by Angela Moore on September 16, 2008
Carol over at BabyChaleco asked the question “I would love to know if businesses need to hire a separate Link expert (in addition to an SEO company), how to pick, and what the important factors are.” It’s a great question and I’ll do my best to answer it.
As with all things that are related to Link Development, your choices here depend on a lot of factors. I recently posted an article about how to evaluate a link development firm, but do you need to go the extra mile and hire a separate expert if you already have an SEO firm?
Let’s start with the SEO firm. You need to make sure a couple of important points are being addressed if your SEO firm is going to do you link development campaign. These include:
- Are they tying your link development efforts to your SEO efforts? Just “getting more links” isn’t enough. Are they targeting links with keyword-rich anchor text? Are they using your most important keywords?
- Are they giving you links to pages other than your home page? Deep links are extremely important because your link portfolio should be balanced. If all your links are going to your home page, you’re missing out on some valuable opportunities to hit keywords that are being optimized on deeper pages, not to mention traffic coming into these deep pages directly.
- Do they employ link development best practices? Things like varying your anchor text (if all your links have the same anchor text, you’re not going to get much in regards to keyword rankings. Not to mention it could send up red flags to Google about artificially inflating your links), varying the types of tactics used to generate links, evaluate current links for opportunities of improvement, and a slow but steady increase in incoming links.
- Do they tell you what they’re doing? If not, there could be a problem. Ask to see reports on what links they’ve built and check them out yourself. Are the links coming from quality sites? Are the sites that are linking to you relevant? Are they using a good spread of anchor text variations?
These are definitely the big factors. As a general rule, I recommend avoiding link development firms that promise “lots of directory submissions” but make no mention of the performance of how your top keywords will perform. Keep in mind that with link development, you get what you pay for. A bargain link development package or plan may not be all that it’s cracked up to be.
Now, let’s assume that the SEO firm you are using is not doing these great link development things and you decide to go with a link expert or link development firm to work on your site. Make sure the following items are in place before moving forward.
- Ensure that the SEO firm will “play nice” with your link expert. If the link expert recommends adding additional content your site and the SEO firm refuses to optimize it, you could have a problem. Of course, this extra work could cost you extra money, so be careful. Some SEO firms get a little ruffled when they’re told that their link development services aren’t cutting it, so tread lightly.
- Make sure that your SEO firm contact and your link expert have communication lines open. If your link expert is the “real deal” then they will want to know what’s happening on the SEO front, what recommendations have already been made, and what the long-term SEO strategy is.
- Be sure that the link development strategy and the SEO strategy are working together. This is vital to getting long-lasting, quality links to your site that complement your SEO and keyword optimization on your site.
When in doubt, do some research. Dig into your analytics a bit and the reporting from your SEO firm to see if you can figure out what’s happening. Ask your SEO firm to walk you through items that you are not fully comprehending. It’s your site. Make sure it’s going in the direction that you are comfortable with.
by Angela Moore on September 11, 2008
If your site is going through a massive makeover, the end result involves brand new URLs and you have an active SEO campaign, it’s important to include a link development specialist in the process. Why? Because it’s quite possible you have links pointing to the old URLs. You don’t want to lose the value of those links that has been built up to this point.
Make sure that you let your SEO team know that you are about to embark on a 301 redirect execution well before it actually happens. Give them a date and then stick with it (in other words, don’t move forward earlier than that date). A couple of days before it’s scheduled to happen, your link development specialist (should) will get very busy.
First, they will look at all the links pointing to your site. They’ll take a benchmark and track it through the entire process of putting those 301s in place. Next, they’ll go a bit deeper and pull the links that are pointing to your high level landing pages. They’ll start with category level, move into the subcategory level, and so on. If you have a large e-commerce site, they won’t pull links to all of your 30,000 products; but they can look at your most popular products, your best sellers, or the ones that have gotten the most buzz online.
They will have all the old links available so that when the 301 redirects are put into place, they can reach out to the Webmasters of the linking sites and ask them to change the destination of the link to the new page.
