Google engineer Matt Cutts uploaded a couple new videos recently focused on specific link building tactics and what Google thinks of them. I transcribed a couple of the vids and wanted to share one here along with a handful of thoughts and observations.  I numbered (in red) behind the sentences I wanted to comment on.

Video title:  What is Google’s thinking about links from article marketing, widgets, etc?

Link:              http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=chuhSmwsL7s

Transcription:  Video length 2:48

Matt from Mountain View asks, ‘What is Google’s current thinking about getting links from article marketing, widgets, footers, themes, etc?’ (1)

Yeah, I’m really glad to talk about our current thinking which is about the same as our past thinking.  But let’s be a little bit more explicit about it.  Whenever you get a link from just a WordPress footer or just a random footer or you know when someone installs a widget or they install some theme on their content management system, it’s often the case that they’re not editorially choosing to link with that anchor text.  And so you sometimes see a lot of links all with the exact same anchor text because, you know, that’s what the widget happened to have embedded in it or something like that.  And even if it’s not the exact same anchor text, it’s like a, you know, it’s relatively inorganic in the sense that the person who made the widget is deciding what the anchor text should be rather than the person who’s actually doing the link by including the widget. (2)

And it’s the same sort of thing with article marketing.  If you write a relatively low quality article, just a few hundred words and then at the bottom is two or three links of you know, specifically high density anchor text, (3) then the sort of guy who just wants some content and doesn’t really care about the quality might grab that article from an article bank or something and he’s not really editorially choosing to give that anchor text.  So as opposed to something that’s really compelling, when you really like something, when you are linking to it organically, you know, that’s the sort of links that we really want to count more.

So it’s always been the case that these sorts of links that are boiler plate, it’s not really a person’s real choice to really endorse with that particular link or that particular anchor text, those are links that typically we would not want to count as much and so we either use algorithms or we have other ways of saying, okay at a granular level this is the sort of link that we don’t want to trust.  There are some people who say I just want links, I’m just gonna take shortcuts, I’m lazy, I’m going to do the bare minimum that I can to get the links that I want to get, and they’ll fall back on some ways where, you know, I’ve mentioned this example before, but if you’re a K-12 school teacher in Pennsylvania and you are trying to get a web counter, you don’t realize that it has mesothelioma hidden in the text of the web counter, that’s not a link that we necessarily want to trust at all let alone give that much weight to. 

So the sorts of links where people are really choosing to editorially link to you and not just because they’re paid, but because they think your site is good, those are the links that we are more likely to count more.  (4)

 

My thoughts:

(1)  I raised an eyebrow (and laughed) when I watched Matt ask and answer this question, he must really want to make a point here.  

(2)  Matt said:  …” And even if it’s not the exact same anchor text, it’s like a, you know, it’s relatively inorganic in the sense that the person who made the widget is deciding what the anchor text should be rather than the person who’s actually doing the link by including the widget.”

My bold to focus on two points.

One draw back to using widgets (and badges) as a way to build links is the issue of  footprints.  When people want to put a widget on their site, they copy and paste a block of code from the host site to theirs.  The code they copy is what makes the widget “go”, it also has a link back to the host site for attribution, navigation and in some cases, link building.

Given the cost and time involved in badge/widget creation, most webmasters make one or two versions which means the code and URL behind the widget are repeated over and over as people upload them. If the widget is popular, this can become a problem since all roads linking back to the host site say the exact same thing or point to the same page.  A lot of the same anchor text phrases linking back to a page (especially an internal page with little content) over and over is probably not a natural occurrence so they are ignored or work against you.   You’ve spent a lot of time and money creating a tangible asset that is now a liability or at very least, a gilded snitch.

The most interesting part of the video (for me) was this sentence:

even if it’s not the exact same anchor

Now I get why he asked the question and made the video.

First, I think he’s trying to tell us they don’t only look at/find anchors as a way to determine manipulation, they look at the content around it as well.  What is around the link in a widget that would be super easy for an engine to detect?  The code.  Code trails for a code driven algorithm is like Diet Coke to this addict, if it’s out there, I will find it.

Second, he’s also trying to reinforce the point offering different versions of the same anchor won’t escape their notice.  You can develop multiple anchor text versions of a badge or widget but chances are the coding will be the same or similar which again, makes it uber easy to detect.

I have heard various Google reps stress the importance of editorially awarded links in the past, since widgets and badges using clean links back to host sites are not considered “editorially awarded” you may want to think hard before investing a lot of time or money into their creation.  (Clean links = those not using the nofollow attribute or tracking software)

(3)  Matt said:  …”at the bottom is two or three links of you know, specifically high density anchor text …”

I can speak to this issue first hand, Google will ding you with a love note if they find your bio has all keyword phrase (high density) anchor text links in it instead of links to your website.

I got a love note recently for my Alliance-Link site, seems Google thought my hyper linking the term “link building training” repeatedly was a problem.  I guess it would be if I was actually dropping that anchor but I wasn’t, I have never, ever, EVER (channeling Taylor Swift)…. built links for my Alliance-Link site in the 12 years I’ve had it.

Ever.  First off I’m lazy and second, I’ve never had to so why would I, after all these years, suddenly start dropping high density anchor text phrases on a bunch of crap sites?

