by naming your page with particular keywords, you’ll be able to ensure that *most* of the links you get should include anchor text with those terms that you want to rank for.

Anchor text is a very powerful tool when it comes to SEO and ranking higher on the search engines, but all of its power comes from being descriptive and helpful, not only to the search engines, but readers, as well. It’s important to not force anchor text awkwardly into a Web page; instead, find a way to make it natural and readable, even if that means just including the page title.

Direct Request Link Building from Zero

Michael Garrity — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 19:15:00 GMT

Everybody has to start somewhere, and when you’re trying to build credibility and bring people to your website basically from scratch, there are myriad opportunities available to build links around the Web that will make users and search engines, alike, take notice.

Here at Website Magazine, we’ve provided a step-by-step guide to link prospecting for when you’re starting with close-to-nothing (e.g. time, money and resources). However, when all is said and done, the whole reason why we prospect for links is to find those websites that we want to build close relationships with that will be beneficial for both parties.

So, although there are some more “hands-off” techniques for acquiring links on the Web, such as submitting your site to a directory or a local business listing site like Google Places, the best way to go about building quality links is still to seek out quality, authoritative websites or blogs in and around your niche. You should forge a relationship with them through direct requests, or by providing them with contributed content.

Let’s look at a few of the best ways to build links and, more importantly, relationships with other websites, especially when you don’t yet have the credibility or resources to get your content published in “high-profile environments” that will naturally garner some links. When you’re starting from zero, how can you go about getting good links?

Just Ask

Just like in real life, the best way to approach someone is to be open and honest. Direct requests for links are not only the most obvious way to go about introducing your site and its content to others. And going directly to a website owner to request a link beats asking a group of strangers on a message board, because you have no way of controlling who will respond to you and how worthwhile their website’s will be for your link building efforts.

There are a couple of ways that you can go about getting in touch with a website owner or webmaster, including through social media (although this isn’t recommended) or a website’s contact form, but probably the most effective method will be to simply send a direct request email. However, remember that you’re trying to build relationships here, so if you’re going to send a direct request email, do so in a way that shows that you’re familiar with the website and its work, and explain how you could benefit them, as well.

Start by looking to see if the website(s) you’re interested in link to some of your competitors or not to determine if they’re even willing to link out (some may even have a specific email address listed on their sites for people interested in link building). Then, make sure that your link request appears to be relevant and beneficial to both you and the linker.

Keep Them Updated

One way to prove that linking to your website will also be beneficial to the linker is to provide them with some valuable information or content right off the bat. Perhaps you could initiate your relationship by supplying the other website with a news release about something your company or website is doing, or something happening within the niche that you both operate in. Anything they can use to improve or add content to their websites could be considered “beneficial." It’s all about having your thumb on the pulse of your industry and proving your worth to the desired linker. Services like PRWeb allow users to create and distribute press releases for little-to-no cost.

Again, this can be done through social media or other outlets, but the most direct and effective method is email, and it probably will be for the foreseeable future.

Give Away Content

If you want to get links from a blog, or a website that features a blog, there is no better way to show off your value and provide something beneficial to the prospected linker than by writing up a guest blog post and sending it to them. If they publish it, not only will this automatically give you one link from their website (since they’ll likely link to your website somewhere in the post), but it will also help you establish a relationship with them that is mutually beneficial from the outset, and that will greatly improve your chances of getting links from them in the future.

The main thing to remember is that good link building is about more than just acquiring citations from other websites that are kind of related to your niche or industry; it’s actually about forging lasting and valuable relationships with others. By just taking some initiative and offering something valuable to other websites, you’ll eventually be able to do that, and improve your site’s credibility in the process, even if you’re starting from zero.

High-Impact Link Prospecting From Zero

Administrator — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 18:55:00 GMT

There's nothing more discouraging to a digital professional than seeing their website's link profile remain stagnant, as in no steady upward growth, not even an occasional burst of activity.

Building steady streams of traffic requires a great deal of investment (time and actual money). If you're starting at zero though - zero money, zero time, zero resources - then link building efforts should be focused on only the most high-impact tactics, exercising every muscle in the marketing arsenal. First, however, you need to put the work in if you want to see the results.

Keep in mind that the following isn't for the virtually weak hearted - you're going to need some courage (and energy) to see this style of campaign work. Nevertheless, when you're prepared, anything is possible.

Over the next few weeks, Website Magazine will provide a series of articles (just like the following) on high-impact link building tactics. These articles will focus exclusively on a specific tactic or method for use in your link building efforts. Today, let's explore how to use Alexa and popular "similar sites" tools for building a prospective link pool - a group of sites that have the potential to link to our own immediately or in the future. The bigger the pool, the better the chance you'll have of catching something.

I know well and good what you're thinking: "Alexa, really? That's all we're working with here?" Remember, we're starting with zero (no fancy SEO research tools) and besides, if you know where to look and how to look at it, some of the data that Alexa provides can actually reveal a whole host of link building opportunities. Besides, Google doesn't make it easy to see the link profile of each and every site, but what they do show is related sites. And when you look at that information as an opportunity to increase the prospective link pool, you're well on your way to success with SEO.

EDITORS NOTE: The following is a "manual" process - meaning there's a fair amount of repetitive copying and pasting into Excel (or any spreadsheet application) involved. That's OK if you're starting from zero, but not so much if the resources are available to use one of the automated Enterprise SEO software solutions such as those listed in a recent Website Magazine Top 50 as they're able to provide far more useful details into prospective link targets.

