Link Building Strategies That Increase
Monthly Revenue by $240,740
Ross Hudgens, Founder, Siege Media
@RossHudgens | http://siegemedia.com

Slides: http://bit.ly/lb-engage

What is Link Building?
Does it Still Work?

Some would argue no.
https://moz.com/blog/the-seo-myth-of-going-viral

Some would argue yes.
https://moz.com/blog/what-link-building-success-really-looks-like

@rosshudgens |
My answer?
Yes, but link
building can’t fix
a broken
business.

@rosshudgens |
And link building can’t fix a
broken strategy.

The reason their strategy didn’t work is
that they were trying to fix a broken
business with link building.

@rosshudgens |

@rosshudgens |

@rosshudgens |
Throughout that, nobody figured out that the
semantic connection on this site is broken.

If I’m looking for a hotel near a casino to go to a
casino, I’m not clicking “ConcertHotels.com”.
I’m not going to a concert.

Yet, they have 7,000+ casino pages.
https://www.google.com/search?pws=0&q=site%3Aconcerthotels.com+casino

@rosshudgens |
No wonder link
building
doesn’t work.

They should rebrand to EventHotels.com
or VenueHotels.com and/or cut down
their venues dramatically.

@rosshudgens |
What about SimplyBusiness.co.uk?

@rosshudgens |
They had several viral hits, but growth
wasn’t amazing.

http://www.simplybusiness.co.uk/microsites/googleplus-for-small-businesses/

http://www.simplybusiness.co.uk/microsites/twitter-for-small-businesses/
@rosshudgens |

http://www.simplybusiness.co.uk/microsites/google-analytics-guide/
@rosshudgens |

But where were the internal links?
Only in the footer:
http://www.simplybusiness.co.uk/microsites/google-analytics-guide/

What about that reasonable surfer model?
https://moz.com/blog/10-illustrations-on-search-engines-valuation-of-links

Would links pointing in have more impact
on pages with 100+ links to valuable
internal pages, or 3 and 30 external?

Only ~13% of the links to this
resulted in homepage links.
@rosshudgens |

30-40% homepage links is achievable.
http://www.siegemedia.com/seo/how-to-build-landing-page-links-with-blog-content

Lack of branding isn’t helping that effort.
WHERE’S THE LOGO?

@rosshudgens |
All that said, SimpyBusiness.co.uk still grew.
But maybe they could have grown faster.

What is Good Content-Based
Link Building in 2017?

In 2016, seven
clients made
significant
linkable content
investments with
Siege Media.

@rosshudgens |
These clients saw, on average, a 117,429 visit
increase in monthly search traffic YOY.

@rosshudgens |
They also saw, on average, a $240,740
increase in monthly traffic value YOY.

Good, content-based
link building works.

@rosshudgens |
Good content-based link
building...

..utilizes topically relevant content that is
developed in the site architecture.

..has close proximity to valuable
internal links above the fold.

@rosshudgens |
..supports the brand topically and indirectly
helps bottom-funnel landing pages.

.. is structured in a
way that supports
secondary KPIs
such as social
following, email
signups, and high
funnel rankings.

@rosshudgens |
..and is aligned with a follow-up campaign
that generates landing page links.

@rosshudgens |
Great content based link building should help
bottom and top funnel content rank.

@rosshudgens |
Strategies for Taking
Content-Based Link Building
to the Next Level

@rosshudgens |
Prioritize top and middle funnel topics with
high average LRDs across the top ~5 results.

For those with great photography, leverage
Flickr Creative Commons to host.

@rosshudgens |
High Leverage, Low Cost
Content-Based Link
Building Initiatives

@rosshudgens |
Single-Question Survey
Time to Create: 16 hours
Upside Score: 3
Volatility Score: 7
Non-Labor Cost: ~$200

@rosshudgens |

@rosshudgens |
Single-Question Survey
Upside: Unexpected stories
that come out of data.
Risks: Expected stories that
come out of the data.

