On the last Edge of the Web Radio, the crew was able to discuss link building fundamentals with an expert who presented on this very topic at SMX West in San Jose – Matt Siltala. As the founder of Avalaunch Media, Siltala is a guru for search engine optimization strategies. He’s been manipulating search engines and executing link building strategies since the late 90s, and his Slideshare at SMX West earned a big stamp of approval from some of the top SEO & SEM experts in the industry.
“SMX was a great show and it was great info overall. Everyone brought their ‘A’ games,” said Siltala. “Link building is something that’s constantly changing, but there are consistent parts that create fundamentals on how to do it.”
Siltala prepared his presentation to be a boot camp session for brand new observers as well as seasoned vets, and Edge of the Web’s Erin Sparks said Siltala knocked it out of the park. “His Slideshare offered ‘15,000-foot’ views on how to build links and why they are important,” he said.
Douglas Karr of Marketing Tech Blog liked Siltala’s presentation as well. “It was the most comprehensive piece on link building I’ve seen in a long time,” said Karr.
In his Slideshare presentation, Siltala included a “Lightning Round” (Slide #60) that provides eight key insights into link building from 2015 that he feels encapsulates what was important in this space last year:
Keep the key components of link popularity in mind when building links
This basically means you should take into account how valuable/worthwhile a link to a certain website may be.
Don’t scrimp on a copywriter
“Good content is going to get you links alone,” said Siltala. “It’s essential that you create valuable content because that translates into shareable content.”
Make sure your links sit on mobile friendly sites/pages
It’s 2016 and if your website isn’t mobile friendly then you’re bound to have issues with trying to execute link building strategies, so sites and pages must be mobile friendly.
Invest in SEO/link tools after using free trials
There are so many tools out there (just ask tool-addict Sparks), but it’s important to always utilize free trials. Try-before-you-buy helps you gather the right stuff for your toolbox.
Create evergreen content that is personalized for your target audience
Evergreen content is touted as the best type of content you can create. And although it is evergreen, Siltala says you should still update every so often – this allows you to repost the content as an update piece.
Add email capture to everything, look into “content for a tweet”
“This is a good practice that’s going to drive fundamental links,” said Siltala.
Create “Knowledge Vault” quality content, Rank Brain
We’ve talked about this point in past shows, but it’s extremely beneficial to create a content library which serves as a “knowledge vault” of quality content. If you build this type of vault then you’re always going to have good content at your disposal.
Does the site use no-follow but the link is still worth having? Point it to your social profiles for traffic
“If you’ve got a no-follow link and its driving traffic don’t take it down,” advises Siltala. Instead, he suggests keeping the no-follow link, but driving it towards social media.
