This morning I gave a presentation at SES New York on a session entitled "How to Become a Link Magnet." Below, I've copied the presentation into this post and hope to create some context around it.
In my opinion, the "link magnet" concept, however it's phrased, is one of the most powerful and important to understand for companies who want a true strategic advantage from their link graph profile. For a long time, SEOs have recommended the creation of "linkbait" content or "high quality content" in order to naturally attract links from the web's link-able population (those who have places to publish on the web that could include a linking or sharing activity - Facebook, Twitter, blogs, media publications, hobby websites, etc.).
Magnetism as link acquisition is the idea that rather than simply producing and hoping people like it enough to link, you build a true incentive for them to do so. Incentives can range across the psychological spectrum (but shouldn't venture into the financial). You might, for example, build a resource that ranks the top 50 tourist destinations in New Orleans, contact each of them to tell them they've won, and provide them with a great-looking badge to help show off their new accolade. Their websites now all have an incentive to link to your article, as they can take pride in the award (and possibly be rewarded with more visitors who'll want to take a trip).
In the presentation below, I walk through this in a more visual way and show some examples:
How to be a Link Magnet: SES NY 2010
The examples from the embedded deck include:
- Vimeo - the online video sharing site has a great looking player and each time it's embedded, they earn 3 links back to their site by default. Linkers are rewarded by having the attractive player, easy functionality and solid uptime Vimeo provides. This is a classic widget-reward strategy that sites like Scribd (see the presentation above for example), Docstoc, Slideshare and many others employ.
- OKCupid's Blog - one of the few pieces of content that I'd describe as both "linkbait" and a "link magnet." The content is so unique, so appealing to a wide swath of humanity (who among us isn't interested in the science of attraction?) and so well documented as to be rewarding to those who share. When I personally tweeted about some content from them a few months back, I saw great responses on Twitter, more retweets and more followers. That's how publishers want to position content - as a way to earn a reward if/when you share it.
- Techmeme's Leaderboard - when Techmeme added this feature, they had links from dozens of the listed sites within hours. Today, nearly all of those who appear, have linked to the page at one time or another, and some even do so on every page of their blog. It's a way for those listed to show that they're a "serious" source and a well-regarded one.
- SimplyHired - The job site uses a research content embed strategy that more folks need to be adopting. By performing any combination of searches around salaries or popularity, you can retrieve a graph showing the trendline and numbers. Embedding the graph widget on your site creates a link back to SimplyHired and bolsters your credibility whenever you're trying to make a point about a job/industry's value or historical performance.
I've talked previously about this type of link acquisition strategy being built into the product process, but I hope this presentation has been valuable in showing off even more about what can be accomplished and why it's so critical.
Looking forward to your comments and questions as always (and to my three other sessions here at SES: NY)!
Thanks rand, that explains a lot about product exposure by becoming a link magnet ;)
Thanks for sharing... again. I think another term for this would be Content Marketing. We recommend this approach to our clients all of the time. Build a great piece of content and let people know about it - especially the people or the companies that are mentioned in the content. Best case the link to you, next best they tweet about it, worse case they ignore you.
We do this frequently with our own blog posts. Take the extra time to reach out to the people or sites mentioned in your post as opposed to hoping they see it in their alerts or trackbacks. Even if it's just 3 or 4 mentions in a post, over time, you can develop quite a nice backlink profile from just that tactic.
Depending on how extensive the content is, it can also have benefits beyond links. I launched a blog last year with a ranking of influential bloggers in one of the areas I planned to cover.
I published the top 99 and contacted those publishers to let them know, and formatted the larger list I'd started from (approximately 250 blogs) to sell as a premium version. The revenue from the data sales hasn't been anything to retire off of, but it has been enough to cover the costs of the site and significantly more than any ad revenue.
6 months later, the list (which I do update on a schedule) still gets retweeted, emailed and shared with people in more countries than I would have ever predicted - not to mention a good amount of traffic from people sharing it beyond search.
