My competitors all seem to use "junk" pages to rank / backlink, how to compete and not cheat
-
Hello,
Page 1 of Google for the word "copier lease" and most other valuable copier leasing terms are dominated by the same 4-5 for organic (PPC too of course, but organic is what I want)
They all use some SEO company, so when I go and look for good link oppertunities, most of the pages I find are just SEO companies who of couse would never be interested in a competitor's link.
Examples:
ajaxunion blogspot com or excellentpoly blogspot com and the list goes on, all just AjaxUnion "blog pages".
blog homerenovationguide com /2011/06/15/repair-or-replace is just inhouse SEO making ranking pages for CostOwl.
So, its hard NOT to want to throw up a blog farm and do as "the Romans do".
What ideas do you all have to get backlinks in this market of Copier Leasing that would hold up.
Thanks
-
What did you pay in legal fees to set this up? That's something that needs to be considered as well, to make sure this is viewed by the government as a legitimate scholarship and not a contest.
-
Have $250-$500? Good.
Setup a scholarship for that amount and then create a page on your website that lists the requirements:
- Description of the scholarship
- Criteria (who can apply)
- Award amount
- Contest guidelines (if it is a contest)
- How to apply
- Deadline
Then, make sure to place a highlighted reference to the scholarship program on your homepage (so that others will link to you homepage).
Now, find 5+ colleges or high schools that have .edu domains and email their engineering department that you have a scholarship you are giving away in a contest and ask them to link from their website to your website so that their students will be informed.
In your content guidelines, tell them that they have to write an article that describes why they are the best candidate for the scholarship and then upload it to their own blog with a link back to your homepage.
Then just pick the best candidate and announce them after the deadline.
We did this for a client and garnered 4 .edu "do-follow" links, and over 30 .com/.net/etc... but the real plus was the upgrade to PR4 from PR3 and the shift from position 9 to position 4 on the first page of Google for their top keyword as well as several other page one take overs for relevant keywords.
Inevitably you will loose some of the links as people will take down the article... however, we retained about 85%.
Best of luck!
-
I agree, and getting outside the box to get legit backlinks that are not just "business focused" like being on a copier company maker website or BBB site often lead to tunnel vision. Many of the listed suggestions I have never tried - but will.
-
Situations like this are tough. In a competitive niche the sites that are ranking #1 are still spammers...just smarter spammers than the ones that got caught by Penguin. I was recently looking at the backlink profile of some sites in the car insurance niche. Yikes! These sites have in some cases millions of backlinks but they've been smart and instead of linking back with 100,000 links saying "car insurance" they've got a few saying "insurance for cars", a few saying, "automobile insurance", a few saying, "quotes for truck insurance". They've spread out their anchor text enough that Penguin hasn't picked it up.
At this point it would be impossible to compete against these sites by using completely white hat measures. (At least I think it would be...perhaps some incredible white hat SEO superfreak could do it, but not me.)
But, think of this. What is the point of Penguin? It really is to combat all effective types of webspam. And, penguin is just in its infancy right now. Google figured out how to go after obviously manipulative anchor text and now it's learning. This is why it has taken so long for new Penguin refreshes to come out - because it is difficult for Google to apply algorithms that effectively eliminate spam but don't take down legitimate sites.
I believe that over the next couple of years, Penguin will get more and more refined. Eventually these sites that you see ranking at the top using webspam will be gone. Then, the good sites will rank.
Ultimately the best option in my opinion is to start now at creating awesomeness and eventually you will win. But the problem is that that could take years.
So, if you are looking to make a quick buck then join the party and spam away. But otherwise, I wouldn't do it!
-
Even though you seem to be a little against it, the first thing I would do is report their nasty link farms. Sooner or later the algorithm will get smart enough to detect link farms by itself. There's nothing wrong with speeding up the process.
As for the rest of what you can do, most tips I had were already listed by others. In spite of all the algorithm changes, content is (still) king. The best thing you can do is create as much content as you can.
-
Aggressive approach would be reporting domains with non relevant links to Google.
-
but did you create google +Local Business Page? or just a regular Google +Business Page?
Its important to create a Google +Local Business page as well and connect it with your site
-
Great actionable stuff here! I just did the schema.org and did the "business" one, and did see some more favor from Google after just that simple addition.
