Off-Page SEO Strategies That Work

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1 DRIVING SEARCH TRAFFIC THROUGH OFF-PAGE SEO IN 2012 Top 5 Tips From the Experts

2 INTRODUCTION There is a major discrepancy which prevents companies from achieving maximum visibility in Search. Google and other search engines rely heavily on off-page factors, yet the average company s in-house SEO is ill-equipped to manage these moving parts and drive success. If a focused off-page strategy is so important,then why do most companies avoid implementing one? The truth is that most SEOs do not realize they are ignoring the elements that matter nor do they take simple steps to achieve predictable results. In addition, plans that do exist are often outdated or lack measurable goals. According to leaders in the SEO space, links make up a whopping 42% of what determines the natural search results

3 For the most part, companies often lack the expertise and manpower to execute plans that will drive results. As a result, SEOs stay on page, limiting their firms natural search success. Despite the lack of legitimate participation by many SEOs, several off-page factors can be influenced through minimal effort and create a winning strategy. The goal of this guide is to provide a brief path to success for off-page strategies that work and offer next steps for in-house SEOs to build their own off-page strategies. There are three dominant reasons why companies do not give off-page SEO the attention it deserves: EXPERTISE, MANPOWER, BUDGET

4 PROVEN OFF-PAGE TACTICS There is no denying the value of quality links. In terms of connecting websites, fostering universal legitimacy, and indexing information, Google s quality is dependent on the algorithm s ability to discern trust and relevance between websites. For these reasons, the process of amassing quality, diverse links is critical to influencing results in your favor. The name of the game has not changed; what you need to be more vigilant about, rather, is the constantly amended rulebook. In the not too distant past, if you were able to obtain any kind of anchor text on a very authoritative page, you were set. It didn t matter what content surrounded what anchor text or even how particularly relevant your niche was compared to the third party domain on which it resided. As long as an anchor text connection was made between point A (your domain) and point B (a relevant third party domain), you could chalk up a very big win. Rinse and repeat while keeping a focus on your most impactful keywords, and you could bank on seeing your position rise. Over time, things have changed. While volume remains an important factor in determining rank, multiple elements are also being considered. Anchor text diversity, content relevancy, link location, and velocity of acquired links are a few of the more important performance indicators. Gone are the days of directory submission, reciprocal linking, networks, and market-based link practices. Companies that embrace these changes and incorporate them into evolving plans for acquiring links are seeing dramatic results for their efforts. The Evolution of Link Building

5 SMART LINK BUILDING While numbers typically enhance strength, this is not always the case in SEO. Sure, if you are able to amass a diverse pool of quality links pointed to your domain, greater numbers can help. However, rather than trying to gain the most votes, efforts should be made to obtain the right kind of votes. And although social media is playing a larger role in search results, more basic and scalable strategies exist that measurably move the needle. As a marketer and SEO, you know your brand better than anyone. You can probably figure out the brands, websites, and forums that best align with your company. Combine these with a hierarchy of the SEO metrics that matter to you most and you ve got a great list of sites to target for links. THINGS TO CONSIDER Have you defined the SEO metrics you feel are most important in websites you target for links (ie: Page Rank, Outbound Links, Inbound Links, Moz Rank, SERP Rank, etc.)? Do you have opinions on desired anchor text for newly developed links pointing to your site and the preferred link location on a linking partners website? Do you have a list of partner websites, relevant blogs or sites that share a common audience? MY COMPANY S WEB CONNECTIONS URL RELEVANT PR OBL IBL Page MOZRANK TARGET ANCHOR TEXT Y Customer A Widgets Y Customer B Products N Vendor A Products Y XYZ Widgets Click here for an extended and downloadable worksheet for getting your off-page strategy off the ground Next Steps 1. Create a listing of sites that your company has a relationship with and filter that list for the ones with the most authoritative SEO characteristics. 2. Leverage business contacts at these sites to pursue links on target pages. 3. Make it easy for the site operator by telling them the anchor text, linking URL and real estate that you prefer.

6 CONTENT CREATION Providing content for third parties to publish is an effective strategy for developing links beyond those in your personal or business network. The process of spreading useful content through the distribution of completely original articles will: 1. Introduce your brand and point of view to a new relevant audience in a controlled manner. THINGS TO CONSIDER Don t reinvent the wheel! Useable content may be available to repurpose or use as a foundation to iterate (company blog postings, company white papers, press releases, videos, etc.) 2. Generate direct clicks for people interested in learning more about your company. 3. Create opportunities to include links in the content, which refer back to your site. 4. Develop relationships with influential sites within your space. What creative assets exist at your company that can be recruited for help? Many PR and/or marketing pros will jump at the chance to distribute their message to a new and untapped audience. Can they assist in developing content? By offering content, you will alleviate the work third parties exert to create fresh material. If the article is interesting, it will enhance the experience for readers of the site by providing a unique perspective to the site s voice on a topic relevant to their interests. Next Steps 1. Take inventory of existing collateral and content that can serve as a draft to build new material. 2. Identify leading bloggers in your space through resources like Technorati. 3. Reach out to site owners and build a relationship. 4. Submit content to Reddit, StumbleUpon, Digg, etc.

