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.

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 [...]

How 5 Years Of Doing The Right Things Can Be Undone In 9 Months Of Doing Nothing

Feb 12, 2013 at 12:27pm ET by Erin Everhart

We’ve all seen those one-and-done link building campaigns. Maybe even some of us have had clients push for them. They never work. It’s like Matthew McConaughey’s abs. Do you really believe that he only goes to the gym for a two-month stint to maintain those perfect pectorals? Doubtful. Why do people think that SEO, and in particular link building, is the same way? Let Me Tell You A Story We knew a guy. This guy had a company, a company where 3/10th of their new business comes in during January. Needless to say, January is an important month. For years, this company was doin [...]

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

Google’s Cutts On How To Locate Unnatural Links Pointing To Your Web Site

Feb 11, 2013 at 1:14pm ET by Barry Schwartz

Google's head of search spam, Matt Cutts, released a video today explaining how a webmaster can locate which links pointing to their website is "unnatural." As you know, Google has been sending unnatural link warnings to Webmasters for about a year now. Webmasters should act when they receive this email; they should remove the unnatural links. What happens if you really do not know which links pointing to your site are unnatural? Google's Matt Cutts gives you two ways to discover these links. (1) You can sort your links to your site within Webmaster Tools by most recent links. (2) [...]

3 Quick & Easy Link Fixes Many Websites Still Overlook

Feb 5, 2013 at 12:51pm ET by Julie Joyce

While I hesitate to define anything link-related as being easy, there are definitely a few things that can be easily fixed, things that can make a sometimes small and sometimes major difference in how your site performs online. Link builders are certainly not miracle workers, but much of the time, links are still seen as being the way to the top of the SERPs. It's extremely common for people to say "I know I just need links. Everything else is fine." Well guess what? It's not always fine, and many times, there are issues that need to be fixed on-site, ones that can make link building work s [...]

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

Infographic: When Link Building Turns Into A Linkpocalypse

Feb 4, 2013 at 1:04pm ET by Search Engine Land Infographics

If you want to succeed with gaining search traffic through SEO, building links is one of the most important ranking factors that can help you. But go too far, and the search police might crack down on you. How do you avoid a disaster? To help, the folks at DNA created a "Link Apocalypse" infographic summarizing some recent missteps in building links and the consequences, including Google even punishing itself for buying paid links (click to enlarge it): A note about the first example. iAcquire is called a "gray-hat" firm (well, the "grey-hat" spelling is used). It [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Infographics | Link Building: Paid Links

The Link Shrink Is In: 3 Crazy Linking Assumptions

Jan 29, 2013 at 1:14pm ET by Eric Ward

Building on last month's column, Five Linking Myths That Need To Go Away In 2013, one of the best and worst things about the Web is the never-ending supply of absolutely horrifying bad information that must be clarified. This helps keep people like me in business. I feel like a link doctor. A Link shrink. So thank you to all the folks who love to make completely unsubstantiated claims about links and linking strategies. Here's a few more things about links I have been told recently by content owners (who were told these things by their SEO or linking strategist). 1. Anchor Text Will Ceas [...]

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

5 Tools You Never Thought To Use For Link Building

Jan 15, 2013 at 2:51pm ET by Erin Everhart

Link building tools are everywhere, so much so that it’s safe to assume we’ve saturated the market, and it’s time to move on to building something else. While I rely on some of these as much as Instragram relies on selfies and food photos, some of the best tools I've found for link building were actually created to serve a completely different purpose. These are my faves. 1. UberSuggest I love UberSuggest. I love it in a box. I love it with a fox. Most love it as a keyword research tool — can you blame them? But, it also has some amazing link building capabilities for content ide [...]

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

Links From Press Releases Do Have Ranking Benefit Despite What Google Says

Jan 15, 2013 at 9:20am ET by Barry Schwartz

A few weeks ago, Google's Matt Cutts posted in the Google forums that links from within press releases do not "benefit your rankings." I covered this tidbit of news at the Search Engine Roundtable and it got a lot of feedback from the community. Today, the SEO Consult blog posted a test showing how links from within press releases can indeed have a ranking benefit in Google. This was tested, ironically, on Matt Cutts blog, where SEO Consult issued a press release on PR.com with the anchor text "sreppleasers" pointing to Matt's blog. The press release was indexed by Google and shortly lat [...]

3 Areas That Get Overlooked When Building Links In A Bubble

Jan 8, 2013 at 3:30pm ET by Julie Joyce

One of the most frustrating things about doing a link campaign is that usually, we're doing it because no one else wants to, or no one else has the time to. Link building is one of the most outsourced parts of SEM and much of the time, we're one of a handful of agencies working on the overall online marketing strategy for a client. Many times, we're also one of a handful of link companies working on the same campaign. Are any of us communicating regularly and sharing information? No, we aren't, and that needs to change. Part of this responsibility lies with the client, to provide us with [...]

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

Will 2013 Bring A Paid Link Resurgence?

Dec 11, 2012 at 12:56pm ET by Julie Joyce

With Google rolling out frequent changes, the last couple of years have been alternately amazingly fun and freakishly terrifying for anyone who builds links or has links built. It should be clear by now that your site can be harmed by poor quality links, whether you bought them or got them for free, or heck, didn't even intentionally get them. I previously stated (in several places) that I thought negative SEO was more of a scare tactic than a reality but I've since changed my mind after witnessing it firsthand a few times. As much as some people like to think that links aren't as import [...]

How To Build The Best Relationships, Err…I Mean Links

Nov 27, 2012 at 12:14pm ET by Erin Everhart

What is it about SEO that makes people stop acting like people? Sure, it has your fair share of data mining in dark corners, but the SEO industry is brimming with personality, sometimes too much of it. So why is it that when it comes to link building, that personality is left to the wayside? The best links come from the best relationships, and the best relationships take the most effort to create, foster and maintain. The Future of Online Marketing - Newport August 2112 from Eric Enge If you want to get success and sustain it, stop thinking about building links and start thinking ab [...]

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

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