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SEO - Link building advice

  • Thread starter Thread starter realmaverick
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The problem is that many commercial websites will not attract those great links - certainly not unless a well known high street name.

And a catch-22 for developing merchants is that no matter how great the content, if you're not visible on Google, those links will not come.

Sure, PPC is one key method for delivering traffic - but SEO in most instances should offer a much lower Cost Per Acquisition. A general client request when they come to me is to increase natural rankings, so that they can reduce PPC spend.

As for Google focusing on content - pre-2004 it could really be that simple. And for those with really trusted domains they can exploit their authority to achieve this. For most other sites, they need to be able to leverage other factors as well, ie, links.
 
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sirearl said:
OK i go along with that as an explaination ,but a 100 visitors a day would not seem to agree on it being such a low sought after term.
Oh how I have to struggle with you lot.
stick " golf part" in google and we are N0 1 with a PR 3 .I do hope the second highest selling car on the planet is not considered an obscure term,or I will throw me Dummy out the pram !!!!
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sirearl,

I am quite warming to you - but here you go with the self promotion again :D

I do my own SEO and rank well for 200 different carefully researched long tail phrases - not just the one - but don't go on about it ;)
 
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I said:
Sure, PPC is one key method for delivering traffic - but SEO in most instances should offer a much lower Cost Per Acquisition. A general client request when they come to me is to increase natural rankings, so that they can reduce PPC spend.
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Makes sense. Everyone wants pole position, there are myriad companies offering services to secure it but here's the rub, there's only one pole position. Just as company A secures it company B will increase their efforts to steal it off them. To maintain your position you need to increase your SEO spend and your cost per acquisition increases. Given the time it takes to achieve a good organic rank and the effort needed to maintain it it looks like drinks all round on the good ship SEO Expert :)

d
 
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In all seriousness, I've never had to increase a clients' link development spend to maintain rankings.

Sure, there's always competition - but my own policy is to apply multiple strategies, so that if it appears that Google may be devaluing one or more strategies, it's simply a case of reallocating resources into newer strategies.

Google has been applying changes so regularly that a big part of the job is exploring the different windows of opportunity at any one time and working with those, while seeking new ones.

I know spend can be a critical issue for the SME's I work with, so I'd rather make the extra effort to ensure their long-term success, because my own depends on it.

I figure you'd do something similar with PPC - a client wouldn't raise their product prices just because the CPA has gone up on PPC, but instead re-evaluate the PPC campaign to increase ROI.

2c.
 
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Ray self promotion never ,I am just slowly proving that I am probably the best SEO in the UK to try to overcomre my enormous inferiority complex !!
I have to agree with Brian on the subject of links and PR.
Google quite recently submitted a patent that took into acount the history and age of a site in its SE function.
I did start to read the 25 page patent application but fell asleep half way through,having decided it was either not in english or much to technical for me.
I have to agree that some of my SEO brilliance is due to the fact that I have quite a few sites that date from 1997 when prehistoric animals still roamed cyberspace,in addition being an OAP myself The boys at Mountain view take pity on me :) as does my long suffering wife
 
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To quote Google....
Code: 
In general, webmasters can improve the rank of their sites by increasing the number of high-quality sites that link to their pages.

The hard bit is the reference to 'high-quality'. How do you secure a real, free link from a high quality site without having something high quality to link to. If you pay for these links the Google boffins are gonna suss you as buying links goes completely against what they are trying to achieve, a meritocratic index. I'm just an idealist I suppose.

d
 
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Pet Nanny said:
With this in mind, and looking at the threads here. I have no chance!
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I took a look and you need someone to optimise your site for you, all is not lost (yet)

sirearl said:
I am just slowly proving that I am probably the best SEO in the UK to try to overcomre my enormous inferiority complex !!
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My mum is better at SEO than you ;)
Seeing as the competition is so tiny, I might register a sea doo website, put it at no1 on Google and place a little adsense on it, 100 visitors, 40% ctr, should be worth £100 month :D

James.
 
