Avoiding Penalties From Outdated Link Building Practices By Kaila Strong

www.VerticalMeasures.com

AVOIDING PENALTIES FROM OUTDATED LINK BUILDING

PRACTICES Kaila Strong, Sr. Director of SEO Services

@cliquekaila

#SMX #22A

ABOUT YOUR SPEAKER

• VerticalMeasures.com

• Phoenix, AZ

• Search, Social & Content

Marketing Agency

• 5+ years at VM

• Clients Fortune 500 & SMBs

VerticalMeasures.com |

25 LINK ACQUISITION AND SITE AUDIT ISSUES

1.Preventative

2.Link Earning

3.Site Auditing

VerticalMeasures.com |


MUCH OF WHAT YOU’VE BEEN DOING

DOESN’T WORK ANYMORE AND IT

MAY GET YOU PENALIZED

@cliquekaila


• Guest blogging

• Comment links

• Forums

• Article marketing

• Press releases

• Social media profiles

• Automated links

• Link wheels

• Reciprocal links

• Exact match anchor text

• Black hat tactics

• Paid links

• Blogroll links

• Paid reviews

• Advertorials

• Content Placements

SCALABILITY > QUALITY

@cliquekaila

www.VerticalMeasures.com @cliquekaila

Link Building is DEAD


Or at least the way most have been doing it is…


ISSUE #1 You cannot build links the “old” way without

getting penalized today.


Lots and lots of links isn’t the

secret.

That bread has gone stale.

@cliquekaila


Time or money?

Content or leverageable assets?

Great product?

Engagement with customers?

Link earning isn’t right for you.

@cliquekaila

DON’T HAVE


ISSUE #2 Brand Mentions w/o Link

Preventative or Pre-Emptive Measures


Tactic

Positive Brand Mention w/o Link

Use of social media

DA 84 PR 7

Live in 2 1/2 Weeks

http://bit.ly/BrandMentions

#2 Brand Mention w/o Link http://www.chicagobusiness.com

PREVENTATIVE


ISSUE #3 EDU & GOV Link

Attraction Link Earning & Preventative


They couldn’t possibly want to link to your site…

or could they?

#3 EDU & GOV Link Attraction

PREVENTATIVE & LINK EARNING


GOV’s and EDU’s link out if it makes sense!!




@cliquekaila


Common Reasons EDU & GOV’s Outlink

• Events

• Sponsors

• Interviews

• Student Resources

• Career Resources

• Curriculum Resources

• Alumni Bios

• Historical References

• Boards/Certifications

• Local Government

• Chamber of Commerce

• Electronic Records

• Related Links

• Safety Resources

• Education Resources

• Nutrition Information

• Hero Spotlights

• Veterans

• Non-profits

• Eco-friendly

• Business Directory

• Utilities

• Free Resources

• Travel and Tourism

• Associations

• School/Job/Residence Transfer Information

• Community Involvement


@cliquekaila


Common Reasons EDU & GOV’s Outlink

• Professional Development

• Faculty Pages

• Dissertation Scholarly Article

• Topical Resource

• Job Partners

• Student Projects

• Local Attractions

• Accreditation

• Libraries

• Franchise Agreements

• Permits

• Emergency Numbers/Hospital Information

• Volunteer Opportunities

• Venues

• Donors

• Expert Resources

• Conferences

• After School Programs

• 501 (B) Corps

• Board of Trustee

• Camps

• Contests

• Giveaways


ISSUE #4 Resources & Lists

Link Earning & Preventative


Tactic

Resource Page

INURL:LINKS

DA 91 PR 5

March 18 Requested

April 24th LIVE

@cliquekaila

#4 Resources & Lists

• Centers for Ethics

• Articles about ethics

• Code of ethics

• Resources about ethics



What resource and list pages exist in your

industry?


INURL: +

“Industry Keyword” +

Site:


ISSUE #5 I can’t convince

webmasters to give me a link.

LINK EARNING


• Find the right contact – use advanced search commands!

• Cast away any and all DOUBT

• Avoid using the word “link”

• Test, test, test!

• Brainstorm with your team: Turn No’s into Yes’s Meeting

• Think outside the box to offer value

• Follow up

• Consider social media 1st: follow, subscribe, wait and then contact

#5 Outreach Best Practices to Convince Webmasters


ISSUE #6 Should I preemptively

prune and disavow links if I am not in penalty?

PREVENTATIVE & SITE AUDIT


• If it ain’t broke don’t fix it?

• There are experts who do it successfully!

• Penalty today doesn’t mean no penalty tomorrow

• Future proof your backlinks!

• Consider testing

There were two cases we uncovered where preemptive disavow submission was done and within a week a penalty

notice was received by Google.

@cliquekaila

PREEMPTIVE


ISSUE #7 Quality Control issues with BLA, Pruning and

Disavow Process

SITE AUDIT


ISSUE #8 Sometimes Google says links are bad… and they

take back their word

SITE AUDIT



• Old link building is dead

• Use prevention tips!

• You can still earn links today

• Work smarter with outreach

• Clean up bad backlinks regardless

• Set up QC procedures EVERYWHERE

• Sometimes Google is wrong – sorry Matt!

SUMMARY

@cliquekaila


CONTACT US TODAY! 888.476.1881 VERTICALMEASURES.COM [email protected] Kaila Strong, Sr. Director of SEO Services @cliquekaila

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Avoiding Penalties From Outdated Link Building Practices By Kaila Strong