Welcome to the Q&A Forum

Thanks Billy - another individual touched on this above actually but I think it is a very valid point. It is something I am adding in to my list of recommendations as well.

Hi David,

For some reason these weren't showing up in Link Research Tools - just run the site through OSE and now I can see a fair amount of junk to inner pages...

Thanks for your input here

James

I am currently looking at taking on a small project website which was recently hit but we are really at a loss as to why so I wanted to open this up to the floor and see if anyone else had some thoughts or theories to add.

The site is

Howtotradecommodities.co.uk

and the site appeared to be hit by Penguin because sure enough it drops from several hundred visitors a day to less than 50.

Nothing was changed about the website, and looking at the Analytics it bumbled along at a less than 50 visitors a day. On June 25th when Panda 3.8 hit, the site saw traffic increase to between 80-100 visitors a day and steadily increases almost to pre-penguin levels.

On August 9th/10th, traffic drops off the face of the planet once again.

This site has some amazing links  

http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/04/algorithmsdata-vs-analystsreports-fight/
http://as.exeter.ac.uk/library/using/help/business/researchingfinance/stockmarket/

That were earned entirely naturally/editorially. I know these aren't "get out of jail free cards" but the rest of the profile isn't that bad either. Normally you can look at a link profile and say "Yep, this link and that link are a bit questionable" but beyond some slightly off-topic guest blogging done a while back before I was looking to get involved in the project there really isn't anything all that fruity about the links in my opinion.

I know that the site design needs some work but the content is of a high standard and it covers its topic (commodities) in a very comprehensive and authoritative way. In my opinion, (I'm not biased yet because it isn't my site) this site genuinely deserves to rank.

As far as I know, this site has received no unnatural link warnings.

I am hoping this is just a case of us having looked at this for too long and it will be a couple of obvious/glaring fixes to someone with a fresh pair of eyes.

Does anyone have any insights into what the solution might be?

[UPDATE] after responses from a few folks I decided to update the thread with progress I made on investigating the situation. After plugging the domain into Open Site Explorer I can see quite a few links that didn't show up in Link Research Tools (which is odd as I thought LRT was powered by mozscape but anyway... shows the need for multiple tools). It does seem like someone in the past has been a little trigger happy with building links to some of the inner pages.

You should be able to use the concatenate formula in the same way except I am not sure if the $ will behave in the same way. Try it and see

Hi Marie,

Quite easily actually...

In MS Excel, all you have to do is move your list of domains to column B and in column A enter domain: once say in this case in cell A2

Then in column C enter this formula =CONCATENATE($A$2,B2)

You should then be able to drag down in the usual way to replicate the formula. It will retain the A2 cell but change B each time and you'll get a list of domain:http://exampledomain.com in column C.

Andy (above) has explained how to do the other part of your question.

Let me know if you have any problems.

All the best,

James

I agree, some clarity on what you mean by "outsourced link building" would be a good idea because if you mean hiring the cheapest labour you can find and giving them the remit to build links for you then yes you are likely to get burned.

In my opinion 'outsourcing' has negative connotations and working with an experienced external link acquisition company isn't necessarily a bad idea.

Working with an expert whether that be an agency or a freelancer can offer incredible benefits provided you are involved at the strategy and quality control level. 2nd or 3rd opinions on strategies and output are often worthwhile seeking if you are unsure of the 'right' direction.

Hi Tom,

Zemanta charge by the impression with a minimum spend of $500 per month and it works out in our experience to be approximately $5-$25 per link (we've run about 3 different campaigns with them).

We have been pretty happy with the results although sometimes the links can be a bit of a mixed bag. You have probably already thought of this but only utilising Zemanta as part of your larger link building campaign is very sensible.

Any more Qs? I'll happily answer them for you if I can

James

I wouldn't get too bogged down in the hat debate, the real issue when it comes to these things is would you feel comfortable discussing this with someone external to your business. Focus on relevance and promotional opportunities rather than a link alone.

In my opinion, it would be far better to contact the big sites in your market to see if paid reviews is something that they do.

Look at the way Michael does it over at GrayWolf (http://www.wolf-howl.com/sponsors/serpiq-interview/) he works with sponsors to produce top-notch content so that the 'paid link' doesn't feel quite so cheap.

Consider a bit of ego-bait first to get on side with the authority sites and bloggers just so your email or phonecall isn't so 'cold'.

Hope that helps.

Hi Robert, that is a really interesting selling point for SEO as a practice. I think it is quite surprising the number of individuals who won't sell SEO services because it feels cheap. My feeling is that this is a business like any other and provided we are offering a high-quality service, educating clients and managing their expectations SEO should be sold.

Here are some of the major selling points that we use when pitching to clients...