STEP ONE: Visit Alexa.com

Under each Alexa profile, an indication of the number of sites "linking in" is included with its site information. The number of links that are being reported is hyperlinked - click on it and you'll find details on what sites in particular are linking to the site profile you're researching.

For example, in the image below, we can see that a site like Alexa.com has more than 376,000 sites linking in, which is quite a link prospecting pool.

STEP TWO: Identify Link "Types"

Every website has a different link profile, but some common themes exist. For example, citations (links) are available pretty much everywhere - from social profiles and forum threads, to guest posts on separate blogs and media releases on news aggregators. The trick is to find out what those link "types" are and then take note of them. A quick spin through the listings provided by Alexa will provide the answer.

STEP THREE: Organize Links by Category Type

While Alexa only returns 100 of the inbound links it knows about on the profile being researched, that's 100 more data points that you didn't know before. It's important though to group the links available into the categories you identify and the marketing tactic you'll need to engage in to acquire a link. For example, you might have a social media category, a forum-marketing category, a content marketing category, a joint-venture category, a legacy partnership category, etc. Defining the categories now will make future link building much easier.

STEP FOUR: Expand the Link Pool

Once you have a handle on the categories and know about the types of links that your competitors are receiving (along with a few sample sites), it's much easier to then locate other similar Web destinations to add to your link prospecting pool - it's easier to start with a few citations, which is why Alexa was the first stop. Armed with a list of sites, enter each one individually into the search box at Google (using the related search query: related:http://www.website.com) and you'll find additional websites to add to your prospecting pool. Google, of course, isn't the only way to find related sites. Consider using websiteslike.org, skrittle.com, similarsites.com, similarweb.com and similarsitesearch.com.

It's not a fool-proof method to build a prospective link pool, but it's a great way to get started. In part two of this article series, how to start the actual process of building links per category will be discussed. Stay tuned!

5 Ways to Be Banned By Google Overnight

Amberly Dressler — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 19:00:00 GMT

Google’s algorithms may be a black box, but its Webmaster Guidelines are meant to leave little room for speculation, yet some gray area remains. While the guidelines are written in easy-to-use language and outline some of the illicit practices that may lead to a site being removed entirely from the Google index or otherwise impacted by an algorithmic or manual spam action, there are no real-word examples, albeit for good reason.

Here are past and present examples of how to get your website banned by Google overnight.

1. Participate in Link Schemes

Any links intended to manipulate a site’s ranking in Google search results may be considered a link scheme, as was the case in 2011, when the New York Times uncovered a link-building scheme by J.C. Penney. The retailer ranked number one for bedding, dresses, area rugs, and other vague and specific keywords, with “uncanny regularity” for several months. After consulting with an industry expert, the New York Times found 2,015 pages with phrases like “casual dresses,” “evening dresses,” “little black dress” or “cocktail dress,” which all bounced directly to the main page for dresses on JCPenney.com.

NYT excerpt: There are links to JCPenney.com’s dresses page on sites about diseases, cameras, cars, dogs, aluminum sheets, travel, snoring, diamond drills, bathroom tiles, hotel furniture, online games, commodities, fishing, Adobe Flash, glass shower doors, jokes and dentists — and the list goes on.

J.C. Penney said they did not authorize and were not involved or aware of the posting of links that the New York Times sent to them. J.C. Penney immediately fired their SEO agency, but not before Google took manual action against the brand for violating its guidelines. Overnight, J.C. Penney was vanished from search results for anything other than branded keywords (a.k.a. direct searches for J.C. Penney). It took about three months for J.C. Penney to move up the rankings and regain lost rankings.

Build links the right way with Website Magazine’s Big List of Link-Building Strategies

2. Include Doorway Pages

Google defines doorway pages as those that are large sets of poor-quality pages where each page is optimized for a specific keyword or phrase. Google always frowns upon manipulating search engines and deceiving users. In 2006, BMW suffered Google’s wrath for setting up doorway pages to attract search engines and redirect traffic to its German website, BMW.de. BMW’s page rank was reduced to zero. While BMW stated it did not intend to deceive users, the company added, “However, if Google says all doorway pages are illegal we have to take this into consideration."

3. Sell Links that Pass PageRank

Selling links that pass PageRank violates Google’s quality guidelines; this includes advertorial pages with embedded links that pass PageRank. Google recently penalized Interflora, even removing it from branded search results, for using advertorials to solely influence search rankings. An example of this, is that Interflora reportedly sent bloggers floral arrangements in exchange for links. This was once considered a gray area, but is clearly black hat now.

Google’s Matt Cutts responded, indirectly, to this incident with this blog.

4. Scrape Content

In 2012, Google blacklisted a network of websites run by the family of U.K. Parliament member Grant Shapps after the search giant found the sites breached rules on copyright infringement and that they were based on scraped content. This latter black-hat tactic is typically when webmasters use content from other sites to try to increase credibility and the volume of pages.

According to Shapps’s spokesman (as reported by the Guardian UK), the Parliament member “is quite simply not involved in this business.” Certainly, it was avoidable bad press nonetheless.

