How do you keep the Google penalties away? Here are 20 tips to keep your link acquisition natural and content-driven. This presentation was given at #SiGma igaming conference in Oct 2014.

1. 20 Content Rules to
Keep Your Link
Building Organic
Kevin Gibbons
Managing Director
BlueGlass
www.blueglass.co.uk #sigma2014

2. 1
The Challenge
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3. It’s no longer about manipulating the search engines
“You should never know in
advance a link is coming, or
where it’s coming from”
Duane Forrester, Bing
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4. 20
Content Rules to Keep
Link Building Natural
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5. 1) Remove Any Suspect Links or Poor Performing Content
You need to start with a solid
baseline – that may mean
reviewing your history of
backlinks.
If there’s anything suspect
there, do a clean-up so that
you can start fresh.
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6. 2) Integrate Your Digital Team = Natural Footprint
The best results come from a
centralised content strategy.
This allows you to produce
great content and promote it
from all angles to a wider
audience - creating a natural
footprint that isn’t just focused
on links.
Content Strategy
Digital PR and
Social Promotion
Content
Production
Paid Amplification &
Content Distribution
Reporting and Insight
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7. 3) Build Your Audience & Give Them a Reason to Come Back
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8. 4) Build Data Driven Brand Assets
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9. 5) Give Exclusive Content
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10. 6) Make it Win Win
This is how much traffic we
generated from content placed
on Mashable!
For Mashable:
Traffic = Impressions = Cash
Give them the best content you
can and they won’t be able to
wait until you come back!
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11. 7) Build Human Engagement (Co-Citations are Natural)
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12. 8) Avoid SEO Footprints - Check Anchor Text Distribution
Keep it brand focused and
natural.
“Other anchor text” is under-
rated, mix it up and have a
natural link spread which links
throughout your domain, not
just to your homepage.
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13. 9) Avoid Anything Paid/Guest/Sponsored
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14. Also be sure to check your
outbound links regularly and fix
any broken links you may
have.
10) Link Out to Other Influencers Naturally
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15. 11) Aim for Good Topical Relevancy
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16. 12) Promote for Local PR attention
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17. 13) Create World Class Content to Justify the Placement
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18. 14) Creativity Opens More Difficult Doors
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19. 15) Published isn’t good enough - pitch to be the best!
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20. 16) Target the Right Links, Not Volume
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What are the top publishers
within your industry?
Target them, tailor your
approach specifically and don’t
worry about the rest!

21. 17) Big link spikes are only natural if it’s PR - leverage it!
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22. To create the best content, you
need the best ideas!
Do you research on what top
content within your sector
looks like, and get
brainstorming.
Get away from your screen, go
for a walk – just make sure you
take a pen!
18) What type of content ranks, gets shares & attracts links
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23. 19) Hire the best in your industry
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24. 20) If all else fails, ask WWMCD? (what would Matt Cutts do)
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25. 4
Next Step - Get Started!
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26. Kevin Gibbons
Managing Director, BlueGlass
www.blueglass.co.uk
kgibbons@blueglass.co.uk
@kevgibbo
Thank You for Listening!
www.blueglass.co.uk
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emphasis on data driven metrics.
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