Audio w/ slides: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rG-d1Jh6gEo Are links not working for you? It might be your strategy, not the links. Ross Hudgens breaks down common applications and what to do instead in this presentation.

1. Link Building Strategies That Increase
Monthly Revenue by $240,740
Ross Hudgens, Founder, Siege Media
@RossHudgens | http://siegemedia.com

2. Slides: http://bit.ly/lb-engage

3. What is Link Building?
Does it Still Work?

4. Some would argue no.
https://moz.com/blog/the-seo-myth-of-going-viral

5. Some would argue yes.
https://moz.com/blog/what-link-building-success-really-looks-like

6. @rosshudgens |
My answer?
Yes, but link
building can’t fix
a broken
business.

7. @rosshudgens |
And link building can’t fix a
broken strategy.

8. The reason their strategy didn’t work is
that they were trying to fix a broken
business with link building.

9. @rosshudgens |

10. @rosshudgens |

11. @rosshudgens |
Throughout that, nobody figured out that the
semantic connection on this site is broken.

12. If I’m looking for a hotel near a casino to go to a
casino, I’m not clicking “ConcertHotels.com”.
I’m not going to a concert.

13. Yet, they have 7,000+ casino pages.
https://www.google.com/search?pws=0&q=site%3Aconcerthotels.com+casino

14. @rosshudgens |
No wonder link
building
doesn’t work.

15. They should rebrand to EventHotels.com
or VenueHotels.com and/or cut down
their venues dramatically.

16. @rosshudgens |
What about SimplyBusiness.co.uk?

17. @rosshudgens |
They had several viral hits, but growth
wasn’t amazing.

18. http://www.simplybusiness.co.uk/microsites/googleplus-for-small-businesses/

19. http://www.simplybusiness.co.uk/microsites/twitter-for-small-businesses/
@rosshudgens |

20. http://www.simplybusiness.co.uk/microsites/google-analytics-guide/
@rosshudgens |

21. But where were the internal links?
Only in the footer:
http://www.simplybusiness.co.uk/microsites/google-analytics-guide/

22. What about that reasonable surfer model?
https://moz.com/blog/10-illustrations-on-search-engines-valuation-of-links

23. Would links pointing in have more impact
on pages with 100+ links to valuable
internal pages, or 3 and 30 external?

24. Only ~13% of the links to this
resulted in homepage links.
@rosshudgens |

25. 30-40% homepage links is achievable.
http://www.siegemedia.com/seo/how-to-build-landing-page-links-with-blog-content

26. Lack of branding isn’t helping that effort.
WHERE’S THE LOGO?

27. @rosshudgens |
All that said, SimpyBusiness.co.uk still grew.
But maybe they could have grown faster.

28. What is Good Content-Based
Link Building in 2017?

29. In 2016, seven
clients made
significant
linkable content
investments with
Siege Media.

30. @rosshudgens |
These clients saw, on average, a 117,429 visit
increase in monthly search traffic YOY.

31. @rosshudgens |
They also saw, on average, a $240,740
increase in monthly traffic value YOY.

32. Good, content-based
link building works.

33. @rosshudgens |
Good content-based link
building...

34. ..utilizes topically relevant content that is
developed in the site architecture.

35. ..has close proximity to valuable
internal links above the fold.

36. @rosshudgens |
..supports the brand topically and indirectly
helps bottom-funnel landing pages.

37. .. is structured in a
way that supports
secondary KPIs
such as social
following, email
signups, and high
funnel rankings.

38. @rosshudgens |
..and is aligned with a follow-up campaign
that generates landing page links.

39. @rosshudgens |
Great content based link building should help
bottom and top funnel content rank.

40. @rosshudgens |
Strategies for Taking
Content-Based Link Building
to the Next Level

41. @rosshudgens |
Prioritize top and middle funnel topics with
high average LRDs across the top ~5 results.

42. For those with great photography, leverage
Flickr Creative Commons to host.

43. @rosshudgens |
High Leverage, Low Cost
Content-Based Link
Building Initiatives

44. @rosshudgens |
Single-Question Survey
Time to Create: 16 hours
Upside Score: 3
Volatility Score: 7
Non-Labor Cost: ~$200

45. @rosshudgens |

46. @rosshudgens |
Single-Question Survey
Upside: Unexpected stories
that come out of data.
Risks: Expected stories that
come out of the data.

