How to evaluate a site for “quality” is among the most misunderstood concepts in SEO. Getting this wrong can result in you leaving sites out of your outreach that can drive ranking or worse, including sites that will provide no value or potentially get you penalized. In this presentation, Kevin Rowe, Founder and CEO at PureLinq, will offer tips on how to scale up a high-impact link building program while lowering risks. We will go through an in-depth analysis of what website elements need to be evaluated in order to determine "site quality" for link building. Learn: - How to analyze a site for quality. - What are the key areas of a site to review. - What is the difference between metrics vs. quality reviews.

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How to Identify Site Quality
For Link Building
Kevin Rowe

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Kevin Rowe
1. Founder/CEO PureLinq
2. Two 7-figure SEO companies
3. SEO automation tech, link building, link
scheme/Quality Rater guidelines
4. Hyatt hotels, Bulletproof Coffee, Custom
Ink

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What am I talking about?

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Google Penguin update
targets link building with “Link schemes”
Google’s link scheme guidelines: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/66356?hl=en
Should you care?

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placement
In-Article Niche Relevant Links

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Site v. Site
X √

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Key elements: What are you looking for?
Content Admin Link Profile
Authorship Reputation Technical
Written & visual content for blogs,
main site content, etc.
Do they have advertising and what
are the policies.
What do the links pointing to the
site look like.
Who is responsible for the main
content and support content.
Does the authorship have any
reputation?
How do users find and engage
with the content/site.

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Case Study: B2C e-commerce
+1,236%
Sessions/month
Organic Growth
304,000
Dec 2019
680
Total links
Sessions/month Links Built

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POLL: What are your business goals?
A. Online product sales
B. Lead generation
C. Improve brand
D. All of the above

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Listen to Google on links?

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Google Sources

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Follow the leader?
Very ambiguous
>>>
Based on “intent”
>>>

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Follow the leader?
Referencing to guest
posts
>>>

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Follow the leader?
Source: Twitter screenshot on June 2020

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Follow the leader?
Source: Twitter screenshot on July 2020

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Follow the leader?
Source: SEMrush on July 7 2020

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Search Quality Ratings (SQR)
Site Quality Rating Guidelines
Download:
https://static.googleusercontent.com/media/guidelines.raterhub.com/en//searchqualityevaluatorguidelines.pdf

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SQR for review?
“You can view the rater guidelines as where we
want the search algorithm to go.”
“They don’t tell you how the algorithm is ranking
results, but they fundamentally show what the
algorithm should do.”
- Google’s Ben Gomes
CNBC Interview

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Metrics v. Quality

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Metrics
State of Link Building - Aira
Download:
https://www.aira.net/state-of-link-building/link-building-measurement-and-reporting/

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Google’s Quality Scale
• Any purpose
• Content depth
• Credible sources

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Site Quality Review
Content Admin Link Profile
Authorship Authority Technical

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PureGrade
√

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How to Analyze a Site

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Keys to a Great Assessment
How to evaluate
potential linking
partners
Weight each element
Some aspects of the site are more
important than others
Build a footprint not just one element
Examine multiple elements then decide if
the site’s quality

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Key elements: What are you looking for
Content Admin Link Profile
Authorship Reputation Technical

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PureGrade
What is it?
Score from 1 to 100 to rate site quality for links?
How to use it
1. To get or don’t get a link (40%<)
2. Evaluate your link profile
3. Build disavow list
How is it calculated?
A mix of automated footprint assessment and
manually review each site’s 30 quality indicators.
purelinq.com/puregrade

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Key Elements
Content
Commercial links: links to
money pages not tagged with
nofollow or sponsor
Navigation: Way to general
for a blog
No no keywords: gambling,
porn, payday loans
https://www.insanevisions.com/3-steps-to-
fixing-bad-credit
https://imaginationwaffle.com/things-which-
you-must-know-before-getting-your-house-
painted/
Examples
Frequency: Post are
infrequent or old

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About us: links to money
pages
Admin pages: advertising,
guest posts
Info: Phone, address, email
https://www.insanevisions.com/contact
https://stephaniecristi.blog/services/advertise
-your-blog-with-me/
ExamplesAdmin
Key Elements

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Excessive links: too many links
pointing to one page
Low Authority: Use DA or DR
Non relevant links: links don’t
make sense for the page
ExamplesLink Profile
https://ahrefs.com/site-explorer/overview/v2/subdomains/live?target=www.insanevisions.com%2F
Key Elements

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Names & Bylines: Set to
admin or site name
Author page: Is there
information about the author
Foreign: Author is from
country targeted
Staff writer: http://yearzerosurvival.com/on-a-
budget-prepping-for-5-bucks/
No author: https://miosuperhealth.com/4-
ways-to-improve-your-running-form/
ExamplesAuthorship
Key Elements

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Presence: Has a presence
Following: personal, micro
influencer, influencer, news
Engagement: Do they have
engagement
ExamplesReputation
https://app.buzzsumo.com/content/web?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.insanevisions.com%2F
Key Elements

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Indexed: Exists in index with
more than homepage
Geo: focus of audience’s
country
Page Engagement: Ads,
layout, linking
ExamplesTechnical
Key Elements

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