With Google suggesting 35% - 40% of the value assigned to a website (which is used to rank sites) is based on links, these are increasingly the focus of businesses looking to increase their online visibility. Some PR agencies are selling blogger link building as a service (an SEO specialism) but who can you trust now Google is handing out penalties based on bad links? Most valuable links seem to come from bloggers but how to you judge who is right for your business? How do you reach the quality influencers most effectively? Where are these secret blogger groups? Should you go with a PR for outreach, a specialist SEO agency or do it yourself? In this Digital Olympus session you will be taught how to use the tools available to find, assess and reach out to influencers as well as assessing potential bloggers reaching out to you.

1. SEO vs PR vs Bloggers - Fight!
@JudithLewis

2. ➡ Run DeCabbit Consultancy doing SEO, PPC, Social Media and
integrated marketing campaigns - working with bloggers for link building
➡ Got on the Internet in 1986 at my school lab
➡ Working online with search since 1996
➡ Worked in-house within e-Commerce, Publishing & High Tech
➡ Have worked with Google (SEO for product sites), Orange, COI,
NatWest/RBS, National Gallery, CIPD, Fidelity, GalaCoral, NBC Universal,
Readers Digest, Bayer, Family Search, Amadeus, AMD, AmEx, TotalJobs,
Virgin.com, Virgin Startup, Zopa, GE, Blue Cross, Vapemate & more
➡ Chosen as a founding Modern Muse, contributed to book “Pimp My Site”,
judge of the UK, US & European Search Awards, one of the SEO Chicks,
blog on Huffington Post & run MostlyAboutChocolate.com food blog
AM I
WhoObligatory slide !
Judith Lewis
@JudithLewis

3. SEOs vs PRs vs Bloggers
Links are important for ranking *BUT* bad links
can harm a site
Who is best to reach out to bloggers – PRs or
SEOs?
Are Bloggers the right people to get links from?
@JudithLewis

4. @deCabbit DeCabbit Presentation
4
PR is about
relationships,
influence and
communicating a
positive story to an
audience for the client

5. SEOs build links
to help increase
visibility in
search engines
by ranking
pages higher

6. Bloggers are
increasingly
being targeted
both by SEOs
& PRs with an
SEO remit
PRs are being
asked to do
the job of an
SEO

7. Sometimes People Build Bad Links
@JudithLewis

8. Bad Links Result in Bad Penalties
@JudithLewis

9. Sometimes PRs Get Outreach Wrong
Bloggers share: they share PR/SEO contact details and
pitches and payments - they know what you paid and to
whom
@JudithLewis

10. Facebook Outreach Groups
@JudithLewis

11. SEO
is a part of
Online
Marketing
which includes
PR.

12. Some SEO Approaches Gone Wrong
The following are approaches and the blogger reactions from a
closed blogger group (all spelling is theirs, not mine!)
“Repeated demands that I publish their great (great =generic) post immediately with a do follow
link”
“…those that pay for a sponsored post and then when publish demand a do follow link even though
we state no follow links”
“Offering content written by them, on the basis that 'it will help our traffic‘”
“Then a company who thinks it's ok to ask for 3/4 follow links to pages that have nothing to do with
the product being reviewed”
“One company asked me to change all my links to 'follow' links and remove the disclosure because
'they could get penalised and her boss was worried'. I explained that I couldn't do that (for obvious
reasons) - still insisted”
“…were contacted by a SEO wanting links removed (pretty normal) but this one blamed us for the
companies penalty and then threatened to report us to google if we didn't remove the link”
@JudithLewis

13. Over time,
bloggers have
become more
“savvy” and less
willing to working
without
compensation

14. Chat with
your targets
on the phone
after initial
email contact
The way I pitch things
is carefully worded
but I make it clear
what I expect within
the law & guidelines

16. Changes to the Law & Google Guidelines
Google guidelines against “Link Schemes”:
https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/6635
6
ASA Reminder to bloggers about their responsibilities:
http://www.asa.org.uk/News-resources/Media-
Centre/2013/Blurring-advertising-and-blogs.aspx
CAP Guidance on the ASA guidelines:
http://www.cap.org.uk/News-reports/Media-
Centre/2014/New-words-on-the-blog.aspx
The LAW the ASA guidelines are based on:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2008/97801108115
74/contents
| 16

17. 17
Outreach

18. Find Influencers
@JudithLewis

19. Possible Link Targets
@JudithLewis

20. Check Their Stats
@JudithLewis

21. Auditing Link Targets-More than Numbers
@JudithLewis

22. Research Other Sites (Competitors)
@JudithLewis

23. Research Other Sites (Competitors)
@JudithLewis

24. Auditing Your Links With Majestic
@JudithLewis

25. Auditing Your Links
@JudithLewis

26. SEMRush Analysis of Sites
@JudithLewis

27. When Link Building Goes Well
@JudithLewis

28. @JudithLewis

29. 10 Link Attraction Ideas
Be Controversial
Be The Font of All Knowledge
Take a Stand
Be a Personality
Share/Curate
Be Funny
Be Prolific
Be Mysterious
Offer something unique
@JudithLewis

30. @JudithLewis @MostlyAboutChoc
?
Questions?

31. You Can Stalk Me Online
Twitter: @JudithLewis
@MostlyAboutChoc
LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/judithlewis
Google+: https://plus.google.com/+JudithLewis
Web: http://www.decabbit.com
Blog: http://MostlyAboutChocolate.com
SEO Blog: http://www.SEO-Chicks.com
HuffPost: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/judith-lewis
...and the list goes on

32. THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME
32