June 2009 Archives

 

Image via Free Pixels

 

In Speedlinking and SEO, Part 1: What is Speedlinking? we discussed the two possible meanings of the term "speedlinking," and I explained which definition I espouse and why.

 

Speedlinking, Slow-linking: Which Is Better?

Let me point out here that neither practice (writing link posts - which often contain longer and more highly descriptive link text - and anchoring links with pithy descriptive terms) is necessarily inferior to the other or innately bad for a blog's SEO (when used correctly, at least). Each has a role to play in any successful blog strategy. Yet, each is entirely different, which is why I believe that each should be called by a different name - a name that's more appropriate to its function. Thus, I call writing link posts speedposting (since it speeds up the posting process) and creating links that use shorter and less complex anchor text speedlinking (since it speeds up the linking process).

 

Speedlinking Defined

To recap, the definition we will use in this series on Speedlinking and SEO, is the following:

Speedlinking is the practice of using just one or two sometimes-insignificant words to anchor a link. The words in question are used either as a substitute for exact titles and/or full names (which are generally longer and more time-consuming to reproduce accurately) or to highlight specific keywords and short key phrases. Sometimes, the words chosen to anchor the link are ambiguous, universal, and nondescript, giving the reader little incentive to follow them. Speedlinking may be used in either a link post or a conventional one, though it's more likely to be used in the latter, since it lends itself well to easily achieving an unbroken narrative flow.

In my previous post, I linked to a few highly respected bloggers who choose to define speedlinking differently than I do. Today, I'll refer briefly to another blogger I also highly respect, who views the issue very much the same way that I see it.

 

A Blogger Who Shares My Perspective

The only blogger I've found thus far, who uses the term speedlinking in the clearer and more intuitive context described above is Confident Writing Coach Joanna Young. In How to write a links post, Joanna covers this topic, differentiating between simply "linking out" and "speed linking." In this post, she offers a description of speedlinking and demonstrates the practice in a few of its more positive and negative forms. While the topic of her post may be writing a link post, she doesn't use the term speed linking to describe that practice but rather to represent one possible method of linking out from within that link post. Many may find this distinction subtle and consider it unimportant, but I agree with Joanna that the term speedlinking has a very specific meaning and serves an equally specialized function in blogging and SEO.

 

Outbound Link Text and SEO

The next question thus becomes, "Just how important is outbound link text to our SEO strategy?" Answering this question will help us better understand the impact of speedlinking on our sites' SEO.

Let's start by consulting the Google Webmaster Central Blog to get the Big G's take on outbound anchor text:

Descriptive anchor text (the visible text in a hyperlink) helps accurately inter-connect the web. It allows both users and Googlebot to better understand what they're likely to find when following a link to another page.

 

Characteristics of Good Speedlink Anchor Text

This would indicate that our outbound link text is very important to our site's SEO. Does this mean speedlinking is bad for SEO? Not necessarily. It all depends on how it's done. With speedlinking, we need to ask ourselves a few questions to determine whether our method enhances or detracts from website SEO:

• Is our anchor text relevant to the link's content?
  
• Is it reinforced by surrounding page content?
  
• Does it use appropriate keywords?
  
• Does the link's URL structure use recognizable descriptors, such as keywords or titles, rather than numbers?
  
• Are the URL descriptors relevant to the surrounding content?
  
• Does the link contain a relevant title tag to further reinforce its anchor text?

All the above factors determine the SEO-ability of our outbound links - whether they are speedlinks or conventional links.

 

Information to Include in Speedlink Anchor Text

In summary, good outbound linking principles apply to speedlinking just as much as they do to any other type of linking strategy. While the anchor text of an SEO friendly speedlink may be shorter, quicker, and easier to execute, it still contains such helpful descriptive information as the following:

• Keywords or key phrases
  
• Names of individuals
  
• Company names
  
• Website or blog titles
  
• Publication titles (as opposed to article titles, which are generally longer)
  
• Domain names
  
• Combinations of the above (such as "ProBlogger's speedlinking post," which contains a blog title and a key phrase)
  
• Other brief but specific descriptive text

 

Some Final Thoughts on Speedlinking

Whether speedlinking or slow-linking, the links themselves should generally be deep links (links to website pages other than a site's homepage) unless your purpose is simply to refer your reader to the website or connect a particular individual with his or her website or blog.

