Building A Defensible Link
Profile
Julie Joyce
Owner of Link Fish Media
Co-founder of SEO-Chicks.com
@juliejoyce

Always think like a paid link buyer who doesn’t want to
get caught even if you’re not buying links.

Houston, We Have
A Problem. Actually, we have several.

More Links!
The site with the most
links or highest % of
money anchors does
not always win.

Free Stuff
• Not all free links are good links.

Copycats
• Mimicking a competitor’s link profile is a
surefire way to fail the second they fail.

Networks
• Many were knocked out in early 2012.
• The rest could soon be hit.

Name Dropping
• Comment and forum link drops are one of
the most-requested link removals.

Can This Link Hurt Me?
• Paid links aren’t the only dangerous links.
• Links that exist with no purpose other than to manipulate rankings can
be a problem whether they’re paid or free.
• Any link that invites closer inspection can be bad for your site.
• Link profiles that are low quality can be as worthless as having no links.

Run Away If:
• The site is not indexed in Google.

Run Away If:
• Site is full of content that doesn’t match its
URL or tag line (like all recipes on a finance
site.)

Penalized By Free
Links?? Yes.
• Out of the last ~10 link audits I’ve conducted for people who are
trying to get back into Google after cleaning up paid links, 8
profiles are still full of crappy free links.
• Most leftover links are from irrelevant low-level directories or
sitewide blogrolls. Some will blow your computer up.

Lots of “could” language here.

Free link.
List of nothing but unrelated sites.
None have TBPR.
Most inbound links are equally irrelevant and spammy.

Site sells antique toys.
• Article written about maid service in Texas.
• Keyword linked is Old Maid.
• This used to work.
• Free link.

Spammy Blogrolls, Partner
Links, Recommendations

If You Are Actually
Deindexed
• If you’ve been deindexed for bad links, you need to
clean up those links before you start building new
ones. Don’t submit a reinclusion request if you
have not cleaned up your links.
• Don’t think that falling in the rankings
automatically means you’re penalized.
• How can you tell which ones to clean up? If they
don’t look like editorially given links, either
nofollow them or have them removed.

Creating a defensible
profile is easier than you
think.

First, Toss Out Toxins
• Analyze what you currently have. Link Research Tools and
Majestic are great for identifying your potentially toxic
links. If they aren’t sending you traffic, you may want to
get rid of them.

Recognize that any site can accidentally
suffer from an update.

Stop focusing on scale
and start questioning
value.

Grab Your Handles
• Use Knowem.com to check availability and
snag desired social media usernames on up
to 300 sites. (Yes it costs but it’s MUCH
easier than trying to buy your handles
later.)

Monitor EVERYTHING.
• Google alerts set up for brand, URL, important
usernames/email addresses, blogger names,
bloggers you watch to pitch to, competitors, titles
of content pieces, etc.
• Monitoring chunks of content is a good free
alternative to Copyscape so you can keep an eye
on scrapers and dupe content.

Stop only focusing on what
works in Google.

Do More Than Seasonal
Pushes
• $12196.34 spent on paid links for a
seasonal push. 85 links built, only 20% of
which were live 13 months later. Many links
were converted to competitors within 3
months of going live. Total cost including
labor was $25k.

Stop trying to
automate everything.

Rely on common sense
above metrics.
TBPR 6

Remember that algorithms
change in response to
patterns, so don’t create them.

Create and maintain a Do Not Contact
db. Add to it regularly.
If a blogger or webmaster doesn’t want to work with
you, do them the honor of leaving them alone. (Unless
you enjoy reading blog posts about how you’ve
spammed them.)

If a link looks sketchy,
ask to have it
nofollowed or removed.
**If you dropped links in comments over the years, don’t expect those webmasters to
happily do the extra work of removing your links though. Also remember that plenty
of webmasters WILL ask for payment to nofollow or remove a link so be prepared.

If you can’t get away from
metrics, look at social signals
and not just TBPR or linking
domains.
They can be a much better indicator of
value. It’s harder to fake social love.

Create a kick-ass link team who can do
their jobs without relying on tools.

OMG I
know.
Julie is
nuts.
Sorry. I had a
bad day.
Negative Mentions
• Negative mentions can be great defensible
links since most people won’t actively seek
those.
• Just make sure you respond to whatever
the complaint is.

Conference bios, webinar bios,
and author listings on industry
sites build some great links.

Second-Tier Links

Build Defensible
Content
• Evergreen content attracts links and attention.
• Write about topics that don’t change (much)
or create documentation and add to it
regularly.
• Yearly updates can be written and crosslinked.

2423 backlinks on 497 unique domains.
Updates keep content fresh.

Ever-increasing links.

Controversy generates
social interaction.

Rolling Stone: 8585 links from 1428 linking domains.
5163 comments. Controversial topic.

Interviews and crowdsourced pieces
make for good content that generates
links and interaction from the participants
and those in their social circles.

