julie joyce - how we've built almost 20k links by hand (mktfest 2014)
TRANSCRIPT
How We’ve Built Almost 20k Links
Julie Joyce
Owner and Director of Operations
Link Fish Media
By Hand
@JulieJoyce @JulieJoyce
9758 Links Built Since 2011
Ave HomePg PageRank:
3.29 Ave Linking Pg PageRank: 1:45 (Skewed from new content)
Finance Healthcare���
Legal Printing���Branding DIY���
Beauty Security Realty���
Ecommerce Insurance !
Gaming
The First 10k? Not so great.
The Second 10k? Much, much better.
What Changed?
Stopped working with unranked old content.
Stopped dealing with site owners with multiple sites.
Started focusing more on social signals.
Started being choosier about which clients to accept and keep.
What Didn’t Change?
Our methods of finding and
securing links with no automation, using humans,
not machines.
There Are No Secrets And There Are No
Tricks. It’s Simply Hard
Work.
Surprise!
A Few Current Numbers
Ave monthly links built:
Ave new articles written:
Ave links built per link builder per
month:
Ave hours it takes to get one link:
135
15
34
4.14
Yes, We Do Buy Links Yes, big brands buy links. So do small
brands. Some are followed, some are
nofollowed.
Paid Links
You Know How Many Sites We’ve Had Penalized?
3, out of 100+ clients. 2 were no longer clients when they were penalized and 1 had previously
used a link network.
The Reality Of Link Buying And Penalties
A Quick Word About Metrics Before We Dive In
http://searchengineland.com/google-toolbar-pagerank-finally-officially-dead-205277
Google’s Toolbar PageRank (TBPR) is quickly becoming less reliable for quality indicators and may not ever be updated again.Plenty of alternatives out there,
so pick one.
Create Guidelines • IN-HOUSE • Page much be indexed in
Google. • If it’s old content, page
must have PR 1 or higher. • If it’s new content,
homepage PR must be 4+.
• Ideally there are good social signals.
• CLIENTS • PR 2 and up. • Content newer than 3
months. • Last cache update no older
than 1 month. • Domain Authority must be >
30. • Alexa < 1 million.
Discovery
How do you find great linking partners?
Where Do I Look?
• Bing
• Dogpile
• MillionShort
• FAQ Fox
• Quora
• Duck Duck Go
• Seznam
• Stumbleupon
My favorite
Discovery in Seznam • Supports advanced operators (http://napoveda.seznam.cz/cz/pokrocile-
hledani.html)
• Use “inurl:blog” to narrow search to blogs as they tend to be more receptive to outreach requests.
• Just looking at the home page every day can give you great ideas for content and discovery.
Nice and broad. Makes use of human narrowing, not algorithmic.
Might be too specific. Leaves out some good potentials.
Narrow It Down Yourself When You Can
Discovery Eats Up Most Of Our Time
Pro Tip!
Start further back in the Google SERPs. You’ll find some seriously good sites
there.
Free content ideas delivered daily plus it’s great for monitoring your
online reputation.
Content Gems Lets You Be Passive Awesome daily email
2 free interests then you need a pro plan
Useful for finding new sites and asking for a link OR content ideas.
Best Discovery Assistance: Link Risk’s Peek
Free 2 week trial code at the end!!
SEOChat’s Suggest Tool
(http://tools.seochat.com/tools/suggest-tool/)
3 part process that can give you search volume and CPC data.
Useful just with the first step for discovery ideas.
How Much Goes Into One Link?
Some go live in as few as 3 emails. Most take 6-10 emails. Some take
15+. My longest took 27.
Always Remember This
Your Outreach Will Fail If Your Content Is Not Link-
Worthy.
The Importance Of Targeting
Minimizes the amount of irritated webmasters. More time spent targeting means less time
spent weeding out replies from sites you don’t want.
25%
Vs. 5%
15% vs. 2%
Quick Tips For Email Outreach
Use a name. List their site. State your intentions.
Good
Bad
Targeted Outreach Success Hi Amy! (note: Amy has an organic recipe blog) I am working with a cool new client who sells gardening supplies and I'm hoping that you are open using them as a resource. The reason I am contacting you specifically is that you have a really fantastic post on using organic basil and my client has a post about tips for growing it from seed. Since basil is so expensive I thought it might be a good resource for your readers. Thanks and I hope to hear back from you. If you wish to be added to Do Not Contact database then just let me know please and I'll make sure you're added. Sincerely, Julie Joyce
Netted 8 links from just 20 contacts.
Only 2 people asked to be put on the DNC.
Think Less About Product, More About Resources For Commercial Sites
For ecommerce sites, create linkworthy resources and ask webmasters to link to those. Think DIY tutorials, product guides, downloadable PDFs, videos, etc.
Example: Ecom client that has a great community section: Months where we focus on products? 15 links on ave. Months where we focus on resources? 30+ links on ave.
Example Of Keeping The Links To Your Site, Not Anyone Else’s
Returns over 13 million results.
