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Link Building Strategies That Increase Monthly Revenue by
$240,740Ross Hudgens, Founder, Siege Media
@RossHudgens | http://siegemedia.com
What is Link Building?Does it Still Work?
Some would argue no.
https://moz.com/blog/the-seo-myth-of-going-viral
Some would argue yes.
https://moz.com/blog/what-link-building-success-really-looks-like
@rosshudgens |
My answer?Yes, but link
building can’t fix a broken business.
@rosshudgens |
And link building can’t fix a broken strategy.
The reason their strategy didn’t work is that they were trying to fix a broken business with link
building.
@rosshudgens |
@rosshudgens |
@rosshudgens |
Throughout that, nobody figured out that the semantic connection on this
site is broken.
If I’m looking for a hotel near a casino to go to a casino, I’m not clicking
“ConcertHotels.com”. I’m not going to a concert.
Yet, they have 7,000+ casino pages.
https://www.google.com/search?pws=0&q=site%3Aconcerthotels.com+casino
@rosshudgens |
No wonder link building
doesn’t work.
They should rebrand to EventHotels.com or
VenueHotels.com and/or cut down their venues dramatically.
@rosshudgens |
What about SimplyBusiness.co.uk?
@rosshudgens |
They had several viral hits, but growth wasn’t amazing.
http://www.simplybusiness.co.uk/microsites/googleplus-for-small-businesses/
http://www.simplybusiness.co.uk/microsites/twitter-for-small-businesses/
@rosshudgens |
http://www.simplybusiness.co.uk/microsites/google-analytics-guide/
@rosshudgens |
But where were the internal links? Only in the footer:
http://www.simplybusiness.co.uk/microsites/google-analytics-guide/
What about that reasonable surfer model?
https://moz.com/blog/10-illustrations-on-search-engines-valuation-of-links
Would links pointing in have more impact on pages with 100+ links to valuable internal pages, or 3
and 30 external?
Only ~13% of the links to this resulted in
homepage links.
@rosshudgens |
30-40% homepage links is achievable.
http://www.siegemedia.com/seo/how-to-build-landing-page-links-with-blog-content
Lack of branding isn’t helping that effort.
WHERE’S THE LOGO?
@rosshudgens |
All that said, SimpyBusiness.co.uk still grew. But maybe they could have grown
faster.
What is Good Content-Based Link Building in
2017?
In 2016, seven clients made significant
linkable content
investments with Siege
Media.
@rosshudgens |
These clients saw, on average, a 117,429 visit increase in monthly
search traffic YOY.
@rosshudgens |
They also saw, on average, a $240,740 increase in monthly traffic
value YOY.
Good, content-basedlink building works.
@rosshudgens |
Good content-based link building...
..utilizes topically relevant content that is developed in the site
architecture.
..has close proximity to valuable internal links above
the fold.
@rosshudgens |
..supports the brand topically and indirectly helps bottom-funnel
landing pages.
.. is structured in a way that supports
secondary KPIs such as social
following, email signups, and high funnel rankings.
@rosshudgens |
..and is aligned with a follow-up campaign that generates landing
page links.
@rosshudgens |
Great content based link building should help bottom and top funnel content rank.
@rosshudgens |
Strategies for Taking Content-Based Link Building
to the Next Level
@rosshudgens |
Prioritize top and middle funnel topics with high average LRDs across the top
~5 results.
For those with great photography, leverage Flickr Creative Commons to
host.
@rosshudgens |
High Leverage, Low Cost Content-Based Link Building Initiatives
@rosshudgens |
Single-Question Survey
Time to Create: 16 hours Upside Score: 3 Volatility Score: 7 Non-Labor Cost: ~$200
@rosshudgens |
@rosshudgens |
Single-Question Survey
Upside: Unexpected stories that come out of data. Risks: Expected stories that come out of the data.
@rosshudgens |
Two-Question Opt-In Survey
Time to Create: 16 hours Upside Score: 6 Volatility Score: 6 Non-Labor Cost: ~$1500
@rosshudgens |
@rosshudgens |
Two-Question Opt-In Survey
Upside: Responses are more likely to be interesting.Risks: Data may still not be interesting, collection gets expensive.
@rosshudgens |
Four-Five Question Single-Answer Survey/”Report”
Time to Create: 30 hours Upside Score: 7 Volatility Score: 5 Non-Labor Cost: $1000
@rosshudgens |
@rosshudgens |
Four-Five Question Single-Answer Survey/”Report”
Upside: More authoritative, and more likely to result in interesting data. Risks: More $$. Question picking is more difficult due to need for one-step questions.
@rosshudgens |
City-Based Data Studies
Time to create: 16 hours Upside Score: 7 Volatility Score: 4 Non-Labor Cost: $100-$250
@rosshudgens |
@rosshudgens |
City-Based Data Studies
Upside: Right brand alignment means high social spread.Risks: Saturated SEO strategy many reporters see through.
Search-Driven Top & Middle Funnel Content
Time to create: 30-50 hours Upside Score: 8 Volatility Score: 5
@rosshudgens |
Search-Driven Top & Middle Funnel Content
Upside: Additional business value besides links.Risks: Many of these assets aren’t inherently linkable.
a
Non-Search-Driven Top & Middle Funnel Driven Assets
Time to create: 20-40 hours Upside Score: 5 Volatility Score: 2
@rosshudgens |
a
Non-Search-Driven Top & Middle Funnel Driven Assets
Upside: Fulfills secondary KPIs: social shares, email signups, brand awareness.
Risks: Lower ceiling due to less time invested, no search connection.
a
“Linkbait” Data Studies/Stories
Time to create:30-100+ hours Upside Score: 10 Volatility Score: 10
a
“Linkbait” Data Studies/Stories
Upside: Only truly consistent homerun opportunity on this list.
Risks: Harder to align with brand guidelines. Expensive, highest risk. Possible Google would devalue link spikes.
a
Search-Driven Top & Middle Funnel Content w/ Additional Shareable
Image
Time to create: 40-60 hours Upside Score: 9 Volatility Score: 3
@rosshudgens |
a
Search-Driven Top & Middle Funnel Content w/ Additional Tall, Shareable
Image
Time to create: 40-60 hours Upside Score: 9 Volatility Score: 3
a
Search-Driven Top & Middle Funnel Content w/ Additional Tall, Shareable
ImageUpside: Built-in linkability in addition to search upside.
Risks: Low, but if only value driver from content is links, may not be best opportunity for you.
a
Additional Lever: Original Photography
Add 2 to Upside
Reduce Volatility by 1
Higher Barrier to Entry
a
Additional Lever: Original Photography
Differentiating Qualitative Factor
Submit to Flickr Creative Commons for Additional Links
What OtherNon-Traditional Link Building Strategies
Work?
a
@rosshudgens |
We Define “Working” as Scalable, Sustainable and Capable of
Generating Sustainable, High Quality Links
a
Link Moves for Brands from Homepage to Category Pages
External Link to https://www.hotels.com/
Homepage Talking About Las Vegas
Email to Request Change to https://www.hotels.com/las-vegas
Brand Monitoring/Link Reclamation for Massive
Brands
https://moz.com/researchtools/fwe/
aDo Links Work?
@rosshudgens |
Yes.
aAre They Going Away?
@rosshudgens |
No.
Thank You! Questions?Slides: http://bit.ly/lb-engage
Ross Hudgens, Founder, Siege Media@RossHudgens | http://siegemedia.com
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