Exchange online link for offline publication? A good linkbuilding strategy?
-
Lets say I own a company that sells bakery-supplies. I would want links from websites with "bakery" as their main topic. So it seems obvious to try and gain links from local backeries.
Next step is: How do I convince them to link me? What is their benefit?
I can't link them back because it would weaken the linkpower. Therefor I was thinking about publicating an offline "Backery Guide" which includes all backeries in the area. Backeries which link us, would get more visibiliy and company information. That would be their benefit and we would get a 1-way link.
Is this an idea which could work? Any remarks are welcome!
-
Hi Cyrus,
Thank you for the response!
I have taken the time to deeply review your comment. You did make some good points.
1. With reciprocal links, I'm not worried about a penalty but it would weaken the linkjuice if it went both ways.
2. I do believe bakeries will see the benefit in a advert in the guide, if only they need to place a link on their website, which is free. I would be amazed if this would been seen as buying links, let alone that Google could track offline publications. But but then again, Google never stops to amaze us :).
3. So many SEO's stress the fact that content should be something which your clients want to link too. I totally agree when your clients are consumers but not always if they are professionals. This market is way smaller and is less social vibrant. In this case I must skip my target audience and concentrate on their clients. Your tips are great. I will try to implement them!
-
Seems like you're starting to think this out in creative ways, so let me add a couple of thoughts:
1. I wouldn't be too worried about linking out to these local bakeries. Reciprocal links are a natural part of the web. When you get in trouble is when you have dedicated "links" pages that exist solely to harvest link juice, or a significant % of your backlink profile comes from reciprocal links.
That said, you're still probably wise not to make this the backbone of your link building strategy.
2. The offline guide seems reasonable to me, but I have a cognitive disconnect between the guide and the motivations for the bakeries to link to you. If you actually require folks to link to you to be in the guide, then this could be considered "buying" links and could lead to a penalty. (although in reality, this is rare)
3. Better yet, I'd really rather see you create online assets that live on your website, that provide motivation for folks to link to you. These might include:
- Reviews
- Top "blank" lists / Ego Bait
- Business profiles
- Awards
- Content Marketing (like "5 Secrets Your SuperMarket Bakery Doesn't Want You To Know" - bad example, but you get the idea.
- A scholarship for local baking students
- A certification program
- A blog
- Charity Fundraising
- Interviews
- Contests / Giveaways
- Discounts
The trick, in my mind, is to give away freely more than you ever expect to get back in return. Never demand a link, but create resources that are actually useful to both the bakeries and their customers, so that they have a natural inclination to link to you.
More link building ideas from Jon Cooper: http://pointblankseo.com/link-building-strategies
-
I would love to digitalize the guide and have it run online. I have thought about before. But then you would get 3-way linking. This isnt very beneficial either.
Good points though... Will have to think on that.
-
You are definitely approaching it right. Like you said, there has to be something in it for them. It seems like a good idea to me, but also seems like some serious work. Getting 'em designed, printed could get pricey...and since it's not digital, how would you modify the bakery listings as time goes on to reflect which bakeries link and which ones don't? Seems like you'd almost need a monthly publication...it's a tough one. If you can somehow digitize this idea I think it'll be a lot easier for you.
-
Well the only way to know is to try it first.
If you can sell the idea to them, then it can work.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
GWT Lists URLs with links to my site, but those URLs don't have links to my site
There are a number of URLs that show up for my website in Webmaster Tools as having links to my site when in fact they don't. I know this to be a fact because I actually wrote some of the sites that Google is saying are linking to my site and I know there isn't any links on the specific pages to that site. For example, the site in question is: https://www.liftproducts.com/ As an example, Google is saying that about 100 URLs from https://www.lift-tables.net/ are linking to it when, I'm fairly confident that there is only 1 link to it found here: https://www.lift-tables.net/info.php?countrytabs=3 Yet Google says links exist on this (and many more) page: https://www.lift-tables.net/liftproducts/max-lift/lpt4w-030-48.php I thought at first it might have been due to linking to a image file directly instead of locally hosting it, but after checking the source, that's not the case. I am also seeing this type of non-linking being reported on sites I have no clue what they are. For example, some Spanish site about tandem bicycles is being listed as linking to liftproducts.com: http://206-225-85-34.dedicated.abac.net/tandem/inc Yet I can find no evidence of an actual link existing. Am I missing something here? Any insight of why this is happening and how I can clean up my link signature would be appreciated.
