{"id":28096,"date":"2013-10-01T07:45:58","date_gmt":"2013-10-01T14:45:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bruceclay.com\/blog\/?p=28096"},"modified":"2017-02-27T09:34:01","modified_gmt":"2017-02-27T17:34:01","slug":"penguin-proof-link-building-tactics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bruceclay.com\/blog\/penguin-proof-link-building-tactics\/","title":{"rendered":"Penguin-proof Link Building Tactics (#smx #11B)"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m wide awake, it’s morning. Good album; great way to start the day. Breakfast is done and I’m ready to kick off SMX East right with a session on link building best practices and tactics to avoid.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the description from the Agenda \u2013 or skip right to the live blog goodness<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"SMX<\/a>Penguin-proof Link Building<\/b>\u00a0(#smx #11B)
\nLink building<\/a> remains a lynchpin SEO tactic, but in a post-Penguin world you have to be cautious. This session discusses the link earning<\/a>\u00a0tactics you should apply in order to thrive, while everyone else is worried about disavowing links. You\u2019ll also learn about common link building methods that may be harmful, and how to avoid the “Penguin trap” of having links work against you.<\/p>\n

Moderator:<\/i><\/b>\u00a0Elisabeth Osmeloski<\/a>, Director of Audience Development, Third Door Media, Inc. (@elisabethos<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Q&A Coordinator:<\/i><\/b>\u00a0Mark Traphagen<\/a>, Director of Digital Outreach, Virante, Inc. (@marktraphagen<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Speakers:<\/b><\/p>\n

Thom Disch<\/a>, CEO, Handi-Ramp (@thomdisch<\/a>)
\nRoger Montti<\/a>, Owner, MartiniBuster (@martinibuster<\/a>)
\n<\/a>Neal Rodriguez<\/a>, Managing Director, Shovecom (@notifyneal<\/a>)<\/p>\n

First up is\u00a0Roger Montti<\/a>, Owner, MartiniBuster (@martinibuster<\/a>).\u00a0He jokes that maybe the session should be called \u201cHummingbird-proof\u201d link building. He says he has been doing link building for 10-plus years, and that he uses link-building strategy primarily for himself, but he also teaches clients.<\/p>\n

His presentation will be broken down into three segments:<\/p>\n

1) Background
\n2) Links to avoid
\n3) Penguin-proof link building strategy from travel niche website<\/p>\n

He is going to show us a way forward; how to attract natural, penguin-proof links.<\/p>\n

Part 1: Background<\/b><\/p>\n

He asks if everyone knows the difference between natural and unnatural links. We all say yes (by show of hands) and he moves on. \u00a0This section is mostly about defining natural links (IE: The links we want).<\/p>\n

Any time you can dictate the anchor text, or the position of your link, that is going to be considered a unnatural link.<\/p>\n

He specifically defines natural links as\u00a0 \u201clinks that are given as part of an independent editorial choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Link<\/a><\/p>\n

Telling a story about PageRank in 2003; If you stick a link in the footer Google will crawl it but PageRank will be depreciated. This story is meant to clarify how important it is to have links on RELEVANT pages in order for PageRank to pass full link juice. IE: If you design a website for a dance company and link to your web design company, the link from a dance company to your web design company isn\u2019t worth very much<\/p>\n

Since 2003 Google has been on the campaign to depreciate links that aren\u2019t actually valuable to UX. IE: links in footer that aren\u2019t relevant aren\u2019t worth as much.<\/p>\n

SEOs have responded to this link devaluation by trying to get more and more and more links to make up for the individual link depreciation. The time for getting more and more and more links is pretty much over right now. Penguin\/Hummingbird have made sure of that.<\/p>\n

Roger says to ask yourself: \u201cHow can I create usefulness that will cause people to like it, share it, and link to it?\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

He says reciprocal links aren\u2019t necessarily penguin-proof.<\/p>\n

If you want to be algo-proof you have look beyond what everyone else is doing and come back down to Earth; think: What is it Google is after?<\/b><\/p>\n