Two minutes (seriously – 2 minutes) worth of investigating and I found my Search Engine Land (SEL) column was the culprit.  Seems a number of my articles had been scraped, including the bio which is featured, using the term “link building training” at the bottom of the page.

The fact my keyword rich bio sits on SEL is no problem, SEL is an authority site, I am known in link building circles, I’m writing on the topic of link building and I’m posting in the link building section of SEL.  If my bio stays on SEL it’s fine, but if it gets picked up and circulated on crappy blogs?  Not so much.  Never mind the fact someone else was stealing my content, I got the love note, the anxiety that comes with it and had to do the work to make things right.  Sucketh to be me in this case.

Two take-away’s here:

1. Don’t exclusively use keyword rich (high density) anchor text phrases in your author bio and
2. Don’t stick all your bio’s  at the end (bottom) of blog posts.

(4)  Matt said:  …”links where people are really choosing to editorially link to you and not just because they’re paid, but because they think your site is good, those are the links that we are more likely to count more.”

If you read the comments under the video you’ll see a lot of people saying things like

you need to look natural in your linking

and

…be natural; a constant state of SEO leading from well written useful content.

I don’t disagree with either statement but even if you write the most wonderful, thought-provoking, life-changing-Pulitzer-prize-winning content ever, it has to be promoted to see any benefits.  This isn’t about being natural, it’s about where you promote.  It’s always been about the “where”,  not the how.

In the future, links embedded in things like widgets, badges and WP templates won’t count for much since they come with the territory and are not editorially awarded.  I also think things like sponsored links (as in buying a sponsorship or donating to charity and getting a link for it) paying for a directory submission where the directory doesn’t have strict editorial guidelines for regular and sponsored links, and even (gasp!!) guest blogging links (see my #3),  might not count for much either.  I think going as far as saying the link “won’t count” is wrong, just like it’s wrong to say links using the nofollow attribute are not counted.  Both, in some respects are counted, as a number if nothing else.

Now more than ever it’s important to incorporate offline tactics, promotional partnerships and use traditional media as a way to build links, drive traffic and promote your brand.  If Google doesn’t think the link pointing to your site has been given on merit, there is a strong chance the link won’t carry much weight.  Old methods like article marketing don’t work as well now because many of the article directories lack editorial process.  If you find a good one, great!  Just don’t use the same keyword rich, “high density” anchor text over and over in your bio

from: Link Spiel

For more link building information, ideas and the occasional rant, visit LinkSpiel .

The Online News Association conference (#ONA12)  took place in San Francisco last week and all kinds of nuggets came out of it.  As a link builder I’m always interested to know what the media is interested in and the criteria they use to cover a story so I was eager to hear about this show.  Here are a handful of  things that made my linkey senses go all tingly:

1.  Jen Preston from The New York Times shared online sources she depends on for user generated content (USG)

photo courtesy @smydrad

Most of the platforms listed in the slide have a trending topics feature, keep an eye on it and watch for your keywords/industry/area because there’s a good chance reporters like Jen Preston are doing the same.  The fact she included “Chatrooms” was interesting, they are not a resource you hear much about anymore.  If you’re not familiar with the concept, check out this list of popular chat rooms or the chats Yahoo! lists.

2.  Journalists are using various ways to fact check and verify information they see tweeted, blogged, on Facebook etc.  Social media makes passing information easy but they need to be sure it’s coming from reliable/accurate sources so they’re looking for authorship tie-ins, tweet history, bio’s etc.  Here are two slides from the slide deck of Mandy Jenkins and Craig Silverman with a handful of points:

Nothing earth shattering there but it’s good to know what they’re looking for.  One of the sites in Mandy’s deck suggested reporters use an image forensics tools called Image Error Level Analyser to see if images have been tinkered with.  The service is no longer available, it probably happened recently although a cache date of Sept 16, 2012 shows the site closed.

It seems no one is immune from making mistakes, even journalism experts presenting on “BS detection” at a journalism conference.   This little snafu really reinforces the need to check and double check sources constantly as things change at the speed of light on the Web.  Moving on.

A number of the tweets from #ONA12 were about Twitter and the changes they were making.  Seems they are bringing back the ability to search for past tweets by the end of the year (great news) and limiting the number of tools such as TweetDeck and HootSsuite.

3.  Susan Mernit from Oakland Local suggested using TweetReach as a “critical Twitter metrics tool“.  I have to agree, I started using this one about four months ago and love it, since I do a lot of audits their graphs and charts are invaluable and help visually explain the reach and influence of some Twitter accounts.

4.  I sourced all of these tweets, blog posts and slide decks by using an event aggregation tool.  You set it to look for tweets using a string of terms/marks and they all come back in one spot which makes it the ultimate lazy woman’s way to read conference tweets.  ;)

There are a number of tools to do this, I use TweetWally on a couple of my hobby sites and love it because it is free, can be customized, is free, can search by term or hashtag, is free.  :)

There’s also What The Trend which is pretty cool, not only does it show tweets using your hashtags, it also brings back blog posts doing the same.  Double fun!

5.  The Online News Assn ended it’s conference with an awards banquet, I’ve followed this one in the past and knew they give awards by category.  I’m familiar with the big-boy news sites and a lot of the smaller players but am always on the lookout for more so I was interested to see the list of this year’s winners.

