Link Building with Open Site Explorer

Link Building w/ Open Site Explorer,[object Object],Using tools + data to acquire amazing links,[object Object],Rand Fishkin, CEO + Co-founder, SEOmoz,[object Object],August 2011,[object Object]

Tools You’ll Need,[object Object]

Open Site Explorer,[object Object],http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html,[object Object],http://www.opensiteexplorer.org,[object Object]

Google,[object Object],http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html,[object Object],http://www.google.com (Not exactly hard to find  ),[object Object]

MozBar,[object Object],http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html,[object Object],You can download either/both here: http://www.seomoz.org/seo-toolbar,[object Object]

Excel (or Google Spreadsheets),[object Object],http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html,[object Object],http://docs.google.com or http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel/,[object Object]

SEOmoz Free API Key,[object Object],http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html,[object Object],http://www.seomoz.org/api,[object Object]

FollowerWonk,[object Object],http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html,[object Object],http://followerwonk.com/,[object Object]

LinkedIn,[object Object],http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html,[object Object],http://www.linkedin.com/search?trk=advsrch,[object Object]

Blogscape,[object Object],http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html,[object Object],http://www.seomoz.org/labs/blogscape,[object Object]

Google Reader,[object Object],http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html,[object Object],http://www.google.com/reader/view/,[object Object]

Standard Link Building Tactics,[object Object]

Competitive Link Analysis,[object Object]

Who Links to My Competitors?,[object Object],http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html,[object Object],I like using the filters of “followed+301,” “only external,” “pages on this root domain,” and “group by domain.”,[object Object]

Who Links to Sites w/ Similar Content?,[object Object],Via Google Query,[object Object],Via MoreofIt,[object Object],Via AdPlanner,[object Object],Some good posts with other ideas on this: http://www.inspiredm.com/5-amazing-methods-to-find-similar-websites-based-on-your-preferences/ and http://www.searchenginejournal.com/find-related-sites/9086/,[object Object],http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html,[object Object]

What’s Their Most Popular Content?,[object Object],I also like: http://www.google.com/search?q=inurl%3Acom+site%3Athinkgeek.com (basically a keyword-agnostic search on the domain),[object Object],http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html,[object Object]

Who Links to Industry Hubs/Portals?,[object Object],The idea is to find sites that are generic enough to have a wide reach and influence, but relevant enough to allow for the discovery of link building opportunities.,[object Object],http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html,[object Object]

Relevant, Non-Commercial Hubs Sometimes Have Great Link Profiles,[object Object],Boo yah baby!,[object Object],For example, by browsing the links to this Wikipedia article on “Online Shopping” I found a trend blog that covers technology and gadget sites. ,[object Object],http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html,[object Object]

Directories, Link & Resource Lists,[object Object]

Directory/Resource Queries,[object Object],This blog post covers a lot of good ones: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/long-list-of-link-searches and this one’s solid, too: http://www.searchenginejournal.com/link-building-search-queries-collection/7337/,[object Object],http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html,[object Object]

Link Acquisition Assistant Also Works ,[object Object],http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html,[object Object],You can find it here: http://www.seomoz.org/labs/link-finder/index.php,[object Object]

Which Resources Are Worth Effort?,[object Object],DmT > DmR?,[object Object],Unfortunately, due to low quality sites getting more high quality links, MozTrustisn’t as good a metric as it once was. However, it’s still useful to compare it to MozRank. If it’s lower, that can be a bad sign. Much lower is almost always a very bad sign.,[object Object],http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html,[object Object]

Which Resources Are Worth Effort?,[object Object],Lots of links, but low domain diversity,[object Object],http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html,[object Object],A page with lots of links from a single external domain isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but a domain with that feature can be trouble – think of it as a red flag.,[object Object]

Which Resources Are Worth Effort?,[object Object],Who’s linking to this site?,[object Object],If you sort by “Domain Authority” in OSE, you can get a decent sense of whether there’s good, real, editorially-given, quality links pointing to a site, or if it’s using low-value tactics to rank.,[object Object],http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html,[object Object]

Is This a “Low Quality” Directory?,[object Object],What would this team think?,[object Object],http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html,[object Object],http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/another-look-under-hood-of-search.html,[object Object]

Does the Resource Pass Link Value?,[object Object],Running searches for the brand + directory name (or keywords therein) and for the anchor text of the link can give you some sense (though not precise) about whether the directory/site is counted by Google.,[object Object],http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html,[object Object]

How to Test Link-Passing Value(if you need to),[object Object],http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html,[object Object],This blog post explains: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/determining-whether-a-page-site-passes-link-juice,[object Object]

Blogs, Forums + Communities,[object Object]

Google “Discussion” Search,[object Object],It’s not that you need to participate in these particular threads, but that you want to find the communities where these discussions may happen, join up and contribute authentically.,[object Object],http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html,[object Object],http://www.google.com/search?q=geek+gifts&tbm=dsc (the &tbm=dsc will show “discussion” results),[object Object]

Seeing Who Links to Those Communities is Often a Goldmine, Too! ,[object Object],http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html,[object Object],Make sure to choose communities that are solidly on your topic – broader forums/discussion sites have less relevant links for you to mine.,[object Object]

Google “Blog” Search,[object Object],http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html,[object Object],http://www.google.com/search?q=geek+gifts&tbm=blg (&tbm=blg gives the blog modifier),[object Object]

