Is Infographic Distribution Still OK?
-
Hi Mozzers.
I'm designing an infographic to be used in conjunction with a report we've compiled. It's a really strong story backed up with good data. We're planning to do a bit of PR activity around it to hopefully get it in some very authoratitve publications.
On top of this, to maximise the backlinks that we're able to build I've been considering posting it on some (possibly all of the infographic sites) listed on Paddy Moogans blog post about infographic distribution.
- Would this provide any benefit or is it likely to get me penalised in some way?
- Are there any tips/advice you would give to do this? i.e. link to a mixture of different pages, use non spammy anchor text?
- Should I limit how many infographic sites I distribute it too? Is there a maximum total I should consider or even a maximum number of infographic links I should build per week/month?
- Anything else I've not considered?
Thanks in advance
David
-
Hi David,
Thanks for the question and I'm glad to see that you found my list of infographic sites
I think that infographics can still be a good way of marketing your website and getting links, the key really is to make sure that you're not just doing an infographic for the sake of doing an infographic. To be more specific, it shouldn't just be created in order to get links. There needs to be a solid, accurate story and data behind it as well as a nice design. Too many infographics these days are thrown together very quickly and shouldn't even be infographics! These are the ones that are probably not going to help very much in terms of links or traffic.
I believe that this is what partly led to Matt Cutts saying back in 2012 that Google may seek to discount links generated by infographics at some point.
It sounds like you don't need to worry about this but I wanted to point it out anyway.
Re your questions - I would avoid using commercial anchor text and stick to branded anchor text - this helps reduce the chance if the activity being seen as spammy and causing you problems with Google. I'd certainly recommend linking back to the original source of the infographic or the data behind it, I'd avoid linking back to commercial category pages because this can also make it look a bit spammy.
In terms of how many you should distribute to, it is less about the number and more about the quality of the site. The list I provided was put together over two years ago now (I need to update it!) so I'd recommend you review the sites and make sure they're of a good quality before submitting to them. Ultimately, you want your infographic to be covered on good quality sites that have the potential to send you quality, relevant traffic. If you use this as your benchmark, it will mean that you should end up going for good quality sites.
I hope that helps and best of luck with your infographic!
Paddy
-
Infographics have been used as a super effective online marketing tool for years and they're still working great, in fact, it's just a little harder (as it should be) to get them noticed… A few years ago, you could pop up any old ugly infographic on whatever old thing, and it would get hundreds of social shares. Nowadays, you have to ensure the data in your infographics is really good, and that the graphics themselves are aesthetically pleasing and relevant.
-
you may find the following white board Friday helpful -http://moz.com/blog/why-visual-assets-are-better-than-infographics-whiteboard-friday
Personally i'm not a big fan of infographcs there are loads of poor quality ones and they don't tend to get the results back for the effort you put in. Hope the link helps you a bit more.
Good luck though.
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
-
Does "external noopener" still pass on link equity
Just wondering what the consensus WRT "external noopener" passing on link equity?
Link Building | | jasongmcmahon0 -
Are good directories still worth submitting to
Hi guys we have launched a new site and need to get some links is it still worth submitting to (paid and unpaid) directories like Yell.com - obviously we would only consider the non spammy ones cheers
Link Building | | odysseytravels0 -
Are CPAN (perl modules distributed hosting) links bad?
In the past, we contributed to CPAN and have a lot of links from mirror sites as a result. These are legitimate links but I'm wondering if they are holding us back. For those that aren't familiar, CPAN hosts code modules that are freely distributed for Perl programming. The code library is hosted on many mirror sites across the web in an effort to distribute the load of requests for modules when they're installed. The page that exists across multiple sites links a team member's name to our website. For example, http://cpan.mirrors.uk2.net/authors/00whois.html, http://ukdebian.mirror.anlx.net/CPAN/authors/00whois.html and http://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/cpan.perl.org/CPAN/modules/by-authors/00whois.html. Same content, different website. Thoughts? Is it worth pursing or disavowing?
Link Building | | knowmad0 -
Are breadcrumbs still relevant with interlinking?
Are keyword rich breadcrumbs still a beast practice when setting up navigation and internal links within the website?
Link Building | | OxfordDigital0 -
Wordpress Child Themes Still Effective?
Do you feel creating Wordpress Themes With Your Branded Keyword Is Still Effective? Since, the recent change was wondering if footer links should be avoided. Also, what are some good places to submit your developed themes to?
Link Building | | deaddogdesign0 -
Illegible font on infographics?
I noticed that some infographics have really small font. I think that the intent is to make the font small so that people who see the infographic (on a blog that embeds it) have to squint and then are compelled to click on the image to be redirected to the owner's website. Often bloggers post the smaller size to fit on their blog. Do you think this is a good practice and is aiming for the image link better/worse than a just a text link e.g. Infographic courtesy of Acme Co. Thanks!
Link Building | | ProjectLabs0 -
Are directories still an option for linkbuilding
I know that after the recent slate of Google updates, many free directories got taken down. We've typically used the list of directories placed on SEOmoz (www.seomoz.org/directories). Before adding a site to a directory, we always check to see if it is indexed by Google. Is this still a safe option or should directories be avoided?
Link Building | | TopFloor0 -
Article Marketing - still valid if done right?
Much of the work I do tends to be on a lot of small to medium sized company websites, the kind of businesses that do not have thousands of pounds to spend or the budgets to create reems of quality content. That said, neither do the competition so one approach that has worked well in the past has been article marketing. The approach would usually be to develop some relevant content for the site itself, even if that is just a range of service type landing pages or answers to relevant customer problems and then build links from the article marketing sites (primarily ezinearticles.com). An average approach would be to write articles that are relevant to the individual services, for instance, problems that can be solved by the service and then to link these articles back to the service pages with the desired keywords in the anchor text. Another approach has been to develop an article with the client that solves a common customer problem for their own site and then to write a few summarised versions of the article for the article marketing sites. Again, with the intention of gathering traffic, giving a basic answer and linking back to the main article with the main keywords we wish to rank this page for. For smaller sites serving a fairly tight geographic area this approach, combined with submission to some quality directories (local and niche) has been a strong combo historically. I know there is a lot of junk on the article marketing sites and there could be negative affects from posting loads of pointless articles but using them properly, to broaden the net, provide answers (albeit summarised) and generate links - is this still a valid approach post the Google Farmers update? It may be interesting to see how the article sites like ezine have to tighten up the editorial process now and if the content becomes better across the board, it may possibly strengthen this approach over time. Do any of you still use article marketing as part of your SEO campaigns? If so, what are your strategies and where do you use? Would love to hear your thoughts folks. Marcus
Link Building | | Marcus_Miller0