Thursday, December 28, 2006
Long List of Link Searches
Posted by  randfish on Fri (10/27/06) at 1:29 AM to Link Building
This is competitive intelligence - the kind that SEO firms shouldn't
be sharing because it reveals a considerable portion of the value
they (we) provides to clients. Thus, it's the perfect topic for an
SEOmoz post.
The best way to do this is by example. I've picked one lucky website
- EvoGear.com (based here in Seattle) and one of their primary
keyword phrases "snowboard equipment" (which they should really put
in their title tag) to illustrate how you should perform searches
that will result in high quality link acquisition targets.
A Few Basic Rules:
You should perform all of these searches at each of the major engines
(Google, Yahoo!, MSN & Ask - yes, even Ask, as they often link to
some very valuable and achievable link sources). I'm illustrating
using Google for simplicity and brevity.
At Google and others, it often helps to show 100 results per page and
have the maximum "grouping" of results from the same site. That way,
you can find all of the most relevant pages on a particular domain
with ease.
This process is only half the battle - the other half is identifying
the sites inside the SERPs that would make good targets; I'll try to
cover that next week.
The Obvious
Basically, we're seeking every possible permutation of the term/
phrase - links from any of the top ranking sites (#1-100, depending
on competitiveness) will provide high value. As you go down the list,
you can also use these modified terms/phrases to get extra results
from the other sources.
snowboard equipment
"snowboard equipment"
snow board equipment
"snow board equipment"
snowboard
"snow board"
snowboards
"snow boards"
Advanced Operators
Then use the engines' advanced query parameters with the basic
phrase. As we refine in this manner, the number of pages that still
provide value shrinks - I'd probably look at the top 30-50 results
maximum.
allintitle:snowboard equipment
allinanchor:snowboard equipment
allinurl:snowboard equipment
allintext:snowboard equipment
Alternative Search Sources
The main indices are great ways to define value, but adding in some
alternate sources for link searches can help to diversify. The
engines might not always consider these sources as important (which
is why I'd stick to only the highest profile sites/pages in these
results), but they can often be great sources for traffic.
Google News - snowboard equipment
Google News Archive - snowboard equipment
Yahoo! News - snowboard equipment
Technorati - snowboard equipment (sort by authority, too)
Del.icio.us - snowboard equipment + del.icio.us/tag/snowboard and
del.icio.us/tag/snowboarding, too
Ask.com Blog Search - snowboard equipment
Google Blog Search - snowboard equipment
Wikipedia Search - snowboard equipment
DMOZ Search - snowboard equipment (check the categories, the sites
and the sites listed in the relevant categories)
Directory Search Terms
Appending the word "directory" and other similar terms can help to
dig up valuable hubs where you can submit your site for inclusion.
Note that many of these use advanced operators and will generally
have a short list (top 10-25) of valuable targets.
snowboard equipment directory
intitle:directory "snowboard equipment"
inurl:directory "snowboard equipment"
snowboard directory
snowboard * directory
directory * snowboard
snowboard catalog (this term ranges in value and may not have much here)
snowboard equipment catalog
"list of snowboarding sites"
"list * snowboard"
"list * snowboard * sites"
snowboard websites
snowboard sites
"snowboard sites"
"snowboard websites"
"recommended links" snowboard equipment
"recommended sites" snowboard equipment
"favorite links" snowboard equipment
"favorite sites" snowboard equipment
Blog & Forum Searches
The goal here is to find places you can participate. You don't want
to spam, but a quick link drop to highly relevant content once you're
already an accepted member is perfectly reasonable. Having a presence
in the UGC sphere also means you can quickly step in and manage
reputation, save face or recognize trends to leverage.
snowboard forum
snowboarding forum
"snowboarding forum"
intitle:forum snowboarding
inurl:forum snowboarding
snowboarding blog
intitle:blog snowboarding
inurl:blog snowboarding
"add comment" snowboarding
"post comment" snowboarding
snowboarding members
snowboarding join
snowboarding tag
intitle:tag snowboarding
intitle:post snowboarding
snowboarding group
intitle:group snowboarding
Submit-Type Searches
These are often the most valuable searches (thus I've saved them for
last). The idea is to search for sites/pages that are accepting
submissions or additions. I tend to run pretty far down these SERPs
just because it can be so easy to obtain the links.
snowboard equipment "add url"
snowboard equipment "add site"
snowboard equipment "add website"
snowboard equipment "add your site"
snowboard equipment "add a url"
snowboard equipment "add * url"
snowboard equipment "add * site"
snowboard equipment "add * website"
snowboard equipment "submit url"
snowboard equipment "submit site"
snowboard equipment "submit website"
snowboard equipment "submit your site"
snowboard equipment "submit a url"
snowboard equipment "submit * url"
snowboard equipment "submit * site"
snowboard equipment "submit * website"
snowboard equipment "suggest url"
snowboard equipment "suggest site"
snowboard equipment "suggest website"
snowboard equipment "suggest your site"
snowboard equipment "suggest a url"
snowboard equipment "suggest * url"
snowboard equipment "suggest * site"
snowboard equipment "suggest * website"
And now, I hope to get your secrets - if you've got more to add,
please don't be shy. You can use my example or create your own.