Blogscape for Competitive Discovery,[object Object],Using http://www.seomoz.org/labs/blogscape you can see the sources that mention or link to a competitor’s site in the very recent past (Blogscape updates every 12 hours),[object Object],http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html,[object Object]

Blogscape for Competitive Discovery,[object Object],The “Rank” in Blogscape is based on Domain MozRank metrics from Linkscape,[object Object],There’s often some juicy link sources in here, and if you can catch them fast, you can even request an update/addition to the story, or leave a relevant comment that might drive traffic or encourage a link.,[object Object],http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html,[object Object]

Google Reader for Feed Subscriber Count,[object Object],http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html,[object Object],Go to http://www.google.com/reader/view/#directory-page/1 and use the search function,[object Object]

Google Reader for Feed Subscriber Count,[object Object],Not only are the results themselves often worthwhile, but using OSE’s top pages and competitive link research functions on these sites can give you even more high quality link targets.,[object Object],http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html,[object Object]

Use Filters on Advanced Reports + Excel Analysis to ID Opportunities,[object Object],Once you have the CSV, you can filter in Excel for any pages that contain words like “profile” “user” “username” “bio” etc. These often lead to useful profiles on 3rd party sites (and you can get plenty creative here, too),[object Object],http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html,[object Object]

Profile-Type Searches can Help Find Communities Where Your Competition's Participating,[object Object],Look at the metrics for the root domain, rather than the individual page. Your goal is to find strong sites, not necessarily strong pages.,[object Object],http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html,[object Object]

Guest Content Opportunities,[object Object]

ID Opportunity w/ Metrics + Gut Feel,[object Object],Probably Awesome,[object Object],A Bit Questionable,[object Object],Awesome!,[object Object]

Look for Content Creator’s Names(if you know your field’s players),[object Object]

Search Queries to Discover Guest Posting Opportunities,[object Object],There’s dozens of variations on each of these, and they can provide a solid base to discover guest-posting opportunities in nearly any field. Make sure to think broadly (but not too blue-sky) with the keyword choice.,[object Object]

Social Connections for Links,[object Object]

The Theory Behind Social Connections,[object Object],By starting a conversational dialogue over social media, a nascent relationship is formed.,[object Object],That can later transform into a request (like an RT or link) or an authentic sharing opportunity,[object Object],A great example is outdoor retailer, ExOfficio’s Twitter profile: http://twitter.com/#!/exofficio,[object Object]

Topic Searches on FollowerWonk,[object Object],Queries like http://followerwonk.com/bio/?q=geek+gadgets are great for discovering infuential, well-followed users who employ those words in their bio. You can also search by location or name and filter.,[object Object]

Topic Searches on FindPeopleOnPlus,[object Object],Although you can’t sort by # of followers, you can filter in the left-sidebar to show only users with a certain follower count or higher  http://www.findpeopleonplus.com/search?keywords=geek+gadgets,[object Object]

Topic Searches on LinkedIn,[object Object],Michele looks like an ideal connection for this topic!,[object Object],Using the dropdown to search by “keywords” can give the most relevant results, though it will often show you folks you’re not well-connected-to. http://www.linkedin.com/search/fpsearch?type=people&keywords=geek+gadgets,[object Object]

A Few Unique Tactics,[object Object]

404’d Resources,[object Object],Find 404 or 301/2 pages on your competition’s websites, rebuild those resources and contact the linking parties. These are often easy links to obtain.,[object Object]

301/RelCanonicaling Overlapping Content,[object Object],If you have multiple pages with external links and authority targeting the same keywords, consider whether consolidating the information and having a single page is a better option. It can often be great for SEO.,[object Object]

Reruns of Content Successes,[object Object],2007 article with nice links and a great topic… Seems ripe for an update!,[object Object],Not only can you take older ideas from others and re-create / update them, you can do it for your own successful content. That’s why I love doing “best of” or “guide” for a specific year, so it can be re-made later.,[object Object]

Twitter Followers -> Link Targets,[object Object],Export a list of your Twitter followers and see which of their bio sites link to you vs. don’t – then target the highest DA non-linkers!,[object Object],The amazing Wil Reynolds describes this process in detail here: http://www.seerinteractive.com/blog/using-twitter-and-backlinks-to-build-links/2011/07/28/,[object Object]

Top X Lists of People/Companies/Blogs,[object Object],These types of posts ALWAYS earn great links, because bloggers, tweeters, companies, products and people LOVE to link to and promote things that make them look good.,[object Object]

Analyze Anyone’s Ideal Anchor Text Sources,[object Object],I like to use highly authoritative, well-known brands when doing these types of searches, because they’ll often reveal very high quality sources where anchor text can be customized vs. low quality ones.,[object Object]

Get .Gov/.Edu/etc. w/ Advanced Reports,[object Object],Another great feature of the advanced reports section is the ability to select from specific TLDs,[object Object]

Building a Link Acquisition Target List and Prioritizing Action,[object Object]

Sample Excel Spreadsheet,[object Object],Awesome!,[object Object]

Sorting + Executing,[object Object],Link building can be a slog, but tools, analysis and thoughtful planning make execution of the plan SO much easier and less painful.,[object Object]

Think Hard About What Your Link Profile Says About Your Site…,[object Object]

Don’t Look Like This:,[object Object]

Look Like This:,[object Object]

Q+A,[object Object],Rand Fishkin, CEO & Co-Founder, SEOmoz,[object Object],[object Object]

Link Building with Open Site Explorer

Link Building with Open Site Explorer

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Link Building with Open Site Explorer