“5 Crucial Link Building Strategies After Google Panda 4.1” plus 2 more |  |
- 5 Crucial Link Building Strategies After Google Panda 4.1
- Things Bloggers Should Know Before Using Google Adwords
- How Much to Charge for Sponsored Content – is This a Question You’ve Ever Asked Yourself?
| 5 Crucial Link Building Strategies After Google Panda 4.1 Posted: 08 Oct 2014 10:09 PM PDT This is a guest contribution from Rizvan Ullah. Many people have been affected by the chain of Google Panda updates which began to roll out in February 2011. With an influx of information readily available, it's become more important to provide only the best results for those using Google while skimming through search results. Google has said numerous times that their mission has always been to be the best search engine providing users with solutions to everyday problems, questions, references, etc. However, people are finding clever ways to manipulate the search results affecting the quality of information presented within the search results. Since much of the manipulation occurs by using deceptive link-building techniques, Google Panda was engineered to find ways to detect these factors and eliminate the websites using them. Just to give you a better understanding of Google's efforts, they have been focusing on eliminating black hat techniques from February 2011-to-now where they rolled out the latest update recently. Going forward you can rest assure that Google will continue to tweak their search algorithm to perform better providing more "high" quality results. I've always been a strong believer that the success of your website and/or blog has to do with providing "high" quality resources to your readers and using authentic link building techniques. From my experience, there have been five crucial link building techniques that have stood the test of time and continue to provide high quality traffic to my blog WITHOUT being penalized by Google algorithm updates. Let's get started… 1. Google Ranking CriteriaI'm very surprised at the amount of people that don't read through what's changing within the search algorithm because you'll learn a lot about what direction Google is heading in. If you understand Google's changing "ranking" criteria, it's very simple to stay on the clean side of things. First, each time there's an update, you can find over 50 resources that will provide you with a breakdown of what's changed. You'll notice Google Panda 1.0 when it rolled had tweaked a few things which are still relevant today. For example:
Since Panda 1.0, this has been the focal point on which Google is trying to improve their search results. Anyway, once you understand the direction in which the search algorithm is heading, you can start to take a proactive roll to ensure that you stay away from specific things. Read over the Google's Panda Trends to get a better understanding of how things are changing and what criteria you should follow when incorporating a link building strategy of your own. 2. Diversity In "Everything" Is GoodThinking that eating salads is the only way to lose weight is the same as thinking "article directories" provide the only real authentic link building juice. However, if you sniff around and do research, you'll uncover 5-6 awesome techniques that are legit and will provide value to your SEO efforts. The problem is, if you stick to only one method, then Google might think you're NOT important enough. However if you find the line in between, you'll be surprised at the value added. It's true what they say, it's not always about quantity but quality, and this applies to link building as well. Over time, I've narrowed it down to 3-4 methods which have proven to be very effective… Guest Posting:One of the best ways to generate targeted traffic to your blog involves utilizing the traffic of top bloggers within the industry. As experienced bloggers get busier and are unable to create content regularly, they often rely on others to produce content for them. Guest posting opportunities is a great way to get your experienced noticed and you're rewarded with a link back to your personal blog. Follow these quick guest posting guidelines…
Article Directories:After the recent Google update, people are beginning to question the power of article directories. However, for me, they are still a vital link building strategy if utilized correctly. Here's an awesome strategy I use: Only publish content on the best article directories. Look for high PR, DA and PA websites which ONLY publish high quality content. It'll be a great idea to choose websites which are moderated closely and only publish you're content once within each article directory. Google has said numerous times it'll penalize websites which have external and/or internal links from duplicated and/or aggregated websites. High Quality Content:When I first starting writing content, I didn't pay any attention to link building and instead wanted to publish the best pieces of content available on the web. I figured if I published the best content, Google will automatically rank my page higher because it was in-depth and provided the ultimate solution to my readers. You know what…I was right! When I look through my report, I've noticed I'm ranking for keywords WITHOUT any link building efforts. It was amazing what happened and I contribute my rankings to two things… First, high quality content