<\/b>He says his technique is always to just back off.<\/b><\/p>\n

Natural and Unnatural are words that come out of statistical analysis. \u00a0Google establishes a baseline for normal, and then considers sites outside of this baseline as spam.<\/p>\n

Google\u2019s web spam team includes advanced statistical analysis professionals. No matter how much you try to \u201clook natural,\u201d you can\u2019t trick a statistical algorithm.<\/p>\n

With all the mathematics that are involved in this you have to actually BE natural. You cant just look<\/i> natural.<\/b><\/p>\n

Shows us some stats. Blue are sites that are spamming \u2013 they pop out.<\/p>\n

\"Link<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

PART 2. Links to Avoid \u2013 unnatural links<\/b><\/p>\n

Anytime someone tells you the directory they\u2019re trying to sell you on is \u201cSEO-friendly \u2013 it\u2019s not.<\/p>\n

Guest Posting: \u201cUgh! What a Bombshell!\u201d Links within the body text of a guest blog posts aren\u2019t from<\/i> that blog, so they aren\u2019t technically natural. The place for your links is in your byline.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re going to do guest posting and article marketing you have to think about the legit way to do it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

PART 3:\u00a0Penguin-Proof strategy: A campaign walk-through<\/b><\/p>\n

To finish up Roger\u2019s going to walk us through a strategy for leveraging a niche audience for links.<\/p>\n

Create a compelling reason to link to the site. Think: How is my site useful for people? If it\u2019s not useful, then make content that is useful. Then you\u2019ll get those links.<\/b><\/p>\n

In this example his website is a travel website and his target market is vegan\/vegetarian travelers. To generate links from this market he did research for gluten-free, vegan, and vegetarian dining options. Called up different restaurants, talked to different groups, and then wrote articles that cater to travelers that are looking for vegan\/veg dining options.<\/p>\n

Takeaway:<\/b> Take the extra step and actually JOIN the organizations that are relevant to your target market. Then you\u2019ll be the first to get the information, you wont miss anything, and you\u2019ll also have a way to relate to your target demographic. This will also allow you to put a badge on your website that says you\u2019re a member of that organization, which will help your target market relate to you and your content.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s so important to be a part of the tribe that you\u2019re trying to get links for.<\/b><\/p>\n

<\/b>Promote tailored, useful content. The keyword is useful<\/span>. \u00a0Anytime you create content that people can actually share you\u2019re ahead of the game. You\u2019re winning.<\/b><\/p>\n

Next up is Thom Disch<\/a>, CEO, Handi-Ramp (@thomdisch<\/a>). He\u2019s a Practitioner; he builds websites. \u00a0He\u2019s going to tell us about some things they\u2019ve done internally to help with link building.<\/p>\n

Asks who can clearly explain what a Penguin penalty is (by show of hands). No one raises their hand. He jokes to the panel that he \u201cknew!\u201d we didn\u2019t know what was going on.<\/p>\n

He asks how many people have seen their sites affected by Google Penguin penalties<\/a> (by show of hands). No one raises their hand again\u2026.<\/p>\n

Finally he asks how many people have competitors that they think are violating \u201cpenguin rules\u201d but are still ranking very well? Everyone laughs and lots of hands go up.<\/p>\n

He relates.
\nLinks are the currency of the SEs; that\u2019s how they monitor where you are in the web community. We all know getting links is hard work. It\u2019s probably the hardest thing we do in the web community. Getting people to get back to me; to tie to me. That takes a lot of effort.<\/p>\n

How do you get what is called, or what seems to be a natural link??<\/p>\n

\u201cLink building\u201d is discouraged he says. . We don\u2019t want to go out and get links just for the sake of getting links. In fact, if you get the wrong links they\u2019re going to take you down. So, how do you get the right links? It can be confusing.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

<\/b>He says flat out \u2013 he\u2019s not going to clear up any of this confusion or give us any insights into Google. They have tight lips. He\u2019s not offering faery dust either; he only shares that with his own websites.<\/p>\n

He will give us:<\/p>\n