1) What are a few emerging link tactics that you’ve seen in the past 12 months providing tremendous value to sites/pages? Can you give a specific example or two?

I haven’t found any new link tactics in the past 12 months that provide tremendous value. All the great tactics that truly provide tremendous value have been around for a while.

2) The SEO industry has become so stingy with linking to quality content to the point that many people who used to share a lot of it simply don’t bother, as it is not worth the cost of doing so. Is this a trend which spreads? Are we canaries in the coal mine, or is this just an issue impacting the SEO niche because it is far too saturated? What can Google do to encourage organic linking on the WWW (outside of nepotism, hype, spin, misinformation & ego-baiting)?

We don’t like to look greedy, so we don’t perform the stingy acts on our company web site. However the reason we created SpyderMate initially was as a linkbait tool. So for SpyderMate we don’t freely post external links. We feel it’s justified there however because we are offering a free and very useful service to the community.

3) What are the criteria for the “perfect link”?

The perfect link has the following attributes:

a) High authority domain & page
b) Minimal amount of external links on same page
c) Web site is very relevant to yours
d) The anchor text matches a keyword you are battling for
e) It’s located within the obvious content section of the web page
f) obviously it’s not tagged rel=”nofollow”

4) How do you go about creating a link marketing plan that will A:) Get tangible search results in a 6 to 12 month period and B:) Create sustainability for the website you are creating the plan for (i.e. keeping the links clean and adding links with long term value)

Well first you find out what keywords they should be targeting. Then you go through all their competitors ranking  for the keyword phrases and scour all their backlinks. Once you make sure you got a link from every backlink they have possible then you move on. Next you target the more lower hanging fruit longtail keywords through your list of standard directories that you submit to. This helps re-enforce your short-tail keywords with long tail variation power. After this you go for the seriously powerful links. These are your premium directory listings, your serious linkbait web sites and your powerful friend’s web sites. These sites target the more generic short-tail keywords that help raise all your longtails associated around them. The maintain sustainability you consistently create great new content and linkbait to create a consistent flow of natural inbound, quality, relevant links.

5) If you could choose a link on a lower authority page that would provide a moderate amount of targeted traffic or a link on a higher authority page that would provide absolutely no traffic – all other attributes being equal – for ranking benefits on the site you’re developing links for, which would you choose and why?

This depends entirely on how relevant and how well converting the lower authority page would be. It also depends on current rankings, whether or not there is a keyword I could boost my rankings for that would beat the conversions coming directly from this link. So if i had a site with a low conversion rate that had a high payout I would go with the lower authority link. If I had a site with a high conversion rate and a lower average payout I’d go with the high authority link.

6) Do you feel that you can conserve pagerank or that it’s still worth the effort to sculpt your links, by limiting the number of links on a page, creating them with JavaScript, passing them through a blocked page or using nofollow?

I believe you can, but also don’t believe it’s worth the effort, especially on a site that you’re constantly updating. There are other tasks you can spend your valuable time on that provide more value to your web presence.

7) Please discuss what link deprecation is and what impact it may have on a link building campaign.

I believe link deprecation to be the result of poorly built links primarily. The only reason this should occur is due to the age of the links. Actually losing links only happens to links that were easily attained and therefore easily lost. The best links are very hard to come by and last the test of time.

8) Do you think search engines are trying to find a way to depend less on link popularity and more on other algorithmic/social media factors?

I believe they are, but I don’t think it plays much of a role currently. I also think basing searches on social media is not viable for many categories of web sites. The fact that social media sites like Facebook are social make your likes inherently based around your friend’s general interests as well as your own. Even though I’m heavily interested in SEO, it does not mean I’m going to bother liking SEO articles I find interesting left and right because I know it will annoy my friends. I want to share things that I know my friends will also be interested in. This is not a system that a true search engine can be built upon. A search engine can however leverage this information is done on the right level.

9) How much do you stress internal linking on your own or clients’ sites? Do you have a quick rule of thumb or strategy to maximize the effectiveness of internal links?

I’ve found that emphasizing your traffic generating pages through inbound links is critical. Using carefully placed inbound links to associate relevant topics and re-emphasize targeted anchor text is extremely helpful, especially for that highest level page in the link scheme. Enough said.

10) What’s a successful link development strategy many overlook or dismiss?

Linkbait. People tend to dismiss serious linkbait strategies because of the time/costs associated with them. They tend to think other efforts are easier, but nothing generates those truly unique, critical, powerful links like well done linkbait.

11)  What have you been most WRONG about over the course of your link building/SEO career?

I was most wrong about how effective thousands of links coming from the same authoritative web site, with different anchor text, coming from different pages, linking to different pages were at lifting my rankings. Domain diversity is absolutely crucial. I’ve learned that one great warrior is better than thousands of mediocre warriors.

First of all you need to decide on the plain text you will input into your default text-only signature.

Example

Full Name

Job Title

www.spydermate.com

Example Code

Full Name<br>Job Title<br><br>www.spydermate.com

HTML Signature

Next you will need to design the HTML signature version of the same signature.