The first site to carry the list was the WSJ‘s MarketWatch,  what a disappointment that was.  The list was intact but in true WSJ style, no hyperlinks provided (annoying) so I clicked away and found a list with links here. The list didn’t disappoint, I found several US sites I wasn’t familiar with and also a couple from Europe. I spent time on each culling names and taking note of how they accept articles and information and added it all to my media database.

The  awards are broken down by category based on the way media classifies content .  If  you are pitching stories and content it could be helpful to know what and how the general news industry works so you create content they are looking for and is in demand.

For example, here’s a partial list of the categories and who won them:

Breaking News, Large http://timelines.latimes.com/occupy-la-breaking-news/

Planned News/Events, Small http://www.congressionalprimaries.org/

Explanatory Reporting, Medium http://collegecompletion.chronicle.com/

Topical Reporting, Small http://earthfix.opb.org/

Feature, Large http://www.cnn.com/mauritania

Most people issue press releases and hope for the best and with breaking news or announcements that tactic is fine but if you want to contribute to a news outlet or be the go-to expert on a certain subject, your strategy should include defining the type of story as well as target before you send the first word.  Figure out what category you fall under and spend time reading a half dozen news sites to find reporter and editor patterns. They’ll appreciate the time you’ve taken to bring the right story topics to the right people.

from: Link Spiel

For more link building information, ideas and the occasional rant, visit LinkSpiel .

A  roundup of  some of the more interesting articles I’ve read this week.   I’ve added TIPS after some hoping they’ll help spark a link idea or three or a WTH? because they made me raise a badly shaped eyebrow.
 

1. Article:    How Businesses Can Use Video To Educate  

Highlight:  …”Marketing videos are now being used to lead potential customers down the path from their first experience with your business to the post sales retention and engagement marketing strategies. Here are a few ideas on when and how you can use video to educate your customers:”…

Comment:  There’s a good list of ideas for making videos which can be used to attract links.

TIP:  Develop a video and then…issue a press release, send the video link to your mailing list, add the information in your newsletter and your association’s newsletters.   Include a link-to-us call to action at the end of the video as well as your YouTube channel and the page on your site hosting the video.

2.  Article:   Amazon’s Play

Highlight:  ...” To understand the brilliance of Amazon’s and Bezos’s positioning, you need to consider the audience. The mass market is not going to watch his presentation… The audience was the tech press…Tech writers have a natural aversion to lock-in, high prices, and dominant market leaders. As reflexes, these aversions are healthy. As dogma, they are not. Bezos played these angles perfectly.”

Comment:   We talk a lot about using press releases to build links and gain exposure but we talk very little about targeting media.  This article is a great reminder how thoughtful research can be turned into a giant win for whatever it is you’re pushing.  Don’t think you can’t do what Jeff Bezo’s did just because you’re a small business owner or have a web-only presence, neither situation will hold you back.  Find your hook, find your media and understand what makes both tick.  The links will come.

Speaking of hooks…

3. Article:    How To Create Search Friendly Content

Highlight from the article:  …”We don’t condone link baiting, obviously, but hooks are real. There are pros and cons in using hooks, but the thing to remember is that when you find one that resonates with your audience, it’ll drive traffic, links, views, shares and more.

Comment:  The article is on the Bing Webmaster Center Blog so it’s official,  Bing does not condone link baiting.  Hooks yes, link baiting, no.

WTH?  The Bing post points to an article written by Todd Malicoat on his SEO blog  titled “Link Baiting Playbook“; it’s a  classic “resource hook” and frequently linked to.  The article takes an  in-depth look at link bait  and does a great job explaining all the touch points including the use of hooks. Todd explains viral marketing is about exposure and link baiting is about links which is probably why Bing has come out and said they don’t condone the process.

Hmmm.   So basically look at the hooks but ignore the rest of the article is what I’m reading there.  That’s pretty hard given the majority of Todd’s piece shows us how to use hooks to craft killer link bait.

Thankfully, Google likes linkbait, at least for now:   …”I say link baiting is the way to go, as long as it’s from a good internet neighborhood, and the source is relevant to the content of the website”

And where did I find that quote?  On Bing, it is the first result ;)

4.  Article:   The Astounding Power of Pinterest [Infographic]

Highlight from the article:  

Comment:  Check out what is circled in red.   The average order by a user who has seen a product on Pinterest is almost twice that of Twitter and Facebook.  If  you have a website in one of the categories under  ”PINNERS LOVE SHOPPING”  and you don’t have a Pinterest presence going, RUN FORREST RUN to Pinterest.  Now.

TIP:  Given Pinterest’s popularity, consider using your board to announce new content on your blog/site.  Include passive linking messages on the Pinterest board and on your blog to stimulate linking to your content.

5. Article:   Comparing Backlink Data Providers

Highlight from the article:  

• Ahrefs – Use for link cleanup
• MajesticSEO – Use for mentions monitoring
• Mozscape – Use for accurate competitor/market analysis

 Comment:   Tool review on SEOBook blog  explores the differences between the  Ahrefs, Ayima, MajesticSEO and MozScape link data.  If you use a tool or are in the market for one, this is a good read.

6. Article:    Content Strategy Generator Tool -V2 Update

Highlight from the article:  We want to track down bloggers and editors who we can potentially get in touch with, that may be interested in our awesome new content idea. 

Comment:  I’m not sure how I missed this great tool when it came out last year or the update that happened this spring but now I know!  This cool tool uses multiple sources to help you find potential content placement opportunities.   And best of all?  It’s free.