Speedlinking can have a positive impact on your site's SEO, just as any other kind of linking can - as long as you give your speedlinking strategy a little forethought. When done properly, speedlinking not only draws the attention of search engines, but like any other outbound link, it can give your site's SEO a boost by encouraging other bloggers to link back to your content.

Image via Microsoft Office Online

On June 1, 2009, Whoast announced that it will be merging with a prominent Chicago area marketing firm, Straight North.

Here is an excerpt from their June 1 press release -

"Interactive marketing has and will continue to revolutionize and lead revenue growth and brand advancement for our clients," said David Duerr, CEO of Straight North. "Whoast's technology platform and talented people integrated with Straight North's creative and strategic expertise accelerates our vision for delivering the most innovative and productive online marketing solutions to our clients."

Whoast, founded in 2003, grew quickly into one of the premier SEM and Web development companies in the industry. "The emergence of the search marketplace led by Google was the perfect opportunity for us to apply our marketing knowledge and technology skills," commented Aaron Wittersheim, President of Whoast. "We believe this new relationship with Straight North will further expand our capabilities into more markets and opportunities and to enhance our overall value proposition."

The new Straight North will be a powerful combination indeed. With so many sub-specialties in the marketing field, it has become difficult for clients to assemble a group of independent marketing firms into an effective team. Straight North offers an incredibly wide range of online marketing services, giving organizations the ability to consolidate marketing efforts around one strong and versatile partner.

Facebook is generally thought of as a networking site that is far more social than business oriented. Indeed, because the type of communication and sharing that goes on in Facebook tends toward the intimate and silly, people often make a point of keeping their business contacts away from their Facebook network.

Nevertheless, Facebook has real value for some businesses - here are seven ways to use Facebook for your business.

1. Create a Facebook profile for your business. This is an easy way to keep business and personal separate. Creating a company profile (as a "page" or a "Group") helps extend awareness of your brand, and gives people another place to go to learn about your firm.

2. Get personal on your company's Facebook profile. Because people expect Facebook pages to emphasize the personal side of things, get personal. Use Facebook to put out updates on things like employee milestone anniversaries, employee awards and honors, notable employee achievements outside work, etc.

3. Broadcast company news. Facebook can function as your company's press room and press conference center. Post schedules of upcoming meetings, and field questions from employees and interested stakeholders after they are held. Again, emphasize the personal and have a little fun. Have employees put out updates from conventions and trade shows - what's the inside story? What have you seen that was unexpected or unusual? 

4. Coordinate meetings and events. It's easy to send out meeting and event invitations on Facebook, collect RSVPs, and let attendees talk to each other before, during, and after the activity. Attendees can share their expectations for the event, giving event planners valuable guidance in setting the agenda. On a more mundane level, coordinating through Facebook helps ensure attendees show up in the right place at the right time.

5. Publish photos. People love sharing photos on Facebook. If you want to get some buzz going on a company event, a new office, any newsworthy event whatsoever, take plenty of photos and share them on Facebook. Your friends will share the photos, comment on them, and talk about them on Twitter. All this attracts more people to your Page or  roup and solidifies relationships with your friends. And ... it's fun!

6. Start a Group around your firm's area of social concern. Facebook Groups around social causes attract lots of attention and participation. If there is cause your firm is passionate about, you can use Facebook as a medium to spread the word and give people ways to contribute time and make donations.

7. Join Groups - and participate. Perhaps strong Groups around areas of social (or industry-related) interest already exist. Join and participate! Although Facebook is not the best medium for forging new business contacts, Group conversations allow you to mingle with people having similar interests, and that leads to strong connections.

The seven ideas I've talked about come from my personal expereince, so I know they work for at least some firms. But one thing to remember about Facebook, it is robust like no other social site on the net. Custom apps for Facebook are being written at a mile a minute, and if you can think of something to do on Facebook, chances are, it's already being done.

