Linkbuilding and Offsite Optimization Move Your Site to the Top of Google! Snowsports Industries America Webinar Wednesdays April 2, 2014

C1 Partners Team

What is Linkbuilding and Offsite Optimization? 6 Reasons to Deploy Linkbuilding How To Start Building Links Today! Linkbuilding Tactics to Avoid Google Authorship White Hat v. Black Hat How to Measure Linkbuilding Success Agenda

Link Building Process of encouraging and establishing relevant, inbound links to your website Offsite Optimization Includes all of the above, and more… Google Authorship Social signals where your site is mentioned Social signals to content linked to yours Links to content linked to yours Links to links… Great Content Leads to more and better links No Magic Bullet Balance is Important LinkBuilding and Offsite Optimization

6 Reasons to Deploy Link Building/OSO 1.Can Improve Your Rankings on Search Engines –May be more important than on-site SEO –Search Engines See Them as “References” –Domain (Website) Authority is Passed On to Your Site 2.Drives More Traffic 3.Drive Targeted Traffic 4.Improves Site Authority 5.Improves Your Reputation 6.Increases Sales LinkBuilding and Offsite Optimization

Challenges of Link Building & Offsite Optimization 1.Time Consuming 2.Better Links are Harder to Get 3.Can be Frustrating 4.Establishing Relationships 5.Can be expensive 1.Wasted Money on Insufficient Programs 2.Penalties from Bad Programs 6.Requires Persistence 7.Technical Aptitude 8.Measuring Results 9.If you do it wrong you will be penalized LinkBuilding and Offsite Optimization

Link Building Getting links to our site from any other site. –Guest Blog Posts –Directory listings –Press releases –Local Citations –Link “Baiting” –Social Media* *Social Media –“Mentions” and Other Social Signals Important –Improve Value of Links –Not Much Direct Link Value (As it pertains to SEO) Google Authorship Examples of Offsite Optimization

What Increases Link “Juice” or “Value”? –Link Location: Domain Authority of Website Domain Authority of Page Relevancy of Content “New Domain” Link “.edu” “.gov” –Link Types Keyword Link Branded Link “Follow”/“No-Follow” Site Wide/Not Sitewide Picture/Graphics –Warning: Too much of a good thing can be bad LinkBuilding and Offsite Optimization

What Decreases Link “Juice” or “Value” –No/Low Domain Authority –Extensive Outgoing “follow” Links –Extensive Advertising, Affiliate Marketing, etc. –Temporary Links –Sitewide Links –Duplicate and/or Irrelevant Content –Russian, Porn or Gambling Sites –Repeated links from same domain –“No Follow”, Branded, Redirect & Naked However…Some no-follow is good –Low Link Diversity LinkBuilding and Offsite Optimization

How To Start Linkbuilding Today First Things First Business Goals Keyword research Create great content Competitive analysis –What links? –How many?

Off-Site Factors Link Strategies to Avoid Cheap, High Volume Links Submitting website to thousands of suspicious “SEO friendly” directories Sitewide Links Only “Follow” Links Too Much Text Linking From One Search Term Over Optimizing Press Releases Over optimizing articles, blogs or anything Overdoing Anything Too Many Links Too Fast Getting only one type of link Only High Value Links Leaving comments on blogs just to get a link Buying links from link exchanges Swapping links with just anyone Spinning profile pages or content on third party websites just for links Bad Link Profile-December % of the links are from “aluminum fencing” Better Link Profile-May % of the links are from “aluminum fencing” Link Strategies to Avoid

Link Analysis From too many “no-follow” More “follow” Too Many “Sitewide” No more “Sitewide” Off-Site SEO Ahrefs Link Analysis

How To Start Linkbuilding Today Business Goals “Anchoring Referrals” Drive Client Acquisition

Old Way Looks Manufactured Spun Content “Google Bombing” With Text Links Buying Cheap Links All High PR Links All Follow Links Site-wide Links Thousands of Directory Submissions As many as possible at soon as possible Off-Site SEO Off-Site SEO/Link Building New Way Looks Natural (IS natural?) Build great, 100% unique content on and off of your site Balanced Link Text –1/3 Branded –1/3 Naked –1/3 Keyword Text Citations (for local) Balanced Quality & Intent –High PR/Low PR –Follow/No-Follow No Site Wide Trickled Out Over Time Social Signals

