Effective Link Building - Pro SEO Boston 2011

Effective Link Building
@JustinRBriggs
Justin Briggs

Sociable Geek
Internet Culture
Sales Experience
Creativity
Ingenuity
Analytical Skills
Technical Skills
Hustle
What Makes An Effective Link Builder

Stop getting links, and start earning them?
meh.

A link builder can dominate large brands by simply outworking them.

How do I compete?
Client
Unknown brand
One in-house marketer
Ecommerce, no content
< 100 linking domains
No blog
No social media
Competition
National brands
Large marketing budgets
Free resources
Thousands of linking domains

Systematic Hustle

What do you need?
What might be done?
#3 Brainstorm
Approaches
#2 Competitive Analysis
In Theory
#1 Backlink & Competitive Research
#4 Actionable Ideas
Real World

Hustle for Links

Do what it takes

6 Months before, I told a coworker:
“I’m getting links on these pages”

Site wasn’t “good enough”
Spent six months building out blog, content, and social media.

Figure out what they link to.
Now BUILD IT!
Nice, email.

Does this work?
PA 48, DA 80
PA 48, DA 62

Get Your Content Out
StumbleUpon posted content to their Facebook and Twitter

Throwing mud at a wall is NOT a link building strategy.

You need stellar, targeted content.

But sometimes content fails.
And it’s embarrassing.

Even if you failed,
you still need links.

So JFDI.

Recover Failed Infographic
Skip the social, do manual outreach.
Incentivize the embed.
Guest post:
The embed is the post.
Chop up the image and repurpose.
Additional research and write great post.

Creative Contact Mining
Just a Stanford blog with guest posts…
There is no contact information.
Fail.

Take the Time to Find the Email
This will give you their email.

The first infographic I created was picked up by a BIG site, but they messed it up.

I hunted for nearly two hours to find their personal email address.
“You can’t outsource giving a shit.”
- Tom Critchlow

They’re now the first person I email when I’m promoting content.

They get me a lot of links.

Link Giver Psychology

By initiating a low risk relationship, you increase the success of your link request.

Incremental Commitment

Blogging Contest
Make easy to enter (no link requirement).
Gave them email address.
They emailed in their post.
Reply with link request.

Getting the Link
Hi <Their Name>
Thanks for your entry. I will pass it on to the judges.
Would you mind please placing the following code at the top or bottom of the post to let people know it’s an entry in the contest?
This post is an entry for the <a href="http://site.com/contest">{Name of the Blog Contest}</a> being hosted by <a href="http://site.com">Brand</a>.
Thanks!
<Your Name>
85% placed the link!
I tested multiple templates. This one won.

Use Zombies (just be damn creative)
Yes, seriously.
I got a link like this.

So do you think <removed> would help you survive against zombies? Even if not, I think it'd be epic to bust out in Spanish like Stewie on Family Guy while blowing the head off a zombie with a shotgun.
I saw on your Twitter that you like <removed>. If you'd be up for checking out our <removed> and reviewing how they can help you survive a zombie apocalypse, I'd love to send one out to you for free. You can pick from <removed>, but I'll leave that up to you.
An no, there is no special catch. I just think your blog is funny, and I can send out <removed> for review. And, well, I love zombies. :)
Let me know what you think about the review / post idea.
Thanks!
Justin

Best Alternative to a
Negotiated Agreement

BATNA
No
Can I have link?
Yes
Can I overcome reasons?
Win!
Yes
No
What else can I get?
That’ll do.

Improve Effectiveness

Increase Link Valuation
Traditional Link Valuation
Anchor text
Number of outbound links
Position on page
TrustRank / PageRank
Domain level metrics
Relative Link Valuation
Compare to profile
Compare to previous links
Value based off profile naturalness
Brand boosts link value

Lower quality, aggressively anchored links had value boosted by high value branded campaign.

Surprising Growth
Rank
Time

Use branded high value links to increase value of high leverage, lower value link building tactics.

Directories? Yes, still.
Check homepage cache date, eliminate stale sites.
Check indexation of linked from page.
Avoid high difference between mR and PR.
Check listing order (newest, alphabetical, PR)
Take the time to submit it right.
“You can’t outsource giving a shit.”
- Tom Critchlow
Protip: Consider this relative to my last tip.

Ingenuity

Improve Prospecting with GCSE
http://bit.ly/amziMz

Scale Prospecting with Scrapers
http://bit.ly/lVY3q6

Quickly Identifying Site Type

Some of these aren’t very active today.

Find Fresh Linkers
Doesn’t give date search like normal.

Simple Little Hack
Put date parameter from regular search in linkfromdomain URL

Discovering Fresh Linkers
Build Agile Tools: http://bit.ly/iBhMeh

Scale Outreach with Tout
http://toutapp.com

Quickly Compose Emails with Templates

Track Template Effectiveness

Coupon Code: PROSEO2011
Tout Premium Free for 1 Month
Thanks to TK at Tout!

Thanks!
Justin Briggs
SEO Consultant, Distilled
Twitter: @JustinRBriggs
Justin.Briggs@distilled.co.uk
http://distilled.net

http://justinbriggs.org	12678
http://herramientaseo.wordpress.com	250
http://s1-suchmaschinenoptimierung.de	35
http://translate.googleusercontent.com	16
http://freshmuse.net	15
http://www.redditmedia.com	12
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http://localhost	4
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http://bitly.com	3
https://twitter.com	2
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http://www.slideshare.net	2
http://www.typepad.com	2
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http://131.253.14.66	1
http://www.diffbot.com&_=1355359831048 HTTP	1
http://www.diffbot.com&_=1355359844885 HTTP	1
https://si0.twimg.com	1

Effective Link Building - Pro SEO Boston 2011

by Justin Briggs

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