Link building case studies, myths and fails, presented by Paddy Moogan at Distilled SearchLove London.

1. Link building case studies, myths & fails

2. ProSEO 2011

9. “What did you say then, which you could
say now, and it would mean something
different?”

12. Link building in 2017

13. What does it look like?

14. But…

15. RankBrain

16. Machine Learning

17. AI

18. Voice search

19. Assistants

20. This is all cool stuff

21. But then I see this…

22. Content-driven link building campaign

23. 119% increase in organic traffic

24. Thinking about the future is cool (you should!)

25. But that’s not what this talk is about

26. I’m a pragmatist, I like results

27. I love links

28. But, you need big budget
for links in 2017, right?

29. Actually, no. I’ll show you why.

30. But you do need these things…

31. You need…
Visual assets, preferably interactive

32. You need…
Visual assets, preferably interactive
Visualise cool data

33. You need…
Visual assets, preferably interactive
Visualise cool data
Recognisable brand

34. You need…
Visual assets, preferably interactive
Visualise cool data
Recognisable brand
Relationships with journalists

35. You need…
Visual assets, preferably interactive
Visualise cool data
Recognisable brand
Relationships with journalists
You need to go viral

36. You need…
Visual assets, preferably interactive
Visualise cool data
Recognisable brand
Relationships with journalists
You need to go viral
To launch at the right time

37. You need…
Visual assets, preferably interactive
Visualise cool data
Recognisable brand
Relationships with journalists
You need to go viral
To launch at the right time

38. These are all preconceptions

39. I had them

40. I’m going to show you case studies
where we didn’t always have
these things

43. Small
companies
Large
companies
Budget
Team size

44. 96% of UK businesses employ 0-9 staff
Source

45. If we were going to work in that
space, what would it look like?

46. I’m going to show you

47. 7 case studies
3 content pieces that totally bombed
2 terrible outreach experiences

48. …and the stupidest thing
I’ve done for a link

49. Let’s talk case studies, myths
& mistakes

50. Case Study #1
A slow starter
Myth - you need to visualise cool data

51. Can you see the story?

52. Started very slow

53. Then we noticed something

56. We pushed that angle harder

58. Toyota logos…

59. 150+ pieces of coverage with 77 links

60. It’s ok to start slow, but watch the
coverage you get closely and react

61. Be sure to display big images within a
lightbox or popup

62. Case study #2
How to reduce risk in link building
Myth – you only get one shot at getting it right

63. Idea Production Outreach
Content-driven link building process

64. It can work very well

65. But carries risk

67. Create content around several events

69. Plug in new data and promote again

70. Case study #3
Low budget campaign and
a lesson in going viral
Myth – you need big budget & to go viral

71. I thought that going viral
was a requirement

73. “Links work, sometimes”
Tom Capper
SearchLove San Diego 2017

74. Slow and steady can win the race

77. Launched June 2016, now has just
over 50 links and counting

78. We’ve now produced lots of content
for them
Not a single one has gone viral

79. It’s consistency that
wins – not going viral

80. Case study #4
Learning from traditional PR
Myth – you need a visual, linkable asset

81. Traditional PR doesn’t need
visual content

82. Take traditional PR principles
& apply them to digital

83. You need some data, information or
an opinion that is different

84. You need relevance & timeliness

85. Write one press release or a piece of
advisory copy
(tips, tactics, takeaways)

86. Pitch this into several sites, letting
them take the bits most relevant to
them

87. In 12 months…
100 links profiling one person – no
infographics or visuals

88. Great for B2B and low-budget clients

89. Case Study #5
Relationships and brands aren’t
everything
Myth – you need to be a brand & have great
relationships

90. “Just because you are worthy, doesn’t
mean you’re newsworthy.”
David Henderson, CBS News

91. Journalists don’t give a shit about
what brand you are or what history
you have with them

93. The story wasn’t clear

94. Journalists we’d worked with before
weren’t returning emails

95. Being a brand wasn’t enough

97. Relationships can be hard to build

98. Also, there's no such thing as National Tolkien
Reading Day. It's just Tolkien Reading Day and it's
an international event.

99. Also, there's no such thing as National Tolkien
Reading Day. It's just Tolkien Reading Day and it's
an international event.
We invented it, so we should know.

100. Case Study #6
Launching content on a Friday
Myth – you need to launch at the right time

101. “I’ve got a random
idea for a client.”

102. “I’ve got a random
idea for a client.”
“It won’t work, but try
it anyway.”

103. Took a couple of hours

104. Launched on a Friday at 2pm

106. …by 5pm.

107. Lowest budget piece of content
we’ve ever launched

108. Case Study #7
Sometimes, shit happens
Myth – you don’t need to launch at the right
time

111. US Election data from Google Trends

112. US Election data from Google Trends
Don’t launch you content here

114. Revisit content and relaunch

115. And finally…

116. The stupidest thing
I’ve ever done for links

117. What happens when you eat chillies…

119. What happens when you eat chillies…

120. What happens when you eat chillies…

121. What happens when you eat chillies…

123. I’d like to say it was worth it

124. How many links?

125. Zero

127. To wrap up

128. These things are important

129. But, you need big budget
for links in 2017, right?

130. You need…
Visual assets, preferably interactive
Visualise cool data
Recognisable brand
Relationships with journalists
You need to go viral
To launch at the right time

131. But hopefully I’ve convinced you that
you don’t need all of them

132. You can’t rely on links alone

133. There isn’t a single answer to making
your website link worthy

134. Brand, product, experience, price,
reputation, trustworthiness

135. Forget these, link building may
as well be dead for you

136. Small
companies
Large
companies
Budget
Team size

137. Thank you!
paddy@aira.net