The third thing your link development specialist should do (in conjunction with your SEO specialist) is track the old URLs to the new URLs and make sure each 301 redirect is working correctly. The reason the link development personnel need to be involved is because they have the list of the old URLs at their disposal – they’re tracking the old links and where they were pointing. They can alert you if there are any issues.
Finally, the link expert should be providing information on the old links and what’s happening with them. Providing that information to everyone involved in the project will be extremely beneficial as you plan any future content creation or migration strategies.
But why should you care? Don’t 301 redirects transfer all the link juice to the new URL? Sure, there’s a lot of evidence that does in fact happen. Here’s why you do all this work:
- So that you know what types of links you have.
- If the content of the page changes drastically, you can execute link reclamation more effectively.
- You can track to see if those 301s are truly passing the value of the old links.
- You have a better feel for what people care about on your site.
- A direct link is better than a redirected link.
Take the extra steps to involve your SEO team (including your link development expert) in the 301 redirect process and your SEO efforts will not suffer.
by Angela Moore on August 27, 2008
Photo Credit: Physorg.com
Now that the Olympics are finally done, I’m sure many of us have no idea what to watch on television in the evenings anymore. Never fear, link development is here. I haven’t reached out to the IOC yet, but I’m sure link development could become an Olympic event if they really knew what we spend our days doing.
I’m going to propose a Link Development Decathlon to the committee. Here are the events that would make up the event and the scoring system that would accompany it.
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Research Steeple Chase – Every link builder worth their paycheck knows that finding good links requires a ton of research. This event involves jumping hurdles of low quality sites and slogging through the mess to find the coveted high-quality, relevant sites. Points are given for each site found in one hour; deductions are made for sites that have low quality factors such as hidden text, link farms, and irrelevant content.
- Contact Info Scavenger Hunt – Participants will be given 10 sites that they have to find contact information for. Points will be allocated for each email address found as well as bonus points for faster location times. Deductions include listing webmaster@domain.com and other such email addresses when an actual contact email is somewhere on the site.
- Timed Link Audits – Given a list of pages to audit, athletes will have to perform an audit, determining how many links are attributed to each page. Points are given based on time as well as accuracy. Deductions include not knowing how to use Site Explorer correctly.
- Marathon Directory Submissions – A day full of directory submissions will be a physical challenge for each athlete in this event. Points attributed to each directory completed correctly, accuracy of submissions, and varied anchor text that’s incorporated into each submission. Deductions include directory rejections (human editors will be there to accept or reject the submission).
- Site Evaluation Sprint – All athletes will be given 50 sites that they have to evaluate for a sample client. Points are associated with accuracy of evaluations including relevancy, value of the page, and inbound links to the sites. Deductions include the same as the Research Steeple Chase.
- Fee Boxing – Dealing with directories that are paid can sometimes feel like a boxing match. Each athlete will go head-to-head with a directory representative to negotiate fees for a client with a bulk submission. Points will be awarded for each dollar knocked off the first price. Deductions include being rude with the representative, giving up too early, and nonsense arguments about why a discount should be given.
- Link Bait Power Lifting – An all out one-man (or woman) brainstorming session to come up with as many link bait ideas for a sample client as possible in one hour. Points associated with each concept created, research behind the brainstorming, and presentation. Deductions include link bait that is not relevant and sneaky ways to get links.
- Strategy Ping Pong – Each athlete will have to create a niche strategy for a sample client and then discuss it with that client. Points awarded for each time the client says “sounds good” or “I love it.” Deductions include strategy components that are not relevant, black hat, or not thought through completely.
- Competitive Analysis Fencing – A list of competitors for a sample client will be given to each athlete to analyze and evaluate. Points awarded for thoroughness, accuracy in findings, and metrics accounted for. Bonus points for each black hat tactic identified. Deductions include missing obvious black hat tactics, inaccuracy of conclusions, and inability to explain the data.
