Search Engine Optimization Fundamentals | Stacey Morgan Smith

My final Monday session at SMXEast in New York included the all-important topic of link building. Though it was a bootcamp/basics class, link building is often considered a difficult part of SEO. Attending the class gave me a few new pointers and useful information.

The session was moderated by Disa Johnson, the CEO of SearchReturn. Notes from each speaker include:

Debra Mastaler, President, Allicance-Link
There were 76 billion searches on Google in July 2009, and 25 billion of those were in the US. Relevance to a subject puts you into a topical community.  There are 4 main link types: credibility, content, smo, and paid, BUT if you use paid links you go against the terms of service. Begin your link building as if you had a business on main street: get a link from the chamber of commerce, charities, organizations, alumni organizations, etc. Get listed in directories. See how other people are selling themselves first. Each element of your site has a directory: articles, software, rss, newsletters, blogs, etc.  Always place your original content on your site first and then distribute elsewhere. Be sure bios use links back to site. Focus on traditional content link generation tactics.

Eric Ward, CEO, EricWard.com
There are hundreds of tools for link building, including links pages, social sites, etc. There are only two audiences, though: people and search engines. Link building has to be customized to a particulare site, and you have to use a well-rounded multiple-strategy approach. Remember: the easier a link is to get, the less value it will have to a search engine.

I really enjoyed listening to Eric Ward, who was link building before it became vital. I appreciate that he will not work with certain less-than-savory types of sites, and I think his nugget about ease of getting a link in relationship to value of a link is something all of us should remember.

– Stacey Morgan Smith