Link Building in 2013Greg Walker

Perfect Search Media

www.Perfectsearchmedia.com

Previously in 2012 Google launches algorithm update Penguin(1)

Targeted sites who made use of black-hat SEO Keyword stuffing Cloaking Link Schemes Duplicate Content Anything Google determines as ‘unnatural link building tactics’

Full list of Google Webmaster Guidelines: http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=35769&topic=1724121&ctx=topic

Because of this, many sites who had previously participated in various link building techniques began to see their rankings decrease.

To help sites who felt that they had been wrongly punished, Google added the Disavow Tool

But what determines a bad link? Google doesn’t care for:

Paid links: Links you have paid to put up on a site. Recall what happened with JC Penney.

Link Farms Link Circles

Examples of unnatural links(7): A link on a site that is not relevant High number of links from just a handful of sites Links coming from shady sites Mass directory submissions outside of site’s vertical

Ways to find a site’s bad links Ways to find bad links:

Open Site Explorer http://www.opensiteexplorer.org Link Detox http://www.linkdetox.com/ Google Webmaster Tools Compare backlinks to competitor’s backlinks

So are there good links? Sure are! But the ones that are going to help the most, you’re

probably going to have to work for. Such as…(2)

Niche Directories: These are quality directories which are indexed. Paid directories may produce a higher value as this weeds out spam. Just make sure it is relevant to the company

Local Business Groups aka Local Links: BBB, Chamber of Commerce, radio stations, local news, etc. all offer great links and help promote your business.

Charities/Non profits: Donate to a charity and you could receive a link from their site. This could also help a business’ reputation as well.

Additional strategies Guest Blogging (3): The internet seems to agree that guest

blogging is only going to become more and more popular. With guest blogging, you want to get your content and backlink on to an external site. Find a relevant site Unique content 500 words minimum Try reaching out via social media to secure this

Additional strategies Social Media(4): While most social media site’s links are

nofollow, it doesn’t mean that it won’t turn into an SEO asset in the future Social shares are a great way to drive traffic

Press Releases(5): Quality press releases with newsworthy content which include backlinks could produce links on various domains if the press release is picked up elsewhere

Blog comments(6): Comment on a relevant blog if you have something useful to say

Link Earning, not Link Building(6) Earn your site links based on your content, not because you

had to go out and get those links You want to be linked from places where there is an actual

audience that will see your link and click to visit Contacting relevant businesses who may have a resources

section to add your site Infographics Videos

Time for an infographic.. Because of course it is: http://

www.stateofsearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/10-commandments-linkbuilding.jpg

Resources 1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Penguin 2: http://

searchenginewatch.com/article/2233495/Link-Building-the-Right-Way-in-2013

3: http://seobuzzworld.com/5-tips-and-techniques-for-link-building-2013 / 4: http://www.toprankblog.com/2012/07/social-media-links / 5: http://www.toprankblog.com/2012/08/link-building-marketing-pr / 6: http://

searchengineland.com/link-building-means-earning-hard-links-not-easy-links-123767

7: http://searchengineland.com/can-there-really-be-85-types-of-unnatural-links-120328