In this session I speak about "earning" links rather than "building" them.

1. Proactive Link Building Tactics
Image Source: http://www.quicksprout.com
Presented by: David Wallace
CEO/Founder - SearchRank
@DavidWallace

2. What Is the Best Proactive
Link Building Technique?
TO NOT BUILD THEM AT ALL!
Image Source: http://timbickers.com
@DavidWallace

3. Matt Cutts Spreading FUD
A WebmasterWorld thread has
some fears that I see are beginning
to worry some publishers and
webmasters - the fear of linking to
external sources.
With Matt Cutts and the Google
spam team pretty much saying you
need to nofollow everything out
there, well, with the exception of
real editorial links (who is to
decide what is editorial),
webmasters are simply scared.
Search Engine Roundtable
Aug 14, 2013
@DavidWallace

4. Content: Creation & Marketing
Publishing
content
that people
love will
allow you
to “earn”
links, not
too
mention
social
signals
Image Source:
http://www.smartinsights.com

5. Case Study: Infographic Journal
The Stats:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Site turned 2 years old on 9/28
Have never done any link building
0 posts to 3,500+
7 to 10 posts published daily
0 backlinks to 68,000
Current Alexa Rank of 32,730
100,000+ monthly visitors
@DavidWallace

6. Case Study: Infographic Journal
How Do We Do It?
Each post is pushed to IJ’s social media sites - Facebook, Twitter,
Google +, Pinterest & Tumblr.
Each post is pushed to personal social media sites - Facebook,
Twitter, Google +, LinkedIn & Pinterest.
Infographics that are really good are submitted to StumbleUpon.
Use StumbleUpon’s “Paid Discovery” for really, really good ones.
Occasionally do manual outreach via Twitter and/or email.
On rare occasion do the “Boost Post” option on Facebook.
@DavidWallace

7. Content Ideas
•
Resourceful Posts (Articles, Lists, Hot-Tos)
•
Guest Posts
•
Memes (Ego Bait, Interviews, etc.)
•
White Papers
•
Webinars
•
Images (funny, unique, animated)
•
Videos
•
Infographics (static, interactive, animated, video)
Make sure content originates on your site.
You “own” the content and visitors are drawn back to your site.
@DavidWallace

8. Content Marketing 101
•
Share on Facebook; consider utilizing Facebook Ads or Promote option under post.
•
Share on Twitter; consider utilizing Sponsored Tweets.
•
Share on Google + (both personal and company pages).
•
Submit good content to StumbleUpon. Use Paid Discovery to draw more attention.
•
Post to your Pinterest and Tumblr accounts. Link back to original.
•
Send an optimized press release via online PR sites such as MarketWire & PRWeb.
•
Reach out to “like-minded” bloggers to see if they will link-to or do write-up.
•
Utilize “guest blogging” to re-post video and infographics on prominent sites.
•
Having a large network of followers (influential status) will help promotion efforts.
•
If you lack influence, it might be wise to hire someone who does to share content.
•
Infographics - include an “Embed Code!” (infographicjournal.com/embed-code-generator/)
@DavidWallace

9. Links With Social Media
Using Social Media Profiles To Build Links
@DavidWallace

10. Links With Social Media

11. Links With Social Media
Using Social Media Profiles To Build Links
• Set up as many social media profiles as you can
• Fill in all information (i.e. real name, URL, location, bio, etc.)
• Upload an avatar
• Post/publish content where applicable
• Get profile URLs indexed
“The Ultimate Social Media Profile Chart”
http://www.searchrank.com/social-media-profile-chart
http://knowem.com
@DavidWallace

12. What No Longer Works
• Paid Links
• Sponsored Blog Reviews
• Article Marketing (Spinning)
• Directories
(except major and niche)
• Comments
(did they ever work at all)
@DavidWallace

13. Google Penalties
• Google is Not Fair!
• Is it a “real” penalty or a “fake” one (FUD)
• Use Backlinks Tool to analyze links
(Ahrefs, Majestic SEO, Moz)
• Identify site-wide links & links in
footers and navigation
• Identify links surrounded by “bad”
neighbors
• Reach out to webmasters asking them
to “nofollow” or remove links.
• In your outreach, DO NOT threaten
“Disavow!”
• No webmaster response – either remove
linking page or change URL or Disavow
• Document everything!
Image Source: http://sem-group.net
Ultimate Guide to Google Penalty Removal
http://moz.com/ugc/ultimate-guide-to-google-penalty-removal
@DavidWallace

14. Key Takeaways
• Don’t build links – earn them!
• Use creative content combined with strategic marketing to
earn links and social signals.
• If you must manually build links, use social media profiles.
• Google Penalties: Don’t freak out, document everything and
be nice!
@DavidWallace

15. Thank You!
David Wallace
DavidWallace
SearchRank
SearchRank
searchrank.com
bit.ly/A4JQfW
infographicjournal.com
Download This Presentation at:
http://searchrank.com/pubconvegas2013
@DavidWallace