Link Building | | Nivik231 -
Which Links to Disavow!
We just took over SEO for a new client who is being penalized for a bad link profile. They've asked Google to reconsider multiple times, and Google still claims that the links are bad. Because of this, and because I don't have direct access (logins, etc.) to what the former SEO did, I am considering using the disavow links tool. The most obvious links to disavow are a group of almost 1000 links that come from the same forum. However, when viewing the links on this forum they actually seem natural. People are reviewing the product (ipod cases), both negatively and positively. While this could have been an SEO tactic for link building, I don't want to disavow these links if they're not the problem, even though this domain is the source of almost all the low-quality links. Another site that has more than 200 links is Askives. Do any of you have experience with links from Askives, or removing these links? Thanks again!
Link Building | | newwhy0 -
Link Detox and Link Removal
I have a question about which links to remove after running a link detox from Link Research Tools. First a little back story. I had had an SEO company link building for one of the websites I own. But I have recently stopped working with them. In the last month my rankings have near dropped off the charts. I have just recently gotten access to Google webmaster tools and noticed an unnatural link warning from back in March. So yesterday I ran link detox and it reported 19 toxic links, 120 suspicious links, and 24 healthy links. It's rather obvious that I should remove all of the toxic links. They all from sites that have been deindexed by google. But my question is a about the suspicious links. What should my criteria be for removing them? Am I better off removing them all and leaving my site with only 24 healthy links or should I personally comb through them and remove only the worst of the worst so that I leave my site with a few more links? I'd really like to get the site ready to resubmit to google as soon as I can. Thoughts? yyCOf.png
Link Building | | CobraJones950 -
Google Link Disavow and sites with extremely heavy but poor link metrics
Need help/opinions from the SEO's out there. I am working with a site that in the past hired an SEO company out of India. Over the course of their time together, this company submitted the clients url to tens of thousands of link exchanges and directories. Around the time of Penguin, the owners told me their inquiries dried up. Literally that same week they had a new website launched (designed by a local competitor) that really butchered the site. They were convinced the reduction in traffic/inquiries was due to the new site but I am convinced otherwise (suspect Penguin). Not only does the site need to be re-structured but their link portfolio needs to be diversified. Now on the plus side, the company caters and sponsors a number of events that earns them organic, relevant links. These are overshadowed by the tons of poor, irrelevant ones though. I read a few posts recently on the Google Link Disavow tool and to proceed slowly due to the unknown nature surrounding it. I have a good idea of what links are problematic and which ones are well served. However, the number of problematic links in my estimation is quite high (thousands). I am very hesitant to dive into Google Disavow and submit such a large number of requests. What are your thoughts? How would you proceed?
Link Building | | mattylac1 -
Are the following considered bad links for Link Building.
I've been doing a lot of research lately on link building & I've read a lot about having a diverse amount of links. Social links, Blog links, comment links, footer links, No follow links, Directory links as well as links with Anchor text URL match, brand match, partial brand match, non-descriptive, and with keywords. But there is a lot of talk of removing those links that look like a site that's built just for link building purposes.... but Directories are basically built for link building are they not? I'm wondering if anyone can tell me if they feel links from the following directories would be bad links. (Non-Paid) http://www.yoganza.com http://www.wkool.com http://www.wee-directory.com http://www.voicelet.com www.hotfrog.ca http://www.webdirectorieslist.com http://multiplelistingboard.com http://mozdirectory.net http://freedirectorypr.info Industry specific below: http://bestautolinks .com http://automotivedome.com http://automobilebuzz.com http://craigsautolinks.com Thanks so much for the help!
Link Building | | DCochrane0 -
If I write a PR release on a site such as PRweb with anchor-text links that is picked up and published by other news sites, do the engines consider this duplicate content or additional, beneficial links?
I recently wrote a news release on PRweb that was picked up identically by 8 other news websites, with the same anchor-text links as the original. Is the reproduction of duplicate content and links across different websites like this to the benefit or detriment of SEO and ranking power? Some of the links are: http://www.mynewsdesk.com/uk/view/pressrelease/eventa-new-eventa-christmas-parties-website-is-launched-648923?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Alert&utm_content=pressrelease http://www.prweb.com/releases/christmasparties/neweventasite/prweb8562064.htm Many thanks!!
Link Building | | RobertHill0 -
Linkbuilding
Where i can get strong links, to my website easily, and with quality ? blogs with dofollow it helpfull ? and how i can find this blogs ?
Link Building | | nafera20