Don't be afraid to experiment.

Image via Microsoft Office Online 

 

Links and SEO

We all know that website links play a critical role in search engine optimization, but often the precise role specific types of links play is unclear to us. Today's post will focus on outbound links and their part in the SEO equation.

 

 

A Few Link Basics

Before we begin, I think we might benefit from a few definitions, so here are a few basics from W3C.org (World Wide Web Consortium), which it provides in its Introduction to links and anchors:

A link is a connection from one Web resource to another. Although a simple concept, the link has been one of the primary forces driving the success of the Web.

A link has two ends -- called anchors -- and a direction. The link starts at the "source" anchor and points to the "destination" anchor, which may be any Web resource (e.g., an image, a video clip, a sound bite, a program, an HTML document, an element within an HTML document, etc.).

Links that point toward a website are called inbound, or incoming, links. They're also called backlinks. Links that point away from one site and toward another are known as outbound, or outgoing, links. Another link type is the internal link, which refers to a link that points to other pages on the same website.

 

Perceived Link Value

Many believe that inbound links are the only ones that have real value for improving a site's SEO (though some website owners are willing to concede that internal links might have some value as well). Few, however, are willing to accept the notion that outbound links have much of a role to play in website optimization strategies. Yet, according to the experts, this is indeed the case.

 

Indirect Benefit of Outbound Links

Mike Murray, of Fathom SEO, puts outbound links into their proper context for us, in Outbound Links and Misunderstandings:

Outbound links don't help you in the sense that they could affect the ranking algorithms - at least not directly.

He then clarifies a misunderstanding that many have about the animal:

Outbound links don't hurt you in that you're not penalized for linking to other websites. The only exception is when websites link to non-related website directories or link collections just for the sake of linking.

 

Direct Benefits of Outbound Links

Keyword Ranking

Joel Walsh, of AgoraBusinessCenter.com, takes this explanation one step further, stating, in his article on SEO and Outbound Link Relevance, that

Outbound links' anchor text affects a page's search engine ranking in much the same way that inbound links' anchor text affects search engine ranking.... though it is slightly less powerful. If you have a particular keyword in the anchor text of a link on a webpage, that webpage will likely show up in search engine results -- even if it appears nowhere else on the page, and even if there are no inbound links with that anchor text.

Tim Grice, of SEOWIZZ.net, has in fact discovered that one can indeed

...rank a page for a keyword with no anchored backlinks and little in terms of content.

How did he do it? He explains, in his post on Outbound Link Theory, that he

created the page for "seo consultant leeds" and anchored the phrase to a couple of well known 'local' training and government sites.

About his results, he says,

...after this little trial my page now sits at the bottom of the first page on google.co.uk for the keyword. 

His conclusion follows:

This suggests that outbound links hold a good bit of weight when it comes to ranking higher in Google. Use them in conjunction with a targeted title tag and generate some optimised inbound links and it could help cement your site at the top of Google for some pretty competitive keywords.

Trust Value

Leo di Milo, of Internet Marketing Techniques and Theories, shares a few insights he's gleaned from other SEO experts about outbound links, in 3 SEO Musings on Outbound Link Structure, Keywords and TrustRank:

I have seen several prominent SEO sites who link up very liberally....

While I can only theorize as to why this is done, I do know that linking to other sites in your niche will help springboard your site in the SERPS.  I believe that it will help get that trustrank that most of us in competitive niches need in order to get to the next level.

It is really all about connections.  It is the way the internet operates.

Relevance

Fathom SEO confirms this, saying,

Links -- like much of the Internet and search engines -- are about relevance. If you're linking out for a good reason, don't worry about it. You may have some real fires to put out elsewhere, not the artificial ones fueled by hype.

Traffic

SearchEnginePromotionHelp.com offers us these further words of wisdom about The Effect of Outbound Links On SEO:

You do not lose visitors by offering links to other pages. Links to other pages will bring you more and repeat customers. All visitors will leave your web site sooner or later. No matter how great your web site is, no one will stay on your web site forever. The question is what web surfers do when they leave your site.