They rank number one. Insanely popular search
term and they own it organically.
A Targeting Example:
Rubber Boots
Who Links To A Site Selling Rubber
Boots?
People Who Like To Get Dirty
Outdoor Types
Festival Attendees
People Who Own Chickens
People Who Live In Rainy Climates
Who Else? I’d Contact These Guys!
http://www.1designperday.com/2013/06/12/dogs-‐made-‐from-‐old-‐rubber-‐boots/
Using this info, find and contact the artist and ask if we could donate some rubber boots for him to make more dogs or other animals to set up at a local elementary school. We’d then write up a post about it and ask him to link to it from his own site and socialize it.
Ask if they could add a paragraph instructing everyone on how to do something similar using their old rubber boots and get a link to your rubber boots site.
Ask if you wrote a post about using rubber boots to make cats, would they link to it.
PR 3 internal on a PR 4 site, good social signals, advertises!
We create content.
We get a link.
But I’d Skip Over These Guys Unranked page on HP PR 2, last tweet 4 months ago, no comments
Also avoid: Reviews of other boots Someone else’s guest post Affiliate sites that sell boots
Remember: Just because someone will give you a link doesn’t mean you want a link there.
Who Won’t Link? Your Competitors.
And people who will never ever wear rubber boots.
What About Anchor Text?
Best Idea? Let Webmasters Decide How To Link.
Vary It.
Keep It Natural.
Longtail It.
Avoid exact matches.
Working on rubber boots? Use these anchors instead: How long do rubber boots last? Are dark green rubber boots in style? Caring for your rubber boots Cleaning rubber boots after a music festival Gardening boots that can withstand mud Non-leather boots for kids
Don’t Ignore Images • Very underused.
• Webmasters more willing to do these than text links.
47 image links to festival site.
More About Images • If you have great images, you up your chances of naturally attracting links
by having more engaging content.
• Can be fantastic for branding.
• Use TinEye.com to see if anyone is stealing them and if so, contact them and ask for a link.
How Do You Build Great Content?
What would YOUR audience respond to? What questions do they have? Look at what your competitors are creating. Do it better or differently. Identify what is missing from the content landscape and create that.
How Do I Know What To Write About? Write what you know. Poll your audience.
Just make it unique!
http://moz.com/blog/75-content-starters-for-any-industry
Crowdsourcing and Interviews Can Make It Easy
Promoting Great Content
Content that is socially promoted can naturally attract fantastic links. Content without promotion
is a waste.
Placing New Content On Other Sites
Work with the webmaster to create something you’re both happy with. Approaching webmasters with already written content can work but asking for a cooperative relationship works even better. Make sure the content has social buttons!
Do you want to write the article or should we?
What would work best for your audience?
What do you think I should write about?
Would you like to publish this
content?
Second Tier Links: Building Links To Sites That Link To You
Just don’t lower your standards.
http://www.myczechrepublic.com/prague/
Build links to this page:
http://www.myczechrepublic.com/prague/
Which then links
to this page:
http://en.freshfilmfest.net/206-for-visitors/a1716-program-schedule/
a1293-prague-guide
5 (Easy!) Steps To Sizing Up A Potential Link Partner
1. Metrics
2. Relevancy
3. Benefit
4. Clickability
5. Conversion
.
Check list
Step 1. Quick Metrics Check
Google Toolbar PageRank
Moz’s Domain Authority
Alexa
Step 2: Relevancy Check
Is the link relevant to the article? Not even close.
Also ask yourself: Is the article relevant to the site? Make a judgment call here.
Step 3: Is The Link Beneficial For Both Parties?
Link benefits both parties. Calc site gets relevant traffic.
Link makes sense for both sites.
Step 4: Will Our Link Get Clicked On?
Not if they routinely hide links. Not if it’s on a page no one ever sees. Not if the site won’t render properly on mobile. Not if it’s buried in irrelevant content.
Step 5. Will This Link Convert To A Sale?
Will people who click on the link actually buy a product, sign up for a service, or convert in some other way?
Dealing With Rejection
If someone says no, politely ask why if (but only if) they’ve been
nice about it.
Is your outreach email not strong enough?
Are you targeting the wrong
webmasters?
Turn A Negative Into Something Positive
What could we create that you WOULD link to?
You can get amazing links by asking that simple question.
Even if you don’t get a link, you’ll still be creating some useful content
that will hopefully generate links in the future.
Bad Signals
(Know When To Run!)
Site Isn’t Indexed In Google
Even penalized sites can still rank and are indexed.
Homepage Doesn’t Rank For The Brand…Maybe.
Website Doesn’t Rank Like It Should
For Major Keywords. Maybe.
Exceptions: Ultracompetitive, famous, or generic terms that are historically very difficult to rank for.
Generic terms tricky to rank for.
Covered Up With Spam.
http://www.google.com/insidesearch/howsearchworks/fighting-spam.html for live spam sites that are removed from Google’s index
Too Many Outbound Links…Maybe
Why? It Dilutes Your Link Juice.