While you’re on the site, check out  Stop Paying for Terrible Links [& How to Check for Low Quality Links], it has some good tips and a video on weeding out your bad links.

Until next time, good linking!

from: Link Spiel

For more link building information, ideas and the occasional rant, visit LinkSpiel .

It’s common knowledge certain markets are harder to build links for than others. For the most, part highly competitive industries are tough because they are highly competitive (and they’ve been worked to death), but less competitive markets can also be difficult because of the demographic behind them.

Such was the case for a client we took on awhile back in the financial services industry. He sold a very niche product in a very competitive industry known to be populated by busy corporate executives. He came to us with a new website which needed back links to support ongoing SEO, build his company brand and drive traffic to the site. No small feat considering the market he was in.

(Added:  This article was originally written  in 2009,  Every now and then I inject an updated comment in red but overall, the original post is intact.) ~Debra

After hours researching the industry and finding it filled with “good content”, I knew a standard campaign wouldn’t do. Unless I had President Obama or Alan Greenspan writing my content, no one was going to pay attention to another article or white paper in this market. I needed to create a different and unique splash to attract the attention and links I needed, so I came up with the idea of launching a contest.

My column today is a basic case study of that contest campaign. This was one of the most difficult websites I’ve worked on -not because the site was new or the market competitive, but because the people we needed to target were busy corporate executives. I knew if I went after these decision makers, I’d probably fail so I changed my angle of entry and created a promotion that appealed not only to the executive, but to the employees of his/her company as well.   And it worked. Here’s what we did:

The Research

When you’re building links, it’s natural to use tactics you’re comfortable with, so we started our research looking at topically relevant link bait and white papers written in the last year. The idea was to find a trendy topic, hire an industry authority to write a three part series and pimp the content from the client’s site. It’s a good strategy and usually works, so off we went culling Digg, Delicious and industry media sites like OpenForum and SlingShot for hot topics and ideas we could use.

Added:  Both Digg and Delicious have fallen far,  I would not use them in a post today or suggest anyone use them to cull trending information.  SlingShot is no longer online but  The Open Forum  is and continues to provide information on the business world  although I wouldn’t use it to research.  Instead, I’d use sites like Yahoo! Finance or Linkedin Today (you can follow industries).

And boy, did we find them. There is a virtual goldmine of content in the financial service space written by celebrities, experts, academics, bloggers – you name it. Initially, I was excited to find the content and track trending terms, but after a while my excitement waned as I realized what it would take to make waves in this very crowded and very status-conscious crowd. Like I said before, unless I could convince President Obama to write my article series, it was doubtful anything we wrote would be an editorial and viral success. So we abandoned the content angle, took note of what was not being done, our economic climate and the fact everyone loves something for free and developed the contest campaign instead.

The Process

Since we had a mountain of research data to draw from, developing the contest was fairly easy. We outlined the contest and added a no-strings-attached giveaway to help the program go viral. From there, we focused on buying memberships into industry associations where our promotion would be targeted to a community of like-minded people.

While these people are like-minded, they are also (for the most part) my client’s competitors, so I knew I had to approach with caution. I worried about how my client would be perceived, so I staggered the execution of the program and removed any link requirements to participate.

Yes that’s right, they didn’t have to provide the link in order to receive the giveaway or participate in the contest, linking to us was optional. Why? Because building trust with new partners is paramount for future linking opportunities. If no one trusts my brand, no one will link regardless of the incentive offered. I couldn’t afford the risk and decided our first impression was too important to screw up so I suggested they link rather than make it a requirement to receive the freebies.

Here’s an outline of what we implemented:

• January 15 – Joined a well known industry Association with membership of 900.
• February 1 – Sent first email introducing company to fellow members. No sales pitch.
• March 1 – Sent second email with humorous spring season promotion, offered modest discount coupon. No sales pitch.
• April 5 – Third email sent, this one outlined the contest, had an opt-out. In addition to showcasing the contest, the email included a substantial discount toward any product my client sold. We made it clear anyone in the company could use the discount and encouraged people to send it to friends and family. There was a six-month expiration date on the discount.
• May 1 – The contest closed, a winner was picked, prizes awarded. We issued a press release announcing the winner.

The results? 107 people used the discount, 262 people registered for the contest, 52 links from Association members showed up in our back link counts. The membership fee was $575.00 so if do you the math, you’ll see the promotion paid for itself and then some.

Added:  Three months after we finished the campaign and closed the account, we found out 11 of the 52 links were no longer pointing to the client’s webpage.  Since the contest was closed and the coupon expired, people pulled their links.  We redirected the coupon page to the client’s blog and sent notices to the 52  companies who linked telling them new promotions would be announced on the blog.  Only one of the 11 who dropped the link added it back.  

The lesson I learned was simple:  contests are short-term marketing tactics which means the links and traffic they generate may be short-term links.  You need long-term links for consistent rankings so find a way to redirect the contest (or coupon)  page to a new promotion or a different information source such as a company blog.   Keep your visitors engaged and give them a reason to return.

The Bottom Line

If you think 52 one-way inbound links isn’t a huge number, keep in mind the goals we set and what this promotion touched on:

• We secured one-way links from topically relevant sites
• The promotion went viral
• Sales were made
• My client’s brand was exposed to authority leaders in his community
• The client’s brand made a positive impression within a short time period in a very competitive niche

This contest and the principle behind it will work for any industry, as long as you target a specific group and understand what motivates them. If you’re looking for a new twist or a fresh link building idea, consider hosting a contest. Everyone’s a winner if you do.

