Google loves links; it’s how it decides which webpage it wants to rank the highest for any particular term. Originally this was just largely a numbers game, the more links pointing at a webpage you had the higher it would rank.
As the web’s entire link profile has been changed (and manipulated) by search marketers certain ‘natural links’ have gained more importance in the eyes of Google; links embedded deep within the belly of a blog post, for example, carry more weight that those placed in a blog roll.
Whether you’re looking to grow your website ‘organically’ or simply improve your current linking profile, you need to understand how you can attract more natural links. As time goes by, attracting natural links will become increasingly important as Google continues to weed out as many ‘un-natural’ links as it can.
When we say ‘we wish to attract natural links’ what we are really attempting to attract are the people who create these links. The hardcore geeky nucleus of the web who create the vast majority of worthy content, actively use social media and, most importantly, create outbound links – the ‘Linkerati’.
So the concept is simple – create content that these ‘web influencers’ want to link to. Actually tying down what it is you can do to manipulate these influencers and get them to link to your webpage is a little more difficult to explain.
Looking Non-commercial
The ‘Linkerati’ love content that appears to be non-commercial in nature. These people love the web and don’t view it as a commercial platform upon which companies make contacts with consumers. To them the web is, in many ways, still the altruistic project based on the sharing of information for ‘the good of all’. It was their baby and they want to keep it as ‘clean’ as possible. Google themselves were originally very much members of this group.
This is one of the reasons why Wikipedia has become the defacto reference site to link to; why would you choose to refer someone to a blog post, complete with ads, if this was your outlook?!
Once you’ve made this realisation you can take steps to attempt to appear as ‘non-commercial’ as possible to this crowd. Domain name choice (.org is always respectable), graphic design and advertisement placement can all be manipulated to best serve this group of people in terms of the key signals they want to see (or don’t want to see) before they’ll link to your webpage.
Showing your ‘good’ intentions
As awareness of SEO grows amongst web users and web developers alike so does the amount of attention people pay to micro sites, viral campaigns and link bait. The scrutiny these types of creations have to pass before web users will ratify them as ‘legit’ increases by the day. The Linkerati have, in the past, been wholesale manipulated to best serve the needs of Search Marketers and generate links – and they’ve had enough of it!
If you have an image you want to communicate, don’t post on it on a key word stuffed, over optimised HTML page complete with garish ‘link to this’ buttons, and copy and paste keyword stuffed HTML link code – it’s just not going to pass muster with the elite of the Linkerati. Use credible and ‘cool’ sites like Flickr to share your image and watch the link-love and social media traffic flow.
Using design to your SEO advantage
A huge part of expressing your non-commercial credentials and good intentions is down to your design; this is where the psychology of so called ‘bad’ or ‘dated’ web design comes into play and can be used to your advantage to portray your desired impression.
On the other side of the coin stunning, modern, clean web design will also always help attract links simply through looking more professional and credible.
Make yourself easily linkable
So, if you’ve put the effort in to make your content as link worthy as you can, then it makes sense to make it easy for people to link and reference that content. Let’s face it, people are lazy and we all lead busy lives. Include short URLs for your articles, provide HTML non-technical users can copy and paste, include social media buttons (and target them to your niche). Make it as easy as possible for people to share and spread the word about your content.
The BBC website is a prime example of this. Before the BBC introduced its social media buttons to BBC news articles it’s stories were quickly being re-spun and spat out on various other websites and getting voted up to the top of Digg and other social media websites. Why? Because those sites made themselves easily linked and shared whilst the BBC did not.
Using emotion to trigger a response
Why do people choose to link to a news story on one website over another? They both, in essence, carry the same information and facts, but something from the first story means that people choose to link and discuss it and not the second. That something is an emotional response.
In many ways this touches on traditional journalist tactics, evoking a response in the reader through the manner in which the content is constructed; anger, excitement, envy, confusion, disappointment, shame, pride are all emotions that can be used to entice someone to link to and discuss your content.
Many could argue that whilst attempting to evoke emotions, one must be careful not to leave potential customers alienated. However, in a world made up of sterile web servers and pixels on a screen emotion, passion and personality can be a huge driving force.
Finding a non-competitive market within your niche
Imagine you’re an estate agent and you write fantastic content about properties available in your city. Surely every other estate agent in the area would want to share that content with their visitors? Of course not, they’re not about to link to a direct competitor and help your rankings. Once you’ve made this realisation you can start targeting your content towards individuals and groups that won’t feel threatened to link to your work – identify your own local ‘linkerati’.
Is your estate agent based in a student city? Great, create a guide to student living in the various areas and tell all the student websites about it!
Are there local charity and government organisations concerned with housing issues? There is, great! Create a genuinely useful and helpful resource based around local housing issues and tell them about it!
Creating Credibility
Data, resources, white papers and even pure opinions that originate from a trustworthy, reliable source which are well researched are much more likely to be linked to than other content.
Most UK users for example generally feel perfectly safe to link to or cite a webpage from the BBC, knowing that, in all likeliness, the information will be correct; these academic Linkerati types are a stickler for accurateness.
Whilst it may be virtually impossible to gain the same amount of credibility the BBC possess, the same kind of trust can be established relatively easily within your own niche… with a little work.
On the surface many of these ideas may seem obvious or even simplistic, but when implemented and promoted correctly can have a huge positive effect on incoming links and ergo rankings, especially over the long term.
Quite simply, if your competitors are undergoing an active SEO campaign with a good agency (like you are) how are you going to differentiate yourself:
•   What’s your competitive advantage?
•   Is your incoming link profile diverse enough to be deemed risk adverse?
•   Have you got a strategy in place to attract more natural links over time than they do to ensure long term success (even after you’ve finished working with an agency)?
If you’re struggling to answer any of these questions with confidence, then perhaps it’s time you too paid attention to the Linkerati and how you can leverage them for your own commercial benefit.