Ohh and don't be afraid of your competitors, real contextual quality links outrank junk content link farms - TRUE
-
"What ideas do you all have to get back-links in this market of Copier Leasing that would hold up."
-
First make sure you go through the getlisted.org process for local - this will give you some solid links as well -structured citations even no-followed when connected and verified to your site are boosting your rankings, thats based on my experience.
-
Second go for links to competitors who are NOT ranking for this 'specific' keyword but are contextually in that industry,
-
Get yourself a video on the simple part of leasing and this info, embed it on your page that you want to rank, tag it properly and promote it on youtube, Use 'all' features available for videos on you tube, (captions and stuff)
++if you can add it to your site with a video sitemap and some links (not much)
- Mark up your site with semantic markups - schema.org - as much as possible
i can go on, but if you will make sure your site, speed and stickiness is there you should get up there quickly.
Ohh and don't be afraid of your competitors, real contextual quality links outrank junk content link farms
-
-
"These may suck, but I am not in your niche
Just be creative as your competition obviously is not"
They don't suck, and are what I need to get the wheels of progress moving. I think of links in a convention sense, and whats there vs. what could be there. Linking to a "how to lease a copier" is what everyone does, but NO ONE has done anything creative.
(please do send me the SEO writer you like)
-
Please let me stress though if your onpage and social strategy are not there link building is not gonna do it by itself.....
That is why I recommend really delving into SEOMOZ resources, as they give a well rounded idea of the intricacies needed for an "Internet Marketing Strategy"
-
LOVE IT Cody, I actually used a recent image from Office Space for a PPC campaign and it did capture attention. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoIRL0p2PSY is what I think you are referring to. I will start the wheels spinning on how to "one up" whats already on the web, and make it better...the whole point of the internet - make it better - they will come!
-
I'm not quite at a "$2500/mo deal" so there has to be something between $2500 and nothing for building links around my content...
So I am in a much more competitive niche, and without giving to much away I do not spend a dime on link building, and compete neck and neck as a local business against national brands... With that said, my point above is you do not necessarily want to "Build Links" in the old school way, you want to create a content strategy that defeats you competitors crappy content strategy.
Copier Leasing
Copier Technical Whitepapers
A Funny MeMe Campaign about funny copier "offfice stories" or using the Office tv show
an infographic about the history of copying but maybe a funny take that goes WAY back to even Egyptian times
These may suck, but I am not in your niche
Just be creative as your competition obviously is not
There are of course other white hat tactics you should be doing, that once again you have a plethora of resource material as a pro member that are not associated with content strategies (but many are)
If you cannot write these find a SEO copywriter or agency that can help but with even a 1,500 a month budget you could do wonders (in my opinion against a competitor like that)
and PS if you need a great copywriter I have a name I could pass you privately that she does great work PM me
-
I can definitely relate. I work in the auto realm which is less trusted than the government according to a recent study.
Anyway, rather than just writing good content, go after viral content that people will share. Maybe pull out an "Office Space" Esq campaign where you get even with office equipment. Stapler vs hammer? Monitor vs ground? Projector vs office chair? Printer vs a large amount of fireworks?
Then reach out to bloggers and humor sites to link back to your video.
-
I like the "Roman Empire fell
It was more of a "desperation" cry than a real strategy. Quality content is working, and I'm not complaining, but "copier leasing" is just boring, so what I can do much more easily in the B2C world, the B2B world is not so "social". Most people that lease a copier have facebook, twitter, etc blocked even in their workplace.
I have been all over the site, and agree that more SEOmoz reading is helpful.
I guess my still "open" question is based on a few people (listed on this site as reputable SEO companies) $2500/mo and the first thing they all want to do is build backlinks as that is what I have 8 or less and only a few do follow. I create quality content, and it gets indexed and organic traffic, but it will never compete with my competitors who sit with hundreds of referring domains and pages.
I'm not quite at a "$2500/mo deal" so there has to be something between $2500 and nothing for building links around my content...
