'Money page' link building success: don't skip these three critical elements

BrightonSEO San Diego - James Wirth, Citation Labs

It's time to get meta with our link building. James will showcase solutions to challenging aspects that are critical to the success of a campaign - and are particularly crucial when building links to sales landing pages.

In his talk, James will provide an approach to answering the three questions that often go under-explored or overlooked altogether:
1: What pages do we build links to, and how many links do we need?
2: When creating content to support links, what topics, niches do we even pursue?
3: How do we know what impact the links have had, and whether we have a positive ROI?

These critical questions are incredibly challenging without a framework or the right tools, but will largely determine the success of a campaign, far beyond the impact of the individual backlinks themselves.

Transcript

1. @jameswirth
   Money Page
   James Wirth
   Citation Labs
   Speakerdeck.com/citationlabs
   Link Building Success: 3 CRITICAL ELEMENTS
   

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2. @jameswirth
   Part I: My origin story
   Completely devoid of:
   • radioactive spiders
   • resulting powers
   • super-sweet dance moves
   

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3. @jameswirth
   If you’re new to link building,
   I’ve got a few free copies…
   And this will all be relevant
   so PLEASE DON’T LEAVE!
   

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4. @jameswirth
   These Top 3 factors (ha):
   Comparative
   Link
   Analysis
   Impact
   Driven
   Reporting
   Strategic
   Content
   Creativity
   

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5. @jameswirth
   A 20th of a Score
   & One Job Ago…
   

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6. @jameswirth
   We had young
   pups doggin’
   our tail tryin’ to
   become top dog
   

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7. @jameswirth
   Company Market Share vs. Competitor Referring Domains
   Competitor Referring Domains Market Share
   Company Market Share
   Competitor Referring Domains
   

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8. @jameswirth
   src: blueoceanstrategy.com
   SIDEBAR:
   Blue
   Ocean
   Strategy
   goes
   Deep.
   HIGHLY
   RECOMMEND!
   

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9. @jameswirth
   Mxon GIFs
   Only ONE of the agencies agreed to
   build links directly to money pages
   - 5 agencies
   - Differing tactics
   - Same budget
   - 6 months
   

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10. @jameswirth
    The First 4 Agencies
    Link 1
    Link 2
    Link 3
    Link 4
    Link 5
    Link 6
    Link 7
    Link 8
    Link 9
    Link 10
    Link 11
    Link 12
    Link 13
    Link 14
    Link 15
    Link 16
    Link 17
    Link 18
    Link 19
    Link 20
    Link 21
    Link 22
    Link 23
    Link 25
    Link 26
    Link 27
    Link 28
    Link 29
    Thank you very much!
    

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11. @jameswirth
    Month 2 Month 4 Month 6 Month 2 Month 4 Month 6
    Month 2 Month 4 Month 6 Month 2 Month 4 Month 6
    Schmytation Schmabs
    Thank you very much!
    Links were built to money pages
    

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12. @jameswirth
    In-House SEO James,
    after seeing the
    Schmeport
    (that’s me with the feathers)
    

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13. @jameswirth
    In-house SEO James sheet-a-tizing
    the report from Schmytation Schmabs
    sheetatize [SHE-duh-tie’-z]
    verb
    1. Data. To convert, transform, or
    otherwise transfer content from its
    original version, to a spreadsheet.
    

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14. @jameswirth
    With the now Sheetatized data, I:
    • Added a control, aggregated data
    • Analyzed the findings
    • Pages improved + outperformed!
    • Money rained down like magic
    

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15. @jameswirth
    A moment of reflection
    

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17. @jameswirth
    

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18. @jameswirth
    Garrett:
    I’ll bet you
    Some side work
    James:
    I raise you to
    fulltime work
    Garrett:
    CALL!
    