7 VIDEO AND INFOGRAPHICS SYNDICATION As much value as well-written, informative articles can carry from both social and SEO standpoints, there are other channels that should be heavily considered for obtaining links. Although these formats make it somewhat difficult to promote specific anchor text, the link bait potential of these platforms is enormous. The in-bound link impact of a compelling video or infographic can be a game changer. The following URL is a great example This video has more than 2,000 external links pointing to it. Not too shabby! THINGS TO CONSIDER Developing rich creative can be quite expensive and labor intensive. Again, don t reinvent the wheel! Take inventory of corporate or employee produced videos on the intranet or sites like YouTube. Leverage the team. Run an internal or external contest soliciting self-produced videos or infographics about your brand Search the web for existing video and infographic references to your brand. Are any of them worth finding the owner? Next Steps Posting and distributing video or infographics is the biggest risk/reward link building initiative out there. On the flip side, these mediums have buzz appeal within multiple departments of an organization right now. Collaborate with other team members and build a cross functional team to pursue creating these digital assets that benefit multiple stake holders. Button not working? Copy and paste this link into your browser:

8 LINK RECLAMATION Frequently updating content is vital for attracting consistent search engine crawls and attention. However, over the years, ongoing site changes can often break or diminish the value of influential links pointing to your domain. In addition, site changes at web properties already linking to you can erode valuable and long standing links. Beyond simply developing and attracting new links, SEOs that win in the SERP s monitor and shepherd existing relationships. Done incorrectly this can be one of the most time consuming and least effective off-page SEO strategies. A smart plan focused on the right priorities is a key strategy for sustaining strong rankings and entrenching yourself against the competition. THINGS TO CONSIDER Several free and paid resources exist for monitoring the integrity of your backlinks (as well as those of your competition). Examples include: LinkDiagnosis, Google Webmaster Tools, Open Site Explorer, Majestic SEO, etc. Depending on the size and age of your domain, there may be many or few opportunities for optimizing/ reclaiming existing links to your site. Time management is key; focus on the big picture. There are quite a few free tools on the web that enable you to capture key backlink data. Use these to keep close tabs on essential inbound links. Next Steps 1. Create a listing of sites that your company has a relationship with and filter that list for the ones with the most authoritative SEO characteristics. 2. Leverage business contacts at these sites to pursue links on target pages. 3. Make it easy for the site operator by telling them the anchor text, linking URL and real estate that you prefer.

9 EXECUTING A PLAN In the words of the great Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu, A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. With these basic strategies and a list of action items at your disposal, developing a working plan is a tangible next step for implementing an off-page SEO program. To quote another great thinker, The perfect is the enemy of good (Voltaire). Impactful results can be achieved without developing an overly labor-intensive or complicated strategy. Here are a few steps for getting your off-page SEO strategy off the ground. Next Steps 1. Commit a fixed amount of time to off-page SEO each week (ideally each day). This is both simple and obvious yet a vital step towards progress. 2. Baseline everything; including keyword rankings, organic traffic and existing backlinks. Time stamp your existing backlink profile using tools referenced earlier. 3. Define your plan of attack and follow through with discipline. Whether building links from your network, developing partnerships for distributing content, creating rich media videos and infographics or tidying up existing backlinks, determine what you will pursue in your scheduled Off-page SEO time and stick to it. a. For example, during my weekly Off-page SEO hour I will identify and 10 new sites each week and follow up with the sites I contacted last week that I haven t heard back from. 4. Measure results at defined intervals and set goals once you ve developed a rhythm. Goals should be achievable and have defined metrics i.e.: develop 15 links each month with anchor text of my choosing. 5. Be patient and follow through. Depending on the vertical and the competitive landscape, a successful off-page SEO strategy can take 4-6 months to deliver measurable results. On the bright side, like any successful SEO initiative, results are exponential and can often be long lasting.

10 IN-HOUSE VS. OUTSOURCE Okay. You ve begun your off-page SEO strategy and results are coming in. Backlink velocity has improved, rankings are up, and most importantly, organic traffic has increased. At this time, the last remaining question becomes How do I scale this successful initiative? For the most part, there are two options: expand the internal team through hiring or bring in partners to take your effort to the next level. Like anything, both options have their pros and cons. The following is a list of things to consider when determining the right move for your company. THINGS TO CONSIDER HIRING How long will it take to hire and train a new employee? How much will a new hire cost including salary, benefits, tools, etc.? How much time will need to be dedicated towards ongoing management of your new team member? AGENCY Does the agency specialize in Off-Page SEO or more On-site? What is their process for developing off-page relationships? How do they price? Is it more efficient to outsource? What will reporting look like? What is their track record for Off-Page SEO?

11 CONCLUSION There is no debate that search engines reward sites with strong off-page SEO strategies and that links remain a vital element for maximizing organic traffic. With the advent of new data sources and reporting tools specific to SEO, executing a measurable off-page strategy plan is within your reach. We hope our guide to off-page success has inspired you to revisit your existing off-page SEO strategy and begin planning areas for improvement in Although many things continue to change in the way Google determines its results, we are seeing companies that pay attention and dedicate resources to off-page SEO dominating their competition and growing rapidly despite the challenging economy. For more information on taking your off-page SEO strategy to the next level, please do not hesitate to contact us. We can be reached at (602) or info@iacquire.com. About iacquire Our leadership believes there is a wide gap between enterprise brands and the customers they serve via online channels. Most brands have not yet perfected digital public relations and community management - and moreover, they have yet to understand how digital public relations serves SEO, earned social media, product and affiliate marketing, and reputation management. iacquire was founded in 2009 to help enterprise marketers close this gap. The team is comprised of top-level natural search strategists, internet research experts, and project managers. We develop customized off-page strategies that deliver quantifiable results. We object to the small fish in the big pond way of doing business. We operate a lean operation, and an even leaner client-base. iacquire believes in building lasting relationships, which is evident based on the way we staff. This mantra has helped us develop an excellent client retention rate. It s not just because we develop close relationships, but we generate distinguishable results for every account we manage.