A4U Barcelona 2012 - Martin Macdonald

A4U Europe – Barcelona Martin MacDonaldJune 19th, 2012

Martin MacDonaldDirector Inbound Marketing Expedia (EAN)

@searchmartin

@searchmartin

The New Rules(affiliate site architecture)

Vince Venice Panda

MayDayFlorida

(or farmer)

InstantCaffeine

Big DaddyJagger

Austin

“The Google Dance”

Penguin

Why Have I lost all my traffic?

Stop Ruining Cute Animals!

http://www.seomoz.org/google-algorithm-change

My two favourite questions…

So, how much……of my spun/copied/generated/templated/markov/scraped/ripped/content can I keep?

All of it!

All of it!…as long as you de-index it

seriously.

So, how many……of my bought/rented/traded/acquired/widget/directory linkscan I keep?

Any Guessing?

Well, it depends.Seriously. It does. Sorry.

Good. Bad.Real links*

*well… lets discuss that.

Blogroll LinksFooter LinksWidget Links

Sitewide LinksLists of Links

‘Over optimized’ Anchors‘Over optimized’ Internal Links

Article SubmissionsAnything with the word “network”.*

*and… lets discuss this as well.

Stop chasing the algorithm

Work out where google are going

Get there first

Why Social Signals are Important

Why Social Signals are Important

AKA: who shot PageRank?

Why Social Signals are Important

Network Topography

Social Networks* are currently a much more reliable authoritative representation than links.

* currently….

Why Social Signals are Important

Network Topography

Un-natural social profiles are ignored by the search engines as a ranking factor

Social groups are easy (to see)

This shit isn't that straightforward

If we care about deeplinking…

If we care about deeplinking…

If we care about deeplinking…

If we care about deeplinking…

Authority is tough to fake..

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Delta Spam

Authority is tough to fake..

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 90

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Delta Spam

lets think about “social-spread”

lets think about “social-spread”

lets think about “social-spread”

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 90

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Delta Spam

Want beta access?

Hi @Ysekand just heard @searchmartin Talking at #A4U, your tools look great! Can I get beta access?

DIY Social

this works right?URL Links Domains Unique IPs

http://www.seomoz.org/users/profile/63 1510 184 163

http://www.seomoz.org/user_files/SEO_Web_Developer_Cheat_Sheet.pdf 536 247 236

http://www.seomoz.org/users/view/63 4026 312 271

http://static.seomoz.org/user_files/SEO_Web_Developer_Cheat_Sheet.pdf 153 66 38

http://www.seomoz.org/users/profile/22897 685 119 105

https://www.seomoz.org/users/register 167 73 69

http://www.seomoz.org/users/view/81197 667 68 63

http://www.seomoz.org/users/profile/218981 510 66 62

http://www.seomoz.org/users/profile/21379 206 62 58

http://www.seomoz.org/users/view/49007 703 98 93

http://www.seomoz.org/users/view/22897 575 86 82

http://www.seomoz.org/users/profile/155620 406 75 71

http://www.seomoz.org/users/view/30546 532 65 61

http://www.seomoz.org/users/view/21348 1127 76 70

http://www.seomoz.org/users/view/78590 486 66 63

http://www.seomoz.org/users/view/21379 437 64 59

this works right?URL Links Domains Unique IPs

http://www.seomoz.org/users/profile/63 1510 184 163

http://www.seomoz.org/user_files/SEO_Web_Developer_Cheat_Sheet.pdf 536 247 236

http://www.seomoz.org/users/view/63 4026 312 271

http://static.seomoz.org/user_files/SEO_Web_Developer_Cheat_Sheet.pdf 153 66 38

http://www.seomoz.org/users/profile/22897 685 119 105

https://www.seomoz.org/users/register 167 73 69

http://www.seomoz.org/users/view/81197 667 68 63

http://www.seomoz.org/users/profile/218981 510 66 62

http://www.seomoz.org/users/profile/21379 206 62 58

http://www.seomoz.org/users/view/49007 703 98 93

http://www.seomoz.org/users/view/22897 575 86 82

http://www.seomoz.org/users/profile/155620 406 75 71

http://www.seomoz.org/users/view/30546 532 65 61

http://www.seomoz.org/users/view/21348 1127 76 70

http://www.seomoz.org/users/view/78590 486 66 63

http://www.seomoz.org/users/view/21379 437 64 59

this works right?URL Links Domains Unique IPs

http://www.seomoz.org/users/profile/63 1510 184 163

http://www.seomoz.org/user_files/SEO_Web_Developer_Cheat_Sheet.pdf 536 247 236

http://www.seomoz.org/users/view/63 4026 312 271

http://static.seomoz.org/user_files/SEO_Web_Developer_Cheat_Sheet.pdf 153 66 38

http://www.seomoz.org/users/profile/22897 685 119 105

https://www.seomoz.org/users/register 167 73 69

http://www.seomoz.org/users/view/81197 667 68 63

http://www.seomoz.org/users/profile/218981 510 66 62

http://www.seomoz.org/users/profile/21379 206 62 58

http://www.seomoz.org/users/view/49007 703 98 93

http://www.seomoz.org/users/view/22897 575 86 82

http://www.seomoz.org/users/profile/155620 406 75 71

http://www.seomoz.org/users/view/30546 532 65 61

http://www.seomoz.org/users/view/21348 1127 76 70

http://www.seomoz.org/users/view/78590 486 66 63

http://www.seomoz.org/users/view/21379 437 64 59

but I can’t do it on site

but I can’t do it on site

use someone else’s

hijacking communities

Sometimes Linkbuilding opportunities come out of nowhere...

hijacking communities

Sometimes “Linkbuilding” opportunities come out of nowhere...

Now I’m interested

hijacking communities

Now I’m interested

Sometimes Linkbuilding opportunities come out of nowhere...

Seed my content to the right people..

hijacking communities

hijacking communities

what happened next?

what happened next?

what happened next?

what happened next?

WTF?

what happened next?

what happened next?

Normal traffic: 30-50 visits/day

But what about the links?

What's the worst that can happen?1) You build a network of great contacts

2) You make your web properties more involving and interactive

3) You improve customer service levels

4) You get free referral traffic from your social profiles

What downside?

Key Points1) No you can NOT carry on using “rubbish” content2) Stop going for the “easy” link3) Lets all forget about the “algo”. Lets build good stuff.4) We shot PageRank. Sorry.5) Faking social profiles is really quite hard.6) If you don’t have your own network, use someone else’s.7) Always be on the lookout!

Questions?

Best Practices1) You have to remove all copied content, de-index it etc.2) Everything spiders see on your site should be good – if it

isnt, then de-index. Everything.3) Stop buying links off anyone – you can still “make” some

though, as long as its done sensibly.4) Don’t even bother trying to game the social system.5) Bring your community “in house” (or on site)

6) Engage! Even if you don’t think its worth it now, it will be in a few years. Rel Author is a great example of where things are going….

Who’s that guy?

martin macdonald @SearchMartin

bit.ly/GplusMartinlinkd.in/martinmac