Link Building looks at one of the most fundamental and yet challenging aspects of search marketing: Building and nurturing those all-important inbound links to your web site. Columnists offer insights and tips for effective link building and discuss controversial techniques like linkbaiting and buying links.

Google Zaps Another Link Network, ‘Several Thousand’ Link Sellers Hit

May 15, 2013 at 3:45am ET by Matt McGee

What a week it's been where Google and SEO are concerned. The company, via Matt Cutts, has issued several warnings about things to come -- and, late Tuesday night, also revealed that it's just acted against another link network. In a pair of tweets, Cutts -- the head of Google's webspam team -- said that Google has taken action against "several thousand" link sellers that were part of a link network that bought and sold links that pass PageRank. In addition to mattcutts.com/blog/what-to-e… it's safe to assume webspam will continue to tackle link networks that violate our guidelines as we [...]

5 PR Strategies You Can Use To Build Links Right Now

May 14, 2013 at 9:44am ET by Casie Gillette

There’s been a lot of talk in the search industry over the past year regarding the overlap of public relations and SEO, particularly in the area of link building. As a Public Relations major, this couldn't make me happier -- not because I feel like my college degree can finally be justified to my parents; but because, as an industry, we're finally embracing PR and learning from it, even though it’s always been a part of SEO. Public relations professionals have spent years perfecting their outreach strategies, building relationships and finding press opportunities for their clients. Sea [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Link Building | Link Building: General | Link Week

How To Get Links By Writing About Other People

Apr 30, 2013 at 10:05am ET by Julie Joyce

People usually love talking about themselves, and most people are naturally interested in the intricacies of others, whether it's business or personal. When you do an interview or put together a crowdsourced piece (and yes, I know many of you hate that term!) you're linking to the people involved. At first, this may seem counter-intuitive to earning links for yourself -- however, linking out to influential people while pumping out great content can be one of the best link building tactics out there, and here's why: Some people find it easier to promote themselves indirectly. By promo [...]

Google’s Matt Cutts Says It Is Okay To Link Your Sites Together But In Moderation

Apr 26, 2013 at 8:39am ET by Barry Schwartz

In a recent Matt Cutts video, where the head of Google's search spam team answered the question "Does linking my two sites together violate the quality guidelines?" The short answer is no; but, there is always a but. If you link hundreds of unrelated sites together, then it would violate Google's guidelines. Matt Cutts explained that if you had a few sites, related, part of your network of sites, you can link them together. That is, especially if they are related and useful to each other. But when you start linking thousands of sites together and they are unrelated, then that would be a [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: SEO | Link Building: General

Risk Management for Links – How To Prepare For The Next Penguin Update

Apr 23, 2013 at 9:14am ET by Christoph C. Cemper

After 2012 being dubbed the “Year of the Penguin,” Google’s Matt Cutts has already hinted that the next “Penguin 4” update will be bigger and more devastating than ever. We have seen big brands like Interflora get penalized and bounce back pretty fast. But how did that work? And what’s coming up for the rest of us? After the havoc wreaked by previous Penguin updates, how should webmasters prepare for what Google has in store next? [caption id="" align="alignright" width="300"] Matt Cutts has more in store for us webmasters....[/caption] Toxic Link Cleanup Phase Over the past [...]

Search Engine Designed By Denmark Researchers Helps Medics Diagnose Rare Diseases

Apr 18, 2013 at 3:56pm ET by Amy Gesenhues

Technical University of Denmark researchers have designed a search engine that indexes specific sets of databases to help identify rare diseases. Users can query patient symptoms on FindZebra.com which crawls over 31,000 medical articles focused on rare and genetic diseases to deliver medically relevant search results. While the search engine's homepage includes a notification stating that the site is a research project and should only be used by medical professionals, the developers boast that it delivers significantly better results than Google when searching for rare disease content. [...]