creates user engagement because I had more social shares then any of my competitors which ranked my content higher than them. When people tend to share your content, it increases the chances that people who own blogs will link back to your content. Next, Having written content which is 2000+ words provided more leverage allowing me to diversify my keyword portfolio. I was able to increase the keyword density and include LSI keywords (latent semantic keywords). Matt Cutts, head of Web Spam at Google has said having LSI keywords within your content will enhance the flow allowing you to add more related long tail keywords. At this point, when Google indexes my content, it picks up on keywords both "targeted" and "related" improving my chances of ranking for of them. Forums:People have been interacting on forums long before sophisticated search engines like Google were created. User forums were the first ever information hubs which provided a Q&A interface. They are still very effective in providing solutions and if you can create a solid profile for yourself, you can benefit from the traffic. Once you've gained credibility, you're given the opportunity to set up a "signature" located below your forum posts. Many of these are "do-follow" counting as a link back and can generate enormous targeted traffic. 3. Relevance is ImportantAfter Google Panda, relevance is beginning to play an even more important role in link building. Google understands the importance of providing information which is organized and relevant to its users. The challenge is to be able to do this effectively especially with so many people using manipulative strategies that have worked in the past. Previously, it was about getting high authoritative links from high quality websites. It's recently changed to getting high authoritative links from "relevant" high quality websites. In the future, when building links, it's important to pay close attention to the content on their website. It's even more important to pay attention to the sites linking into the site you plan on building a link from. Consider link building a chain effect, meaning, finding websites not only relevant to you but a group of websites relevant to each other. 4. Anchor & Related KeywordsThere have been many questions regarding "anchor" text and the correct way to use it within your content. Google has adopted a new strategy where head and/or anchor text no longer holds as much value as before. Google uses latent semantic indexing to relate phrases together so phrases like "small business web hosting" are the same as "corporate web hosting plans". How come Google made this change? People have been changing the way they search for information. They use long tail keywords and are becoming more specific. Google being able to relate phrases together allow them to provide more specific search results from a variety of search phrases. It increases the natural flow of the content and provides a more specific user experience. What can you do? It's time to start mixing up your keyword phrases so that things look more natural in your content. For example, include both "targeted" and "related" keywords in your content to increase the diversity of the links. There are many tools that can generate variations of keywords from your "targeted" keyword. The easiest is to use Google search bar… For example, when you type in the phrase "building a website", Google automatically displays several related searches right below. Make a list because you can include them when creating your content. 5. Don't Follow Competitors, It Can Hurt You!We all love competition because it keeps you motivated and it can provide you with valuable information. You can use tools to find the "link" profile of your competitors and use it to build your own backlinks. However, things are beginning to change and carving out your own identity is the way to go. Many of your competitors have been around for years and some might have used link building techniques that might be considered "black-hat" or flagged by Google. If you use these strategies today, it can have a huge impact on your rankings often causing a decrease of 30%-40% and/or even getting you banned from the SERPs (search results). After Google Panda 4.1, it's important to build your own brand which includes using strategies outside the box. Many times link building is NOT what to do compared to what to do which is why you should try different things and stick to the ones which work well. For example, guest posting on relevant blogs can produce amazing results driving "targeted" traffic to your website. Next, you can decrease the websites you use to build links from i.e…
Before, the focus was on building links from as many websites no matter what their link profile, PR, reputation and relevance. Now, however, it's time you tweak your strategy. Start to pay close attention to the websites you publish content on or build direct links from. You'd be surprised how many of them can harm your efforts just because they have a poor link profile and are known as lower quality websites. Just remember to think outside the box and try things which your competitors are NOT doing. This can help build your brand and add value to your blog in such a way that it will increase your rankings within the long-run. Here's a great example: Recently, I started to experiment with PBN (private blog networks) which consist of creating smaller "high" authority websites. The twist is that you purchase websites and/or expired domains which have already built their authority but the owner forgot to renew them. What's does this provide for me…
