Link - SEO Value v's Cost v's Client Expectation

Link Value vs. Cost vs. Client Expectations

Link Valueanchor variations

Branded Links

anchor text percentages

Reciprocation

1 way

reciprocal3 way

deep link to domain ratioLanguage

Link velocityAnchor text

Age of link

text linkimage link

surrounding text (relevance)

Page H1 and titlelocation of link on the page

location of link in source codesite wide v' single links (Ratio)

Page Authority (External links)

Page Authority (Internal links)No. of outbound links

Amount of links on a page

Relevance of other links on page

Age of the page Page relevance

Quality of outbound links

Amount of non linking pages ratioURL of page

Relevancy of text

PageRank of pageContent freshness

Page type

PageRank of Domain

Domain

Domain Authority (no. of links)Domain Mozrank Age of domain

Sites ranking in its own right

Domain PR

Domain Relevance

Non relevant domain

TLD

Country IP address

Class C IP address

No follow pageNo index page Page not cached

Penalised page

JavaScript link redirect link

Paid Link triggers

CostWho am I? Neil WalkerTwitter: @theukseo

Current Position: • Group CTO for Getupdated

Internet Marketing• CTO for Domain Invest (US)• Owner SEO Mad LTD

£891£20?

For a relevant in context link

SEO’s View on Clients

10%

90%Who likes clientsDon't like clients

SEO’s View on getting Paid

100%

Like Getting Paid

Not bothered

And your Point is…

Thanks Everyone

127 SEOs v’s 25 Clients65% Agency v’s 73% >10 Staff21% Clients Side v’s 21% 10-50 Staff

10% Freelancer v’s 6% 51-150 Staff

So what makes a Good link?A text link – 73% said Extremely or Highly ImportantAn old domain – 71% said medium to high importanceAge of Page – Split review 51% said No use to low value 46% said Medium to HighDomain Authority – 84% Said Extremely or Highly ImportantPage Authority – 73% Said Extremely or Highly ImportantPageRank – 34% of SEO’s believe this is no or low value, 25% believe the opposite.

Again, with few exceptions I would take just about any link, but

given the choice I would look at Domain authority

as the single most important factor. PR is low importance to me

unless I'm trying to spot a problem or penalty in which case I would rank

it high.@samuelcrocker

I usually look at a combination of

factors and often go with gut instinct

based on a combination of stats

rather than looking at only one thing.@Koozai_Anna

What about Relevancy?

60% of SEO’s said A good PageRank is less important than relevant text.

62% of SEO’s said A good Mozrank is less important than relevant text.

61% of SEO’s said A good Page Authority is more important than relevant text.

58% of SEO’s said A good domain age is less important than relevant text.

Link LocationIn content Surrounding relevant text – 95% High or extreme value

Footer links are shit. Having said that, Ive got networks of

hundreds of millions of them, and they work in extreme volume

situations. My talks at Mozcon, SearchMarketingDay and Distilled

Linklove covered [email protected]

In content surrounding non relevant text – 61% High or medium value

Navigation link (External site) - 59% High or medium value

Sidebar link – 94% said no use, low or medium value

Footer link – 97% Said no use, low or medium value

Site wide links?

84% said that 50 links or over per domain was detrimental.

it completely depends on the sector and how the competitors stack

up.@GavinSmithLeeds

Again...dependent on the anchor text being used. You will

be able to get away with a much higher ratio of sitewide links that use a brand anchor

than you would with a keyword....

@PG_Martin

Page Factors62% said that a link from a 2 year old page was of high level importance.

Depending on vertical and profile of that

industry (All links are good links)@JasonD

Depends if new pages is relevant etc and weight of links. Better to have a new link from new page on an authoritative site than an old link from an old page

that is irrelevant.@davidjmain

61% said that a relevant URL was high priority.

Other Factors

67% said that a they are ok or it doesn’t matter having a no follow link.

as part of natural link profile the likes of Google, Yahoo and bing are

going to see all types of links. I don't think it does any harm to have links from non traditional

resources as no one site is going to have perfect 100% do-follow links

@davidtutin

I'd rather have links, even if they don't pass juice. People

will be more likely to find your site if you're linked to, and in turn you'll probably

get more links through exposure

@tomsmith198424% said a link from an uncachced page was ok

60% said a link from a penalised page was a definite

No No!

So A good Link is!A text link

An old domainGood Domain Authority

Good Page AuthorityIn content with surrounding relevant text

A relevant URLRelated ccTLD

Related country IP On a single IP per Class CShould be a Followed link

And your Point is…

READ BETWEEN THE LINES

Sidebar (3.3%) or footer links (11%)

Site wide ratio of over 1:250 links per domains (11%)

Non relevant URL (10%)

Non relevant text (6%)

Focus on PR (8%)

Non Related ccTLD (6%)

Non related Country IP (6%)

More than 5 links from the same IP (9.5%)

More than 10 links from the same class C (11%)

Only 11%* of SEO’s were unhappy with the following:

So if you believe that shitty links are bad?

YOUR IN THE MINORITY

But What do clients think?

Main Objectives from SEO

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%Top Objective

So what makes a good link for Clients?

0%

10%

20%

Top Link factors for Clients

Link Factors

60% said voted a 1 way link their top priority / 40% voted it reciprocal link.

80% said it was important to be in the same language / 20% said unsure

75% said a relevant URL was important

63% said an old page was not important or they were unsure

25% the linking page having backlinks to it was not important

Wouldn't look natural to only link to the home page and specific pages can be more relevant to the users

search@clientX1

Isnt this determined on length time

websites take to load?

@ClientX2

Relevancy and Location

Top Location Choices

Domain & Page Link Factors

55% said a related ccTLD was important – 25% said it wasn’t.

Don't know what this is@clientX3

12% said less than 5 links from the same IP was important – 38% Didn’t know

25% said a link from a no follow page was important – 50% didn’t know / 12%

said it was detrimental.

So a client thinks about the following?

The anchor text

The domain being relevant

The Page name being relevant

The PageRank

It should be the same language

It should be in content within relevant text

And your Point is…

The Customer is always Right!

NO!

Clients are not SEO Experts!

As specialists it is our job to educate them!

And show them the value associated to links!

So how can you put a cost to a link?

68% of SEO’s would Pay £30

- £75

75% Client Don’t know

25% of Clients

would pay £30 - £75

How much is a PR5 Charity link worth to you each month?

Bridging the Gap

Explain why? & Strategy?

7%4%

1%

6% 2%

80%

Type of Links

DirectoryArticle DistroAcademicBlog NetworkForumOther

Branded Profile

http://www.boonty.co

m/

http://www.denda.co

m/

http://www.downloadsta

d.nl/0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

BrandKeywordMisc

Link Profile

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

Linking Page Authority

No.

of L

inks

Takeaways

• Be transparent

• Explain why you have chosen certain methods of

gaining links.

• Explain your strategy

• Manage Expectations

• Don’t worry about gaining shit links

• Sales and Traffic are the main objectives

Questions

Thank You

Twitter/theukseowww.seomad.com www.justsearch.co.ukwww.getupdated.comwww.seohosting.co.uk