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well just one losing half a percent to you would be a great cause for to concern to us.Well if your mum is that good,are you sure she is your mum.? We can put your mind at rest with one of our sites

http://www.dna-bioscience.co.uk/

which is No 2 on google for "dna testing" another obcure keyword phrase ;)
 
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RedEvo said:
If you pay for these links the Google boffins are gonna suss you as buying links goes completely against what they are trying to achieve, a meritocratic index.
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Google tries, which is why link development always has to stay one foot ahead of the game. :)
 
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I'm not being contentious - I agree with your approach - but if you take the other approach of creating great content you don't need 'strategies' in an ever changing sands scenario.

I know this is over simplifying things but for SME's with limited budgets it's worth considering as often they are the subject matter experts and if they have the time they can create content which will lead to lasting search results.

d
 
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Red Evo shame on you promoting the profliferation of these moronomobiles
http://www.finnie4x4.com/mos/

Have you not heard wee's all going green,and its no good claiming they are needed for the dificult Scotish terrain ,as an 1933 austin 7 climbed Ben Nevis some while back.They are the bane of my driving experience,and to add to that if involved in a collision with one you are 127 x more likly to be killed than in a normal vehicle.Oh what the scots will do to fill ther sporans ;)
 
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RedEvo said:
I'm not being contentious - I agree with your approach - but if you take the other approach of creating great content you don't need 'strategies' in an ever changing sands scenario.

I know this is over simplifying things but for SME's with limited budgets it's worth considering as often they are the subject matter experts and if they have the time they can create content which will lead to lasting search results.

d
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Certainly a lot of my own clients are pretty clued up on SEO issues and take making their sites as search friendly as possible - and even some link development - as far as they have the time for.

But, seriously, for ecommerce sites and similar commercial websites the opportunities for "great content" are seriously limited.

That's why link development is required - to take the place of a natural link structures.

My own clients rank excellently for a whole range of very competitive keywords, which drives in sales for them. If they relied on a content creation strategy alone, they would never be so profitable in that regard, and almost certainly have to rely on PPC with it's higher CPA for sales.

2c.
 
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philbaynes said:
the best, strongest and normally the most simple to obtain is a link from ebay to your site. Either open an ebay shop or speak to someone that does. This link really makes a visible difference to your positioning
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Hi, did I miss something. I thought Ebay did not allow direct links back to your websites? How do you get a link back from your shop if thats the case?

Thanks

Mike
 
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There are lots of options that you can choose when it comes to linking. You can do one-way linking, reciprocal linking, three-way linking, or paid directory submission strategies. You can also refer to link building services for adept approaches to your linking problems.
 
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I would seriously consider outsourcing for link building if you are new to it all.. If you don't know the nofollow microformat from your elbow, know about javascript links, ajax etc, you could be blowing in the winds of futility...
 
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Don't forget it's not all about who you get a link from it's who you link to - this is thought to be the measure of the trust of a site and seems fairly reasonable to me. Link to authority sites and stay clear of suspect sites.

Don't get a link from "links" pages on sites as these are about 1% as useful as your signature link on the 7th page of this thread, unless of course the Page is a PR 9 with a lot of links itself ;)

If a site wants to link to you from a page with 100 links on it you can basically forget it as the strength of the link is shared by, well, 100 others!

So if you have a site about Dogs you might want to link to Crufts or the Kennel Club or Wiki's a good one.

You need to get into good neighbourhoods. Try and get links from the neighbourhoods at the top of Google for your keyterms after all Google likes these sites enough to rank them. Find that circle of sites where all the big boys in your industry link to and are linked from and get involved.

See who links to your competitors and try and get a link as well (or pay money to have their link replaced with yours ;)

Use Yahoo and type "link:yourcompetitor.com" and see who links to them. Yahoo is kind enough to rank pages virtually by their quality in site explorer - making it one of my most used seo tools.

Note: Don't waste your time with seo tools! join social network tools like delicious, Technorati and Stumble. There's three links right there.

PS - That comment about Ebay early on in the thread is ******** - there is no single, strongest link and statements like that just confuses people and distracts.

PPS - A link is a link. If someone, anyone wants to link to you accept, just don't always reciprocate with a link back to them (negates the value almost) and could see your site loose trust.

Finally I think there are some secrets in seo today but usually it comes down to productivity savings - ie doing things before, smarter and faster than someone else. This is where an ethical seo can make his honest money today.

Obviously I assume you have a blog with original content on it! And remember it's quality of links not quantity :)
 
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