Google Ranking Game Changer! Disavow Links & What it Means for Your SEO

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Google Ranking Game Changer: Disavow Links & What it Means for Your SEO

Alex Dunks SEO Expert &

Business Development ManagerWebmarketing123

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Since 2004, we’ve employed a metrics-based approach to converting online visibility into measurable business results.

Digital Marketing Agency specializing inSEO / PPC / Social Media / Website Design

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Google Introduces the Disavow Links Tool

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Webinar Agenda

1 Why Links Matter & What Are "Unnatural Links"?

2 What is the New "Disavow Links" Tool?

3 Build Search Rankings From the Ground Up

4 Build Links That You Won't Have to Disavow

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Why do links matter?

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A link pointing to a web page is treated as a "vote" for that page to show up in search results.

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We all know how valuable it is to rank in the first few search results.

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Before Google's Search Engine, you could buy placement in search results.

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As links became more valuable,a market developed to buy and sell them.

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And many tactics emerged to generate these links

Comment Submissions

Guest Book Submissions

Paid Directory Submissions

Article Submissions & Syndication

Low quality blogs and link farms

Link Exchanges, Wheels, Schemes

Plus...Evolution & Automation of Each

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But Google got progressively better at distinguishing 'natural' and relevant links.

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Google promises better rankings for natural links, and penalties for unnatural links.

But for years, these were empty threats

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But natural link-building is hard

1. It's extremely time-consuming and expensive to do the content creation and outreach to legitimately generate high quality links.

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But natural link-building is hard

2. When another website links to yours, it's often on your company or product name, NOT on the keywords you're hoping to rank for.

What You Get: "My Company" www.mycompany.com

What You Want: "Desired Keyword" www.mycompany.com

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3. It's also common to build or buy links and gain ranking on a keyword doesn't ultimately drive conversions.

"Poorly Chosen Keyword" ≠ Conversions

But natural link-building is hard

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Facing this,many marketers bought links...

This summer's Penguin update disrupted the paid link economy and imposed penalties.

A drop from page 1 to page 2 is likely to cripple lead generation from Search.

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Marketers discovered it was:

Difficult to get Google to reconsider an algorithmic or manual ranking penalty

Even more difficult to get those paid links taken down

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Some link providers opportunistically made marketers pay to have their paid links taken down.

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Webinar Agenda

1 Why Links Matter & What Are "Unnatural Links"?

2 What is the New "Disavow Links" Tool?

3 Build Search Rankings From the Ground Up

4 Build Links That You Won't Have to Disavow

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Disavow Links Tool

Within Google Webmaster Tools

Before you can use Google's (free) Webmaster Tools, you first have to verify that you are the site administrator.

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Disavow Links Tool

Instructions: Simply upload a text file,

Either excluding all links from a particular, like this:

domain:google.comdomain:yahoo.comdomain:facebook.com

or naming specific URLs, like this:

http://www.spamdomain2.com/Page1.htmlhttp://www.spamdomain3.com/Page5.html

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Disavow Links Tool

They recommend including notes (after a # sign), as you may be downloading, editing, and re-uploading the same document if you have future revisions.

Expect the process to take a few weeks.

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What Does the Tool Do?

It effectively adds a "no-follow" attribute to the link, neutralizing its capacity to affect ranking or trigger a penalty.

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When to Use the Tool

Google suggests you FIRST attempt to manually request removal of the links, as their removal process will take some weeks.

Make those manual requests and these Disavow Links Tool submissions BEFORE you submit a Reconsideration Request, and refer to your efforts in your Request.

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Which Links Should You Disavow?

Don't accidentally disavow good links!

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Bing has a comparable tool

Within Bing Webmaster Tools

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Webinar Agenda

1 Why Links Matter & What Are "Unnatural Links"?

2 What is the New "Disavow Links" Tool?

3 Build Search Rankings From the Ground Up

4 Build Links That You Won't Have to Disavow

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Are you building your SEO strategy on a solid foundation?

Red flags:

• You are unsure of the keywords you are targeting or if they are "any good”

• No keyword mapping

• No concerted link building effort

• Not tracking keywords from source to paying customer

• Little to no content generation efforts that are consistent with keyword mapping

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Make a Plan: First lay a strong foundation

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Make a Plan:

Keyword Selection

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Use Tools that Google Provides

Google Search: Google Keyword Tool

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It's not rocket science...

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Make a PlanKeyword Selection

Keyword Mapping

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Make a Plan

Content Guidelines

Key thought: Who is going to write this content?!

Know the requirements before you begin.

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Content Mapping Document

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This culminates in a link strategy document

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Link Strategy Document

Content is the fuel that powers a link building strategy

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Implementation

TrackingIteration

Planning

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Transparency in Reporting

Key thought: When was the last time you saw a linking report? Is your agency even adding links?

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A ranking report should show steady progress over time.

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Benchmark so you know where you are at

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But reporting shouldn't stop there.

How are individual keywords performing in terms of revenue?

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Which Keywords are Converting. At What Value?

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Webinar Agenda

1 Why Links Matter & What Are "Unnatural Links"?

2 What is the New "Disavow Links" Tool?

3 Build Search Rankings From the Ground Up

4 Build Links That You Won't Have to Disavow

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Game Plan for Link Building in the Modern Era

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Three-Month Game Plan

Low Hanging Fruit

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Low Hanging Fruit

Press Releases

Three-Month Game Plan

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Low Hanging Fruit

Press Releases

Images & Alt-Text

Alt-text: “online presentation software”

Three-Month Game Plan

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Low Hanging Fruit

Press Releases

Images & Alt-Text

Guest Blogging

Three-Month Game Plan

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Low Hanging Fruit

Press Releases

Images & Alt-Text

Guest Blogging

Relevant Directories

Three-Month Game Plan

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Three-Month Game Plan

Low Hanging Fruit

Press Releases

Images & Alt-Text

Guest Blogging

Relevant Directories

Social

Social

Search

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Social Influences Search, and Can Earn Links

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Social Influences Search, and Can Earn Links

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Low hanging fruit

Press Releases

Images

Guest Blogging

Relevant Directories

Social

Three-Month Game Plan

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Key Takeaways

• Use diversity as a guiding principle for keyword strategy,

link sources, and your overall link profile.

• Don’t waste effort. Lay a strong foundation by establishing the right keyword list and checking your goal-tracking.

• Remove or Disavow Problematic Legacy Links.

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WE ARE EXPERTS AT BUILDING TOP LINE REVENUE GROWTH FOR GLOBAL ENTERPRISES WITH TARGETED, COST-EFFECTIVE DIGITAL MARKETING

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m

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The "anchor text" itself:

The surrounding text:

How does Google evaluate a link?

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The overall content of the page:

How does Google evaluate a link?

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The metatext, hidden code on the page that only Google reads:

How does Google evaluate a link?

e.g. Page Headers