9 Netiquette Reminders For Today’s Link Builders

Apr 16, 2013 at 10:00am ET by Eric Ward

[caption id="attachment_152995" align="alignright" width="267"] Image via Shutterstock[/caption] For many years, email was one of just a few ways you could share a URL with another person. And, people were far less accepting of link request spam than they are today. So, for today’s column, let’s talk about the ancient concept of net etiquette and link building. In many ways, it’s come full circle and is as relevant today (if not more so) as ever. Net Etiquette & Link Building There was a thing called "netiquette" back in the day, a concept that today seems almost quaint. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Link Building | Link Building: General | Link Week

Public Relations For SEO: How To Target Journalists

Apr 9, 2013 at 1:30pm ET by Ted Ives

A few years ago, I launched a website called FindHow, and we gave it a full-court press from a PR standpoint. In this series of articles, I’m running through all the best practices we leveraged. In the first part of Public Relations For SEO: The Complete Guide, we talked about how to convince journalists that your topic is newsworthy by properly “positioning” your product or service, and then delved into the basics of writing a press release. Part 2 continues with strategies for targeting journalists and tips for scheduling your announcement. Pick A Strategy To Target Journalists [...]

Public Relations For SEO: The Complete Guide

Apr 9, 2013 at 1:30pm ET by Ted Ives

This is the first of a three-part article about Public Relations for SEO. Let me start by saying that a press release written, issued and leveraged properly, can result in word-of-mouth, articles paraphrasing the release, and at a minimum, at least some backlinks. But, a press release alone will get much less exposure than one coupled with outreach to individual journalists and bloggers directly prior to issuing it. A few years ago, I launched a website called FindHow, and we gave it a full-court press from a PR standpoint. In this series of articles, I’ll run through all the best practi [...]

Public Relations For SEO: How To Pitch Journalists

Apr 9, 2013 at 1:30pm ET by Ted Ives

A few years ago, I launched a website called FindHow, and we gave it a full-court press from a PR standpoint. In this series of articles, I’m running through all the best practices we leveraged. In Part 1 and Part 2, we talked about how to convince journalists that your topic is newsworthy, the basics of writing a press release, strategies for targeting journalists and tips for scheduling your announcement. Here, we conclude with tips for pitching journalists and how to work it before, during and after the announcement of your release. Pitching Journalists Before you start, understan [...]

Link Seller Linking To You? Google Says You Won’t Benefit From It.

Apr 3, 2013 at 10:32am ET by Barry Schwartz

Matt Cutts, Google's head of search spam, posted a 90-second video on what happens if a site that is selling links also links to your site. In short, Matt Cutts explains that when sites that sell links (with Google knowing about it) link to you, Google won't pass value from that link seller website. So, if a site that sells links is linking to you, it most likely won't hurt you. Matt said that the link will not benefit you and most likely will not hurt you. Matt explained: (1) Websites that sell links will see their toolbar PageRank downgraded by 30, 40 or 50%. (2) The site wil [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: SEO | Link Building: Paid Links | Top News

How To Create A Sustainable Link Plan

Mar 26, 2013 at 4:27pm ET by Julie Joyce

I've recently spoken with three business owners who have approached me in a fairly atypical way: instead of asking me for a proposal, they've given me theirs. It's been a fascinating glimpse into the dangers of thinking that just because you read a lot about link building (and by and large, most people who tell me what they "know" will work say that they read every link building article that comes out), you're equipped to run a successful campaign. Here's the most common thing that these guys have in common: They have a link plan that is absolutely and completely unsustainable [...]

Study Finds Google’s Penguin Update Getting Stricter Over Time

Mar 19, 2013 at 2:29pm ET by Barry Schwartz

A study by Portent, an Internet marketing company, shows that Google's tolerance of spammy links to trigger a Penguin algorithm ranking drop has declined by 30% since the Penguin algorithm launched. The study shows that of the 500,000 links found, Google has been steadily reducing its tolerance for webspam. Now, Google is likely to penalize sites with as little as 50 percent suspicious links in their link profiles, whereas 80 percent was required when Penguin first launched. Portent analyzed about 10,000 links pointing at each of the top 50 sites on the 2012 Inc. 5000 list. They then cap [...]

