Link building remains one of the core components of getting found online, but the strategies of a successful link building campaign have shifted in the last few years. You need to learn the foundations of link building if you want to implement effective link building strategies.

1. Link Building Campaigns:
5 Foundations for Success
By Colby Stream
#SEJThinkTank
@PageOnePower

2. Project Manager at Page One Power
Married, miniature poodle owner,
Enjoys home-brewed beers,
Loves re-run marathons of “Doctor Who”.
#SEJThinkTank
@PageOnePower
Colby Stream
@ColbyStream

3. 1.In-house Individual
2.Independent Contractor
3.In-house SEO/Marketing Team
4.Independent SEO/Marketing Agency
Poll 1
What best describesthe scale
of your SEO efforts?
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4. Link Building Campaigns:
5 Foundations for Success
By Colby Stream
#SEJThinkTank
@PageOnePower

5. FOUNDATION #1
Link Building is an
Upfront Investment
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6. 1. Link Building is an Upfront Investment
In Time
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● First 30 days
○ Gathering the contact name and
email of sites where you want a
link.
○ Sending initial round of emails.
○ Writing articles for publication.

7. 1. Link Building is an Upfront Investment
In Time
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● By day 90
○ You will have built your first 20-
30 links.
○ Google will have indexed and
started attributing value from
those links.
○ You will see little movement in
rankings and traffic.

8. 1. Link Building is an Upfront Investment
In Time
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● By 6 months
○ You can expect to see increases
in ranking and traffic, depending
upon your level of competition.

9. 1. Link Building is an Upfront Investment
In Personnel
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● You need someone to train and
manage the project.
● You need more than just a link
builder. You need:
○ Technical SEO Expert
○ Content Creation Expert
○ CRO Expert
○ Research Expert

10. 1. Link Building is an Upfront Investment
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● Pro Tip: Communicate this
mindset and expectation to the
decision makers in your
business.

11. I hope someone told them it’s going to take
six months to see lasting results.
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12. FOUNDATION #2
Get Your Website
Link Building Ready
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13. ● Check Technical SEO
○ Are you indexed? Plug site:[url] into Google
○ Are your Title Tags / Meta Descriptions Optimized?
○ Does Google show Crawl Errors in Search Console?
2. Get Your Website Link Building Ready
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14. ● Check Technical SEO
● Link Internally
○ Pull all URLs from backend files
○ Use Screaming Frog to identify orphaned
pages
2. Get Your Website Link Building Ready
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15. ● Be Indexed
● Link Internally
● Built Top-of-the-Funnel Content
○ Content must look and be authoritative
2. Get Your Website Link Building Ready
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16. Just found out
my new client’s site
has crummy content
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17. FOUNDATION #3
Understand Which
KPIs Matter
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18. ● Good campaign metrics
○ Ranking increase across several keywords
■ Keeping landing pages in mind
3. Understand Which KPIs Matter
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19. ● Good campaign metrics
○ Ranking increase across several keywords
○ Number of average links across several months
3. Understand Which KPIs Matter
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20. ● Good campaign metrics
○ Ranking increase across several keywords
○ Number of average links across several months
○ Traffic increases
■ Google Analytics
■ Third-Party Tool (suggest Piwik)
3. Understand Which KPIs Matter
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21. ● Good campaign metrics
○ Ranking increase across several keywords
○ Number of average links across several months
○ Traffic increases
○ Leads resulting from traffic
3. Understand Which KPIs Matter
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22. ● Subpar campaign metrics
3. Understand Which KPIs Matter
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23. ● Subpar campaign metrics
○ Domain Authority increases
3. Understand Which KPIs Matter
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24. ● Subpar campaign metrics
○ Domain Authority increases
○ Bounce Time & Time On Site
3. Understand Which KPIs Matter
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25. ● Subpar campaign metrics
○ Domain Authority increases
○ Bounce Time & Time On Site
○ Ranking of one high-value, very competitive
keyword
3. Understand Which KPIs Matter
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26. ● Good link metrics
○ TrustFlow & CitationFlow
3. Understand Which KPIs Matter
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27. ● Good link metrics
○ TrustFlow & CitationFlow
○ Website Presentation
■ Is it too advertorial?
■ How well designed is the website?
■ How well is the content written?
3. Understand Which KPIs Matter
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28. ● Good link metrics
○ TrustFlow & CitationFlow
○ Website Presentation
○ Engagement
■ Onsite & Social
3. Understand Which KPIs Matter
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29. ● Subpar link metrics
○ Any metric that you designate a “make it or
break it” metric
3. Understand Which KPIs Matter
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30. ● Subpar link metrics is any metric that you
designate a “make it or break it” metric.
○ Domain Authority
○ Number of links in articles
○ Alexa Rank
○ PageRank
3. Understand Which KPIs Matter
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31. Hey guys!
What’s a
K.P.I. ?!?
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32. FOUNDATION #4
Great Link Building Involves
More Than Link Acquisition
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33. ● Regular meetings and feedback between:
■ Internal Upper Management and the
person overseeing the campaign
■ The person overseeing the campaign and
the link builders
■ Other departments and the link builders
4. Great Link Building Involves
More Than Link Acquisition
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34. ● Regular meetings and feedback
● Integration with PR and other departments
○ Link building absolutely cannot take place in a
vacuum
4. Great Link Building Involves
More Than Link Acquisition
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35. Let me explain
when I say
more.
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36. FOUNDATION #5
Links find their
own level
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37. ● You won’t be able to consistently or
effectively build to product pages.
5. Links find their own level
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38. ● You won’t be able to consistently or effectively build to product pages.
● You will need to offer sites a compelling
reason (a value proposition) to link to you.
5. Links find their own level
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39. ● You won’t be able to consistently or effectively build to product
pages.
● You will need to offer sites a compelling reason (a value proposition)
to link to you.
● This means you need to consistently
make your site better to get better links
5. Links find their own level
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40. But I thought
D.A. meant
everything.
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41. 1.Real Lasting Results Take Time
2.Your Website Must be Link Worthy
3.Understand Which KPIs Matter
4.It’s More Than Just Link Acquisition
5.Links Find Their Own Level
RECAP
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42. 1.Link building services
2.White label agency services
3.Link building training program
4.Not at this time
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Poll 2
Would you like to learn more about
Page One Power?

43. #SEJThinkTank
@PageOnePower
Q&A
Moderated By
Brent Csutoras
@BrentCsutoras
Managing Partner & Chief Social Media Strategist, Search Engine
Presented By
Colby Stream
@ColbyStream
Project Manager, Page One Power

44. All background images used via Unsplash:
licensed under Creative Commons Zero.
Presenter photo courtesy of Page One Power.
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Image Attribution