- Analytics Dive – Everyone loves the idea of link ROI, but how can you explain it? Each athlete will be provided with two sample analytics report from consecutive months as well as consecutive link audits and will have one hour to explain progress of a link building campaign. Points associated for each valid conversion point identified, variety of analytics used in explanation, and questions answered from a panel of sample clients. Deductions include missing KPIs, inability to understand the report, and just making stuff up.
I don’t know about you, but I would stay up late to watch this. Then again, I’m weird.
by Angela Moore on August 13, 2008
While many of you should know that I worked at Brulant, you should now know that I have switched companies. As of Monday, I am now officially a member of the team at Intrapromote. You can still expect blog posts here as well as new ones on Intrapromote’s blog, SEO Speedwagon.
I cannot say enough wonderful things about Brulant. I made some amazing friends and loved every minute of my experience there. Having said that, I am also excited about moving into Intrapromote as their new Director of Link Development. Stay tuned for more exciting stuff to come.
by Angela Moore on July 17, 2008
So often I get the same question whenever I try to explain what I do. It’s a question that is difficult to answer and the answer is difficult to understand.
“How much is a link worth?”
Boy, do I hate trying to explain that one. Not because I don’t know the answer, but because there are so many factors in trying to get a comprehensive overview of it all. Not to mention the questions that accompany the concept throughout the entire conversation. Questions like…
How many conversions did that link drive?
How do you know that increase in links is the reason I’m making more money?
Why do I want that link if it’s most likely not going to drive any traffic?
You got me 100 links. Great. How much is each one worth?
Why is that link more valuable than this one? What’s the difference?
Ok, I’m going to do my best to explain how we try to answer the overall question of the ROI of the link. Keep in mind that this generally involves white boards, several colored markers and lots of talking with my hands to the point where the white board looks like the latest game winning play from the Super Bowl. But here it goes.
The ROI of a link (depending on your pre-assigned conversion points) can be directly measured by:
- Referrals – how many times someone followed that link into the site
- Conversions – how many times referring traffic completes a conversion
Sounds pretty simple, right? And it would be if that were the only factors to consider. But there are more and some of which are pretty intangible.
1. Rankings
Link popularity is (contrary to popular belief) built up to drive rankings. Traffic is secondary. Granted, some tactics are executed for the sake of driving traffic, but rankings will be your best indicator of the strength of your link development efforts. Keep in mind that links can take anywhere from 30 – 90 days to be recognized and indexed by the search engines, mature and then actually count toward your rankings. Watch your visibility trends (or the actual number of keywords that you are ranking for in the top 30 and top 10 search results).
Hunt for correlations and draw reasonable conclusions keeping in mind things like other optimization efforts, recent press releases or news coverage, search engine algorithm changes, and other factors that could also have affected the rankings. Narrow it down to the keywords you have been focusing on in your link development efforts as well as the specific pages you’ve been building links to to get a better feel on how your efforts are impacting the rankings.
2. Type-In Traffic
Check out your analytics and hunt for the metrics on direct traffic. Is there an increase in direct type-in traffic that is otherwise unexplained? With some well placed links in high traffic areas, the brand name can resonate with users to the point where they just type in the home page URL rather than using a search engine. If you’ve recently embarked on a link development or social media campaign, this can contribute (although most likely it can’t take all the credit) for the increase in direct traffic.
3. Branded searches
Similar to type-in traffic, checking your analytics to see if this metric has fluctuated. Again, there are several factors on this one including offline promotions, media buy, and more. So keep it realistic but hunt for those clues that tell you whether or not your efforts are working.
If none of these factors are working, it’s time to re-evaluate your tactics. When it comes to search engine optimization, the number of links isn’t nearly as important as what’s happening after those are live. Anyone can build links, but only true link builders can build an entire offsite marketing and optimization campaign where the dividends are felt long after the link appears.
by Angela Moore on June 24, 2008
There has been a quite a bit of discussion lately around ethical SEO practices (or lack thereof). By default, this includes link building. While I don’t think we need a written set of rules for link building to make everyone play nice in the space, I’d like to propose a mantra that all link builders should link by: Be Smart.
