This document provides advanced strategies for link building for affiliate sites. It discusses how links are the most important ranking factor for search engines like Google. While on-site optimization can help rank for low competition keywords, links are what Google uses to differentiate between similar sites. The document recommends analyzing competitors' link profiles to identify the types of links that rank highly, such as branded and keyword anchor text links. It also provides tips for link building through content syndication, guest posts, link exchanges, and more to build brand authority over competitors before focusing on keyword anchor text links. Paying for links is risky unless a site already has strong brand authority.

1. ADVANCED LINK BUILDING STRATEGIES FOR AFFILIATE SITES Patrick Altoft Director of Search, Branded3

2. Affiliates & SEO Big advantage because sites can easily be edited & optimised compared to big organisations Big disadvantage because affiliates struggle to get natural links unless they are brands An SEO savvy affiliate can always get rankings if they have the right strategy & can think big

3. Search Engine Optimisation Most people think SEO is about Keywords Page titles Meta tags Site structure On-site optimisation is enough to rank for very uncompetitive keywords When all your competitors sites are well optimised who gets to be number 1?

4. Links are the most important ranking factor Links are what Google uses to differentiate between similar websites

5. Links and PageRank This isn’t new...... Since 1998 links have formed the basis of the Google algorithm PageRank is a probability distribution used to represent the likelihood that a person randomly clicking on links will arrive at any particular page. The pages that have the most incoming links are deemed more important.

6. PageRank≠ rankings PageRank is quite inaccurate – a higher PR does not necessarily mean higher rankings

7. Research & Analysis Toolset Yahoo Site Explorer for quick checks OpenSiteExplorer.org (from SEOmoz) MajesticSEO.com Advanced knowledge of Microsoft Excel Wordle.net

8. Majestic SEO

9. Competitor analysis Identify 20 target keywords Record domains ranking in top 20 search results for each keyword Remove duplicate sites

10. Competitor analysis Export all links to Excel

11. Competitor analysis Repeat for all competitors to create one giant Excel document Remove duplicate linking domains Sort by Domain Authority or Page Authority

12. Competitor analysis Use filters to find valuable links URL contains .ac.uk , .edu , .gov , .nhs Anchor text contains target keyword

13. Visualising your link profile

14. Case study – “mobile phones” Competitive keyword Good mixture of brands & affiliate sites Sites have lots of links

15. Anchor text visualisation Wordle.net

16. mobilejazz.co.uk

17. T Mobile

18. Bestcontractmobilephone.co.uk

19. Phones 4U

20. Onestopphoneshop.co.uk

21. Dial-a-Phone

22. O2

23. Mobiles.co.uk

24. Carphone Warehouse

25. Carphone Warehouse Pivot table Find top 10 anchor texts by count

26. Brand link authority

27. Link authority

28. Carphone Warehouse Link Profile

29. Unnatural Link Profile

30. Unnatural Link Profile

31. Brand Links

32. Keyword links

33. Is this a fluke?

34. The importance of brand links We tested 30 highly commercial UK keywords Every single keyword followed the same pattern: sites with large brand link authority rank higher Non-brands are using branded anchor text links to make Google believe they are brands

35. What about anchor text & paid links? Most people think that paid or unnatural links are devalued based on the site that they are placed on For example if the site is openly selling links and putting groups of paid links in sidebars or footers...

36. Naturalness What we found is that Google appears to be doing the opposite They are devaluing links based on the “naturalness” of a sites link profile Sites with very natural link profiles can use obvious spammy or paid links with immediate positive results The same links pointed to a site with lesser brand authority are devalued and have no effect Very obvious if you do reputation management

37. Implications To succeed in Google a site needs to have a high amount of “natural” links with more brand authority than competitors If you don’t have this authority already you need to create it Once you have brand authority you only need a very small number of anchor text links to rank

38. Good news It’s a lot easier to get brand anchor text than keyword anchor text in links Very few people know about this so you can get a head start on your competitors

39. Easy 4 step strategy Analyse industry & find out how much brand authority the leading sites have Find out how much keyword anchor text link authority they have Analyse your link profile and build up your brand authority so it’s higher than your competitors Then build your keyword authority until you hit the top

40. Content syndication When looking for brand anchor text this is highly effective MarketWire PRweb PR News Wire Etc Article syndication systems Blog networks that syndicate content Guest posts

41. Replicating competitor links Think about why each link was given Is it a paid link? Did the company attend a trade show or event? Is it from one of their business partners? What are your chances of getting the link?

42. Link QA process Some links are better than others If we’re paying for a link is it worth the money?

43. Link QA

44. Exchange links This still works very well Try not to use links pages Set up partnerships with bloggers where you link to them and they link to you once a week Do this with 10 people and you get 520 links per year

45. Making contact Speak to people over the phone Send personal emails, one by one, to people who run relevant websites Make sure it doesn’t start with “Dear Webmaster” Ask about advertising Ask bloggers if they accept guest posts Every time you get a link ask the site owner if they have any more sites

46. Design Invest in stunning design Design makes a site more linkable Improving linkability dramatically increases the efficiency of your campaign Allows the site to be featured in CSS galleries

47. Content People don’t generally link to commercial content Informational content attracts lots of free links Think about added value Guides Reviews Blog News Photos Good content improves linkability

48. Paying for links Google is against buying & selling links Any links that appear to be paid are likely to be devalued unless you have brand authority This is risky & delivers low ROI If you choose to buy links sure they appear 100% natural Be wary about using high profile link sellers...... Always try to get permanent links

49. Don’t become a headline Buying links is a risk, do it right or don’t do it at all

50. Infographics

51. Graphs

52. Tips for linkbait Make friends with all the bloggers in your industry When you have a good article email each one of them individually Highly effective

53. Tools for link building

54. Tools for link building

55. Some final points Link-building is a very difficult task Results can take a long time to deliver Analyse the industry and your link profile to understand what type of links you need Don’t rely on natural link-building in the hope that you will get to the top eventually - you won’t Don’t assume that your big brand competitors who are using paid links will be penalised – they won’t

56. Learning more Read Blogstorm.co.uk - UK’s largest blog about SEO with over 10,000 daily readers Email patrick@branded3.com for free SEO advice Visit our website at Branded3.com