105 links, good social.

Just Remember:
• Make sure you 301 any content when its
URL changes. Otherwise it’s ripe for
broken link building for someone else.
• If no one else is commenting, start the
conversation yourself.

Turn Any One-Off Into
A Series
• Series on a few sites may look more legitimate
than guest posts on 50 sites.
• Check your analytics...if a guest post sends you
great traffic, ask webmaster if you can write there
more frequently.
• Series cut down on discovery for new placements.

Don’t limit yourself to
online SEO sources like
keyword and social media
tools for content
inspiration.

Listen To NPR.
Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me sums up
the weekly news in a funny quiz
show that’s a lot more
entertaining than the actual
news.

Read Satire.
The Onion’s “American Voices”
and Latest News sections are
quick skims of what’s popular
enough to get parodied.

Watch Late
Night TV.
If Stephen Colbert and Jon
Stewart are talking about it, it’s
controversial.

Let Your Link Team
Build Something Fun
• A year ago we launched AvantGreensboro.com to give our team the full
website experience.
• Site now has ~20 writers, most volunteering time. Many are not my
employees and asked to contribute.
• Free reign on creativity has made them better at writing work-related
content and promoting it. Employee buy-in on anything makes everyone
happier.

Ensure Continued Visibility
In Case You Get Hit
• Do this BEFORE something bad happens.
• Remember that you could easily be collateral
damage in the next Google update.

Pursue Traffic From
Outside Google’s SERPs
• Other engines.
• Social media sites.
• Referrals from guest posts...both one-offs and series.
• Interviews.
• Direct hits.
• Reviews
• Local listings

Th
The Web > Google.

Always Prepare For The
Worst.

What Makes a Great Link
Team?
Our two best link builders: one is in his early 20s and works from home 40 hours a
week in addition to taking a full load of online college classes.
The other one is a laid-off textile worker in his mid-50s who was unemployed for
years before we snagged him.

Don’t compose a team full of people who are all just
alike. Brainstorming is much better when people have
different ideas and experiences.

Hire people who were bartenders, waitresses, teachers,
college kids, retired workers, writers, artists, and/or
scientists. SEOs sometimes make horrible link builders.

Don’t outsource your link building to
people you haven’t vetted thoroughly.

Reward
your link
team.

Set up a
bonus
plan.

Run internal contests.

Individual and Team Targets

If You’re Going To Buy Links
• Do so only after warning the client of the risks involved.
• If someone says she sunk her life savings into a site, don’t buy links for it.
• If someone sends you a list of all the sites he owns, dump it into a db and stay away.
• Make sure you report every detail of the links you buy and send it to the client every month.
• Don’t approach a site owner by immediately trying to buy a link for a named client. Get a feel
for whether they’re open to the potential before “outing” the client.
• Don’t monitor them in anyone else’s tool. Build your own so you can keep an eye on the links.
• If the site where you’ve bought links suddenly starts filling up with paid links, ask to have yours
nofollowed or removed.
• If you buy links for any client and it’s public knowledge, don’t put your other clients at risk by
naming them either.
• Be prepared to get thrown under a bus if the client gets caught. They’ll blame you and say they
had no idea what you were doing so deal with the fallout and move on.

Image Credits
• All images used were either my property or were
licensed under Creative Commons
Slide 2 video still of The Clash's Bank Robber video
Slide 3 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Space_Shuttle_Columbia_launching.jpg
Slide 4 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:More_More_More_More_More_Production_-_NARA_-_534431.jpg
Slide 5 http://www.instructables.com/files/deriv/F63/KEP0/FHAVXWWB/F63KEP0FHAVXWWB.LARGE.gif
Slide 6 cartoon created on Pikton.com
Slide 8 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:No-spam.svg
Slide 9 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lion_teeth.JPG
Slide 15 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Maid_2.jpg
Slide 18 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cake_from_WHR℗.jpg
Slide 20 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Japanese_car_accident.jpg
Slide 22 Knowem image used with permission of Michael Streko
Slide 23 U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Rosa Larson
Slide 24 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Saddlebred_Stallion_in_Harness.jpg
Slide 26 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Robot_icon.svg
Slide 28 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dots_Patterns.svg
Slide 29 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Katrina_Go_Away_sign.jpg
Slide 32 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blindfold_Marathon.jpg
Slide 39 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Protest_0086.JPG
Slide 39 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:War_protest.jpg
Slide 41 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Talk_face.svg
Slide 54 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Team_Sky.jpg
Slide 56 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hutech_bartender.JPG
Slide 57 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Criminal_Silhouette_L.svg
Slide 58 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimania_2005_-_geeks.jpg
Slide 58 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Grandma_Green.jpg
Slide 59 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Food_Reward.JPG
Slide 60 http://www.psdgraphics.com/file/bonus-icon-1280x1024.jpg
Slide 62 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Goals.jpg