How We Help Clients Earn Links and Gain Credibility
Recently, we published “SEO Today,” which describes the evolution of SEO tactics, what is important today and why. It is refreshing to see others also writing similar detailed articles targeting a particular tactic. Jason Corrigan of Kissmetrics recently published a story on Entrepreneur about modern-day “Link-Earning” – formerly referred to as link building.
Relevant Content Earns Link Credibility
In the SEO Today article, we mention that keyword relevance has evolved to search query relevance. You gain relevancy surrounding search queries by the content on your page, and the content of other pages that link to your page. Your page’s relevance is then compared to other websites’, based on page content and search query relevance.
Master Web Creations works with our clients to develop relevant content that reaches audiences seeking information related to the product or service our client offers. In some cases, these are static pages optimized with calls-to-action. In others, these are short blog posts with photos.
The KISSmetrics article eloquently describes how links are earned and not built. “Business owners are tasked with the responsibility for creating relationships with relevant thought-influencers that offer high quality content to online consumers.”
Do you see what happened there? They provided a direct example of how this works:
- Create meaningful, share-able content (the Kissmetrics article)
- Share (or re-publish) on entrepreneur.com
- Share to Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn and other social publishing platforms
- Earn references as a credible source (such as this article providing it as a relevant resource)
This builds the publisher’s page relevance and the author’s credibility for such search phrases as “how to gain link credibility.” The article at Kissmetrics is still the number 1 search result at google.
In terms of thought influencers, the small businesses we serve may have local community or industry resources online that consumers utilize. Where beneficial, we encourage clients to participate. Sometimes for small businesses, this is limited to having a business listing, or an enhanced business listing.
Earning Links Builds Credibility
In MWC’s SEO today article, we also talked about how social media plays an important role in marketing and customer service.
“Incoming links should evolve naturally as part of your marketing strategy as you build your online reputation”
We recommend building your brand identity and online reputation as part of your marketing plan. This strategy allows you to connect with customers and gain brand advocates both on and off the web. In the KISSmetrics article, they talk about how gaining links is similar to building real-world credibility. You must build experience in your realm to gain votes. This applies to both a political office in the real world, and a consumer website seeking better SERP results.
What this usually means for our small business clients is that increased connections with target customers builds brand integrity, both on and offline. Managing social networks helps keep track of the success of your marketing strategy and allows for immediate response to inquiries and interest levels, in turn building trust. We work with our clients to help keep that connection through periodic shares, social platform updates and content development.
KISSmetrics includes a useful graphic of the three A’s of content ranking which illustrates the relationships between relevancy, credibility and originality. It is something like this, but you could view the original work as well.
Use this chart to evaluate each incoming link. For example, when submitting your listing to a directory:
- Alignment: Does this directory reach your target audience?
- Authority: Is this a credible website?
- Authenticity: Was this website built for users or for spiders (i.e., search engines)? If you’re not sure, does it really interest you, is it easy to use and find information?
Master Web Creations now offers automated local listing services to increase citations, enhance your incoming links and optimize your local presence. Find out more about our local seo services and check your local citations for free on our website.
Similarly, when we develop and publish meaningful content for our clients:
- Alignment: Does this content answer a question or solve a problem? Does it apply to the target audience?
- Authority: Will this help build up the brand trust and business authority by being a knowledgeable resource? Is this content being published to places where many users are interested in this type of content?
- Authenticity: Is this content unique, or does it answer an old question/problem in a new and more thorough way than any others before it? Is it designed for the audience or is it just stuffed with useless keyword phrases that mean nothing to the reader?
We also offer content development and website design, always optimizing for search engines.
More About MWC
A CSS-Only Poster of the 3 laws of robotics
Here, at MWC, we are quality enthusiasts – we don’t just put out a message to make noise. We strive for meaningful and engaging communication, from content to presentation to delivery method. Do you need help with your marketing strategy? Do you have a specific question on a tactic you’re using or would like to try? Add a comment or contact us directly, we would love to hear from you and help you.
We’re also CSS-fun – check out the CSS3 Poster on the right. What’s fun is the fact that it uses no graphics (the link to the CSS page is at the bottom of the post), and similar to the sub-title, its 3-law-safe.