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19. @jameswirth
    Early Excel version
    1. Report for “In-house SEO James”
    2. Get feedback from clients
    3. Time to expand! Buy or build?
    Part II: Impact Reporting
    

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20. @jameswirth
    Apps already under our belt:
    Link Prospector Local Sponsorship Finder
    Co-Citation Tool
    

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21. @jameswirth
    The two-fold goal of our reporting tool:
    Communicate the impact
    the engagement is having
    to our stakeholders
    Empower stakeholders
    to showcase performance
    & ROI to their higher-ups
    1. 2.
    

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22. @jameswirth
    Data is measured:
    • Over time
    • Against a control
    • Segmented
    Core model driven by organic rank
    Secondary metrics:
    • Share of Voice
    • Page Authority
    • Total ranking KW count
    

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23. @jameswirth
    

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24. @jameswirth
    

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25. @jameswirth
    Initially
    (may also affect other rank-driven metrics)
    As the number of ranking
    keywords goes UP
    The average rank
    gets worse
    

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26. @jameswirth
    Keywords
    ranking 20
    or better
    Avg. rank + Rank Distro
    Campaign start
    Avg. rank
    

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27. @jameswirth
    1. We now use ranking KW growth
    as a leading indicator
    2. Strong correlation between KW
    count and avg. rank
    3. Avg. rank initially worsens
    across every segment
    Reporting on average rank, and ranking KW count:
    

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28. @jameswirth
    Our A/B testing-style model:
    Rank-driven, time series-based
    +
    Measuring: M/M, P/P + vs. control
    +
    Calculations: % chg, % diff
    =
    Game changer
    

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29. @jameswirth
    Topics covered include:
    1) Why CL built a reporting tool
    2) Benefits of the A/B testing-style format
    3) Earning trust / showcasing value to higher-ups
    • Setting Expectations / getting buy-in upfront
    • Forecasting ROI
    • Answering the central question
    • Practitioner metrics vs. what your CMO cares about
    James’s Magnum Opus
    on Impact Reporting
    

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30. @jameswirth
    

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31. @jameswirth
    Just
    forecast
    your ROI.
    

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32. @jameswirth
    Part III:
    Deep Competitor
    Backlink Analysis
    Task List
    TASK COMPLETE BY
    Land a superulstraextremeawesomeamazing job 2020
    Build out impact report model and web app Circa 2021
    2022(ish)
    How many links are needed?
    Which pages need links?
    Need to find an answer for:
    Oh – you need
    to know which
    Pages – right...
    

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33. @jameswirth
    Onboarding – choosing the pages to include:
    

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34. @jameswirth
    Link Gap Analysis – Frontend
    

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35. @jameswirth
    Link Gap Analysis – Output
    

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36. @jameswirth
    Link Gap Analysis – KW Level
    

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37. @jameswirth
    Link Gap Analysis – Output
    

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38. @jameswirth
    Link Gap Analysis +
    ACTIVATE!
    Impact Reporting:
    

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39. Heading
    @jameswirth
    One more thing…
    

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40. @jameswirth
    Topics covered:
    1. Link analysis to select pages
    and determine link needs
    3. Impact reporting to measure
    and highlight outcomes
    2. HELPFUL CONTENT
    

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41. @jameswirth
    Helpful content - even more important for money pages
    Why? “Give special
    scrutiny to pages
    on YMYL topics…”
    -Google Quality Rater Guidelines, section 8.0 - Dec 2022
    ( + added for emphasis))
    YMYL is often discussed by SEOs
    at the DOMAIN level
    But per Google Rater Guidelines:
    MYL YMYL
    

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42. @jameswirth
    The development of all forms and
    fashion of linking types has never
    improved on the original, and no
    amount of cleverness will ever change
    one universal truth:
    - @garrettfrench
    The less useful your content, the less
    likely you are to ever receive a link to it.
    Useful Content Earns Links
    “
    ”
    

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43. @jameswirth
    Its uniqueness
    Its utility for the intended audience
    It meets the needs of the reader’s query
    Signals various components of E-E-A-T
    Its click data (ALLEDGEDLY)
    All of the above and a whole lot more
    What makes content helpful? Check all that apply:
    

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44. @jameswirth
    Heading
    @jameswirth
    

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45. @jameswirth
    For small consumer decisions:
    • A user placing a grocery delivery order covers the needs of the family
    • Purchase of a new dog leash for Fido and their tethered humans
    Your audience: a collection of decision participants
    Each family member impacted is a purchase
    decision participant.
    Even Fido!
    

