Top 4 Link Building Mistakes To Avoid In 2022

Editor's Notes

I’ve had 1000’s of conversations about link building with business owners, SEO’s, Digital Marketing Managers, Content Marketing Managers, etc. After awhile it starts to feel like I’m having the same conversation over and over and over again. It’s my own personal SEO Groundhog Day. So today we’re going to talk about the big misconceptions and mistakes that we see our prospective client’s make as they go about their SEO efforts, how to fix those mistakes, so we can break the cycle of SEO Groundhog Day.

We’re going to have plenty of Deja Vu including new ways to look at concepts and examples from past presentation I’ve given.
Sometimes links aren’t the Problem.
Links won’t matter in this situation
If your page doesn’t provide the information that Google thinks people are looking for then they won’t return your page at the top of results.
No Linkable Content
Low conversion rates on outreach
Paid links
Limited audience for outreach
Explain the difference between keyword-focused content & linkable content.
Bad Outreach
Your email won’t get opened
If you’re not communicating value, you’re heading to the trash bin.
If they can’t figure out what you’re asking for or you are wasting their time. You’re heading to the trash bin.
Bad Expectations/Poor Partnership
Why you can’t have it all (quality, organic, at scale, transactional pages) when it comes to links.
This is a key part of the their business. It’s even mentioned in the title tag of their homepage. However, what kinds of pages are Google ranking primarily for that SERP? It’s service pages.
While links won’t solve the problem completely for Paycom and there are other items they need to address first, it is certainly the case that backlinks have been neglected.
However, let’s look at how it’s been optimized:
Not one mention of “Payroll Services” anywhere on the page or it’s code.
Google wants to rank services/solutions pages for “Payroll Services”, yet haven’t made it clear to Google that this page has anything to do with “Payroll Services”.
Topical Authority:
Paycom has 47 URLs about Payroll and currently ranks for 2,700 keywords involving “payroll”.

Their competitor Gusto has 183 URLs referencing payroll and ranks for 6,000 keywords involving “payroll”. They even have an entire section of their blog related to Payroll topics.

When it comes time for Google to return a site in its results for “payroll” related keywords, who is Google more likely to trust?

Always ask yourself the question…. In what ways am I demonstrating to Users and to Google that my site is authoritative for the term(s) I’m trying to rank for?
This page has garnered well over 100 links and as I looked through the profile, they’ve really only scratched the surface.

Great opportunity for Paycom to explore creating and promoting budgeting templates for business owners!
Use boolean operators:
Small business Inurl:links
Entrepreneur inurl:resources
Also think of terms synonymous with the audience you’re searching for
Get some tabs going. Get ready to look at a lot of pages

Does the page link out to external sites and similar resources? Are they already linking out to the same kind of resource you’re recommending? What makes yours different or better?
I’m seeing a lot of pages that reference resources for veteran-operated small business specifically…. Could that be another opportunity for linkable content?
I’m included on PageOnePower’s Contact@ email account. If you want to talk about Groundhog Day… I see the same low-quality outreach tactics used day after day.
Sometimes I get the same email from different accounts within minutes of each other.
Sometimes I get the same sequence of emails sent to me back to back.
Let’s look at an example and what can be done to improve.
This is a horrific piece of outreach and unfortunately, the kind that I see all too often.
Let’s talk about why it’s bad:
“To Whom it May Concern” - This shows little to no personalization. Right away, I’m assuming this a non-personalized template part of a spammy email blast.
They talk about an amazing resource they created and how much effort they put into it and then didn’t even link to it or tell me what the page was about.
Not Relevant: What we have here is a substance abuse treatment facility reaching out to a link building company. I’m not sure anybody can see a relevant fit here. The burden lies with the link builder to explain what relevance exists. Otherwise, it further plays into the narrative I’ve already formed in my head of this being spam.
Finally, in the 2nd email they reference a page on my site they’d like to have a link added to. Again, they don’t tell me what it is on their site they want a link to and why it’s a good fit.
By the time the final email comes in, 3 emails have been sent and now they’re changing their tune suggesting that it’s a broken link that we should fix.
Be Direct: short, simple, and straight forward subject lines
Be Specific: include the right details
Use Intention: include subtleties, such as desired anchor text or URLs
Be Personable: if you wouldn’t say it in person, don’t say it in email/subject lines
Be Editorial: keep emails free of grammar, spelling, and punctuation mistakes, always double check contact info
Make sure you’re seeing the whole picture: on-page SEO, Content, intent, etc.
Create content that connects your brand to a variety of audiences.
Make sure you’re communicating value and SHOWING the webmaster what you’d like them to do.
If you aren’t realistic with your expectations about what an organic link building campaign looks like, you won’t get very far.
Make sure you’re seeing the whole picture: on-page SEO, Content, intent, etc.
Create content that connects your brand to a variety of audiences.
Make sure you’re communicating value and SHOWING the webmaster what you’d like them to do.
If you aren’t realistic with your expectations about what an organic link building campaign looks like, you won’t get very far.

Top 4 Link Building Mistakes To Avoid In 2022

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Editor's Notes

Top 4 Link Building Mistakes To Avoid In 2022

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Top 4 Link Building Mistakes To Avoid In 2022

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Top 4 Link Building Mistakes To Avoid In 2022

Editor's Notes