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Pubcon X – Link Building

Posted on Nov 17th, 2005
Written by Lee Odden
In this article

    Ready to elevate your B2B brand?

    TopRank Marketing drives results with content, influencer, SEO & social media marketing.

    Linking is still a critical part of helping sites rank higher in search engines and to drive traffic. This session included linking legend, Eric Ward, Jim Boykin of WeBuildPages and Bill Hartzer of MarketNet.

    First up was Jim Boykin WeBuildPages. Jim decided not to speak from the podium and walk the aisle. Google Jagger update. Some did well, some not. Shortcuts are no good.

    He presented a list of linking paranoia that pops up every time there’s a shift in rankings.

    What does Google rank highly?

    EDU, GOV
    High TrustRank (lots of authority and .edu backlinks)
    Huge and powerful websites sub pages (Amazon)
    Old page that never changes, but gets steady links over time
    New page on old stablished sites (good internal links)
    Old sites that update and get a steady flow of backlinks that coincide with new content additions

    Age of web sites influences rankings (Google)
    That means slow and steady rate of content.

    Shows Touchgraph Google Browser screenshot

    Shows Jim’s linking neighborhoods graphic. Unnatural linking structure will not be rewarded

    Get links from the neighborhood.

    Good link page is annotated links within a paragraph, not:
    Link Title – link description
    Link Title – link description

    ===

    Next up is Bill Hartzer MarketNet Inc.

    Site Content
    Your site is ultimately responsible for getting links.
    Bad content = no links
    Great content = potential for great links

    Great content:
    Content people will link to unsolicited
    Content that stirs emotion

    Types of Links:
    External links, Intenernal links
    Links must be crawlable with descriptive anchor text.
    Search Engine Theme Pyramid:
    All pages need at least one link from another page to stay in the index

    External Links:
    Submit to Yahoo DMOZ, Business.com, Joe Ant, Go Guides
    Submit to strongestlinks.com directories
    Provide free online tool or service
    Press releases
    Forums
    RSS feeds
    Articles

    Search for variations of “add url keyword”

    Link tools:
    Wordtracker
    Filthy Linking Rich – Mike Grehan article
    OptiLink, OptiSpider
    Linking strategy: www.refengeofthemininet.com
    linkdomain: search in yahoo for a particular site
    Outsource a linking campaign to an expert

    Bad links:
    Links from the same Class C Block of IPs
    Links from the same IP address, but different domain
    Links from same whois owner
    Off topic links
    Sponsored links

    What’s happening now:
    Links from automated link exchanges and paid text link ads seem to count less
    Run of site links mean less
    Google spam filters are better at catching hidden text and mini networks of links

    Link Advice:
    More links. quality, theme, age, anchor text, amount of other links on inbound page, html links, internal linking structure,

    Inbound links from authoritative, related sites, consistently adding new links and content

    Donate your skills to non-profit sites for a link

    College and Universities

    Create a relevant blog

    ====

    Last up Eric ward – Presentation at: ericward.com/pubcon

    Has been linking since 1993. What is linking and why does it matter?

    Does linking to drive traffic, not for Pagerank,

    Google caused it’s own problem with link spam by making it obvious that links are strongly influential for rankings.

    Linking terminology:
    Authority site – Subject expert
    Hub site – Collection of links to expert sites
    Quality link – Depends. Paid links, from a blog, editorial link topically relevant sites, discussion lists – long tail links
    Organic link – One way, descriptive anchor text, looks natural, not on same Class C blog, not from same from same domain

    Links can impact rankings, but also create buzz.
    Yahoo Picks, Forbes BOTW

    Paid links: AdBrite

    Vertical links – links that are subject specific

    Email links – while not usually crawlable, many emails are archived to the web

    If you seek links only for rankings, you’re missing out on many traffic generating opportunities. Search engines do not crawl the entire available web.

    Linking Tools:
    Teoma – Resources
    Google’s version of DMOZ
    Linksurvey

    Link Popularity Flaws:
    Link depth – keep your content at top or second level directory at most
    Non-web based links – Forbes BOTW, Lockergnome, Lil.org

    Links for your site vs publicity for your site. There are many well-trafficed sites that review other sites.

    Take aways:
    Recognize the different types of links. Web based links are not the only types of links.

    Tags: linking, link building, seo, Pubcon