5. Use a “Bad” Blog Network

If your site belongs to a blog network whose purpose is to create backlinks, Google will de-index them and penalize you. In 2012, this happened to Build My Rank, which ultimately closed down and relaunched as HP Backlinks. The relaunch, however, has many people wondering if (and when) Google will go after the network again.

Check out this guide to identifying bad links and disavowing them.

Bonus: Start Cloaking — If you want to get on Google’s bad side, present different content or URLs to human users and search engines. Google bans this practice, because it provides users with different results than they expected. Unfortunately, some sites unknowingly use cloaking. For example, if your site is compromised, hackers may use cloaking to make the hack harder for the site owner to detect. Use Website Magazine’s cloaking checker to avoid a penalty.

Extreme Makeover: SEO Edition

Michael Garrity — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 20:30:00 GMT

The winter weather is finally starting to subside, which means that spring is right around the corner and it’s a time for new beginnings. For business owners, webmasters and online marketers, this means doing a little spring cleaning the form of an SEO makeover for their websites.

Regularly performing a checkup on your website and giving it a bit of a facelift when and where it’s necessary are kind of essential to maintaining a solid SEO strategy. However, it can be easy to overlook at times and before you know it, a few weeks (or even months) have gone by since you last fixed things up, and by this time, you’re site may need a more extensive overhaul.

If your site is in dire need of a makeover and you’re wondering where to begin, look no further, because below we’ve listed a handful of nips, tucks and alterations that can help you totally reimagine your website for SEO.

Dust Off the Old Keyword Research Tool
Keyword research is the backbone of any SEO strategy, but it is also one of the easiest things to forget to revisit when turning up your site. That’s why the first step in an SEO makeover should be visiting the Google AdWords Keyword Tool to find the keywords in your niche that are not only most popular, but are also most suitable to your particular Web business. If this new report returns information about new keywords that you’re not currently using, make sure to find a way to work them into your site’s title tags and meta descriptions.

Clean Up URLs
One of the easiest and yet most effective ways to improve your website’s search rankings is by beautifying your URLs to make them easier for search engines to read, which means getting rid of long query strings. Clean, easy-to-understand URLs should include a hypertext transfer protocol, the website’s domain name, the subdirectory of the file or page (if applicable) and the file name of the requested resource, all of which are separated by backslashes. Moreover, different terms within directory or file names should be separated by dashes (-), rather than underscores (_); the URL should not include auto-generated IDs and/or numbers; and they should remain as short as possible. Luckily, there is a tool that helps users rewrite requested URLs on the fly called mod_rewrite.

Refine the Site Architecture
This is the big one, as refining your site’s architecture not only makes it easier for search engines to crawl your content, but it also makes the site more user friendly and increases load times, so it’s a great idea all around. For starters, you should make sure the site follows the basic rule of thumb that it takes no more than three clicks to reach your deepest content. Other handy little tweaks you can make include making it possible to access your homepage in one click from any other page on your site (which could include placing a link your logo image), cross-linking related pages to open the navigation flow (for both users and search engines) and by utilizing text-based links for your menu and page navigation buttons, since that’s the only thing that search engine crawlers can read, which is particularly important for the more crucial aspects of your website.

Purge Your Link Collection
If you like back to all of the websites that link to you, that tells Google that all of your inbound links are not earned, as sites with real authority don’t have to practice link sharing. You may also have a list of outbound or internal links on your site that go to broken pages, downed websites or other places that you may not want them going to various reasons. An SEO makeover is the perfect opportunity to perform a full-scale link checkup on your website to make sure that your site provides only the best and most necessary links for visitors and search engines. Remember, the number of outbound links you have doesn’t matter, as long as you’re linking to authoritative (and working) sites.

Weed Out Irrelevant Content
Finally, you should also do a site-wide examination of all of your content to ensure relevance and quality and help you move up the search rankings, as better content means more visitors and links and, thus, more attention from Google and Bing. Review your blog posts, Web pages and other copy to suss out anything irrelevant or outdated and make changes as necessary. This includes (but is not limited to) updating titles and headlines to include keywords and adding links to trending topics, which can help you get more relevant content and increase your search engine placement.

Blogging Basics – Fighting Writer's Block and Learning SEO

Administrator — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 18:45:00 GMT

Almost everyone who starts out blogging is told to write about something they love – it's common advice because it's sensible advice.

But even if you are hugely passionate about a subject there are going to be days when the thought of sitting down in front of a blank page and filling it with words isn't going to happen. You might be too busy, too distracted or you might be suffering writer's block. The sooner you face up to the fact that blogging won't always be easy, the better. But there are some tactics you can to do to minimize the disruption these periods will bring.

Store up ideas from periods when the words are flowing and use them when things dry up.
When you start blogging draw up a list of 15-20 ideas and whenever you cover one of them add another to replace it.
You might find you write five entries without putting an idea back on the list, but as long as you refresh it when inspiration strikes, you'll never run out of content ideas.
You might also be the kind of person who likes to have specific blog titles in place before you start writing, but it doesn't matter if your ideas list is headlines, rough thoughts on a post or a mixture of both – having it in the first place is what matters.

So you've got your blog, you've got your ideas list and maybe you've even written a few posts - it's time to talk SEO.

SEO is as important as writing

If you're writing for the sheer fun of it then you won't have to worry about search engine optimization if, however, you want to attract visitors to your blog then you need to focus on more than just producing content.

