Link-ability

When discussing the subject of inbound links as it relates to search engine optimization, many an SEO will go into a discussion about Google's PageRank, link popularity, anchor text and so on. What many experts fail to touch on is the connection between the content on your site and how likely your pages are to receive natural inbound links.

Natural inbound links are the ultimate goal for any search engine optimization campaign. Natural links offer a relevant and diverse link profile, much of what Google is looking for in how it ranks your site. Google is also looking at from where your links originate. Are they from low quality sites with little visibility or are they from high quality sites with lots of visitors? I've put together a description of what I feel makes a page gain natural links.

Link-ability: The copy, images, look-and-feel and topical subject matter of a web page that increases it's likely hood of being linked to as a valuable resource for an online audience. The ability to easily share a web page with friends and transfer knowledge by way of links.

What do you think makes a web page link-able?

Measuring the Value of Link Building

During a link building campaign, a topic that almost always comes up is the value of link building. While folks in the search marketing community have a decent grasp of why to build links, SEO buyers and business associates sometimes struggle with the value links provide.

After some deep thought, I thought it would be helpful to illustrate the role links play in an SEO campaign. As you can see in the graphic below, each function of search engine optimization has it's role in gaining visibility.

Technical - Technical recommendations are the foundation of SEO, allowing your Web site to be crawled and indexed by search engines. Improving your site structure helps search engines and visitors find information they need more quickly.

Page Content - Without quality content on your site, visitors and search engines will fail to see value in what you have to offer. If they don't see quality content, they may visit but not come back very often.

Link Building - Links are the most effective way to gain traction in search engine results. Good content and technical fixes will only get you so far. Going from #8 for a given keyword to #3 can sometimes mean big gains in traffic. To reach those levels for competitive keywords, links are the driving factor when all else is equal.

From Webmaster to SEO Specialist

The term SEO has been used to describe anyone who performs the function of search engine optimization and even those who manage and optimize paid search advertising. As the role of the SEO has evolved, the tasks and goals of search engine optimization have changed. Years ago, anyone performing search engine optimization was likely called a "webmaster". As the demand shifted from website maintenance to marketing, webmasters began taking on the role of online marketing manager. The focus here was mainly banner ads, affiliate marketing and online directory placement as well as their normal site updating duties.

Online marketing managers began to evolve into search engine marketers as search engines began to dominate the way we use the Internet. The role of an SEO then was to not only manage paid search ads, but also dig into content on the site to include key words and key phrases. Adjusting meta tags and descriptions was a main task of early SEOs. As the demands and complexity of search engine optimization began to increase, there became a need for content specialist or copy writers specific to search marketing. There was also a need for one way link building specialist as the need for inbound link popularity became more important. Meta tags and descriptions as well as two way linking partnerships began to loose their effectiveness.

As we look into the SEO crystal ball, all that is clear is change. Google specifically has raised the bar after each update and changed the game. This has only caused the search marketing industry to fragment into more specialized roles. If Google remains the dominant player, they will continue to mold the SEO industry. If Google looses it's Cuil the industry could become even more fragmented and specialized. What do you think will be the next trend in the SEO industry?