This session will feature the latest tips and tricks you should know when building (or running) a large-scale link-network based on WordPress and Expired Domains. Following topics will be covered: •WordPress Multisite setups and how to scale them •Necessary tweaks and WordPress plug-ins •Themes and theme frameworks •Expired Domains: Where to get them and what to consider •How to avoid patterns and footprints •Multi-domain, multi-IP, multi-owner: What you need to know

1. WordPress SEO
London Affiliate Conference
January 2012
Bastian Grimm, CEO & Founder, Grimm Digital

2. http://www.seomoz.org/google-algorithm-change

3. 516 Updates in 2010
 In 2010 Google tested around 13.000 changes to
their algo, 516 are still „live“.
 Main focus of those updates were technical,
marketing and usability changes, including:
– Caffeine: New infrastructure
– Suggest: Usability (trying to simplify navigation)
– Instant & Instant Previews
 In 2011 we mainly talked „Panda“
3

4. And why’s
that?

5. BECAUSE…
Google sucks!

6. And now: Let’s have
some fun, shall we?

7. About me
 Background: PHP & Java
– Dev. CMS, shops & forums
– Wazap! Game Search Engine
 Online Marketing since 2004
– SEO strategy consulting, in-house
trainings & workshops, WordPress
SEO, etc.
– Just an Affiliate
 Links, Links, Links…need some?
 Stuff to play with…
7

8. #1: WordPress Setup 1/3
1. Setup WP w/ optimized settings
– Permalinks, Plug-ins, Settings
2. Use Xcloner to multiply setup
– Easier vs. re-doing 1/ over & over again
3. Use ManageWP for maintenance
– Perfect mass management solution
4. Or: Update using browser favorites
– Just replace hostnames in your list
8

9. #1: WordPress Setup 2/3
1. Use default WordPress and install
2. Edit wp-config.php:
– define('WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE', true);
3. Install WP “MU Domain Mapping”
– Copy “sunrise.php” to “wp-content”
4. Edit wp-config.php, again:
– define('SUNRISE', 'on');
Bonus: “Clone Sites for WPMU“
More: http://codex.wordpress.org/Create_A_Network 9

10. #1: WordPress Setup 3/3
1. Do a standard WP MU installation
2. Use a static export of a single blog
using HTTrack
– Search & replace tasks using “find” and
“sed” at command line-level
3. FTP upload & distribution using LFTP
– Unlimited hoster; no PHP/ MySQL req.
Hint: Don’t do “wget”, not all path’s
(like in CSS / JS) will be replaced
10

11. http://yoast.com/wordpress/seo/

12. #2: WordPress SEO by Yoast 1/7

13. #2: WordPress SEO by Yoast 2/7

14. #2: WordPress SEO by Yoast 3/7

15. #2: WordPress SEO by Yoast 4/7

16. #2: WordPress SEO by Yoast 5/7

17. #2: WordPress SEO by Yoast 6/7

18. #2: WordPress SEO by Yoast 7/7

19. Some more plug-in awesomeness!

20. #3: Yet Another Related Posts Plugin
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/yet-another-related-posts-plugin/

21. #4: Back WP up
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/backwpup/

22. #5: WP Permalauts
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-permalauts/

23. #6: Redirection
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/redirection/

24. #7: Eclipse Link Cloaker
http://eclipsecloaker.com/ (57$ one-time fee)

25. #8: Custom Image SRC
<link rel=”image_src” href=”preview-image-here.jpg” />
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/custom-image-src/

26. WordPress Security

27. #9: Do updates regularly!
 Keep your installation „clean“
– Remove all non-active Themes and Plug-ins
 Keep WordPress and Plug-ins updated
– WP Updates Notifier to get emails on out-dated
components (core, themes & plug-ins) for all blogs:
• http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-updates-notifier/
– ManageWP can do one-click mass updates (core,
themes, plug-ins again) for all your blogs:
• http://managewp.com/features

28. #10: WP AntiVirus
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/antivirus/

29. #11: Secure WordPress
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/secure-wordpress/

30. #12: WP Security Scan
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-security-scan/

31. #12: WP Security Scan
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-security-scan/

32. Themes & Theme Frameworks

33. #13: Premium Themes 1/4
themeforest - http://themeforest.net/category/wordpress
~1.400 themes, starting at $ 30