When it comes to getting links, content that's informative, entertaining, or convenient is definitely still king.
So Rand, can I take this as evidence that you enjoyed SearchFest Portland 2 weeks ago, and specifically the Link Building session?
Nice Rand. Becoming a link magnet requires original content & time consuming. But when you succeed, it is worth it! :)
Just when I started getting the hang of linkbaiting we have to start learning link magnetism!
It definitely does make sense though so that a good thing for me, should be interesting to think of ways to get this done.
Thanks Rand.
Nice. I think it sums up your longer comment made elsewhere:
Link's happen when the linker is rewarded.
That's what says it all for me
Talking about "link magnet" 'compared prices' kind of websites (like Kelkoo or Ciao)... a cool widget and in my opinion a good link magnet could be a toolbar kind of search box with can permit to look for best price option without actually enter in the websites themselves.
Or making it as a widget that could be offered to webmasters.
That could be valid for eCommerce too.
Anyway, it's clear that begging links for nothing is not possible anymore and to be a Master SEOCopy with the persuation of Shakespeare and the knowledge of Leonardo is not that great advantage it was just a couple of years ago.
p.s.: Rand... I missed your conference for just a couple of days, as I was in NY for vacation until then... if only superior obligations (the children at home with a desperate grandma and jobs) were be better coordinated I would have surely not lost your intervention.
I'm sure that chronicles from the SES NY are going to come here soon.
Major drag Gianluca! What bad timing. So what was the highlight of your trip?
Well... nothing that much SEO: shopping ;)... even if SEO state of mind can be useful in order to shop with a better ROI :)
And - obviously - New York itsself.
You should try the invisiblehand mozilla add-on actually. That's exactly the type of apps/toolbar you're talking about:
https://www.getinvisiblehand.com/
This would give not produce any value to the engines.
Mmm... maybe not the toolbar, but an embeddable widget, would it?
Sure, a widget would but a toolbar is always clientside and thus does not provide any value to the engines. It probably does provide a value to the user and in return to your page.
Linkbaiting seems to becomeing tougher due to more businesses' awareness of the value of links. A lot of companies will not give out a link solely because they think you are trying to take advantage of them.
There have been instances where I have offered a similar badge that would probably gain them $1000/yr in revenue and they would not place the badge on their site because they thought I was just trying to trick them into giving out a link.
I was at a party this weekend trying to explain SEO when a man asked me "Can't you just load your website with these keywords to rank higher?" I responded by explaining that good SEO instead tries to create web content that people want to experience, webmasters want to link to, and search engines encourage.
Rand, you should shout this from a mountaintop. Your idea of Link Magnets encourages exactly the type of content that make the web more useful, user-friendly, and adds value. Furthermore, quality Link Magnet content is the exact opposite of the shady tricks that give SEO a bad reputation with the public at large.
Thank you, Rand. Keep shouting the message.
This is my favorite part of the intro:
"You might, for example, build a resource that ranks the top 50 tourist destinations in New Orleans, contact each of them to tell them they've won, and provide them with a great-looking badge to help show off their new accolade."
Some of the link magnet strategies don't always work for local businesses who use their websites as a lead generation tool, but creating a top 50 list on their blog is a great idea for link acquisition.
Thanks again Rand for the brilliant tips!
I like this idea as well, however I think you have to take it to a niche that isn't saturated with 'awards' - also your site/award must have credibility for website owners to want to show it off.
LOL, slide 3 has Homer Simpson thinking about "Why / How is This Different from Linkbait?"
I can see this type of "magnetism" method being particularly effective for hyper local-social sites.
Your 1st session at SES NY sure was one of top 3 sessions, with Kaushin and Boykin being as interesting. The only thing I would dissagree is - are you sure a new term needs to be coined? I am not even sure Jim's Trust Bait will and should survive, so I would not say I got the point why it should have to stay. Otherwise perfect, actionable and detailed presentation, as always.
