Links as a metric in 2017, are they still relevant and how do we ensure value?
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SeachLeeds 2017 - Paul Madden In this talk we discuss whether links still count as a metric and what we need to do to make sure our links count in a positive way in 2017
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Links as a metric in 2017, are they still relevant and how do we ensure value?
- 1. Links as a metric in 2017 Are they still relevant and how do we ensure value?
- 2. Who ?
- 3. • 1997 Started as a web designer • 2006 Moved through to the darker parts of the web • 2010 Transitioned to affiliate marketing • 2011 Grew into a link building agency • 2012 Helped found Kerboo
- 4. Lets talk about links
- 5. Do links still count?
- 6. Yes
- 8. Why am I qualified to have an opinion on links?
- 9. I’ve spent 15+ years making my living from links and SEO
- 10. • At Kerboo our team has scored more than 8 billion links for their LinkRisk • We have helped thousands of sites understand and solve their link related issues • We have the biggest disavow database outside of Google
- 11. Links have become a confusing and complex topic in SEO
- 12. The industry has many opinions
- 13. Tom Capper SearchLove San Diego 2017
- 15. Agencies and brands have mixed experience
- 16. “We get mixed results”
- 17. “We hear mixed advice”
- 18. “We don’t advise trying to get links”
- 19. “Links will just come from what we are doing with other marketing”
- 20. “But we got all that coverage and it didn’t change our ranking performance that much?”
- 21. “I worry about what we did in the past”
- 22. “Google have sorted all this out for us now”
- 23. Lets try and get some clarity on the true picture for 2017
- 24. Where are we today?
- 25. Links once dominated how we did SEO
- 26. Google began and to some degree remain a LINK BASED SEARCH ENGINE
- 27. PageRank
- 28. The PageRank (x) of the linking page is shared across the number of links on that page 0.85 represents a dampening factor to allow PageRank to decay and represent the likelihood that a human user may stop clicking
- 29. For years links and their PageRank dominated how rankings were calculated
- 30. In recent years that picture has developed somewhat
- 31. Key changes
- 32. 2012: The change in stance on links
- 33. Before 2012 links were mostly positive for a site
- 34. So it became a volume game
- 35. I placed countless paid links
- 42. • Penguin • Manual actions (Link penalties) • Methods of link value negation
- 43. 2016: a change in how search is actually delivered
- 46. The rise of the machines
- 47. It is BEYOND complicated now *image stolen with no attribution at all
- 48. 2017
- 49. We have to now question how and if links count the same way
- 50. Don’t believe the hype
- 51. Links haven’t gone away
- 52. Their role has shifted
- 53. Qualify a sites trust and intent
- 54. Qualify a page is worthy of consideration by the machines
- 55. Provide trust and relevance
- 56. Confirm the user data they already have
- 57. Proof that links still count
- 58. Google keep telling us to stop abusing them
- 61. An increase in links seems to still provide improved visibility
- 62. Longer tail terms move quicker than competitive terms
- 63. Links are one of the signals Rather than dominating the signals
- 64. Tests that strongly suggest links still contribute to ranking
- 65. It is VERY rare we get to test signals by turning them on and off
- 66. Disavow
- 67. Kev Gibbons
- 69. Turning links back on improved visibility
- 70. Not brand signals Not domain authority Not anything else LINKS
- 71. And we have done many of these projects now
- 72. Reavow as an SEO tactic
- 73. • 45 million links + in the profile • 28,000 entries in a disavow file • Previously penalised domain mostly recovered now
- 74. We removed some disavow lines and submitted the trimmed disavow file again
- 76. With no other significant on-site or marketing
- 77. Links were the factor that changed the ranking
- 78. It is clear that links help boost visibility
- 79. So why aren’t they as reliable as they once were?
- 80. Factors affecting the ability of links to pass their value
- 81. Google either penalise or ignore bad links
- 82. Google have added protection from link manipulation to the core ranking algorithm
- 83. What does Google target?
