Rachel presented Basic Link Building techniques for businesses at OxonDigital. For more from Rachel follow her on twitter @Rachelswritings.

1. Link Building Basics for Businesses
Rachel McCombie

2. Today’s talk will cover:
1 Why rank well in Google?
2 How does Google know what websites to rank highly?
3 The characteristics of a great link profile
4 White Hat versus Black Hat link building
5 A word on Google’s infamous Panda update
6 Top link building tips for you to take away!
2 Rachel McCombie – @RachelsWritings

3. Why rank well?
 Most people click on the first
few results
 The higher you rank, the more
traffic you will get and
therefore the more business
 Brand recognition – ranking
highly for relevant terms
conveys authority,
trustworthiness and market
dominance
3 Rachel McCombie – @RachelsWritings

4. How does Google know which websites to
rank?
Two main categories of ranking factor – on-site and off-site
Keyword use in meta Volume, quality and
data and on the page relevance of links
SEO-friendly site Social signals
architecture
4 Rachel McCombie - @RachelsWritings

5. The characteristics of a great link profile
A good link profile combines quality, quantity and relevance
 Links from sites that
deal with similar areas
to yours carry more
 Quantity isn’t the weight
be all and end all if
the links are strong
 Links from high quality sites
carry more weight
5 Rachel McCombie – @RachelsWritings

6. White Hat versus Black Hat
Which link building practices put your website at risk?
White Hat Black Hat
 White Hat link building is what the  Tries to trick Google
‘good guys’ in SEO do  Unethical/spammy
 Involves building high quality links  Puts your website at risk of being
penalised or even deindexed
 Includes:
– Paying for links
– Article spinning
– Suddenly acquiring hundreds of
thousands of links is a dead
giveaway!
6 Rachel McCombie – @RachelsWritings

7. A word about Google’s Panda Update
The Panda update devalued links from low-quality sites
 It’s part of Google’s attempts to reduce internet spam
 Rankings of many sites plummeted after Panda
 This means link building needs to be higher quality
 If you’ve done link building in the past, some of the links in your backlink profile may
have been devalued
7 Rachel McCombie – @RachelsWritings

8. Directories
Generally low-quality links but quick & easy, and some are still worth having
Directories
 Often get control over anchor text
 Easy to submit to and therefore a ‘quick win’
 Even quicker win: use a cheap service such as Directory
Maximiser to get someone to do it for you
CSS Galleries
 Showcases good web design
 Links back to your site
 Quick win: use MeeCSS to submit quickly and easily, or pay
them a small fee to do it for you
8 Rachel McCombie – @RachelsWritings

9. Article Directories
Quick win but use in moderation
 Like directories, generally poor quality
 Can submit the same content to more than
one
 You get a link with the anchor text you want
from a page on a relevant topic
 Quick win: use a service such as Copify to
get some articles written on subjects
relevant to your business. “How to” articles
work well. Then copy and paste!
9 Rachel McCombie – @RachelsWritings

10. Press Releases
Media exposure = links and more links
 Allows you to get more
mileage from existing
content – fast
 You get extra media
exposure as well as
links
 Often picked up by
news aggregator sites
for extra links
 Quick win: submit
your existing press
releases to a press
release submission site
such as PR Web.
10 Rachel McCombie – @RachelsWritings

11. Guest blogging
Write for other websites, raise your profile and get great links!
11 Rachel McCombie – @RachelsWritings

12. The process of guest blogging
How to get great links through guest blogging
Write a great piece of content
 Write a blog post on an interesting topic related to your business
Step 1
 The more original, topical and interesting, the better
Identify influential bloggers in your field
 Find the blogs you’d like to publish on – not all blogs accept guest
Step 2 posters
 Contact with a personal message to pitch your post
Publish
 Include a link back to your site in your author bio
Step 3
 Promote the blog post in social media channels
12 Rachel McCombie – @RachelsWritings

13. Infographics
13 Rachel McCombie – @RachelsWritings

14. Infographics – the process
Done properly, infographics can bring great links and traffic
 Come up with a good concept relevant to your business
Step 1  The more original and interesting, the better
 Design it (or pay a designer)
Step 2  Write a press release to promote it, linking back to you
 Contact sites in relevant fields asking them if they want to feature the
infographic
Step 3  Be sure to ask them to link back to you as the source
 Submit to infographic directories for extra links
Step 4  Host it on your own site with an embed code linking back to you
14 Rachel McCombie – @RachelsWritings

15. Some other great link building tactics
Even more great link building tactics for you to try
Link bait RSS Feeds Video content
 Host great content on your  Submit your RSS feed to  Link back to your site from
site news aggregator sites such video sharing sites such as
 Watch the links come as alltop.com YouTube, Vimeo etc
flooding in  You get a link for every
 Provocative, striking or new story you add
shocking works best
White papers Widgets Competitor backlinks
 Write a detailed PDF about a  Create something useful  Run a report through
topic relevant to your or fun that bloggers want Open Site Explorer to find
business
to share your competitors’
 Send it to relevant sites in
 Link back to your site in backlinks
return for a link
 Presents you as an authority the embed code  Replicate!
15 Rachel McCombie – @RachelsWritings

16. Any questions?
Q&A
Questions & Answers
Rachel McCombie - @RachelsWritings
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17. Thank you!
Contact
Rachel McCombie
SEO, Copywriter and Editor
Email: rachel.mccombie@gmail.com
Website: http://rachelswritings.com
Twitter: @RachelsWritings
17 Rachel McCombie – @RachelsWritings