Isn’t SEO all about On Page Stuff?

1. Isn’t SEO all about On Page Stuff?

2. SEO Without Link Building

3. 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?

4. Links Are Like Votes in an Election

5. Who Rank’s First? Joe’s Book Store

6. Algorithmic Ranking Factors

7. Links Are Not Created Equal Killer Link 1 #1! #2 Web Site A Link 1 Link 2 …….. …1,000 Search Results Web Site B

8. The Flow Of PageRank All pages have a tiny, amount of PageRank Pages gain PageRank from links that point to them

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

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

13. 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

14. Google Says they use PageRank to Crawl

15. Role of Relevance Car and Driver Magazine Casino Gambling Your Page (Used Ford Mustangs) Low Value High Value Ford vehicles .com Online Prescriptions

17. The Concept of Authority All Websites about Used Cars A A A

18. 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

19. 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

20. Why do People Link? Graphic by SEOmoz

21. Link Building Methods The 8 Basic Kinds of Link Building

22. #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

23. #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

24. #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

25. Making Content Easy to Share

26. #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

27. #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

28. Infographics Example

29. 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

30. #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

31. Google Webmaster Tools 404 Report

32. Strategies to Avoid

33. #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

34. #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

35. Finding High PageRank Pages

36. Google Directory • Pulls from DMOZ • Ordered by Google’s PageRank.

37. Link Building Tools

38. Yahoo! Site Explorer Directionally indicative within ~50% Not necessarily followed & in a somewhat random order

39. SEOmoz’ Open Site Explorer

40. Open Site Explorer Data updates monthly from the Linkscape web index (approx. 60% the size of Google/Bing) Highly Correlation w/ Rankings

41. Open Site Explorer Poor Anchor Text Spells Opportunity

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

43. Top Pages Find which pages are earning links (your own & competitors) 404s? Reclaim them!

44. Majestic SEO

45. What is that Link Worth?

46. 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)

47. 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)

48. Social Media Optimization Leveraging Social Media to Create Buzz and Links

49. The Power of the “Linkerati”

50. 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 …