- 84. INTENT
- 85. If you want to educate yourself on what Google considers ‘intent to manipulate’ bit.ly/ link-schemes-explained
- 87. Manual actions
- 88. Over 9 million webspam actions sent in 2016 bit.ly/webspam2016
- 90. Link penalties are still a thing Brands are still at risk
- 91. It is important to know your link profile and take steps to avoid a penalty
- 92. Review your links and add a disavow to insure against penalty IF you have a pattern of manipulation
- 95. Penguin is how Google ignore links they don’t trust
- 97. Penguin was created to help dampen the manipulation of search results
- 98. Penguin used to penalise the whole site and was run occasionally
- 99. Penguin 4 Part of the core ranking algorithm Real-time and a real problem
- 100. “Penguin 4 hasn’t really made much of an impact”
- 101. IT HAS MADE AN IMPACT
- 102. IT IS MAKING AN IMPACT
- 103. ITS GOING TO BE A CONSTANT PROBLEM TO BE AWARE OF
- 104. • Penguin 4 operates at page level • It removes the ability for problematic links to pass their value • By removing that equity the ranking signals for the page are reduced
- 105. Google say it operates in ‘real-time’
- 106. Its NOT real-time Its progressive
- 107. • It relies on the bad links being assessed during Google’s crawl • And that will have taken some time to complete and each change they make will take a while to apply
- 108. Penguin is felt slowly and on a page by page basis
- 109. Penguin is eating bits of your link profile
- 110. Review your links and think about the intent and quality in the profile
- 111. It is important to know your link profile and what might not pass value anymore
- 112. What else might be dampening the effect of your links?
- 113. Google might not be trusting the sites as much
- 114. Disavow weight
- 115. We have given Google a LOT of disavow data
- 116. At Kerboo we try to use PropensityToDisavow
- 119. It is clear that the same thinking could be used to provide trust signals at domain level
- 120. All of which makes links harder to understand
- 121. Obfuscation of the link graph
- 122. We never have all the links
- 123. We can’t see the disavow activity of other sites
- 124. We can’t see what is being negated by Penguin
- 125. We can’t see what sites aren’t trusted by Google
- 127. Comparisons between link profiles are now hard *possibly impossible
- 128. So what do we need to know to make sure we get and keep the right links?
- 129. We have forgotten how equity actually flows
- 130. Since the middle of 2016 we have been working on defining the value of a link
- 131. Building a new link metric
- 132. We have a unique set of modifiers for that value
- 133. Caveat This is an attempt to derive a link equity value and doesn’t take into account all the other factors that could cause a page to succeed or fail
- 134. Building a new link value metric
- 135. I asked people to vote on what links they thought were ‘best for SEO’ in a profile I then ran our new link value metric It made me think about the value we have been chasing
- 136. Score: 7.50
- 137. Score: 92.49
- 138. So why the big difference?
- 139. • Massive site with lots of equity • Most pages share their own equity across LOTS of links out from the page • The nature and pace of content being published to the site means that equity gets buried very quickly
- 140. • Big, well trusted site • Pages have fewer outbound links • Structure of the site remains fairly consistent so equity continues to flow down from the root
- 141. At least have one eye on the equity a link may pass if its trusted
- 142. “What about the domain authority though?”
- 143. “we don't have anything like a website authority score.” John Mueller - Google
- 144. Authority comes from the flow of link equity and a raft of other factors (inc relevancy etc)
- 145. How do we maintain and build link value in 2017?
- 146. Know your link profile
- 147. Reduce your LinkDebt
- 148. Protection and general link hygene
- 149. Beware the cycle of intent
- 150. What is ideal today could be LinkDebt tomorrow
- 152. Links still count
- 153. You need links that will send traffic
- 154. But you also NEED links that pass equity
- 155. That are trusted by Google
- 156. And that will remain that way for the long term
- 157. • Accept that many of your links may no longer pass value • Avoid ANYTHING that could demonstrate intent • Remove or correct any blatant intent in your profile • Make sure you maintain a clean and relevant link profile
- 158. • Keep one eye on how link equity passes • Aim for links from trusted sites that are relevant and will always pass value • Make sure you know every link that you get
- 159. Its not a volume game now
- 160. It’s a quality and relevance game now
- 161. Those who adapt
- 162. Are the people who will win
- 163. And YOU can win
- 164. Because...
- 165. SEO’s adapt