It's a great way to streamline the process of building a website from the beginning and one with a solid reputation. There is a strict criteria that needs to be followed when building these websites however if done correctly, they can provide awesome ranking power for years to come. I've been performing a PBN case study and the results have been pretty impressive. However, the point I'm trying to make is you need to try things that others aren't. You need to tweak different strategies so that it's both beneficial to you and does NOT raise any red flags with Google. Private Blog Networks are perfect as long as you're adding value and NOT spamming. Rizvan Ullah is the founder of Ranktactics, which provides internet marketers with tutorials on traffic generation, social media marketing, product reviews, and case studies. Learn how to create a profitable blog step-by-step from the ground up. Get started by reading his expert roundup post on effective link building techniques. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger     |
| Things Bloggers Should Know Before Using Google Adwords Posted: 06 Oct 2014 09:34 AM PDT This is a guest contribution from Jignesh Gohel. Google Adwords has been the most popular tool for online advertising. It is easy enough to set, optimize and start reaping the profits. However, a few know that it can be a highly relevant tool for bloggers too. Many popular blogs are already using Google Adwords to popularize and monetize the sites. While you might already be using other advertisement platforms, Google Adwords opens new ways to rise to the top. Adwords, as such integrates several different methods for advertising. Trying to get deeper, you can actually be astonished by the largely unnoticed tools that were right there in front of you all this time. Things like advertising on keywords with paid search, advertising on display networks including local news websites or YouTube, etc can be quite fulfilling. Remarketing is another way that Google Adwords leverages the power of paid searches and is considered the highest ROI variant of online advertising. While many bloggers believe that only organic content is the best way to get to the top, paid search too can lend a helping hand. Promoting your content with paid search marketing provides additional opportunity in content marketing. Google Adwords allows bloggers to create ads and generate paid traffic for blog, but with some underlying constraints. Google adwords has pre-defined policy and strict monitoring system which reject or even ban the advertisers who violate their policies. Here are few important policies for bloggers or content marketers. Google Adwords policies to drive trafficAs said earlier, Google Adwords presents a great platform for blog promotion but also integrates several important restrictive policies 1. ArbitrageAmong the most important Adwords policies, Arbitrage doesn't allow promotion of blogs that have specifically been designed for the showcasing advertisements. This is line with Google's favor for unique, original and useful content. Excessive advertising makes your blog unsuitable to advertise with Google Adwords and in some cases; the account can even be suspended. If your blog or websites is primarily focusing on following types of content, it may come under radar of "arbitrage" policy.
2. Bridge PageAdwords doesn't support websites/blogs with Bridge Pages. Also referred to as doorway pages, it means landing pages that automatically link up to a completely different site. This is the characteristics with most affiliate websites but aren't Adwords compliant. As such, these are also the pages that offer the visitor with no/marginal content and are solely meant to redirect traffic. 3. Information HarvestingWebsites/blogs that involve content meant to collect personal information from visitors aren't supported under Adwords. These would involve websites that offer "free gifts" in exchange for personal information or web pages harvesting sensitive information (bank account details, credit card numbers, etc) over unsecured connections. If your website is not harvesting information but collect sensitive information from customer, you must install SSL certificate on your website. Google Adwords information harvesting policy strictly recommends that the information mentioned below should transmit over secure processing servers (https):
If you blog is running on HTTPS, it also had added advantages in Google organic search result. You can easily get FREE SSL certificate from startssl or ssl2buy that can easily installed on your server by following these simple steps. Tips for bloggers to adhere to Google Adwords policiesThe primary goal of Google remains the same – to provide unique, original and representative content to its users. Adwords, as such integrates the same policies to make the experience on the search engine more comfortable for users. Bloggers who plan to be successful with Google Adwords need to:
Creating good content is always half the battle won. It is more important to get it to people who would consider it benefitting. Content promotion strategies integrated into Google Adwords for bloggers can get you ahead of your competitors. As such, experienced content marketers spend as much on promotion as they would on trying to generate the likable, linkable and sharable asset. Google Adwords seems to be a relevant tool that every bloggers should try. Jignesh Gohel is Founder & CEO of online business consulting agency OLBUZ specializing in eCommerce, products and small business marketing. In his minuscule spare time, Jignesh enjoys nature photography and yoga. You can follow him on Twitter or reach out to him via Linkedin. Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger     |
| How Much to Charge for Sponsored Content – is This a Question You’ve Ever Asked Yourself? Posted: 05 Oct 2014 08:27 AM PDT For new (and even established bloggers) there's a cloud of mystery in the Australian blogging industry around setting advertising rates. As the community manager for Blogger Connect, one question I get asked a lot is: “how many unique views do I need before I start advertising?”. Secondly, it’s: “how much do I charge?”. With no real industry standard, it is also a question asked around the world. On the flip side, in this industry with no established guidelines, are brands just as much in the dark? It's not as cut and dry as looking at website and social media traffic to determine how much to charge. A blog that has 20,000 unique views per month doesn't necessarily trump a blog that has 10,000 unique views. The blog with 10,000 UV may have a more engaged audience than the blog with 20,000 UV, which makes it a much better value proposition for the advertiser. But are brands on the same page? Do they consider engagement rates in conjunction with unique views, or are they all about the numbers? Are bloggers respecting their worth, and are brands prepared to pay? It's these types of questions that led us to launch a poll on Blogger Connect to give bloggers more confidence in setting their rates, and brands insight into what bloggers are worth. We polled both bloggers and PRs/brands about unique views, advertising rates and engagement levels, and the results to date are surprising.
We asked bloggers how many unique views they had before they started advertising, and brands what the minimum unique views a blog needs before they will advertise with them. We also included an option for brands to indicate they don't consider unique views at all when choosing which bloggers to advertise with. In another question, we asked brands whether they consider engagement levels in conjunction with unique views when reviewing a blog, and 79% have responded with yes. These results are heartening. At Blogger Connect we educate brands to not exclude the 'little guys' because smaller blogs with highly engaged audiences are of high value to their advertising mix. Not only are brands indicating they are reviewing engagement levels of blogs (not just vanity metrics), 60% are willing to work with blogs who have unique views from 1000 to 3000. Brands are valuing smaller bloggers who have engaged audiences. However, 45% bloggers believe they need from 3000 to 5000+ to start advertising. Now to the nitty gritty. As a benchmark, we asked bloggers if they had 5000 unique views, how much they would charge for a sponsored post. Equally we asked brands what the most they would be prepared to pay for a sponsored post with 5000 unique views. Only 17% of bloggers would charge $300+, whilst 57% of brands are prepared to pay this. 32% of bloggers charge between $200 and $300, with only 9% of brands indicating they would pay that as a maximum. 51% of bloggers are charging less than $200, whilst 33% of brands are only willing to pay this much. Key Takeaways for BloggersThe poll results to date indicate brands have engagement levels on their radar, and it's not just all about unique views. They are willing to work with smaller bloggers, and if you have an engaged audience, you may not need as many unique views as you think you do before you consider advertising. Highlight your engagement levels in your media kit, and take them into consideration when setting your rates. Comments on blog posts used to be the holy grail of measuring a blogs engagement, but many communities are gathering around their social media platforms. Whilst comments are still definitely worthwhile including, some additional ways to showcase your engagement levels are to include interaction levels on your social media platforms (i.e. 'talking about this' from your Facebook page), and page views (in conjunction with your unique views) and time on site from Google Analytics. If you'd like to help to continue to bring clarity to the blogging industry, click here to have your say in the Blogger Connect Industry Poll. Gaynor was a blogger for 5 years, and is now the community manager for Blogger Connect. She is dedicated to supporting bloggers to reach their full potential, educating brands on the growing power bloggers have with consumers, and setting industry standards for commercial blogger outreach. Gaynor is also a social media and blogger outreach consultant, and social media course presenter for NET:101. She advocates social media as a means for organisations to establish strong communities around their brand, enabling direct engagement and long-term loyalty. Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger     |
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