How To Start Linkbuilding Today Keyword research –How Competitive Are Your Terms? –Long Tail Opportunities Competitive analysis –What links? –How many? –Tools: Ahrefs.com SEOmoz.org MajesticSEO Google & Bing Webmaster Tools

How To Start Linkbuilding Today Search Term: “patent attorney denver” Competitiveness Ranking Difficulty, Spyfu: 194 Cost Per Click in Adwords: $8 Competitors Links Total: 1 to 70

How To Start Linkbuilding Today Domain Link Analysis For Top Results

How To Start Linkbuilding Today Search Term: “dui attorney denver” Competitiveness Ranking Difficulty, Spyfu: 250+ Cost Per Click: $80 Competitors Links Total: : 65 to 141

How To Start Linkbuilding Today Domain Link Analysis For Top Results

How To Start Linkbuilding Today Ahrefs Linking Domains Comparison Search: “Ski Helmets” Dominating sites have 700 to over 25,000 linking domains

How To Start Linkbuilding Today My Site: Currently ranked below local and 3 competitors Search Term: “ski shop in bloomfield hills, michigan” Competitors Links Total: : 65 to 31 My Links: 55

How To Start Linkbuilding Today Ahrefs Linking Domains Comparison Search: “ski shop in bloomfield hills, michigan” Dominating sites have only 1-64 linking domains

How To Start Linkbuilding Today Skikids has fewer links but good location

How To Start Linkbuilding Today Link information on competitors

How to Start Linkbuilding Today Quality New Customers to Your Business Links From High PR Sites Mentions in Relevant Content on Blogs Relevant Article Content Great Content On Your Website & On-Site Blog Social Media Signals/Sh aring How? General Directiories Industry Directiories Industry Directiories High Value, Relevant Industry Sites-(SIA) Google Authorship Connected Activity.edu/. gov

Google Authorship Links Your Comments on Other Blogs & Sites Improves Visibility in Results Google Authorship Search Result: ‘Denver SEO’

Types of Links: Directory Citations Directory Submissions for Citations –Local (Moz Local) Axciom InfoUSA Neustar –Yahoo! Dir –Business.com –Niche Directories –Avoid Mass Directory Submissions

Types of Links: Press Releases Press Releases Lots of Links Mixed Quality Good Start Good “Signal” for Other Links Link to Home Page Link to Other High Authority Sites Don’t Overdo Don’t Over Optimize

Types of Links: Guest Blog Posting Guest post blog submissions Find blogs Establish a relationship Become a guest author Analyze the quality of the blog Bad blogs could mean a penalty

Types of Links: Article Submission Find Sites Contribute articles Relevant discussions Forums Newsletters Analyze the quality of the blog Bad blogs could mean a penalty

Types of Links: Networking Networking with industry leaders and contribute Industry Associations Some Free Some Paid Current Opportunities?

Types of Links: Social Media & Local Social Media & Local Setup All of Your Accounts Links are Often “No Follow” or Redirects Many Count as Citations Use to signal your other links Free!

Types of Links: Link Baiting Link “Baiting” “Say” Something Interesting Promote (or not) Be Creative Try it Again

“White Hat” – Links you receive with no effort on your part Black Hat – Everything else? Negative Link Campaigns White Hat v. Black Hat

Submitting website to thousands of suspicious “SEO friendly” directories Leaving comments on blogs just to get a link Buying links from link exchanges Swapping links with just anyone Spinning profile pages or content on third party websites just for links Sitewide links Getting only one type of link Overdoing one thing looking for a “magic bullet” Linkbuilding Tactics to Avoid

How To Measure Your Linkbuilding Success Link Measurement Tools –Google Webmaster –Bing Webmaster Tools –Ahrefs.com –Majestic SEO –SEOMoz Ranking Tools Linking Domains Backlinks Naked v. text links Follow v No Follow Sources of links –Geography –Site type (.com,.gov,.edu)

Questions?

Dan and Dan C1 Partners P: W: c1-partners.com E: Contact Us