Presentation by Chris Genge on April 23, 2013 at the SEMPO Meetup in Vancouver discussing current link building practices, Google link penalties, Google Disavow Tool and Google Reconsideration Requests. Visit www.1stonthelist.ca/contact to get in touch with us or call us Toll Free at 1-888-262-6687!
2. About Me
Started in …
Never believed in building links
Pressured to do linking for clients when
everyone else started doing it
Starting pulling back around Panda and
Penguin time
Today deal with all types of client’s
diverse range of optimization campaigns
5. But we all know Google doesn’t care because
they have their crime fighters to stop you
6. Just fix the problem … you know it
was a bad idea to start with.
7. Remove the bad links …
Even if you didn’t build them ….
• Another SEO Company!
• Or a “helpful” competitor!
8. And then get reincluded
It won’t be easy but it’s worth it!
9. Depth of Link Cleanup
Use tools to analyze backlink profile:
Google Webmaster Tools
Open Site Explorer
Majestic SEO (connected to WMT)
Ahrefs
Other in house tools
Flag harmful links:
Low PR, AC, Domain Authority
Out of country links
Link farm/Pure SEO value
Not relevant to your market
URL contains “link”, “seo”, “directory” etc.
Domain name is random – weird letter/number combinations
Keyword stuffed domain
Multiple links to your site
Too much keyword rich anchor text
Check Analytics Referral Traffic for these links
10. Use your discretion
Is the page user
friendly?
Would you trust the
page?
Even if it looks okay
now – will Google
find it spammy in
the future?
11. Request Removal
Contact site owner to request removal or
no follow of link.
Contact page
WHOIS lookup
Contact 2x then add to disavow file if
unsuccessful
12. Building Disavow File
Evaluation process should leave you
confident these domains provide very
little to no value.
List domains or exact URLs
Tell Google what happened and what
you have done to fix the problem by using
comments in the file.
13. How long does Disavow take?
2 – 10 weeks to get
activated
May take more
than one time
If extensive
cleanup is in order
add to the file over
time
14. Reconsideration Checklist
After you have cleaned up and disavowed
1. Tell Google what happened:
List violations and who is responsible
Describe what you did to repair
List contact with all webmasters
Tell about Disavow link file
2. What did you do to ensure it won’t happen
again?
3. Request Google reconsider your website. It
may take several attempts
16. Link Opportunities for Today
“Creative link building
ideas” has 63.9 million
Google results
Are there any original
creative ideas left?
How do you help a client
build links on a small
budget or with little
commitment or effort.
17. Strong General Approach
List online assets (videos, photos, unique resources etc.)
Why would people link to you anyways ?
List offline assets (customers, staff, networks)
How can you leverage the connections you have?
Research competitors online resources
Do they offer something linkworthy that you could also offer?
Research competitors links
What are people linking to?
Can you find new link opportunities?
Research your own links
Are any key topics or pages on your site missing? More
opportunities to new links on other related sites?
Key is to Strategize, Be Reasonable and Adapt
Takes time.
If idea isn’t working don’t be afraid to abandon.
18. No Quick and Easy Way
Monitor brand mentions
Ask for link in return for a discount or favor
Find something that’s missing
Businesses with customers you could provide value to
Publish new resources for your suppliers
Get others to write a testimonial about your product
Interview experts
Infographics
Sponsor events, non-profit, local organization
Give scholarships that get advertised on EDU sites
Teach customers to watch for link opportunities