My previous column showed you the right way to build links in 2014. Now it's time to show you a specific linking tactic that may blow your mind. You're about to learn how to link "Google style."
Internal Linking
It makes sense to initiate any linking campaign at your ownwebsite.
Begin by running a link check. Fix any broken links discovered.
The next step is leveraging the power and trust that is already flowing to your website. This is where competitor analysis comes in.
Now I'm going to let you in on a little secret of mine – the first place I look to for competitors is Google Ventures. And you should, too.
For the uninitiated, Google Ventures is the venture capital
arm of Google. They provide seed venture and growth-stage funding to
companies – including Uber, Nest, and RetailMeNot. They are financially
motivated to build a company, and then sell it at crazy multiples. One
means to do that is to drive gobs of organic traffic to their ecommerce
holdings.
Websites owned by Google Ventures have direct access to Google.
Quoting from their own site "We provide unparalleled (and real) access
to Google's massive network of employees and alumni." I assume this
includes people that know how the algorithm works and how to optimize
for it. I can't imagine a better resource for competitive or comparative
analysis.
Start your research by navigating to the portfolio page.
You will find over 200 companies that Google has invested in. These
companies are categorized as: Consumer, Commerce, Enterprise & Data,
Life Science & Health and Seed. Look for a related site.
One of my favorite Google Ventures websites is CustomMade.
This website is a marketplace for custom-made products crafted by
woodworkers, jewelers, metalworkers, and others. The architecture and
navigation, however, is perfectly suited for any ecommerce site.
Like most websites, the majority of linking domains point to the
CustomMade home page, making it the most powerful page on the website.
What sets CustomMade apart is how they harness that strength. Check out this footer:
Loads of keyword rich links point to category pages. With the Maker
& Gallery indexes, they have essentially placed a sitemap on the
main page. I think it's brilliant. Others have called it spam.
Some might argue that GV sites, by virtue of their special
relationship with Google would get a pass. I don't believe that's the
case here – at least not algorithmically. CustomMade has been affected
by various Google algorithm updates, but the current version is
generating record traffic:
Because this website has had its ups and downs and is currently on
track, it deserves attention. Especially if one doesn't have Google as a
partner, but wants to see how Google Developers like Michael Margolis navigate thru SERP turbulence. Margolis' first stab at optimizing the site resulted in a 100 percent increase in organic traffic.
External Linking
CustomMade also employs one of my favorite link building tactics – attracting links form colleges and universities (a.k.a., .edu link building). As with any form of link building, the success rate is directly proportionate to the value of the content.
Before sending any link request, you should ask yourself "what
compelling reason does this site have to link to me?" If you can't
answer that question, there's no point in hitting the send button.
In the case of CustomMade, the compelling reason is a scholarship. In
fact, they offer two different scholarships valued at $1,000 each:
2013 academic scholarships:
- "Why buy custom furniture?" scholarship
- "Why buy custom jewelry?" scholarship
2012 academic scholarships:
- "Consumer advantages of buying custom furniture" scholarship
- "Consumer advantages of buying custom jewelry" scholarship
I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that if you follow
their lead, you may want to skip the "keyword rich" scholarship names.
That said, they have attracted 102 .edu backlinks, which is pretty
awesome.
Conclusion
For those who have wondered "what would Google do?", now you have an
answer. If you're considering a link building campaign in 2014,
following their lead is a good place to start.