47. @rosshudgens |
Two-Question Opt-In Survey
Time to Create: 16 hours
Upside Score: 6
Volatility Score: 6
Non-Labor Cost: ~$1500

48. @rosshudgens |

49. @rosshudgens |
Two-Question Opt-In Survey
Upside: Responses are more likely
to be interesting.
Risks: Data may still not be
interesting, collection gets
expensive.

50. @rosshudgens |
Four-Five Question Single-Answer
Survey/”Report”
Time to Create: 30 hours
Upside Score: 7
Volatility Score: 5
Non-Labor Cost: $1000

51. @rosshudgens |

52. @rosshudgens |
Four-Five Question Single-Answer
Survey/”Report”
Upside: More authoritative, and more likely
to result in interesting data.
Risks: More $$. Question picking is more
difficult due to need for one-step questions.

53. @rosshudgens |
City-Based Data Studies
Time to create: 16 hours
Upside Score: 7
Volatility Score: 4
Non-Labor Cost: $100-$250

54. @rosshudgens |

55. @rosshudgens |
City-Based Data Studies
Upside: Right brand alignment
means high social spread.
Risks: Saturated SEO strategy
many reporters see through.

56. Search-Driven Top & Middle Funnel Content
Time to create: 30-50 hours
Upside Score: 8
Volatility Score: 5

57. @rosshudgens |

58. Search-Driven Top & Middle Funnel Content
Upside: Additional business
value besides links.
Risks: Many of these assets
aren’t inherently linkable.

59. a
Non-Search-Driven Top & Middle
Funnel Driven Assets
Time to create:
20-40 hours
Upside Score: 5
Volatility Score: 2

60. @rosshudgens |

61. a
Non-Search-Driven Top & Middle
Funnel Driven Assets
Upside: Fulfills secondary
KPIs: social shares, email
signups, brand awareness.
Risks: Lower ceiling due to
less time invested, no
search connection.

62. a
“Linkbait” Data Studies/Stories
Time to create:
30-100+ hours
Upside Score: 10
Volatility Score: 10

63. a
“Linkbait” Data Studies/Stories
Upside: Only truly consistent
homerun opportunity on this list.
Risks: Harder to align with brand
guidelines. Expensive, highest risk.
Possible Google would devalue link
spikes.

64. a
Search-Driven Top & Middle Funnel Content
w/ Additional Shareable Image
Time to create: 40-60 hours
Upside Score: 9
Volatility Score: 3

65. @rosshudgens |

66. a
Search-Driven Top & Middle Funnel Content
w/ Additional Tall, Shareable Image
Time to create: 40-60 hours
Upside Score: 9
Volatility Score: 3

67. a
Search-Driven Top & Middle Funnel Content
w/ Additional Tall, Shareable Image
Upside: Built-in linkability in
addition to search upside.
Risks: Low, but if only value driver
from content is links, may not be
best opportunity for you.

68. a
Additional Lever: Original Photography
Add 2 to Upside
Reduce Volatility by 1
Higher Barrier to Entry

69. a
Additional Lever: Original Photography
Differentiating Qualitative
Factor
Submit to Flickr Creative
Commons for Additional Links

70. What Other
Non-Traditional Link
Building Strategies Work?

71. a
@rosshudgens |
We Define “Working” as Scalable,
Sustainable and Capable of Generating
Sustainable, High Quality Links

72. a
Link Moves for Brands from Homepage
to Category Pages
External Link to https://www.hotels.com/
Homepage Talking About Las Vegas
Email to Request Change to
https://www.hotels.com/las-vegas

73. Brand Monitoring/Link Reclamation
for Massive Brands
https://moz.com/researchtools/fwe/

74. a
Do Links Work?

75. @rosshudgens |
Yes.

76. a
Are They Going Away?

77. @rosshudgens |
No.

78. Thank You! Questions?
Slides: http://bit.ly/lb-engage
Ross Hudgens, Founder, Siege Media
@RossHudgens | http://siegemedia.com