Always eager to learn and grow, I agreed and we started reading a few chapters of Web Analytics 2.0 by Avinash Kaushik.  After reading the first three chapters, we met for about an hour during lunch to discuss what we had read and see if we could collaborate and find any ideas that would “stick” and help us improve our sites.

 
WOW.

What we found, even in just the first three chapters of our reading, was amazing.  Just from the basic overview of analytics that Avinash gives led us to discover enough site improvements to keep our designer busy for weeks.  So many basic, obvious analytic statistics had been overlooked, things that we could have identified and tweaked by taking 20 minutes to check on page statistics and implement.

Needless to say, Ross and I decided that our SEO education was time well spent.  So, from now on, we are going to be reading a bit out of a book each week and then meeting to discuss what we found and learned.  We will be covering all topics and are open to suggested reading, so long as there are takeaways and relevancy that we can use to improve our sites.  Feel free to buy the books we are reading, follow along, and read what we learned.  If you want, feel free to come out to Bellevue, WA and meet up with us for an hour to chat about it.  We always have mini epiphanies when we talk about things, and the knowledge is priceless.  Ill be sure to post where and when we are meeting up each week.

So as of 8.5.2012, we are reading Chapter 4 of Avinash Kaushik’s Analytics 2.0 and will be discussing it on Wednesday, August 8th.  Feel free to read along, and check back in to see what we learned.  Once we find a good, regular spot to meet up, we will make it public and people can come out and chat.

Many are speculating that the update is targeting aggressive linking strategies and sites that aggressively build links with exact match anchor text. Sites that have been found to have a high ratio of links to the homepage vs. subpages and with just a few variations of “money anchor text” are the ones that fell victim to the update. Sites that also have extremely spammy back link profiles and had too many reciprocal links, paid links, comments, paid posts, etc were also hit heavily.

Many are speculating that Penguin is the beginning of the end of SEO, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. SEO needs to change and evolve. Just because what you did successfully in the past may not work now, it doesn’t mean that you weren’t doing good SEO or that it suddenly is a moot point. Building natural links, creating great content, and optimizing sites for user experience is still what is going to drive traffic and conversions to your site.

Whether or not your site has been penalized, moving forward in your SEO efforts is going to require change. Old techniques will no longer work, and links, content, user signals, social, and site specs are going to rule the rankings. Let’s focus a little on links and what you can expect and hope to build to help boost your rankings in the SERPs.

Link Attributes

Attributes of the links that are pointing to your domain were some of the most heavily scrutinized ranking signals targeted by this update.  Links that no longer appear “natural” might come as a surprise, as they seemed to work well in the past.  Here are some link attributes that I’ve found will likely get you penalized:

• Too much exact match anchor text.  Diversifying your links and getting anchor text other than money terms will help you balance your profile and add authority to the domain overall.  No natural profile has a heavy concentration of money anchors, in fact, it will likely have very little.
• Links in spammy locations on the page (footer, header, any stand-alone anchor text in the sidebar).  These links scream paid.
• No co-citation (links surrounded by text).  Co-citation is valuable because when Google crawls a link, it will often give weight and value to the site the link is pointing to not only for the anchor text but also for the text closely surrounding the link, as that is likely related and relevant.  For example, “This mountain biking website is awesome!”  The site will get credit for the link “website,” but because it is next to the words “mountain biking,” Google assumes that the site has something to do with mountain biking, and will give the site credit for that word as well.
• Poor diversity of link destination (too many homepage links, none to subpages).  This is self explainatory, it’s vital that you have an equal balance of links to the homepage in addition to subpages.  In many instances you will have more links to your homepage, but subpages should account for around 60% of your linking profile.
• No in-content links.  Having links that are “stand alone” on the sidebars of sites and not in blog posts, in body content, or other parts of a site that contain an article or story is indicative of paid placement.
• No “trashy” or “junk” anchor text.  Sites need to have a high number of junk anchor texts.  These vary, but junk can be anything without money terms.  Typical texts include “click here”, “find more information”, and “website.”

Now the Hard Part – Building Those Natural Links

Link building….what a chore!  Who wants to site around and send hundreds of emails to webmasters begging for links?  Nobody.  That’s why people who are smart and do it well don’t do that kind of stuff.  They use their time wisely and utilize incentives to maximize return on their outreach investment.  Here are some easy link strategies that will build you natural links quickly and in a short amount of time.