Example

Full Name

Job Title

www.spydermate.com

Example Code

<span style="font-family: Verdana;font-size: 18px;color:#ff943b;font-weight:bold;">Full Name</span><br/><span style="font-family: Verdana;font-size: 11px;font-style: italic;">Job Title</span><span style="font-family: Verdana;font-size:11px;"></span><br/><br/>
<a href="http://spydermate.com"><img src="http://mentormate.com/images/spydermate-esig.gif" border="0" width="150"/></a><br/><br/>
<span style="font-family: Verdana;color: #7f7f7f;font-size:11px;"><a href="http://spydermate.com" style="font-family: Verdana;font-weight:bold;color:#ff943b;">www.spydermate.com</a></span>

Javascript Bookmark

Next a Javascript Bookmark must be setup to find the Plain Text Signature and replace it with the HTML Signature

Example Code

javascript:void ((
function(){
  if (!document.getElementById("Ijquery")) {
    var noeud_js = document.createElement("script");
    noeud_js.setAttribute("type", "text/javascript");
    noeud_js.setAttribute("id", "Ijquery");
    noeud_js.setAttribute("src", "http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1/jquery.min.js");
    document.getElementsByTagName("head")[0].appendChild(noeud_js);
  }
  function jquery_loaded(){
    var tmp = "false";
    try {
      tmp = $("body").text();
    } catch (erreur) {
      tmp = "false";
    } return tmp;
  }
  function verif_loaded(){
    var temp = jquery_loaded();
    if (temp != "false") {
      clearInterval(interval);
      code();
    }
  }
  var interval = window.setInterval(verif_loaded, 100);
  function code() {
    var gsig = "Full Name<br>Job Title<br><br>www.spydermate.com";
    var htmlsig = "<span style=\"font-family: Verdana;font-size: 18px;color:#ff943b;font-weight:bold;\">Full Name</span><br/><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;font-size: 11px;font-style: italic;\">Job Title</span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;font-size:11px;\"></span><br/><br/> <a href=\"http://spydermate.com\"><img src=\"http://mentormate.com/images/spydermate-esig.gif\" border=\"0\" width=\"150\"/></a><br/><br/> <span style=\"font-family: Verdana;color: #7f7f7f;font-size:11px;\"><a href=\"http://spydermate.com\" style=\"font-family: Verdana;font-weight:bold;color:#ff943b;\">www.spydermate.com</a></span>"; var h = jQuery("iframe:last").contents().find("iframe:last").contents().find("body.editable").html();
    h = h.replace(gsig, htmlsig); jQuery("iframe:last").contents().find("iframe:last").contents().find("body.editable").html(h);
  }
} )())

Gmail Settings

Next Gmail must be setup to use the Plain Text Signature. Then the Signature tweaks feature in Gmail Labs needs to be enabled. Once all these steps have been completed, the user simply has to compose an email and click on the Javascript Bookmark in order to use their HTML Signature. The best part about this method is that even if the user forgets to click on the Javascript Bookmark for the HTML Signature, at the very least the Plain Text Signature will always be there.

Known Issues

This script will not work while a chat window or a task window is open in Gmail. These windows must be closed before this script can be used properly. We’ve also noticed that this script does not find and replace properly in FireFox while running the Personas Add-On. If you know of any other issues with this script specific to a certain browser or plugin to a certain browser, please make a note of them in the comments.

WiseStamp

If you use FireFox as your primary browser you can simply use the FireFox Add-On WiseStamp (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/8206) to accomplish the same result. However, the solution we just described above will also work in other browsers and does not require any additional browser add-on installations.

Matt Cutts just officially stated that Google does not use meta keywords to impact web sites’ rankings in Google. It has been widely known for a long time that meta keywords did next to nothing, if anything in Google. Cutts decided to make it official. I have always recommended to not use meta keyword tags on web sites because they are a waste of time and competitors can then see what keywords you are targeting. Purposely using meta keywords to trick your competitors into thinking you are targeting certain keywords is still an option I guess, but that seems like a waste of time as well. Any good competitor will be able to figure out the truth anyway, especially with tools like compete.com around.

9/17/09 Rand Fishkin of SEOMoz changes stance on paid links

After a lengthy period of pushing paid link services all over the SEOMoz web site, Rand Fishkin has decided to change his stance on paid links. That is, of course, paid links that are not properly deemed as advertisements and actually pass along PageRank. John Chow’s blog was targeted by Google for this practice awhile ago. As a result, he did not rank for his own name in Google for a long period of time. Google received a lot a negative response for this move from well-known bloggers and recently removed the punishment, allowing Chow to rank for his own name again.

Aaron Wall of SEOBook had some interesting thoughts on this move by Fishkin. Wall recently stated on his blog “If you philosophically didn’t believe in buying links then why would you spend $1,000,000+ building a web graph of link data? What good is researching all the link data if you take link buying off the table as one of the options? Most of the competing links that you can replicate will require some level of payment.”

7/29/09 Yahoo gives up on search, makes deal with Bing

While most of you already know about this, it is a major news item for the SEO industry in particular. This means no longer trying to rank in Google, Yahoo! and Bing. Now there are only two major search engine you have to focus your SEO efforts on. I do not know how to feel about this at this time. I am curious however, to see what kind of market share Bing has in a year or so.

