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Building Links and Coverage
when your Campaign is Over
@staceycavStacey MacNaught

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@staceycav #outreachconf
As an SEO, I got into the content marketing
game driven by one thing….

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@staceycav #outreachconf
Links.

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@staceycav #outreachconf
(Also, it was easier to explain what I do to
my Nan when it was visible in the news)

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@staceycav #outreachconf
We bound around this term a lot…
“Linkable assets.”

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@staceycav #outreachconf
And sure, if you smash your promotion
goals, land hundreds of top tier links and get
people talking, you can be confident your
content is brilliant.

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@staceycav #outreachconf
But, if a campaign stops generating links the
moment you stop emailing/calling people,
have you really created a linkable asset?

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So let’s talk about where your campaign
goes when your attention shifts…

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@staceycav #outreachconf
I ran a little survey…
https://www.staceymacnaught.co.uk/outreach-statistics/

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@staceycav #outreachconf
59% of those involved in outreach do all
their outreach for a project in one go as
quickly as possible.
https://www.staceymacnaught.co.uk/outreach-statistics/

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@staceycav #outreachconfhttps://www.staceymacnaught.co.uk/outreach-statistics/

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@staceycav #outreachconf
And only 22% say they “re-outreach” old
projects often or all the time.
https://www.staceymacnaught.co.uk/outreach-statistics/

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@staceycav #outreachconfhttps://www.staceymacnaught.co.uk/outreach-statistics/

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@staceycav #outreachconf
Just 25% of respondents claim to hit their
outreach targets often or all the time.
https://www.staceymacnaught.co.uk/outreach-statistics/

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@staceycav #outreachconfhttps://www.staceymacnaught.co.uk/outreach-statistics/

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So, for three quarters of respondents, hitting
targets is “hit or miss,” at best.

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@staceycav #outreachconf
But success rates are higher amongst the
minority who do revisit old content all the
time or often.

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@staceycav #outreachconf

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@staceycav #outreachconf

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@staceycav #outreachconf
Far too small a data set to make any
scientific analysis on… but is it just a
coincidence that those revisiting old
content frequently feel they’re having
more success?

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@staceycav #outreachconf
I don’t think so.

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@staceycav #outreachconf
Back in 2014, I did this:

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@staceycav #outreachconf

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@staceycav #outreachconf

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@staceycav #outreachconf
One year (and no more work) later…

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@staceycav #outreachconf
And now…

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@staceycav #outreachconf

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@staceycav #outreachconf
In the past 30 days:

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@staceycav #outreachconf
Including placement on pieces like
this…

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@staceycav #outreachconf
More recently…

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@staceycav #outreachconf
More recently…

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@staceycav #outreachconf
It’s the things you do before and during
content production lay the foundations for
long term success

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@staceycav #outreachconf
And your active outreach and promotion
work is imperative to making content “self
sufficient.”

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Optimise your campaign assets like your
biggest commercial landing pages.

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@staceycav #outreachconf
We (rightly) spend so much time on
creative outreach email subjects and
attention grabbing headlines….

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@staceycav #outreachconf
But these aren’t always suitable for
page titles and meta descriptions
written to rank.

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@staceycav #outreachconf
https://runrepeat.com/american-runners-have-never-been-slower-
mega-study
The headline is
brilliant.

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@staceycav #outreachconf
https://runrepeat.com/american-runners-have-never-been-slower-
mega-study
But it’s not continuing to build links…

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@staceycav #outreachconf
This is less than ideal, but isn’t the biggest issue

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@staceycav #outreachconf

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@staceycav #outreachconf
Those searchers aren’t looking for a
study… but these ones might be.

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@staceycav #outreachconf

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@staceycav #outreachconf

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@staceycav #outreachconf

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@staceycav #outreachconf

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@staceycav #outreachconf

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@staceycav #outreachconf
As the page has built links through
outreach activity, its organic rankings
have increased.

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@staceycav #outreachconf
As the page has built links through
outreach activity, its organic traffic
has increased.

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@staceycav #outreachconf

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@staceycav #outreachconf
With data and statistics driven
content, searchers are often looking
for sources.

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@staceycav #outreachconf
Good writers link to their sources.

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@staceycav #outreachconf
Even non proprietary data driven
content that ranks for stats queries
wins links.

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@staceycav #outreachconfhttp://www.priorygroup.com/eating-disorders/statistics

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@staceycav #outreachconfhttps://www.petsecure.com.au/pet-care/a-guide-to-worldwide-pet-ownership/

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@staceycav #outreachconfhttps://www.petsecure.com.au/pet-care/a-guide-to-worldwide-pet-ownership/

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@staceycav #outreachconf
So, whatever the content asset,
approach keyword research and
page optimization the same way you
would with a service or product
page.

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@staceycav #outreachconf
What might someone search where
your content asset is a great answer
to their query?

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@staceycav #outreachconf

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Release your campaign assets under
Creative Commons Attribution Licensing.

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@staceycav #outreachconf
Particularly effective with imagery,
whether it’s an infographic, small
illustration or photographs..

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@staceycav #outreachconf
You can tag the content on your
page as Creative Commons with
rel=“license”
http://microformats.org/wiki/rel-license

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@staceycav #outreachconf
Or, use Flickr

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@staceycav #outreachconf
Track usage and Chase Attribution.
https://www.pixsy.com

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Monitor mentions of key topics where a
“revisit” might be genuinely impactful.

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@staceycav #outreachconfhttps://www.talkwalker.com/

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@staceycav #outreachconf
In an agency context, that almost always
requires a retainer rather than one off
project, but is a genuinely impactful task –
to simply have someone reviewing alerts
and sending quick emails.
https://www.pixsy.com

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Monitor similar or competing content for
disappearing…

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@staceycav #outreachconf
Older, similar (well linked) research pieces
sometimes disappear! Jump on those
opportunities quickly.
https://littlewarden.com/

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Monitor your own content that way too.

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Let’s talk about targets again.

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@staceycav #outreachconfhttps://www.staceymacnaught.co.uk/outreach-statistics/

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@staceycav #outreachconf
I don’t believe that three quarters of
people doing this are bad at outreach.

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@staceycav #outreachconf
Maybe we’re bad at target setting.

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@staceycav #outreachconf
And maybe we need to work more
closely with sales teams or stakeholders to
set objectives that take into account long
term value.

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@staceycav #outreachconf
But one thing I did find made an
immediate improvement to performance
4 years ago…

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Setting BIGGER targets.

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@staceycav #outreachconf
Securing link number 10 on a project with
a target of 10 feels like…

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@staceycav #outreachconf
Securing link number 10 on a project with
a target of 100 feels like…

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@staceycav #outreachconf
Setting more ambitious goals (even if they’re
internal targets only) makes more ambitious
teams.

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@staceycav #outreachconf
Sell the long term value of content.
Treat content assets like service pages.
Aim HIGHER.

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hello@staceymacnaught.co.uk
@staceycav