-
"So, its hard NOT to want to throw up a blog farm and do as "the Romans do". "
Yes, but the Roman Empire fell, and fell hard
Content, Content, Content - Would be my advice to combat a spammer! But BETTER content and and EVEN BETTER content
Quality not quantity, make sure you are smartly using social and trying to do everything the right way and the tortoise shall beat the hare!
There are hundreds of resources here on SEOMOZ that can help you with an Internet Marketing and Content Strategy Start with the Blog and work your way to Whiteboard Fridays and even last couple webinars have been really informative and timely
Hope this helps
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/category/whiteboard-friday
And I am sure others will add more sources and ideas
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
How Many Backlinks does I need to rank?
A keyword Olehana private label cosmetic company that also my competitor have 4k ref domain for this keyword. So Do I need more than 4k ref domain with anchortext "olehana" Please help me. Thanks.
Link Building | | arainbadami0 -
Does removing pages, so that they return 404, also remove any impact of spam links pointing to that page?
A site with numerous spam links pointing to an old forum. The forum is now removed so do I need any further action? thanks,
Link Building | | ElaineDesignLobby0 -
How to Improve my Website Rankings
Hi, One of our client named Exclusive Limousine has been ranking in second page for a while in Google Australia for the keyword "Limo Hire Melbourne". Earlier, this website is handled by other SEO company who created more spammy links from irrelevant sites. I have used google disavow option to remove the urls. But, the ranking still remains the same. Though, we tried different approach nothing works. what steps can i take to improve the rankings. Please assist me in fixing this issue.
Link Building | | jkovalan0 -
External Backlinks - Should I remove/disavow external blog posts done by SEO company?
Last year my company hired an SEO company to build backlinks for targeted achor text keywords. It turns out that they wrote average to below average blog posts that had content related to my business, but that were placed on odd websites, not related to my business. They did this for about one year before I fired them. Should I try to get each of those blog posts removed and then disavow them? If the external links back to my site are nofollow then it is my understanding that I don't really need to worry about them...is that accurate? Is it too risky to keep any external backlinked content alive when it is on a site that is unrelated to my business?
Link Building | | ajgrossman0 -
Daily backlinks
Hi whats the number of backlinks i can create a day, for each keyword that i want to rank for, some say 5-10 or 20-30, other say there is no limited, if you create quality backlnks i know its not about quantity but quality ,but really whats a best answer? Thanks
Link Building | | xverticle0 -
Where/should I post my press release/articles on my own website?
I have started a long-term article marketing campaign and press release distribution. I will have about 4 articles and press releases in total every month. Although the press releases will not be self-promotional, sometimes they will be talking about a certain product that we unveil. The question is, due to the high quality of these press releases, should I put them on my website as well as publish them on third party websites? If so, because they target a specific service/product which we already have a dedicated page on our website, wouldn't that put Google in the position of choosing between the two pages? I was thinking to put them on my blog and link internally from there with the keywords that I target on those pages as anchor text. The same question for articles. Any suggestions?
Link Building | | echo10 -
Need ideas to get do follow links from highly competative niche "wedding"
I need to get high quality do-follow links and my target market/keyword is ‘Maui wedding’ and a few others. Because it is such a competitive market I am having a hard time getting links from local companies providing Maui Weddings (I know why because they are my competitors) and national companies sites aren't much help because they are trying to provide leads to their advertisers. I would like do-follow links from non-paid sources any ideas or resources you could help with would be much appreciated. Thanks.
Link Building | | photoseo10 -
I'm aware that spamming tools can lead to ruin..what do you use as a backlink strategy.
But I have had some luck with bookkmaRKING DEMON, and understand the pitfalls of massive submission, but I deal in facts not generalities. If the goal is to mix your links accross the pages in your site, and mix the DA quality, or pr of the links, and have them contextual as well as comments, directories, etc. who cares how it is done as long as it appears natural 1. Linkvana claims to be a posting service for you. you put text in with your link and it posts to relevant sites, the same as you would do manually. For my context links I see this as a better way than begging people to give me a link, or wasting time kissing butt of reporters (kike i did in the past). Anyway there is good and bad with everything. I want to know if anyone knows of anyone who used linkvana and what their experiences is ? And more importantly.... WHAT DOES EVERYONE USE AS A COMPLETE BACK LINK STRATEGY? Thanks
Link Building | | joemas990