Not be sneaky, be manipulative, be crafty, be deceptive. Not even be brilliant. Just Be Smart. Let me elaborate.
There are lots of ways to trick the engines and get ahead of the competition. Believe me, I know. I’ve seen the results via my clients’ competitors. And not just for those long tail keywords, but for big money keywords as well. There are lots of ways to try and circumvent the system. And Web pages are becoming disposable. Buy an aged domain with lots of links, buy some links and Voila! You have top 10 rankings for some big keywords. Sounds easy, right? And it has some serious short term (aka “flash in the pan”) results.
But that’s not how my team does it. We are interested in long term gains. We work for links that stand the test of time and add value to both users (being our primary focus) and search engines (secondary). Yes, we build links to build rankings, but more than that we want to give every user the best user experience possible.
When you’re creating a strategy, be smart. When you are choosing sites to request links from, be smart. When you reach out to that site and make the request, be smart. Don’t try and do something underhanded to get quick results. If you need quick results, try PPC. Above all else, use your head. You’ll be a better link builder for it.
by Angela Moore on June 16, 2008
Recently, a client of mine received an email from a “Professional Link Building” company (who shall remain nameless) for some business opportunities. It seems that they were searching for a rather long tail keyword (including a city and state that really has nothing to do with my client) and when they came across the site, they sent a note saying they could get them ranked #1 for this term.
I was really intrigued by this email, so I started to do a bit of research. I found several mistakes within the email that no link building company / team should make.
1. The long-tail keyword. It isn’t relevant and it shows me that they have no idea what the business goals of my client are.
2. They own 1000s of Web sites and get you 100s of links. Wow, if that isn’t SPAM and black hat, I don’t know what is.
3. They make mention of “ALL your keywords” but don’t list any of them out. Again, no idea of business goals and certainly not demonstrating any interest in finding them out.
4. They’re sending it to my client’s competitors. Scare tactics don’t work. What if more than one in a set agrees to the services and you’ve promised them “top rankings” for the same keyword? What happens then?
5. I searched “professional link building” and they are nowhere to be seen.
6. Their site isn’t even optimized. Yet they hammer on about “doing all the things the search engines love” to rank. Build links but screw the rest of SEO?
When it was all said and done, we all had a good laugh about it. Then we went back to building links the right way.
by Angela Moore on May 29, 2008
Whenever I speak at an event, present to a client, or have conversations with others about what I do for a living, I always mention social media. The first question is “what is social media?” When I tell them the basics (that it’s anything that can be created by users whether it be reviews, blogs, social networks, videos, etc) the next question is “How can I do that?”
People get into social media for different reasons. The most popular reason is for business purposes. They want to use social media to market their business. Which is great. But not always the best reason for getting involved. Some are just curious to know what all the “buzz” is about. And all of them are looking for the one answer that will help; the one network they should get on; the one profile they need to set up that will make all their business goals come to fruition. I’ve seen many faces fall as I explain that it’s more than that. It’s the “more” that tends to be difficult to explain.
Recently, I was turned onto a book called Now is Gone. The subtitle is “A Primer on New Media for Executives and Entrepreneurs.” I’ve seen (and read) a lot of books about social media. Many have come close to hitting it right, but seem to fall short of the mark. I’m a huge fan of Cluetrain Manifesto. It is the thing that originally got me interested in social media several months ago. The concept that the internet is really a conversation. Having said all this, I admit I was skeptical. But, I was greatly surprised.
Geoff Livingston has written an excellent book divulging the basics of social media with a keen eye on planning a strategy. I have recommended this book to tons of people who are interested in social media but only have a vague understanding of what it is and how it is being used. He methodically hits on the different types of social media that are available and how they will change PR, marketing, and general business conversations that are already happening online.