34. #13: Premium Themes 2/4
WOO Themes - http://www.woothemes.com/
~120 themes, 3 starting at $ 70

35. #13: Premium Themes 3/4
simple themes - http://www.simplethemes.com/
~15 themes, starting at $ 49

36. #13: Premium Themes 4/4
elegantthemes - http://www.elegantthemes.com/
~70 themes, starting at $ 39 per year

37. #14: Premium Theme Frameworks 1/2
Thesis Theme Framework - http://diythemes.com/
Unlimited developer license for $ 164

38. #14: Premium Theme Frameworks 2/2
STUDIOPRESS Genesis Framework - http://www.studiopress.com/
Unlimited developer license for $ 300 (~44 Themes)

39. Let’s talk content…

40. #15: Scale Content Creation
Textbroker WordPress Plugin - http://www.textbroker.com/wordpress/
Order & check content from within WP; auto-publish new content as post or page.

41. #16: Auto re-build content

42. #16: Auto re-build content

43. #16: Auto re-build content

44. #16: Auto re-build content
http://redir.ec/warrick

45. Technical stuff to consider…

46. #17: Avoid footprints & patterns
1. Google AdSense &
Analytics
2. Affiliate Codes / IDs
3. Content (# words, #
pages, etc.)
4. Always the same
theme / mark-up

47. #18: Don‘t over-do it!
 H1 vs. H2
 „PageRank Sculpting“
 “nofollow”-usage
 CSS positioning
 „Keyword density“
 etc.
47

48. #19: Fails aka what NOT to do! 1/4
DO NOT inter-link all domains with all other domains from your network…
48

49. #19: Fails aka what NOT to do! 2/4
DO NOT put all your domains in one GWT account…
49

50. #19: Fails aka what NOT to do! 3/4
DO NOT sell links too obviously (footer, sidebar, etc.)…
50

51. #19: Fails aka what NOT to do! 4/4
DO NOT MAKE THEM LOOK (TOO) STUPID!
51

52. Expired Domains and what to know…

53. #20: Expired Domain Provider 1/4
www.expireds.net
53

54. #20: Expired Domain Provider 2/4
www.snapnames.com
54

55. #20: Expired Domain Provider 3/4
www.pool.com
55

56. #20: Expired Domain Provider 4/4
www.namejet.com
56

57. #21: Go „exotic“
 PRO: Less competition
 PRO: Google without direct NIC-
access; this results in slower (or) no
actions because of owner changes
 PRO: Way easier to change theme
or content of that domain
 CON: Registration harder & more
expensive (trustee service, etc.)
 CON: Backlink profile probably with
wrong geo-focus
57

58. #22: Pre-Select carefully
1. Create a huge domain list
– Seed sources like DMOZ, Wikipedia, competitor BL‘s
2. Rate and filter your results
– Use SEO metrics like BL quality, age, PR / mR /
ACrank, visibility, etc.
3. Prefer domains most likely to be deleted
– Already in transit, error & under construction sites
4. Be creative
– Yearly re-occurring events, insolvency , etc.
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59. #23: Consider long-time expireds
Crawl the web w/ Xenu
 Use publicly trusted
sources to start:
– Yahoo!, DMOZ
– Wikipedia
– Universities
BUT…
 “no such host” does not
necessarily mean you
can get that domain
 You need to check DNS,
Whois, link-profile, etc.
THAT’s A LOT OF WORK!
59

60. WAY too much stress…
… this is how I do my work:

61. #23: Consider long-time expireds
http://80legs.com/
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62. #24: Rebuild those domains
1. Try to re-create content and URL-structures
2. Have a look at old URLs with rankings
3. Re-check old inbound anchor-texts and targets
4. Use strong URLs for internal link-juice
distribution (aka hubs)
5. Redirect the ones (depending on theme and
content) you don‘t need
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63. #25: Watch out for errors
 Knowledge is power
 Use a 404 logger
– Analytics software
– Redirection (built-in)
– Webserver logs
 Setup 301 redirects
accordingly
Image stolen from: http://bit.ly/Fuw8
63

64. OMCap 2011 - Online Marketing Konferenz Berlin
And that’s it! …
13.10.2011
Wait, still not enough? 64

66. Thanks for your time!
mail@grimm-digital.com
twitter.com/basgr
linkedin.com/in/bastiangrimm
facebook.com/grimm.digital
Bastian Grimm, CEO & Founder, Grimm Digital