Image from the Save The Frog Contest site.

from: Link Spiel

For more link building information, ideas and the occasional rant, visit LinkSpiel .

Looking for creative and news worthy topics to write about?  Join the crowd.  With everyone focused on creating and promoting content for links, competition for space and eyeballs gets harder every day.

If you are using content to build links, your content needs to be fresh, trendy and show a little skin.  No I’m not suggesting you use adult material, I’m talking about creating thought provoking content that stands out and attracts links on it’s own.

Here’s a handful of ways to find great content ideas and use it to create the type of provocative content people will link to.

Be Smart, Use Good Tools

My friend SEO/PPC expert  Christine Churchill says I am a human GPS and  can find my way out of a paper bag.  I don’t know about that but I do have a knack for looking at things differently than most people. When we’re in unfamiliar territory and need to find our way, I make note of what we pass and assign a mental marker to the location.  Unless someone changes a building or landscape, I always find my way back which is one reason why Christine lets me navigate when we’re away from home.

When it comes to looking for content ideas and opportunities, there’s too much for my old eyes to see so I rely on tools to keep me posted.  If you follow me here you’ve heard me say this before, there are three things I can’t live without:  family/friends, Diet Coke and my alert services.   When I say “alert services” I mean two things, tools such as Google Alerts, Giga Alerts and Social Mention plus my RSS feeds.  I’m going to focus on how I use my RSS feeds today, they are an invaluable tool in my content and link building arsenal.

Find The Best Content Sources

I don’t believe in recreating the wheel, I like to draw my content inspiration from current news and trending advice already out there.  To find what’s hot and on the move I do the following:

Step one:  Set up RSS feeds from at least three general news sites and an entertainment/gossip site.  Set the feed to capture specific keywords so stories using the keywords are returned to your reader.

Step two:  Starting with your general news feeds, target two types of publications:

• Geo news sites or those focused on a geographic  region  (Washington Post, NY Times, etc)
• Industry specific news sites (Eater.com, Stars and Stripes, Financial Times, etc.)

The publications you follow don’t have to be large regional papers like the Washington Post, if your online presence supports an offline store, be sure to include your local news feeds as well.

If you need help finding industry specific news sites, take a look at this site.  It lists keyword phrases you can use to find a newspaper on almost any topic.

Step three:  As you peruse your reader, divide the articles into two groups:

• Stories using your keywords or
• Articles you can tie your keywords to

Our goal is to create link provoking content using the articles we find in our reader as inspiration and most importantly, reference material.   Look for articles you think are a little edgy, controversial or geographically specific, you want to take advantage of the mood and trend around these issues. Here are a couple examples of each type of content and what you can create from them:

(Sidenote:  I’m going to use the keyword phrase “kitchen cabinets” in my examples here since I’m in the middle of a kitchen makeover here at Casa Mastaler.  Please see disclaimer at end of post).

Stories using your keywords:   If this story had been added to my RSS reader, it would be something I could use.  It is from the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and talks about the problems homes with open floor plans have with noise and acoustics.  I’ve never thought about those issues but I guess if you don’t have walls, sound will travel and could be a nuisance.  Using the WSJ article as a reference and for inspiration I could create:

Article one:  a list of problem solving solutions featuring quiet closing kitchen cabinets for people with open floor plans.  Article to include testimonials from homeowners using quiet closing cabinets.

Article two:  A white paper on the technology behind quiet cabinets.

Both articles I’ve listed with be at least 2500 words long and include images.  Both can be turned into podcasts, video tutorials and slide show presentations as well as chopped into smaller, more topically focused articles.  All in all you should be able to pull at least 12 pieces of content from the two main articles you’ve written, just take care to rework your content so it can stand alone.

Each article should cite the highly credible WSJ as a source, you can even go back to the original article on the WSJ and leave a comment and link to your new content.   Yes, yes I know you can’t drop live links in the comment section there but that’s OK, the name of the site will do.  For example, if you look at the comments at the end of the WSJ story, you’ll see this comment :

Three things here:

1. The comment listed the full name of a builder (Jeff ?) which I crossed out for privacy reasons. Name recognition is important for both algorithms and humans so leave the name of a business or person if you can’t leave a link.
2. Second, If I did have a site selling kitchen cabinets, I’d make a beeline for Jeff the builder’s door and ask him to write for my blog.  Or, I’d ask to write for his.  It’s important to take advantage of relevant players in your industry in any way you can.
3.  Comments are a source of inspiration and a reality check, this guy’s comment is telling you what people want to read (details and solutions) and what markets this type of content may appeal to (builders and architects).  Those are huge points when it comes to marketing content.

Articles you can tie your keywords to

The WSJ article above actually used the terms “kitchen cabinets” in the body of the content which is why it came back in my RSS reader but – what if it didn’t?  The topic was relevant to my terms and gave me a great and unique angle to write from but again, what if it used “noisy shower doors” instead of “kitchen cabinets” in the copy?   I would have been out of luck or way behind the eight ball which stinks when you’re trying to be news and link worthy.