The thing I like the most about this book is that Livingston has written it in a way that is conversational, much like social media in general. It is reminiscent of Cluetrain, explaining the best practices of transparency, respecting the communities, and planning the best route to engage in social media rather than trying to control it.
In my experience, the biggest obstacle to anyone engaging in social media communities and online conversations is fear. Fear of negative feedback, of uncontrollable conversations, and the inability to convincingly measure the effectiveness of it all. Livingston lays out a solid foundation that can either dispel or at least dissuade a lot of those fears. The second biggest obstacle is time. And social media requires a lot of time. Now is Gone works on laying out the different types of media opportunities so that individuals can lay out plans and timelines to make sure that what they are undertaking is the best use of their time. And the case studies that are explained in the book highlight successes (and not so hot initiatives) to be taken into consideration as well.
In short, Now is Gone is where to start when you are getting ready to delve into social media. Take the foundational elements to heart as you begin the think through your strategy and lay the groundwork for breaking into Web 2.0.
by Angela Moore on May 25, 2008
I’ll be honest. It’s tough to do link building when you don’t have the luxury of working closely with SEO team who is actually optimizing the pages you are building links to. And I’ve had this experience where an internal team handles the optimization while we handle the link building.
I love the fact that I work in a search engine optimization firm with a full-fledged team of strategists, technical experts, and industry experts. But there are times that we are doing link building without having input into the keywords that are being selected, the pages that are being optimized, and the overall business strategy. Some lessons I have learned from this are:
1. Have a clear understanding of the pages you are building links for. When you jump from page to page on a monthly or bi-monthly basis, it’s hard to see true progress. Agree before the start of the project on which pages will be the primary focus of link building efforts.
2. Outline tactics that will be undertaken. Changing focus halfway through a project will not help the site nor your linking efforts. If a change of direction is requested, understand the goals that are driving the request.
3. Have keyword discussions. If your SEO-instinct kicks in that a keyword that has been selected is too competitive, too broad, or not as relevant as it could be, open the door for those discussions. Be prepared to have other options ready for the conversation, so do some keyword research before you begin to talk.
4. Have your strategy written out as best as you can along with a timeline. This will keep everyone on the same page as you work on the project.
5. Have open dialogues with the internal SEO team. Make sure that you are being kept updated on keyword changes, URL changes, or anything else that will affect your link building strategy.
6. Most importantly, define goals at the onset. This needs to be priority #1. Is it conversions? Traffic? Increased link popularity? Whatever the goals are, make sure that you are setting realistic expectations within the confines of the project and what you and your team can reasonably do.
There are lots of ways to do link building whether you are part of the actual optimization process or not, but having everything clearly spelled out is the biggest factor in not only a successful linking initiative, but in a successful relationship with your contacts for the site you are working on. It certainly presents its challenges when all you are doing is link building, but it can work and it will so long as you prioritize correctly and everyone involved is on the same page.
by Angela Moore on May 18, 2008
Well, it’s been two days since I attended the Cleveland Ladies Who Launch event. And I have to tell you, I’m still impressed. I met so many amazing women, and not just the guest speakers. The women that I met between events through casual conversation and literally “bumping” into each other. It was very celebratory and I enjoyed myself immensely.
To highlight a couple of the women and their businesses, I wanted to give them a quick shout out here:
Just Be - a company completely devoted to bringing out the best in you. I got a gift bag with an autographed copy of their thought-provoking journal and book.
Toilet Tattoos – Yep, you read that right. Totally awesome name for an interesting product.
Better Bit of Butter - I got one of Christine’s completely adorable cookies. She can customize anything and ship them to you. get your company logo or sports icon put on cookies for your next holiday party or special occasion. Absolutely too cute (and almost too cute to eat).
Jennifer Fecowycz of Creative Memories - I got tons of cute stuff in my gift bag from Jennifer including an awesome album. How did she know I was a scrapbooker??
There were tons more, but there is not enough time to mention them all. Again, I had an awesome time and I’m looking forward to watching these ladies grow their businesses!