SEO is all about making your blog attractive to search engines. If you do that, you're more likely to rank highly for terms relating to your site and attract more visitors. To start, think of your own experiences of using Google – when you search for something how often do you look any further than the first result on a page?

Around 80 percent of people who use Google click on the first result they see – so the benefits of having your site as that result, and hence the benefits of SEO, should be obvious.

The bad news is some SEO tasks can be very boring. The good news is others are a lot of fun. There is so much to learn about SEO, however, that it's important to remember you won't become an expert overnight.

Google wants to help you

A good place to start for an absolute beginner is by taking a look at Google's Webmaster Guidelines. This will give you a solid overview of the kind of thing you should (and equally importantly shouldn't) be doing. There are a few technical terms in there, but it will pay for you to get a grip on these areas early in your blogging life.

As you grow in confidence you may want to start using things like Google Webmaster Tools in order to make SEO improvements to your site. But as promised, there is another side to SEO and one which involves plenty of human interaction.

Links are crucial to boosting your search engine rankings and getting them should be a key focus for any blog. However, you need to be choosy about the kind of links you're getting.

Good links and bad links

Anyone taking their first steps into the world of SEO will find it impossible to avoid ads for services that promise thousands of links for very little money. But like most things in life, if an SEO offer seems too good to be true, it is.

You'll get your links alright, and they may even boost your Google rankings for a short while. But sooner or later the search engine will realize you are buying links (a big no-no in the Webmaster Guidelines mentioned above) and your site will plummet down the rankings.

Exactly why Google doesn't like link buying, and the full horror of getting caught doing it, would fill at least one blog post on their own, but anyone interested in such things can get a rough overview by reading the Wikipedia article on one of Google's most recent algorithm updates.

So if that's the wrong way to get links, what's the right way?

Firstly, you need to make sure your content really stands out – linking to something is a way of endorsing it and people are more likely to do that if your blog is of a high standard.

There are a few ways of doing this but the best one is to try and ensure you bring something new to the debate each time you sit down to write. Not every post needs to be a thesis, but if you draw on your own expertise and experiences you'll find you can bring a fresh spin to almost any topic.

Make the most of the social side of blogging

Great content on its own won't bring in the maximum number of links – to do that you need to get out there and make friends. Blogging is a social activity and whatever you are writing about there will be a community that revolves around that particular subject. Twitter and Google are your friends here – use them to find other bloggers and start a conversation.

If you're both passionate about the same thing this should be easy - by tweeting people and commenting on their articles you'll start to form a relationship which will be beneficial for your blog. This should be two people talking about something they love – there's no need to fake anything. If you're friendly, open and honest, you're far more likely to get a link than if you brazenly ask a stranger for one. Gently making someone aware of your blog will reap all sorts of benefits – if they like what you're doing they'll link to it and tweet about it – you won't have to ask.

Blogging is what you make of it

This is only the beginning though – we haven't even touched on SEO topics like guest posting or linkbait. And that's the beauty of blogging – you can treat it as just a way to get your thoughts down on the page or as a long-term project with specific goals and aims. Professional bloggers do exist and if you want to start on the road to becoming one, following the tips here will make sure you are heading in the right direction.

About the Author: Will Stevens – a journalist and SEO expert who is part of the 123-reg.co.uk blog team. The company is the UK's largest accredited provider of domain names.

Identifying Bad Links (And What You Should Do About It Right Now)

Michael Garrity — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 20:45:00 GMT

Every good SEO wants to get the highest-quality links possible, as they serve as affirmations of the quality of their site’s content and, thus, help them be recognized by search engines and ultimately moved up the SERPs. But sometimes, if they’re not careful, even the best SEOs can end up with some bad links that are, at best, a waste of their time and, at worst, a detriment to their optimization efforts.

These bad links can cause problems for your site with the search engines because Google, Bing and the like are often weary about giving high rankings to sites that have inbound links from questionable or outright unacceptable sites, as they want to discourage users from ending up there. “Bad” links are usually those that come from spam or poor-quality sites, blog networks, paid posts, defunct directories, irrelevant/untrustworthy sites or disproportionate anchor text links. They can also include purchased links, which are also frowned upon.

Needless to say, if you have built bad links, you’re going to want to get rid of them for the sake of your Web business. How can you do this? Well, you first have to start by finding those bad links…

How to Identify Bad Links
For starters, you need to make sure that your SEO problems are a result of bad links and not actually something else, such as duplicate content, bad canonicals or redirects, downtime or latency issues or a malware issue. Fortunately, search engines (specifically Google) will now warn webmasters about their poor or “unnatural” links, so if it’s a problem, you’ll at least know about it before you watch your rankings plummet.

To find these links, you’ll have to do a backlink audit to see where they’re coming from and devise a plan to get rid of them. One of the best ways to conduct an audit is to compare your link profile to those of your competitors. Study their site-wide links, anchor text distribution, article and Web directory links, blog links, link networks, footer links, blog comment/forum links, etc. to get a better picture of what “good” links in your niche or industry should look like. This knowledge will help you better identify those backlinks that don’t meet those criteria.

You can do this manually by checking Google Webmaster Tools to look at your most linked pages. For example, if any of them are highly commercial and feature minimal value-added content, (making it odd that it would get many links), you’ll know where to start looking. Webmaster Tools can also let you see your anchor text distribution. Again, if you see important information like your website name or URL, company name or text directly related to your site, that’s a solid indicator that the link may not be desirable.