Almost every term you have in your keyword arsenal has a Doppelganger,  better known as a synonym.  Include them all  in your RSS filters, not just long-tail terms you’ve optimized for.  For example, in addition to “kitchen cabinets” use:  canteen, cookery, cook’s room, cookhouse, galley, mess, mess hall, and scullery.  A quick trip to Thesaurus.com and I now have a huge list of words to include in my RSS filters.

Here’s a synonym in action:  I set my RSS to pull published articles from the website Eater.com using the term “canteen” in the body copy.  What came back was this article which is all about food trucks.  I’ve heard of food trucks but never equated them as fodder for kitchen cabinet content,  things like tacos and construction sites come to mind instead.   Silly me, food trucks, also known as canteens and kitchens on wheels, are ALL the rage right now and all of them have… cabinets in them.  Not only do I have two new terms to follow closely (food trucks, canteens) I also have a whole new niche of blogs, sites, forums, and people to tap into for content, traffic, social media mentions and most importantly, links!  Huge win here all for using a synonym.

Now I’m hungry.  Let’s move on to using a gossip site as a content generator.

Smut Sells

The idea here is generally the same but instead of looking for current topics in general news sites, you are looking for trends and gossip to exploit. My favorite sites for this are TMZ and The Daily Mail, between the two you will find the most unusual and trendy information on just about anything.

For example and still using “kitchen cabinets” as my keyword, if I came across this article in my RSS, I’d be all over it.  It’s a flap between two (sorta) celebrities dissing each other over an ATM machine one had installed in his kitchen. I don’t give a hoot about the celebrities, but an ATM machine in the kitchen?  Ding ding! If celebrities are putting ATM’s in their kitchens it’s a possible trend and one worth writing about.  Oh hell, even if they’re not it’s a funny story so it’s a win-win either way.

When I searched on Google news for “ATM in the kitchen“, nothing came back from general media but there it was on TMZ,  ripe for the picking.  I can do a lot with the phrase  ”ATM in the kitchen“, in addition to numerous articles I can use the concept and images associated with it to make:

• Infographics
• Content visualizations
• A Flickr stream
• Pinterest board
• Guest blog posts
• Media bait

If I really wanted to cash out I could pursue sponsorship and endorsements opportunities with an ATM manufacturer and work my link building from the corporate side as well.  Thank you TMZ. 

I’m a big believer in using what’s out there and not recreating the wheel.  Developing content from researched and published stories fits this bill, helps you find bright new ideas and saves time finding credible resources.

But best of all it keeps you current with what’s going on so you can be an early adopter and provider of new and interesting industry content.  People only share, Like, tweet, Digg, G+, pin and most importantly, link to content they like so get creative and find the trends.

Creating great content is just one part of the process, next you have to promote it to attract links.  I’ll cover that next time  Now back to picking out hardware for my new kitchen cabinets!

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Basic Disclaimer and For Any Google Reviewer Reading Here:  I don’t own a kitchen cabinet site or have a connection to a kitchen cabinet site, nor am I associated in any way with any website listed here.  I used the term “kitchen cabinets” because I needed an example and I am getting a new kitchen so the term is in my mind, no other reason.   Please notice no anchor text links using the phrase “kitchen cabinets” were hyperlinked, and please know no one paid me to write this post.

Christine Churchill and I have been friends since 2003, I linked to her freely not because she asked me to, she doesn’t need the link juice, but because she really does call me a human GPS  and  I want people to know who she is in case they don’t.  Which is silly since everyone knows Christine, she’s been online way longer than I but new people do come into the business all the time, so I’m making sure.

My article “Creating Link Provocative Content” was originally published here, on Link Spiel, this 26th day of August, 2012.  If scumbags steal my content, please send them the Google love notes, not me.  Thank you.

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from: Link Spiel

For more link building information, ideas and the occasional rant, visit LinkSpiel .

I had an interesting email awhile back from a person who unfollowed me on Twitter and decided I needed to know why.  This is what it said:

Dear @debramastaler, I followed you a while ago but notice you aren’t following me back.  I share some great information on (insert keywords) so I wanted to reach out and let you know I will continue to follow you if you follow me back.  No hard feelings either way.  Sincerely, @ Twitter handle. 

I glanced down to his signature and was surprised to see it was longer and more in depth than the email.  Curious, I clicked the link to  find out who the heck this person was and was taken to a very well written landing page.  The content was first-rate, had great images, a how-to video, testimonials and additional links to supporting content.  It was a really good landing page, totally sales focused but written warmly and with passion so I wasn’t surprised to see this at the very end: 

If you like what I’m selling and want others to benefit from my (insert keywords), link to us!

This guy makes good use of all his sales opportunities, the simple closing statement was a call to action and viral prod all in one — smart!.  

I would never email anyone and ask why they don’t follow me on Twitter but I have to hand it to the guy, it was a great way to get targeted people to follow him, click into the middle of his site and maybe stimulate a link or three.  Even if a fraction of the people he emails click the link, he’s exposed his content to a greater audience than he had before he started the campaign.  Cheap advertising and still smart.

