Advanced Topics SEO: Link
Building & Keyword Selection
Georgetown University
Will Marlow
The Will Marlow Agency
1. Link Building
2. Competitive Analysis
3. SEO Tools
4. Keyword Selection
5. Understanding The Gap Analysis
6. Measuring Results
Summary
SEO Prioritization
Best
Practices
Strategy
Early Best
Practices
• Fixing site tags
• Fixing internal links
• Basic sitemaps
Strategic
Issues
• Link building priorities
• Advanced keyword targeting
• Improving rank or additional targeting?
• Device targeting
Focus on Internal Website Pages
* Note: none of these landing
pages are the website’s
“homepage”
 Think of links as: “signals of authority"
 Dates back to “backrub” algorithm
 They count the “backlinks”
 And Google’s constant enemy is: spammers.
 Your focus is on: quality inbound links.
Introduction To Link Building
 Newspaper articles
 Independent blogs
 Curated lists
 Business associations
 Social media (?)
Where Do Links Come From?
 Multi-author blogs are better than single-author blogs
 Universities are generally better than businesses (.edus vs.
.coms)
 The Washington Post is better than City Biz List
 The national chamber of commerce is better than a local
chamber of commerce.
Judging Link Quality
 Open Site Explorer
 SEMRush
 SpyFu
 Other tools are good, but look for transparency.
Judging Link Quality: rely on tools
Transparency with OSE
Judging Link Quality – Open Site Explorer
Judging Link Quality – Open Site Explorer
Backlink Research: KW phrase “dentist falls church”
Backlink Research: Drilling Down to Authority
Backlink Research: Drilling Down to Authority
* Note PA & DA in order of
priority.
Backlink Research: Drilling Down to SPAM
* Note a spam score of “4” –
AVOID THIS ONE.
How To Fight Spam?
GWT / GSC Is Your Best Friend
GWT / GSC Is Your Best Friend
GWT / GSC Is Your Best Friend
GWT / GSC Is Your Best Friend
Googlebot sees your mobile version.
Googlebot sees your desktop version.
 Basic Link Building
 How to Prioritize Targeted Links
 How To Judge Link Quality
 How To Find and Disavow Spammy Links
 How To See How Google Views Your Mobile + Desktop Sites
Midpoint Recap
 Old-school link building is DONE.
 Up until 2012, this was how link building was handled.
 In 2012: we saw Penguin.
 This was Google’s first major attack on spammy links (link
farms, paid links, etc.)
Old-School Link Building
 So what is modern link building?
 A blend of PR + SEO.
 High quality content creation.
 High quality link attraction.
Next-Level Link Building
Next-Level Link Building: Case Study WPH
Next-Level Link Building: Case Study WPH
Next-Level Link Building: Case Study WPH
Next-Level Link Building: Case Study WPH
Next-Level Link Building: Case Study WPH
Next-Level Link Building: Case Study Blue Light Blue
Next-Level Link Building: Case Study Blue Light Blue
1. Keyword Research (KR): The Google Keyword Planner
2. Keyword Selection (KS): Google Webmaster Tools
3. KR + KS = Gap Analysis
Keyword Research + Selection
Keyword Research + Selection
Keyword Research + Selection
Keyword Research + Selection
Keyword Research + Selection
Note “seasonality” data for
specific keywords.
Keyword Research + Selection
Note “seasonality” data for
specific keywords.
Keyword Research + Selection - RANKING
Keyword Research + Selection - RANKING
Keyword Research + Selection - RANKING
Keyword Research + Selection - RANKING
Keyword Research + Selection – Gap Analysis
Keyword Research + Selection – Gap Analysis
Keyword Research + Selection – Gap Analysis
Keyword Research + Selection – Gap Analysis
Evaluating Device Traffic + Performance
Evaluating Device Traffic + Performance
Evaluating Device Traffic + Performance
Evaluating Device Traffic + Performance
Advanced Topics in SEO: Link Building & Keyword Selection

Advanced Topics in SEO: Link Building & Keyword Selection