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46. @jameswirth
    For mid-sized+ B2B decisions:
    • end-users
    • administrators/implementers
    • non-user beneficiaries
    • final deciders
    • external advisors
    Your audience: a collection of decision participants
    All of these participants are ‘paying’ in some way –
    with money, time, workload, worry, anxiety, etc.
    

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47. @jameswirth
    This concept is not new…
    “Who Really Does the Buying?”
    HBR Magazine
    Published May 1982
    Author: Thomas V. Bonoma
    https://hbr.org/1982/05/who-really-does-the-buying
    ‘Members of the buying
    center and their roles’
    

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48. @jameswirth
    Enter: Audiences!
    Audiences!:
    • Empowers an understanding of all stakeholders
    • Enables helpful content-focused, E-E-A-T-supporting signals
    Strategic, contextually relevant creativity
    aligned to the needs of decision participants
    Framework guiding Strategic content creativity
    aligned to the needs of stakeholders
    Audiences! predicts the most helpful types of expertise based on the stakeholders, roles,
    and topics that are generated, to guide you down the right content development path.
    

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49. @jameswirth
    Enter: Audiences!
    Audiences!:
    • Empowers an understanding of all stakeholders
    • Enables helpful content-focused, E-E-A-T-supporting signals
    Strategic, contextually relevant creativity
    aligned to the needs of decision participants
    Framework guiding Strategic content creativity
    aligned to the needs of stakeholders
    Because helpful content is only helpful
    when it meets the needs of all stakeholders
    

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50. @jameswirth
    1. On-page, link-justifying content
    We call these citable elements:
    - a relevant data study
    - FAQs to help weigh options
    - FUQs that anticipate needs
    Example of a citable element for an inventory software
    money page, using content from Audiences!
    

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51. @jameswirth
    2. Topical-focused referring page content
    Baymard: 55% of major e-comm sites
    had ”decent” or better UX scores.
    Forget about adding citable elements,
    regardless of value or relevance
    Audiences! provides outputs to add off-
    site topical relevance signals.
    A unique benefit of editorial links like
    digital PR and guest posts.
    https://baymard.com/research/product-page
    

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52. @jameswirth
    But it’s REALLY hard.
    • Incredibly time-consuming
    • DOES NOT scale
    • Requires mad content skills
    • Must be a S.M.E.
    This is only
    page 1 of an
    8-page
    worksheet
    to develop
    Audiences! for
    a SINGLE
    MONEY PAGE!
    Ahead of it’s time…
    

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53. @jameswirth
    Then came ChatGPT
    @jameswirth
    

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54. @jameswirth
    Re-Introducing Audiences! - AI Powered
    Audiences! is the best:
    • use of generative AI, and
    • content strategy framework
    - James
    Audiences! P.O.C.
    

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55. @jameswirth
    Stakeholders
    Key Roles
    Topics
    Citable Elements
    Powerful MUCH faster More robust
    Re-Introducing Audiences! - AI Powered
    

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56. @jameswirth
    The value of Audiences!
    is the value to your audiences
    Strategic content creativity and money
    page link building at a new level
    

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57. @jameswirth
    For more information…
    - For the link to the ROI forecast
    spreadsheet
    - To sign up for the beta for link gap
    analysis 2.0
    - To subscribe to our newsletter for
    updates on Audiences!
    - To get the prompts to generate
    stakeholders, roles and topics:
    

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