• Guest Posts.  I don’t see this ever going out of style.  Finding a topic that you are an authority on and writing a post for a blog that focuses on that topic is one of the easiest and quickest ways to build an authority link back to your site.  Writing convincing and authoritative content is key.  Pick something you really know about and go after that.  Other sites in the field that write about the same topic are going to easily smell a fraud and will call you out on it.  Write something that is different and provides value and you are sure to get it published with a link back to your site.
• Scholarships.  This is my favorite strategy as it is the easiest way to get super high value links back to your site.  Find a college major that relates to the topic of your site and make a scholarship for it.  For example, if you work with houses or mortgages, make a construction or finance scholarship and send it out to the financial aid offices of colleges that offer degrees on those subjects.  Many will link to you and you will end up with dozens of high quality .edu links.  Be a nice person and do actually give out the scholarship funds, however, as scholarship scams are illegal.
• Interviews.  Doing interviews with those who are well-known in your field or industry will get you tons of great editorial links.  No matter what kind of site you have or what vertical you are in, there is somebody else who is well-known and who has a bigger following than you do.  The best part about experts is that they love to talk about themselves, and are usually very willing to answer a few questions.  This can go on your site, creating new, unique content for you, and likely earning a backlink from the site of the person you interviewed.  In addition, they will usually share the interview on their social networks, and any traffic that you receive will be qualified and relevant.  A great way to get new content and links.
• Visual Content. Infographics are an expensive investment but usually pay for themselves many times over in the amount of links and exposure you get.  Find an interesting and timely article that relates to the topic of your site and hire a great designer to help you create a visual experience that will make people want to link to you. The best way to maximize this is to get placed on social sharing sites like HolyKaw.
• Broken Links.  Nothing beats going through a “resource” or “links” page and finding broken links.  You can use a link checker tool to go through and check every link and then email the webmaster about the broken links you “happened to find.”  Suggesting an additional, helpful resource (your site) when telling him which links are broken is likely to get your link added when he or she goes in to fix the broken ones.  Tip: Link checker only works in Chrome, which IMO is the only browser you should be using anyway.
• If you still need more tips on getting awesome links, check out Jon Cooper’s link building post.  It’s honestly the best one anywhere.

In the End…..

When all is said and done, it all comes down to making sure that your sites don’t look fake.  Simpy vary your anchor text and build links naturally.  If this means one week you only build a few good links, so be it.  Don’t focus so much on quantity as much as quality and varying your anchors and all will be well.

1. Find a Mentor. Look for somebody in the game who is talented and that you respect. Get to know their skills, their work, and what they do that makes them successful. Find out what they are great at and make it your goal to emulate their process. Follow them on twitter, read their blog, and respect their hustle.

2. Ask Questions. Shooting from the hip works in old westerns, but rarely will you hit your targets if you are blindly trying new strategies and working sites without any experience. Asking for help is not showing weakness, it shows an interest in knowledge and a desire to get it right the first time. Asking questions of the right people will increase your knowledge exponentially and will allow you to learn from other people’s mistakes.

3. Ask People About Themselves. If there’s one thing that I’ve learned throughout my life, it’s that people love to talk. If you ask somebody about what they do, where they are from, or most importantly, what they know, you will more than likely get an earful. Asking people about their journey in to search and what they have learned will open up worlds and allow you to learn their process and help you generate ideas of your own.

4. Don’t be Afraid of Failure. Making mistakes and learning from your errors is a huge part of the learning curve. If you are afraid to fall, you will never know how far you can push and your limitations will remain untested. Failure may cause stress, sleepless nights, and even fear of getting back up and going, but if you do not push yourself to the limits you will never know what you are capable of doing. Don’t be afraid to take what you know and apply it with the ideal of optimum success.

5. Find a Niche. Something I’ve just learned very recently and taken to heart is to find a niche and excel at it. There are so many aspects of SEO, and finding your place is crucial. You may be an expert link builder, an amazing content creator, the affiliate king, or a technical guru. Picking one thing will enable you to find the aspect that interests you the most and become fantastic at what you do. While the many other aspects of SEO should not be ignored, you will find that one aspect comes more naturally and is more enjoyable. This is what you should focus on and how you should brand yourself.

6. Do Something to Push Yourself. Every time you do something that is out of your comfort zone, you learn a bit more about who you are and what you are capable of. If you think you have a great idea, test it out and publish it. Receiving peer feedback is frightening and enlightening. I posted my first SEO blog post on SEOmoz and was reluctant to read that comments and feedback. Sometimes the public can be brutal, but getting your name out there and becoming involved in the community is the best way to learn. Putting yourself out there with consistent, good ideas is the best way to gain respect and attention of others as well.

7. Do Something else besides SEO. You can’t have SEO be the only thing that you are interested in. I love going to the gym and mountain biking. I am also passionate about motorcycles. Keeping hobbies that pull me away from the computer and motivate me to get out and keep other interests helps me keep my mind refreshed and allows me to generate ideas in an open atmosphere. Being able to leave work behind and focus on other things allows you to be focused when you sit down to work.

Looking forward, there are many changes that I am looking eager to see come to pass in myself. Throughout 2012, I expect to revisit my goals and reevaluate the changes that are happening to me. Keeping focus and constantly evaluating where you are is just as important as creating goals and staying motivated. Which changes are you looking forward to seeing happen in you?