Other good tools for checking the quality of your backlinks are SEOMoz’s Open Site Explorer and CongnitiveSEO. These tools do the lion’s share of the analysis, so the process is quicker and more effective. If you’re especially industrious, or just don’t trust your own work, you can also hire an SEO agency to conduct the audit.

Disavowing Bad Links
Both Google and Bing offer a Disavow Tool as part of its Webmaster Tools suite, which allows website owners to quickly alert the search engines about backlinks they’ve found that they don’t trust by submitting page, directory or domain URLs that contain unnatural, spammy or low-quality links to their sites. The search engine in question will then disavow the link so that it will no longer count against you when it assesses your site’s position in the SERPs.

However, while this may seem like a handy quick fix to your link problem, these Disavow Tools aren’t always (or even often) going to be your best option. First, you should try to get rid of these heinous backlinks on your own by contacting the offending website and asking them to remove them. Those who need help finding a contact at the website can try using Domaintools.com, SpyonWeb, C-Class Checker or regular social media sites to track them down. If you contracted out your search engine optimization, you can contact them to ask about the original agreement regarding the link and how to get rid of it.

It is important to check, because the links you’re so quick to get rid of, could actually be helping your site. Google says you can eventually get disavowed links back, but it does apparently take a while. For the most part, you should only consider using the Disavow Tools when you have received bad link warnings, been manually penalized, were denied reconsideration after trying to fix a bad link warning or were a victim of negative SEO.

Dealing with bad links can take time. Luckily, there are a growing number of online tools and services that can help you speed up the process and ensure greater accuracy, such as Website Magazine's Broken Link Checker.

Link Building via Google Search Parameters

Michael Garrity — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 16:00:00 GMT

The ability to search is one of the most useful tools on the Internet, and Google Search is the top dog. The good and bad news is that, unknown to many users, most of us aren’t using Google Search to its full potential.

In fact, all of us are able to craft our own Google Search strings (those exhaustingly long URL addresses that appear with search queries) by using different search parameters as a shortcut to alter Google’s filters and, ultimately, return more accurate or beneficial results. But more than that, they're also helpful for your link-building efforts.

Getting to Know Google Search Parameters
The easiest way to imagine search parameters is to think of it as using an advanced, customized Google Search without going through a bunch of steps to set it up. Instead, you can just include additional filters in the URL that will narrow down your results.

And yes, it really is as easy as just appending parameters to the end of the address, with each filter separated using an ampersand symbol (&). So, if you have a distinct idea of just what kind of results you’d like to see, all you have to do is add the appropriate parameter(s) to get results more useful to your search.

Search Parameters as a Link-Building Tool
For most people, using search parameters is a handy way to find information, but it’s rarely pointed out that they can also be used to significantly simplify the link-building process for Web workers.

Basically, what happens is that often when one uses Google Search to find a website that specializes in a topic (let’s say "towels," as an example), a general search returns a variety of results. But their origins can be scattered, and most of them won’t be useful link targets for one reason or another. Using advanced search parameters allows you to narrow down your query to find sites that are going to be relevant to your interests. For instance, maybe you only want results from Canada or the United States.

This helps reduce your prospects to sites that are more closely aligned with your criteria, and highlights those best for link-building pursuits. That is to say, using advanced parameters in Google Search identifies sites that would have otherwise been buried or, at least, harder to find.

And Here’s a List
In order to better assist our readers, here’s a list of the most common and/or beneficial Google Search parameters that you may want to use in the future. (Note: For any queries that are over one word long, separate each individual term using the plus (+) sign.)

q=example+query - The most basic unit that appears after the search? initiator. This is the user's original query.

as_q=example+should+contain - This means that the results should include all of the words in the query.

as_epq=example+must+appear - This means that the user only wants results that feature the exact phrase being searched for, in that order.

as_oq=any+example+word - The results should contain any of the words being searched for.

as_eq=no+example+words - The results should not contain any of these words.

as_filetype=pdf - Results should feature a specific file type.

as_lq - This returns a sample of links to any site.

as_sitesearch - Users are able to search a specified site.

as_rq - This will show a sample of related websites.

as_occt=location - Use this to specify where on a page to search for keywords. Options include: any, title, body, url or links.

as_nlo=number - Where a number range starts.

as_nhi=number - Where a number range ends.

num=number - This sets the number of results shown per page.

hl=language code - This indicates the language that search results will appear in, and it is naturally set by the user's browser. Language codes appear as two-letter abbreviations (e.g. English is written as "en").

lr=lang_language code - This tells Google what language the results should appear in. An example would be: lr=lang_en. Click here for a complete list of language filters.

cr=countryXX - This indicates the location that search results should come from. It is also followed by an abbreviation (e.g. France is written as "FR"). An example would be: cr=countryFR. Click here for a complete list of country codes and country collection codes from Google.

gl=country code - This allows users to find results as if they were searching from a specified location. An example: gl=FR

gr=US-NY - This code lets users narrow down their reults to a specific region. This example indicates search results returned from New York.

gcs=Chicago - This limits results to a certain city.

gpc=47978 - This limits results to a certain zip code.

gm=619 - This limits results to a specific metropolitan region.

filter=0 - This will include omitted results.

pws=0 - Using this will completely turn off personalization features.