I know creating link magnet strategies for small business or smaller sites can be a bit hard to come up with some times but Rand's idea of a "top 50 list" is great.
I'm intrested in hearing other people's ideas.
I did one in the past were I gave out stickers for a website of mine to high school and college kids (of course the website was related to that audience). I ended up getting links back from their schools' sports teams, coaches, etc... and thus got many .edu domains linking back to me. It was a great success!
Thanks for the helpful post. I'm getting the knowledge of how to build links but now I have to test it out and see what works best.
The only thing is that my website has very low authority and I'm afraid that maybe a reason why others won't want to link back to me. Thoughts?
Of course it is powerful link building method. And latest one too... I am trying to learn it how this will work for me. Thanks Rand and keep it up your great work. Thank you!
Congrats for this awesome blog, arrive here by recomendation from a friend, but i have read several article and i found very interisting.
Greetings
Always appreciate a link-building related post, thanks again!
Man I was at SES yesterday and I missed your presentation and I can't make it back today. Oh well, will you be at SMX in New York this fall?
it is very useful for me ,tks randfish!
Very interesting post. The example of the 50 touristic destinations in New Orleans is quite strong on its own. Another cool idea is a quizz, just like SEOmoz did some time ago. At the end of the SEO quizz, they were giving a widget with your score, obviously, the widget had a link :-)
great! but it is sometimes difficult to build a linkbait strategy on E-commerce website!
to me it's easy when you have a blog or a content website so that you are free to choose way you are talking about
Like someone here once said to me...Then consider having a blog section for the e-commerce site. That way you can have your content and talk about what you want. After all everyone's doing it, companies, e-commerce sites, etc...
Yeah, having a blog gives you a lot more flexibility. As well, you can also arrange with other blogs to exchange guest posts and get exposed to a new audience.
I also do SEO for an e-commerce site and I've been wanting to start a blog for a while now. The problem is that I know hardly anything about our niche and the guys who do know are so busy with other things they don't have time to write posts. It's a catch-22. I *could write something intelligent to post, but that would require me spending A LOT of time researching, which would leave me no time to do any of the other things I do for my job. Any ideas?
:)
I know of a few company blogs that actually get related articles from sites like Ezine and other free article submission sites. Its not an idea I'm absolutely sold on but considering the fact that the professionals are too busy to write their own articles I guess you could improvise and in time they could take over and write their own articles...
Just a thot. :-)
Gaaahhh Rand!You are so close yet so far. One of these years I'll make it to a conference and maybe finally meet some of the SEOmoz crew.
Thanks for the linking tips. Betwixt your post and Tom's aquarium post, I officially declare this "Link acquisition 'how to' week"
Linking is probably my least favorite SEO activity so every "how to" to help motivate me is always appreciated.
Thanks Rand. This is great. Link building through link magnets is rewarding. Giving things away that cost you nothing (like a #1 rank if you get voted on, MozPoints, etc) are a great, FREE way to get people to feel like linking to their own content is a benefit to them.
Very well said Rand.
This definately got the creative juices flowing today... now on to implementing!
We were lucky with one of our clients - their site was a link magnet - one story could end up with 700 diggs in less than 24 hours and this was something that would happen on a regular basis. If you can get it to work for you then this is definately the way to go!
Now the fun part will be making all these magnets.. Thanks Rand for this great post
I am Magnet! Hear me roar! ;)
I totally agree with Rob Dalton that webmasters, et. al. are getting a little more aware of the value of links. And if they don't have any clue about the linking concept, they think we're trying to trick them or that we're shadey. It's a little frustrating. A lot of sites that we used to be able to get links on for less than $50 a year are now in the $100-200 range a MONTH and it keeps getting tougher and tougher to come up with non-paid linking ideas.
:)
Yeah, it is tough because anyone that you would want links from has more than likely been linkbuilding and knows the value.