Off Page Techniques that Work Best
Diversification is a Must After Penguin Updates
Before you start your link building campaign, it is important to understand how to diversify your anchor text to keep your domain from receiving a Google penguin penalty. Identify 3-5 primary keyword phrases and 15-20 secondary keyword phrases to build your campaign around. The primary keyword phrases will be used for your home page, and the secondary keyword phrases will be used for key pages for specific products or services. You will rotate these keyword phrases throughout your link building campaign to avoid focusing to heavily on one specific phrase. This will keep your domain out of the penalty and allow you to rank more pages for additional keyword phrases.
Key Metrics to Keep Track Of
For all of your pages you want to focus on the number of links, quality of links, anchor text used, and social signals for each page. All of these factors can be monitored manually of with "OpenSiteExplorer." If you are not building social signals to your target pages, then Google will flag your link building as suspicious. This can lead to a penalty or downgrade of your rankings. Focus your social efforts primarily on Google +1s and Facebook likes. These are the two that carry the most weight in the Google algorithm.
Competitor Back Link Trolling
One of the easiest ways to identify low hanging fruit is to review the link profiles of the competitors that are currently ranking in the top 3-5 positions for the primary keyword phrases that you plan to compete for. This can be done by using OpenSiteExplorer and browsing through the back links of each of your competitors. Ignore or the links that have are no-follow, and then go through each of the links that have a domain value of 30+. Then attempt to get your domain and business listed in the same places.
Awards and Badges
One of the best off page optimization techniques is to create a ranking of the best of the best within industries and regions. For example, you can rank the top 25 real estate companies in Houston, Texas. At the bottom of the ranking you can offer a badge with html code to place on their website. You will want to take your time designing a great badge that will work well on white backgrounds. The most conversions will take place if you link the badge back to the ranking page that that company is on. You can also include an additional text link to your home page below the badge, but that will lower your conversions significantly. This can be replicated with every major city within the United States.
Low Quality Link Building Will Hurt You
With the new direction Google took during the Penguin updates, it is important to not cut corners with your off page optimization techniques. If your business makes over $10,000 in revenue a month, then you need to find a successful marketing company that uses a white hat multi-facet approach. These companies will charge within the range of $1000-$5000 a month to execute a successful campaign. Most companies that charge less than this will use techniques that will get your domain penalized. If you get a Google penalty, then it can take 6-12 months at the $1000-$5000 a month rate to get it fixed. Focus your efforts on established companies in the United States that are constantly staying ahead of the Google algorithm.