Of course this got me to thinking about other ways to stimulate linking, liking and following, here are a handful of examples I found:

Example A:   Every so often, drop an appeal on your Facebook page.  This one is pretty basic but it does the job:

Example B:  Here’s a blog running a contest and suggesting you link from your Facebook page and Like them while you’re at it.  This would probably have more impact on Bing:

Example C:  I don’t have a comment policy but it’s probably a good idea to add one. This webmaster took the opportunity to passively suggest linking to his/her site from the comment policy page:

Example D:  My favorite:  Here’s a politican suggesting you use your own image (instead of one of their stinkin‘ badges) to link to them:

(My use of the term “stinkin’  badges” has nothing to do with the politician I took this from, I  just can’t help but use “stinkin‘ ” every time I use the word “badges”.  Well… OK, maybe there is just a little jab at the politician too )

Utilize all the public and private platforms you have to ask for a link, a like, a follow or G+.  In the end, its all going to help with links, love and branding.

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from: Link Spiel

For more link building information, ideas and the occasional rant, visit LinkSpiel .

A while back I asked Best Of The Web (BOTW) President Greg Hartnett about a change the directory had implemented, seems they added nofollow attributes to their Sponsored Link section.  Regular directory listings were still attribute free but sponsored links went pink.  I was curious to know why they made this change so I asked, here is what Greg responded with:

We’re always trying to make sure that we stay in the good graces of the spiders by following best practices for webmasters.  We’d debated for quite some time whether or not the Sponsored advertisers (as advertisers) should be treated the same as directory listings.

In essence though, the two are not the same – web directory listings are under the complete control of the editors while sponsors have flexibility in  category placement and marketing message.

Each site listed in the web directory adheres to our quality and editorial guidelines.   If the site passes our editorial process, it’s placed in the most relevant category in the directory with a proper description.  Our editors add thousands of sites weekly on their own, and submissions account for a minuscule percentage of the web directory listings – we certainly can’t say the same for sponsored listings.

To ensure the integrity of the directory we decided to add the nofollow tag to our sponsored listings.  We’re confident that it sends the right message to the spiders and provides them information in a manner that sets the stage for another 18 years

So basically, BOTW added the nofollow attribute to links in their Sponsored section because anyone (within reason) can purchase them.  Since links in their regular directory are subject to editorial review, they are ”clean” or free of the nofollow attribute. 

A lot of people ask if paying to be listed in a directory is considered a “paid link”, they worry it’s against a search engine’s terms of service (TOS) since money openly changes hands.  Any time the word “paid” and “link” are uttered in the same sentence people get a little nervous.  

In the past Google (specifically) said  said no , it was ok if the directory asked for a review fee provided the directory:

• “exercised editorial discretion”
•  didn’t yak about having a certain PageRank
•  wasn’t registered on an expired domain and reborn as a directory or
•  allowed you to drop unrelated anchor text with the submission.

Since all that was said eight months ago which is like 10 years in Internet life and with Google sending love notes and getting tough on paid link sources, I wondered if the “directory paid link” policy was the same.  So I wrote Google Engineer Matt Cutts and asked.  Here is our little Q&A:

Debra:   In the past Google/you have stated directories with strong editorial policies were OK to submit even if they required a submission fee to be reviewed.  Is this still the case?

Matt:     That’s still the case, but bear in mind that Google will ultimately decide which domains or directories to trust. Just because a directory claims to have strong editorial oversight doesn’t mean that it will meet Google’s criteria or that Google will trust the domain.

Debra:   If an editorially run directory offers a sponsored listing option, do you consider them (the sponsored links) paid links and against your TOS?

Matt:    Adding a nofollow attribute to sponsored links remains the best practice for any website.

I also wrote Bing for a statement but they did not respond to either of my emails.

Best of the Web turns 18 years old this week and to celebrate they are offering a rare 50% discount on all their submissions as a way to say thank you.  Here is the official verbiage:

A Huge ONE DAY SALE Featuring 50% Off All BOTW Products and Services

Use Promo code SINCE94 starting at 12:01am EST on 4/20 and receive an instant 50% off discount on all directory submissions, local listings, bundles and sponsorships. Submit as many sites as you want, as often as you want, but do it quickly because a sale this great can’t last more than a day!

Sweet deal and congrats to Best Of The Web on 18 great years! 

(I have permission from all parties quoted here to reprint their conversations)

from: Link Spiel

For more link building information, ideas and the occasional rant, visit LinkSpiel .

Recently, on Search Engine Land, Danny Sullivan wrote the following about G+:

Google’s held nothing back in trying to make Google+ successful. The company, which used to never advertise on television, now routinely seems to have commercials pushing its social network.

That surprised me, I was commenting just the other day I hardly see anything on prime time TV about G+.  The person I was chatting with (who lives in Arizona) said he hadn’t either.  Even before Danny’s article I have been noticing a lack of G+ branding on ads and such, even in cities like San Jose which is home to Google:

That image was taken in the middle of the San Jose California airport in February.  San Jose = home to Google.  How bizarre!  But the airport isn’t the only San Jose business not hosting G+ icons, take a look at the front page of their newspaper the Mercury News:

No Google logos in sight.

The NBC affiliate in San Francisco gets a gold plus, they do have  a G+ logo on the front page and after every story.  But it’s not all rosey here, of the 10 sports related articles I looked at, only one showed any number counts on the G+ icon and the highest number was 2.

Two!  Dang.  Most looked like this:

As you can see here, Facebook 152, Google zip.  Facebook clearly scores with the NBC sports crowd.

My kids LOVE Chipotle so when they played this awesome commercial during SuperBowl, they wanted to share it with their friends.

