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Isn’t SEO all about On Page Stuff?. SEO Without Link Building. On Page SEO Summary. Establish Relevance! Can’t compete for a term without it Critical to SEO But how do the search engines decide which relevant pages to show first in the results?. Links Are Like Votes in an Election.
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On Page SEO Summary • Establish Relevance! • Can’t compete for a term without it • Critical to SEO • But how do the search engines decide which relevant pages to show first in the results?
Who Rank’s First? Joe’s Book Store
Links Are Not Created Equal Killer Link 1 #1! #2 Web Site A Link 1 Link 2 …….. …1,000 Search Results Web Site B
The Flow Of PageRank All pages have a tiny, amount of PageRank Pages gain PageRank from links that point to them
The Flow Of PageRank X F(X) PageRank Passable PageRank The page can pass only a portion, f(x), of it’s PageRank to other pages
PageRank is Split EvenlyBetween the Links on a Page X F(x)*0.5 Link Link F(x)*0.5 Not 100% true, but a good working estimate
PageRank is an Iterative Algorithm X y y Page B F(x)*0.5 Page A Link F(y) Link Link F(x)*0.5 Page C
Google Toolbar • View PageRank of current page, once turned on. • Available for: • Firefox • Internet Explorer
10 Google Sampling of Homepage PageRank Ratings Amazon 9 E F F O R T 8 7 Disney Gap 6 5 4 3 Relative number of pages with PR rating 2 1 Toolbar PageRank • Not the same as “Real” PageRank • Logarithmic scale from 0 to 10 • Assigned to web pages, not sites • Still, a useful metric ebay Culligan Boston Store 0
Role of Relevance Car and Driver Magazine Casino Gambling Your Page (Used Ford Mustangs) Low Value High Value Ford vehicles .com Online Prescriptions
The Concept of Authority All Websites about Used Cars A A A
Search Engines Do Not Count All Links • Links they can’t read: • Encrypted JavaScript • In an iFrame • Links on pages that they can’t crawl • Can’t find • Marked as NoCrawl in Robots.txt • Links marked with NoFollow Attribute
Editorial Citations • The algorithm is based on editorially given links • You aren’t supposed to buy votes! • Must earn the links with quality content/tools/… • Citations from relevant trusted authority sites count the most
Why do People Link? Graphic by SEOmoz
Link Building Methods The 8 Basic Kinds of Link Building
#1 – Manual Requests Will you link to us? Hmmm • Develop list of relevant sites • Research who to contact (and how) • Send an email (or call) requesting a link Scalability Value Downsides: Hard to scale Use: For high value link building
#2 – Competitive Research How did he get so big? • Use tools to see who links to your competition • Pursue top targets manually • Research competitor link building strategies Scalability Value Downsides: Hard to scale Use: For high value Link building, to understand competition
#3 – Distribute cool tools Cool Tool 3rd Party Site • Create a cool tool • Allow other web sites to include it on their site • Embed a link back to your site Link Back Your Site Scalability Value Downsides: Success uncertain Use: If you have unique and compelling tools
#4 – Linkbait and Viral Campaigns • Create unique, killer content that every-one wants to link to • Let market influ-encers know about it • Watch the links roll in Blog Media Viral Content Social Site Hobbyist Scalability Value Downsides: Success uncertain Use: If you have unique and compelling content
#5 – Content / Data Syndication Your Content Or Data Site 1 • Create content others may want to place on their sites • Offer it to other sites • Require links back in return Site 2 Your Site Site 3 Links Back Scalability Value Downsides: finding partners Use: If you have unique and compelling content
Guest Posting • Find sites that accept guest posts • <your-market-keyword> “guest post” • Determine what content they might want • Contact them and offer them that content • Write it and deliver it • Write high quality stuff – the effort will pay you back in the long haul • Get one or more links back
#6 – Link Reclamation 404 Page • Get a list of 404 errors found by the search engines • Determine which ones are from bad external links • Request list or 301 redirect Broken Link Good Link Source Fixed Link Your Site Scalability Value Downsides: Hard to scale Use: Always, it’s easy
#1 – Exchanges and Trades Dude, wanna swap links? Hmmm • Research relevant sites • Figure out how to contact them • Suggest trading links Scalability Value Downsides: Search engines can discount Use: Only with quality relevant sites
#2 – Buy the Links Hey Dude,Want some dough? Hmmm • Research relevant sites • Figure out how to contact them • Suggest trading links Scalability Value Downsides: Search engines want to discount Use: Never
Google Directory • Pulls from DMOZ • Ordered by Google’s PageRank.
Yahoo! Site Explorer Directionally indicative within ~50% Not necessarily followed & in a somewhat random order
Open Site Explorer Data updates monthly from the Linkscape web index (approx. 60% the size of Google/Bing) Highly Correlation w/ Rankings
Open Site Explorer Poor Anchor Text Spells Opportunity
Link Intersect Find sites that link to multiple competitors, that don’t point to you.
Top Pages Find which pages are earning links (your own & competitors) 404s? Reclaim them!
Quantitative Metrics • # of Linking Root Domains to URL • # of Linking Root Domains to Domain • Homepage PageRank vs. Domain mozRank • URL PageRank vs. URL mozRank • # of Links to the Page (Yahoo!, GG Blogsearch, Open Site Explorer) • Twitter mentions (Backtweets.com)
Subjective Metrics • Brand name reach/recognition • Quality of other links on page/site (Bing - Linkfromdomain) • Attainability and Effort Jumping through Hoops (via WKA on Flickr)
Social Media Optimization Leveraging Social Media to Create Buzz and Links
Social Media Value • PR Channel, much like TV and radio • People use social sites to consume content • Provide useful content and spread your message • Customer service channel • Comcast’s Frank Eliason • Market Testing / Feedback • Oh yes, and links …