(It’s Also Just Not A Good Sign.)
Too Many Unrelated Links
Too Many Obvious Connections
We have a large happy client base and our sites attract thousands of visitors on monthly basis.
I am very much interested to develop a partnership with you to cater the
marketing needs of your clients.
we offer wide variety of advertising and marketing services. We provide the best Ad placements and make sure the advertisers get maximum
exposure at affordable prices.
Here are our sister sites that we operate:
Covered Up With Guest Or Paid Posts. Don’t Seem Picky.
If there are more posts from people who aren’t the webmaster or main author, avoid the site.
If the post exists only to host a link, avoid the site
Webmaster’s A BIT Too Keen
If they’re pursuing you, it’s because they are desperate. Add them to your do not contact database.
Site Is A Member Of A Massive Blog Network
General Types Of Sites And Links To Avoid
Directories without an editorial process.
Sites that let you submit a link for free. Forum link drops.
Comment link drops. Gambling/payday loans/pharmacy
Sites where content doesn’t match the URL
Keep A Close Eye On Your Own Links To Identify And Correct Potential Problems
Link Risk’s Monitor Link Research Tools’ Link Check Tool
Majestic SEO’s New Links Google’s Webmaster Tools
Buying Links Like A (Smart) Boss
Don’t Ever Lie To Clients Or Webmasters.
Not even the bad ones.
Be Respectful. Maintain a DNC DB.
71
Create a Do Not Contact DB. Ours has 18,448 sites in it. Offer People The Chance To Be In It. ALWAYS Check Sites Against The List Before Contacting Them.
Let us know if
you never want to
hear from us again!
Don’t Immediately Out Your Client If You Are Buying Links
Only name the client when it’s obvious that the webmaster is interested. Otherwise you risk more
than you need to.
Very dangerous approach.
Don’t Argue When You Hear A Solid “No”
“We won't be able to link from our article to your client's
site. As a policy, we don't link to other people's sites, except in special circumstances.”
“No thanks. That’s not something I’m
comfortable doing.” Even if they don’t ask to be added to the DNC list, add them anyway.
Check Their Advertising Policy
Always Eavesdrop On Your Brand With Basic Must-Have Alerts
Your brand, URL, and your name
Specific products or trademarked services
Alternative spellings of all the above
Monitor the web AND social. Icerocket is great for this.
If you’re mentioned without a link, ask
for a link. If anything negative is said,
quickly deal with it.
Especially important if you’re buying links!
The Ugly Truth
Google can’t accurately detect paid links even with a hand review.
Use a nofollow if you’re that worried. A good nofollowed link can easily lead to a good followed link.
Rel=nofollow
What was fine today might not be fine tomorrow.
June 28th, 2013
September 25, 2014
Recently added.
Google has changed. Our methods have not because they’re based on real human
activity.
Remember: This Human Approach Has Built 20k Links.
In the end it’s all about common sense, proper targeting, and great
content.
2 Weeks Of Link Risk, Just For You!
Please don’t tweet or share this URL with non-conference attendees.
http://linkrisk.com/julie
Image Credits Hands http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2010/168/9/a/Concert_Hands__PS_Brush__by_pantaeba.jpg
David Copperfield http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/David_Copperfield_Magician_Television_Special_1977.JPGCash http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Money_Cash.jpg
Penguin http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2013/092/8/2/baby_emperor_penguin_by_laogephoto-d605edc.jpgEye http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Iris_-_left_eye_of_a_girl.jpg
Clock https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3071/2661425133_1328692483_z.jpg?zz=1Whiteboard http://capl.washjeff.edu/2/l/3989.jpg
Magnifying glass https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3364/3323718703_8d5d4399b4_b.jpgDart board http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fb/Darts_in_a_dartboard.jpg/1280px-Darts_in_a_dartboard.jpg
Crowd http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flickr_-_moses_namkung_-_The_Crowd_For_DMB_1.jpgCreativity 101 http://www.creativity101.com/
Rubber boots http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Sievi_Boots_(2).jpgDirt http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/Spartan_Race_-_Muddy_Hit.jpg
Outdoor http://s0.geograph.org.uk/geophotos/01/15/91/1159175_3cea52e4.jpgFestival http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/Future_Music_Festival_2013_(8541725920).jpgRain http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Upper_Chorlton_Road_in_the_summer_rain.JPG
Failure https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8370/8491412740_c5889d8707_z.jpgIntelligence http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2013/182/f/3/emergence_of_artificial_intelligence_0007_by_agsandrew-d6bkch3.jpg
Vaclav Havel http://planetconnections.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/havel.jpgElephant http://cdn2.business2community.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/elephant-in-the-room1.jpg
Milan Kundera http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Observer/Pix/pictures/2010/8/17/1282064079425/Milan-Kundera-006.jpgRobot http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sK3MC-Pok7I/Uvew9Rkh-OI/AAAAAAAAKNI/LQUJtimLQ1c/s1600/human+shaking+robot+hand+-+machines+to
+replace+workers.jpg