ncr=1 - This allows users to set the Google country engine they want to use despite their actual locations.

nfpr=1 - Use this to turn off spelling auto-correction.

start=number - This will show search results rankings starting from the number selected.

tbs=qdr:time code - This lets users specify a time period. This includes the previous second (s), previous minute (m), previous hour (h), previous day (d), previous week (w), previous month (m) or previous year (y). (An example would be: tbs=qdr:m) To sort the results by date, users can append this filter with ,sbd:1. (An example: tbs=qdr:m,sbd1)

Big List of Link Building Strategies

Michael Garrity — Fri, 11 May 2012 20:00:00 GMT

Link building should always be top of mind for those who want to grow their Web properties, but to call it a difficult practice is an understatement. It is, in fact, one of the most challenging components of search engine optimization, and one of the trickier areas in all of Web marketing.

Fortunately, a number of helpful strategies have emerged in recent years, and WM has highlighted some of them below. If you have additional suggestions, we welcome you to share them in the comments section.

Content

Quality Counts
The most effective way to acquire quality links is to produce quality content – something that your visitors and other website owners are going to find worth reading and sharing. The better your content, the more likely it is to be picked up and/or linked to by publishers in your industry. It’s always good to keep in mind that the most useful, sharable content is that which includes lasting, actionable information such as tutorials, lists, industry reports, glossaries, etc.

Infographics
Most Web users appreciate a well-conceived and attractively designed infographic. They can provide practical, useful information in an easy-to-digest format, and they are easy to share between links to the infographic and other sites embedding it into their own content.

Viral Content
Viral content is basically anything that encourages those who see it to look into its source for more information. Typically, it can be videos, photos or games that offer an ambiguous message that creates intrigue and drives users back to its source website for more.

Linking Made Easy
If you want people to share your content, especially images or videos, you’d do well to make it easy for them to link to your site. The best way to do this is to provide HTML-ready snippets that people can easily copy and then paste right into their own website/blog/social media post.

RSS Feeds
Most content management systems create RSS feeds for your blog content. If you don’t automatically have that option, it’s a good idea to create one. This allows interested users to add your content to their daily feeds, increasing the likelihood that they will not only see it but also share it with others.

White Papers
One great way to establish authority and gain links is to publish white papers. Not only do white papers help you earn links from interested parties, but they also help to identify you as a thought-leader in your industry or niche.

Images
It is true that we live in a visual society, which is why photos are a very valuable type of content to leverage. Photos can be set up to link back to your website, which is a valuable way to increase website traffic. Images can also be posted and shared on social media sites for even greater visibility.

Videos
Videos are another type of content that can be very influential when it comes to building links. Content producers should remember to vary the types of videos so that they don't become too repetitive, such as a mix of tutorials, product announcements, general information and industry news.

Controversy Loves Company
Sometimes the best way to get noticed is to make waves, and online that often comes in the form of bold or occasionally controversial statements. Content that takes a bold stance on a topic, even one that is contrarian to the present popular belief, is very likely to encourage others to link back to your site as the source.

Promotions

Press Releases
Submitting company news to the top press release engines such as PRWeb, PRNewswire and Buisnesswire will immediately increase your business’ online visibility and encourage journalists and bloggers to write about your brand and link to your website.

Contests
Engaging your audience with contests is a great way to promote your brand online. Post information about the competition on your website and social media channels, as well as within email newsletters, so that your audience can participate and share the promotions with their friends.

Daily Deals
By participating in a daily deal through a website such as Living Social, Groupon or WhereYouShop, merchants will not only increase their conversions but also their online visibility through a link on the daily deal vendor’s website, as well as within the deal’s social media and email promotions.

Widgets and Apps
Valuable widgets and apps will build links through promotions, reviews and social sharing among audience members. Additionally, when another site downloads and uses your widget or app on their website, they will link it back to your website.

E-books
Create an informative e-book for your audience to download can result in linkbacks through reviews, promotions and social sharing.

Advertising
Set up a marketing campaign that will put your site in front of Web surfers all over the Internet. Try display advertising on social sites such as Facebook or join an affiliate program to increase your brand’s reach.

Wikipedia
If your business doesn’t already have a corporate Wikipedia page, create one and link back to your website from the page.

Networking

Guest Contributions
This is the most useful form of networking for both parties, and it can go two ways. You can either enlist other prominent industry experts to create content that you will post on your site – which gets links from users as well as the contributor linking to it on their own website and social media profiles. Or you can contribute something to another blog or website and then link back to your own site from there.

Listing Site Directories
One of the easier ways to pursue links is to submit your site to an online website directory. It can be especially useful to include your site on an industry-specific directory (if one exists). Unfortunately, while this may be a great way to begin the link-building process, garnering links from website directories does not do you a lot of favors when it comes to SEO.

Talk to People
In the digital age, it can be easy to forget that sometimes the best way to network is to just go out and form relationships with others. This can be achieved by reaching out on social media to authoritative bloggers in your industry, or linking to their content on your blog or website in an effort to get on their radar.

Interviews
A great way to show off your expertise is to give interviews to relevant Web publishers and get a link back to your website in return. You can also conduct interviews with others in your niche, and the more you do, the more in demand you will be.

