SEO is mainly about links – the more you get from valuable pages, the better you rank. Period.
Sure, the on-page stuff matters, but links can outweigh any of it.
That’s why Acrobat Reader ranks #1 for “click here” – because of the links pointing to that page. You won’t find the words “click here” anywhere in the page copy or code.
I’ve been involved in my fair share of failed link building campaigns. I wish I could say that over the years I’ve developed the perfect system to build links that help you rank.
The truth is that there isn’t a “right way” to do it.
When every project is unique it’s difficult to put together a system that works reliably. You build principles, tricks and resources – but automation is a long way off. And, in fact, as soon as someone develops an automated way to build value of any kind the value evaporates.
But if there’s one principal that all of the best examples of link building hammers home, it’s this: the best link building campaigns are scalable.
So how to you make your link building strategy scalable?
The stairs are for suckers
Many traditional link building campaigns involve a series of repeatable steps:
- Research link partners
- Compile a list of target partners
- Contact them
- Check up on links
- Repeat
- Wonder what happened to your life
I’m not saying there is zero value in this approach.
Some of our clients have existing relationships with powerful organizations - with powerful websites. In these cases it makes sense to put a little time and resources into securing a link (one way or reciprocal) between the web properties. It depends on the link, but there can be real value here.
However, you’ll almost always find yourself in a position where you’ve exhausted the low-hanging fruit. You hit the point of diminishing returns, and asking for links one at a time no longer makes sense.
So what do you do?
Develop a resource worth sharing
KAYAK developed KAYAK trends to offer data trending information on the travel industry. And, no, they’re not charging users for the data (even though it’s safe to say they’ve invested quite a bit in resources to get this up and running).
Thing is, people will link to this resource. It’s interesting and useful – nobody else has something quite like it. And because it exists in a subfolder of KAYAK.com the entire website will benefit from those links.
Fair enough, but we aren’t KAYAK, right? Most of us are operating with limited budgets.
The best resources aren’t always the most expensive to create. Be crafty. Information is out there. Organize it. Present it in new ways, with new angles. Find a need in your market and fill it.
Entertain and infect
Matt Inman is a master of creating viral content. He’s proven this time and again.
His latest work often has no utility beyond being hilarious. “5 Very Good Reasons to Punch a Dolphin in the Mouth” is one of my favorites. This stuff just works – it’s funny, well-illustrated and altogether sharable.
If you hit on the right note and create something that makes people spit out their coffee, they’re going to share it. They can’t help themselves. And if that person is a blogger or otherwise publishes online content, that usually means you’ll get a link.
It’s tough to predict viral content. Sometimes you miss. It’s part of the game. But when you hit, you can hit big.
Distribute goodies
A popular example of this strategy is building a blog theme (a WordPress theme for example) with a link to your website in the footer.
This strategy is somewhat questionable – search engines may consider it manipulative if you’re not careful (in other words, don’t link from a WordPress theme to your Cialis website).
But it works.
Other ideas include developing widgets that bloggers/webmasters can include on their sites – with a link back to you of course. Zillow offers widgets including mortgage calculators and other tools. Every one of them links back to the main Zillow website.
There are other strategies that work – the point is to start thinking about how you can build links without asking for them one at a time.
Nobody wants to link to you to help you rank better. That’s the wrong reason – there’s no motivation there. But if they’re sharing great content, pointing to a resource, spreading a joke or enhancing their own website the story changes.
The link should be an incidental part of that story, not the focus.
Link building is one of those necessary evils, IMO. Something you hate doing, but as you mentioned above, without it you won’t get very far.
With that said, I do think that some industries are much “easier” to think of creative ways to get links for then others, but certainly no industry is impossible to get links for.
Nice post.
I think there are different colors of link building. The link “begging” approach – sending out link exchange requests, etc – is the lame sauce. But sometimes there’s a killer opportunity in that realm.
The more fun AND effective method is to build something remarkable and tell people about it.
Some links you simply would never get by begging/buying – you only get them on merit.
I also agree that certain industries are easier to think creatively about in terms of viral content – they’re also tougher b/c there isn’t a heavy population of “Linkerati” in the niche. But not impossible by any stretch. This post from Rand @ SEOmoz (who also coined the term “Linkerati”) is a good place to start.
Ahhh! You’ve got my creative juices flowing! Thx for a good article. I did come up with an idea for a very useful tool way back in 2000 or so and hired a programmer to build it for me since I could not find one already done. I should try to dig that out. I bet a lot of marketing people would link to it. Unless that programmer decided to offer it up to the masses himself. I’m off to find out! Bzzzzeeee…
Tools are a great way to build links without begging for them. One useful and unique tool can make a huge difference – you just need to get the word out about it. Good luck! Thanks for the comment.
BTW – if you have a lot of links from smaller, less trafficed sites, does it hurt you, or does it just not help you as much?
It most definitely wouldn’t hurt you – unless those smaller sites are engaged in SPAMMY link building tactics themselves.
If your links come from websites that search engine webspam teams have marked as “bad neighborhoods” they might penalize you too. It’s rare though. Normally they’ll just strip the SPAMMY website of its link power.
In short, they shouldn’t hurt – and they should actually be helping to some extent.
Thank you – I really appreciate the help.