@rosshudgens |
Two-Question Opt-In Survey
Time to Create: 16 hours
Upside Score: 6
Volatility Score: 6
Non-Labor Cost: ~$1500

@rosshudgens |

@rosshudgens |
Two-Question Opt-In Survey
Upside: Responses are more likely
to be interesting.
Risks: Data may still not be
interesting, collection gets
expensive.

@rosshudgens |
Four-Five Question Single-Answer
Survey/”Report”
Time to Create: 30 hours
Upside Score: 7
Volatility Score: 5
Non-Labor Cost: $1000

@rosshudgens |

@rosshudgens |
Four-Five Question Single-Answer
Survey/”Report”
Upside: More authoritative, and more likely
to result in interesting data.
Risks: More $$. Question picking is more
difficult due to need for one-step questions.

@rosshudgens |
City-Based Data Studies
Time to create: 16 hours
Upside Score: 7
Volatility Score: 4
Non-Labor Cost: $100-$250

@rosshudgens |

@rosshudgens |
City-Based Data Studies
Upside: Right brand alignment
means high social spread.
Risks: Saturated SEO strategy
many reporters see through.

Search-Driven Top & Middle Funnel Content
Time to create: 30-50 hours
Upside Score: 8
Volatility Score: 5

@rosshudgens |

Search-Driven Top & Middle Funnel Content
Upside: Additional business
value besides links.
Risks: Many of these assets
aren’t inherently linkable.

a
Non-Search-Driven Top & Middle
Funnel Driven Assets
Time to create:
20-40 hours
Upside Score: 5
Volatility Score: 2

@rosshudgens |

a
Non-Search-Driven Top & Middle
Funnel Driven Assets
Upside: Fulfills secondary
KPIs: social shares, email
signups, brand awareness.
Risks: Lower ceiling due to
less time invested, no
search connection.

a
“Linkbait” Data Studies/Stories
Time to create:
30-100+ hours
Upside Score: 10
Volatility Score: 10

a
“Linkbait” Data Studies/Stories
Upside: Only truly consistent
homerun opportunity on this list.
Risks: Harder to align with brand
guidelines. Expensive, highest risk.
Possible Google would devalue link
spikes.

a
Search-Driven Top & Middle Funnel Content
w/ Additional Shareable Image
Time to create: 40-60 hours
Upside Score: 9
Volatility Score: 3

@rosshudgens |

a
Search-Driven Top & Middle Funnel Content
w/ Additional Tall, Shareable Image
Time to create: 40-60 hours
Upside Score: 9
Volatility Score: 3

a
Search-Driven Top & Middle Funnel Content
w/ Additional Tall, Shareable Image
Upside: Built-in linkability in
addition to search upside.
Risks: Low, but if only value driver
from content is links, may not be
best opportunity for you.

a
Additional Lever: Original Photography
Add 2 to Upside
Reduce Volatility by 1
Higher Barrier to Entry

a
Additional Lever: Original Photography
Differentiating Qualitative
Factor
Submit to Flickr Creative
Commons for Additional Links

What Other
Non-Traditional Link
Building Strategies Work?

a
@rosshudgens |
We Define “Working” as Scalable,
Sustainable and Capable of Generating
Sustainable, High Quality Links

a
Link Moves for Brands from Homepage
to Category Pages
External Link to https://www.hotels.com/
Homepage Talking About Las Vegas
Email to Request Change to
https://www.hotels.com/las-vegas

Brand Monitoring/Link Reclamation
for Massive Brands
https://moz.com/researchtools/fwe/

a
Do Links Work?

@rosshudgens |
Yes.

a
Are They Going Away?

@rosshudgens |
No.

Thank You! Questions?
Slides: http://bit.ly/lb-engage
Ross Hudgens, Founder, Siege Media
@RossHudgens | http://siegemedia.com