20 Resources To Add To Your Link Tool Arsenal Right Now

Mar 19, 2013 at 9:19am ET by Julie Joyce

I love reading articles about which tools different people use for link buildng purposes. In trying to put together a recommended list of tools for a client who wants to do part of his own link building in-house, I realized that this might be a helpful way for someone to easily build a nice little arsenal to help make the most of his or her link campaign. I'm a firm believer in the idea that no one will care as much about your site as you will. I've also never been annoyed when a client suggests an idea or gives me feedback on my links. The more we all think about link building, the better. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Link Building | Link Building: General | Link Week

Google Penalized One Article On BBC’s Web Site

Mar 18, 2013 at 10:26am ET by Barry Schwartz

Google did end commenting on why the BBC received an unnatural link notification despite offering us a "no comment" on our story this past Friday. Was the BBC penalized for unnatural links? Was it possible that the world's largest news organization was not trusted by Google's algorithms? The answer is, only one article was penalized. John Mueller, a Webmaster Trends Analyst at Google Switzerland, said in a Google Help thread: Looking into the details here, what happened was that we found unnatural links to an individual article, and took a granular action based on that. This is not nega [...]

Google Sends BBC News A Manual Link Penalty Notification

Mar 15, 2013 at 12:19pm ET by Barry Schwartz

Google has sent the world's largest broadcast news organization, BBC News, an unnatural link notification last Saturday. The Search Engine Roundtable reports Nick, a BBC News representative, posted in the Google Help Forums about the notification. Nick was seeking advice from Google or SEOs on how he may find those unnatural links so the BBC can remove them and submit a reconsideration request. Nick wrote: I am a representative of the BBC site and on Saturday we got a 'notice of detected unnatural links'. Given the BBC site is so huge, with so many independently run sub sections, wit [...]

Did Google Just Penalize Another Link Network? SAPE Links

Mar 7, 2013 at 9:09am ET by Barry Schwartz

Unconfirmed reports are surfacing throughout the SEO community that Google has penalized yet another link network. The rumors within the industry are that the link network targeted by Google is named SAPE links. Webmasters who have used the SAPE link network are reporting that their sites have taken hard penalties within Google, resulting in a huge downgrade in ranking. Not all webmasters agree it is the SAPE link network but feel it may be a different network all together. There are forum thread discussions at Black Hat World and Black Hat Group that have webmasters and SEOs claimin [...]

Google: PageRank Dilution Through A 301 Redirect Is A Myth

Feb 25, 2013 at 12:25pm ET by Barry Schwartz

Just under three years ago, we reported that 301 redirects don’t pass full PageRank and that you should try to link through a normal link versus using 301 redirects. The truth is, a 301 redirect and a link pass the same amount of PageRank. There is no more dilution of PageRank with a 301 redirect when compared to using a normal link. Matt Cutts squashed this myth that I believe many SEOs thought to be true, today in a video: He said: The amount of PageRank that dissipates through a 301 is currently identical to the amount of PageRank that dissipates through a link. So t [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: SEO | Link Building: General | Top News

Will Google Penalize Chromebooks, Google Analytics, AdWords & Google+ For Using Advertorials?

Feb 23, 2013 at 8:18pm ET by Danny Sullivan

A day after warning publishers against advertorials, will Google's search team now have to penalize parts of its own company for running advertorials? Perhaps, and if so, it wouldn't be the first time. It's also another absurd chapter in Google's war on paid links. Google Says: Advertorials, Beware! After news came out yesterday that Google had apparently penalized Interflora for running advertorials -- and also reduced the PageRank values of many UK newspapers that carried these -- Google finally blogged a general warning against such practices. From its post: Please be wary if some [...]

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