If you don't have outgoing links or if you hide your links, then you send your visitors back to search engines (which give you nothing in return). If you offer your web site visitors links, you can send leaving visitors to other web sites that can send you their visitors in return.

Carefully chosen links to outside resources can improve the experience of visitors who visit your web site. Give, and you shall receive. This is true for many aspects of life and it also works for web site promotion.

 

Good SEO Is More Than Inbound Links

Jennifer Sullivan Cassidy reminds us of the following, in Balancing Inbound and Outbound Links:

There is more to having a good position in the search engines tha(n) hoarding all of your links.  There are many sites that I see have wonderful keyword-rich content, many thousands of backlinks, yet are so afraid of losing their PageRank that they only link to their own sites or internal pages....You're not going to plummet in the SERPs by providing links to someone else.

 

A Few More Points About Links

Webconfs.com offers the following two important reminders, in Links - Another Important SEO Item:

Besides the anchor text itself, the text around it is also important.

So, always remember that your content must reinforce your link text to make it more relevant to search engines.

Their second crucial point is,

When links are concerned, one aspect to have in mind is the ratio between inbound and outbound links. Generally speaking, if your outbound links are ten times your inbound links, this is bad but it also varies on a case by case basis. If you have a site that links to news sources or has RSS feeds, then having many outbound links is the inevitable price of fresh content.

 

A Final Thought

Jennifer Sullivan Cassidy leaves us with a little food for thought about the inbound links we all covet:

Unfortunately, in order to get one-way links, which are the jewels of link-building, someone has to be giving away those links.  If we all hoped to get links, but never gave them, then there would be no such thing as one-way links at all.

And where would that leave our SEO strategy?

Last month I talked about 7 ways to use Twitter for business. Companies can easily be excused for not knowing how to leverage Twitter - after all, Twitter is very new and is being used in countless ways. LinkedIn, on the other hand, has been around since 2003, has well defined business applications, and is being used successfully all around the world.

1. Create a Solid Profile. This takes a good deal of time - more than preparing a resume. But a strong LinkedIn profile helps people find you and motivates them to connect. I think of my LinkedIn profile as a supercharged, searchable business card. Your profile may be the first or second place potential customers go to check you out. 
2. Ask a Question.  "Answers" is LinkedIn's knowledge center. People ask questions about anything and everything under the business-related sun. Asking a question delivers a twofold benefit. First, you usually get authorative answers that are hard to come any other way. Second, you get your name out into the LinkedIn network, so people can find you and connect.
3. Answer a Question. Do you want to establish your credentials as a specialist or thought leader? Answer a question in your area of expertise, and put some real effort into it. Potential customers may reach out to you strictly on the basis of seeing a spectacular answer. If the asker awards you a "Best Answer", that information appears on your profile and looks quite impressive.
4. Join a Group. Joining a Group that is relevant to your specialty connects you with potential customers, service providers, and collaborators. Some groups are better than others in terms of participation and overall usefulness, but like anything, you'll get out of a Group what you put into it.
5. Start a Group. If you can't find the right Group for you, maybe that means you've discovered a need in the LinkedIn network. Starting and managing a Group takes a bit of time, but it is one of the best ways on LinkedIn to promote your business and make connections.
6. Write an Endorsement. Recommending your connections with a sincere and well written endorsement is a powerful way to help a business associate. And, as with all social media, when you give, you get. As you receive endorsements, they become part of your profile - perhaps the strongest part.
7. Ask for an Introduction. The whole premise of LinkedIn is the idea of six degrees of separation, meaning, that you are six or fewer connections away from knowing everyone in the world. The odds are overwhelming that your network of connections, if diligently nurtured, can the door to any opportunity you can think of. When a connection introduces you, that is about the most powerful way to open a door there is.  

This list is far from exhaustive, but you don't have to do everything. Many smart LinkedIn users key in on one or two LinkedIn applications and work them hard. To me that makes sense, because there's only so much time in the day and you're bound to get better results by going deep than just skimming the surface.

The temptation to dabble in social media is hard to resist, so look before you leap into LinkedIn.