Garrett
12-09-2003, 03:52 PM
I'm back with a live report on the Advanced Link Building session of the Search Engine Strategies Conference.
There are a few key things I want to discuss..
Inbound links. Greg Boser of WebGuerilla, LLC (http://www.webguerrilla.com/) says you need to develop an organic inbound link structure to get the number of sites linking to you higher than the number of sites you are linking to. The reason for this? Search engines can tell if you are trading links. If you're going to optimize your site, you need to mimick what happens naturally on the web in communities. Write press releases, submit them everywhere you can, post online, and ask for links from reporters if you're interviewed. You get the idea.
Web Tool Distribution. A web tool is something on your site powered by someone else, such as a search feature or any "powered by" links. Web tools are important, and you should also have tools that you give away for free to other sites via code that can be easily copied and pasted. A great example is the Marketleap's link popularity checker. This handy little tool can be placed on a site so visitors can check the link popularity of a URL, but it also sends a link back to Marketleap.
Organic - the Word of the Day. Link text should be dynamic and easily changed so you don't have exact same text in every link. This applies both to web tool distribution and to links in general. "Organic" is the word of the day, and the more randomize the link text is, the more organic the links will seem.
Does Google Like Me? ""Don't bow down to Google" are Greg's words of advice. "Don't get caught up in that fear factor of 'Does Google like me?'" Just because your site slips on Google doesn't mean you have to redo everthing, if you are still ranking well in other search engines. Check your ranking elsewhere first, he says. "Don't make any changes to your site based on what you've seen since November fifteenth," because he believes Google will be shifting its algorithm back to way it was before. Another interesting note: Greg says his clients who use aggressive search engine optimization are doing really well. Very curious, because some people would classify aggressive SEO as being similar to spamming...
Buying Links Can't Hurt - Or Can It? Both Greg and Debra Mastaler, owner of http://www.Alliance-Link.com, agreed that selling and buying links is okay in their eyes. However, Paul Gardi, SVP of Search at AskJeeves (http://www.ask.com/), warns that buying links will hurt your ranking in Teoma. "We know what you're doing. We can probably see it," he says.
So what does work on Teoma? Paul says the big thing they look at is the way the web is organized. When sites link to each other, they form web communities linking to each other in online "neighborhoods." His advice: become a respected member of a web community.
Forum spamming. Greg tells us "forum spamming is a fine art." By that he means use tact when promoting your site in a forum. Do it in the right place. Use a discussion marketing whisper campaign... pretend you're not with the website you are promoting. Just don't do it on WebProWorld! ;)
Everyone Wants to be Popular. According to Greg, corporate sites are using a new strategy to gain link popularity - branded verticals and directories. How's it work? Corporations develop content-rich vertical portals. Then, they get these portals established on search engines, in online communities, etc.. It takes time and patience, but after the portals are established, the corporations add the "powered by" links. Start project with no direct connection to target site.
Is Google still worth it? Throughout the presentation, Greg was pulling people towards different search engines, and away from others (such as Google). I was fortunate enough to speak with a WebProNews reader named Paul Avery. Paul's main site was not hit by change in Google. He believes Google changes aren't widespread enough to effect the Google search capabilities. What do you think? Are the changes significant enough to effect whether you stop using Google? Or is it time to start something new, a new search engine? I'd love to hear your thoughts!
And finally, I'll leave you now with a few quotes from Greg, which are sure to spark some controversy:
"ODP is a broken down system."
"My mother called me and asked why Google sucks right now."
What do you think about these statements?
There are a few key things I want to discuss..
Inbound links. Greg Boser of WebGuerilla, LLC (http://www.webguerrilla.com/) says you need to develop an organic inbound link structure to get the number of sites linking to you higher than the number of sites you are linking to. The reason for this? Search engines can tell if you are trading links. If you're going to optimize your site, you need to mimick what happens naturally on the web in communities. Write press releases, submit them everywhere you can, post online, and ask for links from reporters if you're interviewed. You get the idea.
Web Tool Distribution. A web tool is something on your site powered by someone else, such as a search feature or any "powered by" links. Web tools are important, and you should also have tools that you give away for free to other sites via code that can be easily copied and pasted. A great example is the Marketleap's link popularity checker. This handy little tool can be placed on a site so visitors can check the link popularity of a URL, but it also sends a link back to Marketleap.
Organic - the Word of the Day. Link text should be dynamic and easily changed so you don't have exact same text in every link. This applies both to web tool distribution and to links in general. "Organic" is the word of the day, and the more randomize the link text is, the more organic the links will seem.
Does Google Like Me? ""Don't bow down to Google" are Greg's words of advice. "Don't get caught up in that fear factor of 'Does Google like me?'" Just because your site slips on Google doesn't mean you have to redo everthing, if you are still ranking well in other search engines. Check your ranking elsewhere first, he says. "Don't make any changes to your site based on what you've seen since November fifteenth," because he believes Google will be shifting its algorithm back to way it was before. Another interesting note: Greg says his clients who use aggressive search engine optimization are doing really well. Very curious, because some people would classify aggressive SEO as being similar to spamming...
Buying Links Can't Hurt - Or Can It? Both Greg and Debra Mastaler, owner of http://www.Alliance-Link.com, agreed that selling and buying links is okay in their eyes. However, Paul Gardi, SVP of Search at AskJeeves (http://www.ask.com/), warns that buying links will hurt your ranking in Teoma. "We know what you're doing. We can probably see it," he says.
So what does work on Teoma? Paul says the big thing they look at is the way the web is organized. When sites link to each other, they form web communities linking to each other in online "neighborhoods." His advice: become a respected member of a web community.
Forum spamming. Greg tells us "forum spamming is a fine art." By that he means use tact when promoting your site in a forum. Do it in the right place. Use a discussion marketing whisper campaign... pretend you're not with the website you are promoting. Just don't do it on WebProWorld! ;)
Everyone Wants to be Popular. According to Greg, corporate sites are using a new strategy to gain link popularity - branded verticals and directories. How's it work? Corporations develop content-rich vertical portals. Then, they get these portals established on search engines, in online communities, etc.. It takes time and patience, but after the portals are established, the corporations add the "powered by" links. Start project with no direct connection to target site.
Is Google still worth it? Throughout the presentation, Greg was pulling people towards different search engines, and away from others (such as Google). I was fortunate enough to speak with a WebProNews reader named Paul Avery. Paul's main site was not hit by change in Google. He believes Google changes aren't widespread enough to effect the Google search capabilities. What do you think? Are the changes significant enough to effect whether you stop using Google? Or is it time to start something new, a new search engine? I'd love to hear your thoughts!
And finally, I'll leave you now with a few quotes from Greg, which are sure to spark some controversy:
"ODP is a broken down system."
"My mother called me and asked why Google sucks right now."
What do you think about these statements?