Forums
Everyone has an opinion, and for some reason they love to share them on the Internet. This is why message boards and forums have become such a popular medium for discussing pretty much anything. Including a forum on your site can help bring in relevant users who love to talk about whatever it is you do. It can also improve your link building efforts because when an interesting discussion pops up, users may share it with their friends/readers/visitors in an effort to engage more relevant voices.

Webinars
Like white papers, webinars are a very effective way to show off your authority. And webinars also present an outstanding opportunity to network. You can go out and find other industry experts and put together a joint presentation, and then each party can link to it for their own unique user base.

Social Media

Social Presence
The Web is full of social media networks, and most come with a large, very interactive audience. Website owners can leverage these platforms by choosing a few of the most beneficial sites for their brand to join, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, YouTube, Pinterest, FourSquare or Tumblr. Once your brand has its own page on these sites, administrators should grow the audience and brand’s visibility through posting great content and promotions, as well as interacting with their fans and followers.

Gamification
Gamification functionality enables website owners to better engage their audience as well as increase their online visibility through rewards and badges. Gamified sites can be set up to reward social sharing among audience members, as well as reward influential consumers with badges that link back to the gamified website.

Social Login
Not only have studies proven that social login increases audience engagement levels (and that customers prefer it), but it also makes it easier for site visitors to share content. A recent Janrain study even revealed that 78 percent of people using social login posted to their social networks about a product or service that they liked and thought others should know about.

Share Buttons
This link-building tactic is pretty obvious, especially since we have already covered the power of social media when it comes to link building. By providing your audience with social sharing buttons that are easy to locate on your website or within email newsletters, website owners will most certainly see an increase in shared content and traffic to their sites.

Email
Email is still king when it comes to marketing, which is why it is also a valuable link-building tool. Include links to content, promotions and sales within the email, and it is also important to make it easy for your audience to share and link back to the content.

SEO Quick Start Guide to PR-Based Backlinks

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 19:30:00 GMT

Say what you will about the value of social media in driving brand awareness and website visits, it is search marketing (and SEO in particular) that still receives the most significant share of attention from Web professionals. It remains a struggle, however, to obtain links – those online citations of Web properties that search engines use to determine popularity and relevance when ranking sites and pages on search return lists. You need links – now more than ever – but you also need a strategy to acquire them.

For that, you’ll need to do one thing very well – learn how to network (and work) like public relations professionals.

PR folks, at least the best ones, know what it takes to get a backlink. In a way, they are the original link builders. And for that we can say thanks. Thanks because there are well-documented approaches a Web professional interested in building links can mimic.

Press releases, of course, have a long history on the Web and while their value may have been diminished once everyone figured out that a sub-$100 press release could generate hundreds of links, they still do quite well in driving an initial level of interest and establishing a base of relevant, yet lower-quality citations. With so many scraper sites on the Web, however, and with a clearer understanding of what and how search engines define value in the virtual eyes of users, we can extend our PR to more sophisticated approaches.

The Power of the Byline

Once upon a time, having your client pen a bylined article for publication in a trade magazine would make you a public relations master. The power of a byline provides credibility, authority and awareness and there is still an immense amount of interest by PR agencies to secure these placements – even as the tide has turned nearly fully digital.

As it stands today, there remains no better way to generate some buzz and build links to a Web property than through guest-blogging. While there is most certainly a time-commitment involved, and prioritizing which sites deserve the most attention is imperative, engaging in guest-blogging and old-school byline writing will definitely earn you some backlinks. In some cases, lots of them.

To get started, simply search for available opportunities using queries such as "write for us," "submit post," and "become a contributor" along with the keywords that you would like or need to be associated with. For example, I would use “become a contributor, digital marketing.” You might just be surprised at the number of high-quality sites that are openly recruiting writers. Take a look and prove me wrong if you can.

Networking through Networks

Public relations professionals are master networkers. Not only do they seem to know everyone, they also know what everyone does and more importantly what everyone needs. The Web has improved networking several times over, so if you’re looking to build links to your Web property, start networking with journalists and reporters where and when they need you. How do you do that?

Several free subscription services on the Internet bring together reporters, bloggers and authors looking for answers to specific questions and support on articles/stories that are actively in production. In some cases, those seeking support are under deadline so if you are fast and helpful, getting links through these services is a snap.

Free services/sites such as HARO, Reporter Connection, PitchRate, Flacklist and the paid service ProfNet are the most popular – if not the most effective – ways to earn links to your website. The services typically follow a similar pattern: reporters ask questions about very specific topics; others respond if the questions relate to their area of knowledge or experetise. Then the reporter credits you and your Web property as a source, usually via a backlink. Bingo. We’ve got links!

While there is no guarantee you will receive coverage (such is life in the PR industry) even a few mentions can generate a great response in relation to building links to your Web property. Take the challenge seriously and you will be rewarded many times over with high-value links that can and will influence search ranking position.

Acquiring Links via Direct Request Email

Pete Prestipino — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 17:15:00 GMT

Based on the information collected in the data-driven approach to link prospecting published last week in the Web Success Weekly email newsletter, those responsible for SEO can finally start initiating relationships with others - the groups, enterprises and individuals capable of helping actually execute the inbound link building strategy.

To build links to a Web property however you must first make your presence known – how could someone link to you if they don’t know you exist! Publishing content (whether in the form of articles, videos, surveys, infographics, applications, etc.) in high profile environments, which naturally spur Web citations, is the ideal way. There are of course other methods (e.g. asking on message boards) but the primary choice for many is through direct link request emails.