QuadsZilla at SEO Black Hat seems to be very excited about Bing. He recently wrote a post stating “We want Bing to succeed: we need a real challenger to Google’s monopoly” and even goes as far as to get a contact at Bing in order to “negotiate a deal to bring upwards of 10,000,000 new searchers per year to Bing.com.”

If you’re looking for your own site and still can’t find it, something big is wrong. This is worst case scenario for a web site; if you can’t find your own site, none of your target audience will be able to either.  If you’ve typed in your company name or something else specific to your brand you should be at or near the top of the results.

2.    Your visitors aren’t doing what you want them to

Your site has a specific purpose, whether it’s sales or to generate a lead through a contact form. If your site is receiving traffic, but that traffic isn’t using the site like you intended, there are probably issues with the way your website targets your audience.  In other words, you need to refocus your SEO to allow the right people to find you. Another problem may be with your web site’s usability. If visitors are unable to use it as you intended, your site has some serious problems.

3.    Browser incompatibility

This is a design flaw that isn’t always noticed, but is crucial for the user experience. Your web site may look great in the browser you personally use, but different browsers render sites differently. Your site may look great in Firefox, but terrible in Safari.

4.    Duplicate or nonexistent page titles

Page titles, the text shown in the top left corner of your browser, are one of the biggest factors in how a search engine finds your site. Each page’s title should accurately reflect the keywords you’re targeting for that specific page. Your pages won’t appear anywhere near the top of the search results without effective page title usage.

5.    Excessive use of images in place of text

Text rendered as an image can often look more appealing to the eye, but it can hurt your search rankings.  If you use images in place of text, you’re missing a major opportunity to help search engines figure out what your site is about.

6.    Main navigation isn’t persistent

Certain page elements should be present on every page.  The most important is your main navigation.  This might be tabs that are at the top of every page, or a list of website sections on the side of the page.  Regardless of how users navigate through your website, you should never leave them guessing about how to get to more of your content.

7.    Excessive use of Flash

Creating a site exclusively with Flash can look impressive, but it is nearly impossible to rank highly in search results by doing this. Flash can be used to enhance a site, but it shouldn’t make up the entire site.

8.    Websitegrader.com gives site a score less than 25

Website Grader is a free tool that measures your site’s marketing effectiveness. It analyzes the amount of traffic you receive, your SEO efforts, social networking popularity, and technical factors to produce a score from 1-100. Scoring below 25 would signify major problems in several areas of your site.

9.    Intro pages

An extensive introduction may look nice, but intro pages can also detract from the user experience.  This is especially the case for your most valuable user – the repeat visitor – who may not want to sit through the same intro every time they visit your site.

10.     Page URLs aren’t human readable

Your URLs should be simple and say what each page is about. For example, www.dogs.com/dalmatians is better than www.dogs.com/show.php?breed=11. This helps search engines better index your content and your users stand a better chance of remembering how to get to your content.

11.     Site contains excessive text

Too little text can keep search engines from understanding what your site is about, but too much text can drive away visitors. Follow the rule of thumb that nobody on the web wants to read; users should be able to quickly find and use the information they are looking for without reading anything unnecessary.  Limiting your text also helps you focus on the most important words, too, and this helps search engines figure out what your site is about.

12.     No contact information is present on the site

This is obviously easy to remedy, but also a problem that some sites forget about. You need contact info to receive both leads and feedback on areas to improve your site.

13.     Slow load time

Internet users are impatient. The longer they wait, the less likely they are to use your site. Significantly slow load times can also negatively impact your rankings in the search engines, resulting in less web traffic to your site.

14.     Your site is designed for small monitors

As computer hardware advances, your website needs to also.  A site designed for 800×600 screen resolution may have been state of the art in 1997, but today users expect your site to utilize their entire screen. A width of 960 pixels is optimal these days.

15.     Canonical URL issues

http://www.sampledomain.com and http://sampledomain.com (no www) should 301-redirect to one variation of the domain name. You need to choose with or without the www. This way you can ensure no link juice is wasted on the less popular variation of your domain.

16.     Too many navigation choices or too many clicks to get there

Your site has to be easy to navigate. Too many options on the home page are overwhelming; will spend too much time reading through all the options.  At the other end of the spectrum is excessive page depth.  Forcing users through a seemingly endless train of pages is a sure way to get them to leave.  As a rule of thumb, users should never have pick between more than 7 navigational options per page and they should be able to get to any page in at most three clicks. All pages should also link back to the home page.

17.     Single column display format

This is simply an outdated feel and looks unprofessional as well. Make use of all the space presented to you. Single column formats lead to excessive scrolling. Don’t make extra work for the user.

18.     Site has no Compete.com data (after six months of existence)

Compete.com is an online tool used to measure traffic against your competition. If your site has existed for a substantial amount of time and has yet to be noticed by Compete, your site is likely getting very minimal amounts of visitors.

19.     There are specific on-page browser recommendations

These should be unnecessary because as previously stated, your site should be usable in all browsers.