Learn how to improve your search engine rankings in this guide to link building from Melbourne-based SEO agency Optimising. Topics covered include citation building, local SEO and content marketing. Originally presented at Small Business Festival Victoria - Thursday 20 August 2015.

1. MODERN
LINK BUILDING
FOR SEO

2. LACHLAN WELLS
Link Building & Content Specialist
lachlan@optimising.com.au
SPEAKERS
JAMES RICHARDSON
Optimising Co-Founder
james@optimising.com.au

3. Slides available at:
https://goo.gl/0Lx1cj
STOP TAKING
NOTES!

4. • Established in 2008
• Based in Richmond
• Specialise in SEO, Google
Adwords, Facebook Advertising,
Website Development, &
Customised Development
Projects
• All work handled in house in
Australia

5. THIS IS NOT A SALES PITCH, HOWEVER...
OPTIMISING PROVIDE:
● Websites - Simple Wordpress sites to large scale custom
web development
● Search Engine Optimisation for small to large businesses
● Google Adwords Campaigns
● Facebook Ad Campaigns

7. HOW IT WORKS
• What is SEO?
• How does Google Rank websites?
• Good & Bad SEO
• Google Results

8. • Becoming the
authority in your
niche
• Providing real value
• Having a proven
online reputation
WHAT IS SEO?
• SEO is about
dressing your
website up so it’s the
best version of itself
• SEO is about
highlighting your best
features
• SEO is about putting
your best foot
forward

9. HOW DOES GOOGLE RANK WEBSITES?
1000s of factors:
• Great On Page SEO
• Great User Experience
• Great Content
• Links
• Responsive design
• Load time
• Age

10. Bad SEO
• Spammy keyword rich
content
• As many links as you can
get your hands on
• Links with exact match
anchor text
• Article marketing
• Reciprocal linking
• Keyword landing pages
• Hidden text and
javascript tricks
GOOD vs BAD SEO
Good SEO
• Great Website
• Great Content
• Amazing Links
• Good User Experience

11. LOCAL SEO

12. HOW TO RANK LOCALLY
• Have a local address and phone number
• Have this number and address listed on your website
• Have a Google Maps Listing
• Have listings on other review websites
• Have reviews on your Google Maps listing
• RANK

13. GOOGLE+ LOCAL (GOOGLE MAPS)
• Complete & Verified
Listing
• Reviews from
Customers
• Citations/Mentions of
your business
address

14. CITATION LINK BUILDING
Google use what they call a NAP system to local businesses.
By achieving regular recurrence of your address and location
details, your local trust will improve.
• Consistency
• Recurrence
• Trusted Sources
www.truelocal.com.au/
www.startlocal.com.au
www.hotfrog.com.au
www.dlook.com.au/
www.aussieweb.com.au

15. ADVANCED
LINK
BUILDING
Lachlan Wells

17. Link Building in 2007

18. QUANTITY
quality

19. PageRank

20. Anchor Text

25. it was a
race to the
bottom,
until...

26. 2011

27. 2012

28. PENALTIES FOR:
• Paid links
• Reciprocal links
• Link Schemes
(Link Wheels,
Private Blog Networks)
• Links on low quality sites
Place your screenshot here

29. 2007
LINK GIMMICKS

30. 2015
LINK EARNING

31. QUALITY
quantity

32. RELEVANCE
Same industry?
Same locality?

33. NATURAL

34. LINK BUILDING STRATEGIES
content
affiliations
relationships
donations
gold mining

35. CONTENT MARKETING

36. TYPES OF CONTENT
Human Content
➜ Stories
➜ Videos
➜ Games
➜ Case Studies
Utility Content
➜ Tutorials
➜ Guides
➜ Comparison Tools
➜ Resources
Thought Leadership
➜ Opinion Pieces
➜ Independent Research
Promotional Content
➜ Events
➜ Grand Openings
➜ New Products

37. THE CONTENT STRATEGY
Step 1
Find out what content people are publishing/sharing/requesting.
• Industry media
• Blogs
• News/Social media
• Autosuggest, Yahoo Answers
• Reddit
• Buzzsumo
• Ask your staff

38. THE CONTENT STRATEGY
Step 2
Find a different angle.
• Localise
• Specialise
• Oppose
• Analyse
• Round-up

39. THE CONTENT STRATEGY
Step 3
Promote.
• Influencers
• Industry media
• Social

40. ROUND-UPS

46. AFFILIATIONS

47. • Marketing Bodies
• Trade Associations
• Accreditation Schemes
• Lobby Groups
• Award Programs
JOIN A GROUP

50. RELATIONSHIPS

51. • Suppliers
• Retailers
• Distributors
• Affiliates
EXISTING RELATIONSHIPS

54. DONATIONS

55. DONATE YOUR PRODUCT/SERVICE
● Reviews
● Giveaways
● In-kind Sponsorship
● Partner with a Charity/NFP
(as long as it’s not conditional…)

58. GOLD MINING

59. MAXIMISE YOUR EXISTING PR
• Unlinked mentions and URLS
• Unlinked logos
• Incomplete directory listings
• Links to old businesses/broken pages
• Product images

61. BROKEN LINK BUILDING
• Claim your competitor’s 404s
• Optimising’s Guide to Broken Link Building

62. 1. Don’t ask for a link
2. Get to the point
3. Personalise
4. What’s in it for them?
5. Add value
6. Don’t say “please”
7. “it’s up to you”
7 TIPS FOR PITCHING

63. a few
handy
tools...

71. Thanks!
Any questions?