Links and SEO
Since the late 1990s search engines have seen links between websites as votes for popularity and importance. This, along with other factors such as relevancy of content, has had a huge impact on the positioning of websites in search engine results.
Links aren’t the be all and end all in terms of SEO, but search professionals attribute a significant portion of search engines’ algorithms (how they decide which website to rank above others) to link-related factors. It is through links that search engines can assign a value of popularity and importance to a website, based on the number of external pages linking to it.
Link Farms
A number of individuals within the digital arena began to create websites we now refer to as ‘link farms’, as a way to trick search engines into thinking they have achieved natural links back to their website, when in fact these links were paid for and carried no value at all.
Search Engine Algorithms
Google is constantly updating their algorithms to reduce spam activity and now penalise websites for being associated with link farms. It is because of these algorithm updates that link building has developed into what we now call ‘outreach’. Outreach is the squeaky clean version of link building and involves reaching out to bloggers, news sites or social media influencers to share information around a product or service, in the hope that they will provide a link to your website 'for free'.
As a general rule of thumb, you should never pay for a link to your website. Tools such as Buzzstream exist to aid in the building of legitimate links and although a time consuming process, can prove fruitful.
Step by Step
You are a small company selling trendy baby clothes. You want to generate awareness of your brand and increase sales. What do you do?
Step 1: Conduct an Internet search for websites relevant to the products you sell. Tip: Google blog search is a useful tool to identify sites for outreach.
Mummy bloggers such as the wonderful whosthemummy.co.uk, with relevant and engaging content and a domain authority of 25 or above, would be ideal in this instance. Tip: You can find the domain authority (or DA) of a site by using the MozPro toolbar or by using sites such as SEO Review Tools.
Most bloggers have a section on their site called ‘work with me’. If this section outlines prices for reviewing and advertising products, close the tab and move on. This particular blog states that they do not publish paid for links so we can continue to step 2.
Step 2: You now want to make note of key details of the site such as the URL, DA, contact details, social network links and communication achieved to date.
If you are lacking in budget, you can do this with a simple excel spreadsheet. Alternatively, you can make use of paid for outreach tools such as Buzzstream or Inkybee to save time. Simply add the blog to your chosen Buzzstream project with one click via the Buzzstream toolbar.
Step 3: Within Buzzstream you can write a personalised email to your chosen blogger. Introduce yourself, tell them about your brand and (here’s the vital part) offer a handful of free products for them to giveaway to their readership.
In return for these goodies, you may ask for a few social posts promoting the giveaway with a brand mention or link back. This is considered a white hat SEO method as a mutually beneficial transaction is taking place. The blogger is given relevant products to give away to their readership (who doesn’t love free stuff?!) and you gain awareness and maybe even a few sales.
Dos and Don'ts
1. Make sure you do your research and address the site owner by their name - its common courtesy.
2. Ensure your email is personalised and relevant. Sending a blanket email to a handful of bloggers from different niches is not good practice and won't result in a positive response.
3. Don't expect something for nothing. It's bad practice to pay for links, but that's not to say you can't provide something of value in return.
Perhaps your chosen bloggers would like to write a guest post for your blog or maybe they'd appreciate a discount code unique to their readership.
4. Don't chase bloggers. Bloggers are busy little bees and chasing them for a response won't end well. Be patient and polite.
Customers as Advocates
Those who enjoy your products are your best marketers. They will shout about your brand via social media, they’ll tell their friends, they may even write a glowing review for you, and guess what? These are all positive indicators to search engines and will aid your website in slowly climbing the search engine results pages.
Definitions
Outreach: Outreach, traditionally known as ‘link building’, is the process of identifying key influencers within your industry and building mutually beneficial relationships.
Search Engine Optimisation: Often abbreviated to SEO, search engine optimisation is the process of optimising activity both on and offline, to achieve the highest position possible in search engine results.
SERP: SERP or ‘search engine results page’ is the listing of results returned by a search engine, such as Google or Bing, in response to a keyword search query such as ‘Tiling companies Bath’.
Domain Authority: Domain authority is a measure of the power of a domain name and is one of many search engine ranking factors. Domain authority is based on three factors: Age, Popularity, and Size.
White Hat SEO: White Hat SEO refers to the use of optimisation strategies, techniques and tactics that focus on a human audience as opposed to search engines. Any activity complies with search engine rules and policies.
Write a comment.