When using email in link acquisition campaigns, the aim is to not simply to just "get on the radar" but to get others take action on your behalf. That’s not always easy to do and there are no guarantees it will happen. If you are interested in using email to facilitate your link building efforts here are a few ideas to improve you chances of success.

Point Out the Obvious
Even when it seems like a link request seems relevant, it is unlikely you will be the first to ask. If the target website already links to several competitor websites, the chances of getting them to link to you improve dramatically. If your target currently links to no one, there may be a good reason (they just don’t link). For example, in an email to a prominent industry blogger you might point out the presence of their recent coverage of a trend, event or company and directly request a follow up which could or should include a link to the target destination.

Keep It Relevant
The problem is that most link requests are simply irrelevant. If you’re going to ask for a direct link to your website, and through email nonetheless, then it only makes sense that it be relevant (or can be made to appear so) to both parties (the linker and the linkee). For example, let’s say you are a real estate agent. Requesting links from car dealers to your real estate website doesn’t make sense (for users or search engines). Requesting links from a local events website to your website does make sense. Easier said than done? Maybe not. Let’s say our real estate agent is having an open house and that house or its surrounding neighborhood has a unique history. Offering up this information in an email provides new content for the local blogger and with any luck a link to your website.

Provide a Benefit
If there is one thing that moves people to action it’s the benefit they can gain. If you’re coming to the “link building table” with nothing more than work for the other party, then the chances of success are extremely low. So ask yourself what it is that you have to offer others and what others might be interested in receiving. It may be something as simple as a social gesture such as linking from your social profile to theirs. If you provide a product, contact the targets formally and offer to provide a sample for a possible review. If you provide a service, share survey information, an infographic or a short form educational video you created, and provide it to them exclusively. When it comes to link building it is better to give than to receive so if you are confident in the quality of your products, services or information let others benefit from it directly.

Acquiring Links via Direct Request Email
Direct link requests get a bad wrap as they are used (and often used poorly) by those that either don’t care or don’t know any better (believing inbound link volume outweighs inbound link quality – which it doesn’t). It should not have to be said but know that email link requests do not typically work when they are misdirected or provide no immediate or long term benefit to those providing the link. Indicate your familiarity with their work, keep requests relevant and provide a benefit and you will see more links over time.

Weekend Warrior: Building Links Post-Panda

Linc Wonham — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 20:00:00 GMT

If you happened to see Google’s interactive Earth Day doodle on Friday, you undoubtedly noticed the pair of Panda bears frolicking behind the omnipresent “G”. Do not be misled – those cuddly creatures mean business, and they are a not-so-subtle reminder to every company on the Web that the recently updated search algorithm nicknamed Panda is here to stay.

Most online businesses are having to make adjustments to achieve the desired search rankings under the new algorithm, and their approach to building links has to change as well. No longer do the old rules of link building apply, and the sooner that a company accepts that fact, the better its SEO results will be.

Here, then, are some guidelines for building links in this new Panda era:

Clean your own house first
The goal of the Panda update is to improve the quality of content on the Web, thus improving the quality of Google’s search results. Sites that engage in content farming or otherwise low-quality, “spammy” content creation have been the primary targets, and the updated algorithm was designed to punish those sites by significantly lowering their SERP rankings.

How this affects link building going forward is that businesses must be very careful about whom they share and receive links; linking to and from sites that Google has deemed as having a low quality of content is a virtual death sentence. Before setting out on any new link building initiatives, however, businesses and website owners must ensure they their own sites do not fall into this category, because their chances of acquiring quality links will be greatly diminished until they do this.

A professional design is imperative, as are acceptable page load speeds and signals of trust that provide clear indications to users and other businesses that your business website is a reputable destination. Most important, of course, and the whole reason behind Panda, is the ability to produce quality content that is useful, accurate, authoritative, current and free of grammatical and spelling errors.

New content strategy, new content
Panda does not require that all Web professionals suddenly become Pulitzer nominees, but a re-evaluation of your current content strategy is still a good idea. Even if it requires a temporary or part-time hire, ensuring that all existing content meets the above criteria before embarking on any new link building efforts is critical.

The next step, then, is to consider how your business can provide a high quality of useful content going forward, and that may require trying some new channels you have previously avoided until now. If your company is already producing regular blog posts and whitepapers that will draw in links from quality sites, perhaps now is the time to consider video, webinars and/or podcasts, and distribute them through YouTube, Vimeo, Viddler, Slideshare, etc.

Be social, but smart
The first, and most important, part of building links in the Panda era is about producing useful content to which quality sites throughout your niche will want to link. The second and next most important part is about forging and building those relationships that will be the most valuable to your business.

Like the mention of video in the section above, if you have not been taking proper advantage of social media until now, it is definitely time to start. Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are three excellent places to start for finding and exchanging links with reputable websites in your specific niche or business category, but they are only the beginning. Building links in the Panda era requires a lot more work than previously, and hours of research and dozens of emails and phone calls may be required to build and maintain the necessary relationships with other website owners.

But be careful about the relationships you pursue, because the Panda algorithm will judge your business by the quality of the links you are able to build. That much has not changed; what has changed is the premium value put on today’s content, and the amount of work that will be required to create and distribute that content in order to build the quality links that will net the best search results.