Now, if I wanted to share it on G+ I couldn’t because they only offer Facebook, Twitter, Digg and Reddit options.  After a little searching I found most of our favorite national restaurants don’t offer a G+ icon:

Olive Garden
McDonalds (still the best fries)
Arties
Clydes
P.F. Changs

Ironically, Wendy’s does display the G+ icon on their home page, but unlike other sites, it’s not a share option.  The icon takes you to their G+ home page.

If I bounce back across the USA to small town Williamsburg Virginia, I find the local Rita’s promoting Facebook but nothing else:

And back home in Washington DC, our local paper doesn’t offer the G+ icon on the front or interior pages:

You’d think one of the biggest political rags in our nation would have a Google + icon to share news stories especially since Google recently hired former Republican Rep. Susan Molinari as the head of its D.C. office.  In addition, they recently scored as the official social platform and live stream provider of the Republican National Convention.   Politicans and the news go hand in hand, you’d think they’d have the G+ all over that one.

But…. they don’t.   Thing is, the Washington Post isn’t the only high-profile online media outlet not hosting the G+ icon.  They are also noticeably absent from the front and interior pages of:

• CNN
• NPR
• US News & World Report
• People Magazine
• Chicago Tribune
• Miami Herald
• PBS

Heck, a couple of them showcased MySpace and Tumblr but no Google +.  What is up with that?

There might be 100 million registered Google+ users but if the business and news community are not embracing the platform, it makes it hard to get involved. I’m not going to run to my G+ page and push a link every time I find something cool, the manual effort it takes to participate is not worth my time at this point.

As an online marketer who routinely uses the media as a way to build links and who also understands the algorithmic and marketing importance of social signals, not being able to click that G+ icon to either share a page or follow a company  -  sucks.

Google might have the users but they definitely don’t have the outlets supporting their platform.

from: Link Spiel

For more link building information, ideas and the occasional rant, visit LinkSpiel .

I was reading about the changes Google made recently to the way they return health related searches and of course the linkey senses started tingling.  Here’s the announcement:

I want to zero in on a statement in the blog post:

Our data shows that a search for symptoms is often followed by a search for a related condition.

Interesting.  If you have a website in the health niche this is a great hint about the type of content you can create to attract links and searches by Google.

For example, instead of searching for a “flat” term such as:   “migraine headache symptoms”

search on a related ”question” phrase such as:   ”why do I get migraines?”

Notice the different type of results.  Google equates “tension headaches”  and “sensitivity to light” as being related to the information I was searching for.  They’re trying to give me next-step information while answering my initial query.

Also note the additional questions they’ve given me to consider (highlighted in yellow), they are more basic than my original question but it’s good to know they’ve drawn a correlation to my initial question.

They are also great questions I can write content for since I know the questions are being searched on and Google acknowledges.  Great way to attract links and eyeballs in the future.  And an even better way to mix-up and use related anchors.

Not in the health industry?  This will still work, take the concept of “search for a related condition” into consideration and build content around it and/or get links from related pages.  If Google is doing this for health it’s only a matter of time before they launch elsewhere, I see related applications in finance and education.

This tweak to Google’s algo is an easy link marketing pill to swallow!

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from: Link Spiel

For more link building information, ideas and the occasional rant, visit LinkSpiel .

Have you ever been in a situation where you have a conversation with someone, walked away and then 20 minutes later thought  ”damn, I should have said”… <insert witty, super-snarky, something Tina Fey would say> comment?

I do, something like that happened to me this weekend.  I was irked at myself (again) for not having a better come back and while I was stewing thinking about the situation, my link building light bulb went off.

Can you use “follow-ups” or “come-backs” to generate links?  Most definitely, here’s a couple ideas:

1.  Have you seen a press conference where the reporter asks a question and then asks for a “follow-up” after hearing the answer?  Most of the time answers generate more questions and this second question is known as a follow-up.

You can use follow-up questions to develop more content which will attract more links.  For example, if you interview someone, do a second, follow-up interview with questions generated from his/her answers.  The interviewee is invested at this point and will help promote the second piece to continue the attention he/she has gotten from the first.

2.  Having a second interview means you probably have a lot of content; once both pieces are live, break them down topically and use the interviews as reference material.  Create a new article around each topic, link back into the original interviews to support what you’re saying and promote for links.  Your new articles will gain links and attention and so will the old – double win!

3.  Two-part interviews can be seen as news worthy, be sure to tie in the subject matter with a current event (if necessary) and issue a press release announcing the addition of the interview to your website/blog.

4.  If you have a blog, go through your comments and look for hot topics and negative Nelly’s.   A “negative Nelly” (for me) is someone who disagrees with your position and says so by leaving controversial or inflammatory comments.

Publish rebuttal pieces and upload, make sure you contact the people inspiring the post and let them know its been published.  Hopefully it will prompt the Nelly to blog about your content or comment again which should draw more attention and traffic back to your blog.  (Note:If you’re thin skinned, this might not be a tactic for you).

5.  Having opposing views on a subject makes good news in some cases, ping the journalists/bloggers in your niche and show them your content.  Let them know it’s OK to republish your part if they want to, let them follow up with the other guy.

You may lose the snark fest short-term but keep in mind a good follow-up or come-back can generate publicity, traffic and links making you the ultimate winner!

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from: Link Spiel

For more link building information, ideas and the occasional rant, visit LinkSpiel .