• Getting your products and services in front of prospective customers at the moment they are actively looking for (or at least thinking about looking for) whatever it is you offer
• SEO is subtle and doesn't interrupt - you're not stopping them from doing something like a TV, radio or print ad does, you are assisting them in their problem solving quest. (related to the first point but this one is a clear comparison of SEO vs other marketing methods).
• Build trust and credibility in your industry - this point can certainly be debated but we remind clients that with other forms of marketing you are simply buying attention whereas with SEO (and the peripheral activities) you are earning and building trust. Ranking #1 organically for an important term can be beneficial to your business beyond the traffic it provides.

Hope that helped - I'm interested to hear others thoughts also.

Hi David,

Less sophisticated linkbuilding methods such as directory submissions, article submissions and social bookmarking etc should just form a part of your overall promotional strategy.

They can still play a part and in many industries are still effective (don't believe everything you read about these kinds of tactics being worthless) - to gain any real traction with them though you need reasonable volumes as they are essentially useful for beefing out your link profile. You do however need to take care to achieve a certain level of quality so consider relevance in the equation - many niche/themed directories and social bookmarking websites offer good opportunities for a link as well as some traffic. Also be weary of your footprint, don't go crazy or use the same anchor text too much.

If your website is relatively new then my advice would be to embark on a full-scale content creation programme. Start creating genuinely useful and engaging to publish on your website and for every third or fourth post, offer it out as a guest post - take a look at my guide to guest posting for more advice on this area. Look further afield for guest blogs if your niche is quite small as there are bound to be audience crossovers.

I suggest that you really focus on these tactics initially and then look to branch out into other techniques such as linkbait (which tends to be more involved either financially or time wise) once you've established an audience.

I hope that helps, feel free to ask me any questions for further advice

James

Hi David,

Less sophisticated linkbuilding methods such as directory submissions, article submissions and social bookmarking etc should just form a part of your overall promotional strategy.

They can still play a part and in many industries are still effective (don't believe everything you read about these kinds of tactics being worthless) - to gain any real traction with them though you need reasonable volumes as they are essentially useful for beefing out your link profile. You do however need to take care to achieve a certain level of quality so consider relevance in the equation - many niche/themed directories and social bookmarking websites offer good opportunities for a link as well as some traffic. Also be weary of your footprint, don't go crazy or use the same anchor text too much.

If your website is relatively new then my advice would be to embark on a full-scale content creation programme. Start creating genuinely useful and engaging to publish on your website and for every third or fourth post, offer it out as a guest post - take a look at my guide to guest posting for more advice on this area. Look further afield for guest blogs if your niche is quite small as there are bound to be audience crossovers.

I suggest that you really focus on these tactics initially and then look to branch out into other techniques such as linkbait (which tends to be more involved either financially or time wise) once you've established an audience.

I hope that helps, feel free to ask me any questions for further advice

James

I wouldn't get too bogged down in the hat debate, the real issue when it comes to these things is would you feel comfortable discussing this with someone external to your business. Focus on relevance and promotional opportunities rather than a link alone.

In my opinion, it would be far better to contact the big sites in your market to see if paid reviews is something that they do.

Look at the way Michael does it over at GrayWolf (http://www.wolf-howl.com/sponsors/serpiq-interview/) he works with sponsors to produce top-notch content so that the 'paid link' doesn't feel quite so cheap.

Consider a bit of ego-bait first to get on side with the authority sites and bloggers just so your email or phonecall isn't so 'cold'.

Hope that helps.

Hi Robert, that is a really interesting selling point for SEO as a practice. I think it is quite surprising the number of individuals who won't sell SEO services because it feels cheap. My feeling is that this is a business like any other and provided we are offering a high-quality service, educating clients and managing their expectations SEO should be sold.

Here are some of the major selling points that we use when pitching to clients...

• Getting your products and services in front of prospective customers at the moment they are actively looking for (or at least thinking about looking for) whatever it is you offer
• SEO is subtle and doesn't interrupt - you're not stopping them from doing something like a TV, radio or print ad does, you are assisting them in their problem solving quest. (related to the first point but this one is a clear comparison of SEO vs other marketing methods).
• Build trust and credibility in your industry - this point can certainly be debated but we remind clients that with other forms of marketing you are simply buying attention whereas with SEO (and the peripheral activities) you are earning and building trust. Ranking #1 organically for an important term can be beneficial to your business beyond the traffic it provides.

Hope that helped - I'm interested to hear others thoughts also.

Hi Tom,

Zemanta charge by the impression with a minimum spend of $500 per month and it works out in our experience to be approximately $5-$25 per link (we've run about 3 different campaigns with them).

We have been pretty happy with the results although sometimes the links can be a bit of a mixed bag. You have probably already thought of this but only utilising Zemanta as part of your larger link building campaign is very sensible.

Any more Qs? I'll happily answer them for you if I can

James

Hi Marie,

Quite easily actually...

In MS Excel, all you have to do is move your list of domains to column B and in column A enter domain: once say in this case in cell A2

Then in column C enter this formula =CONCATENATE($A$2,B2)

You should then be able to drag down in the usual way to replicate the formula. It will retain the A2 cell but change B each time and you'll get a list of domain:http://exampledomain.com in column C.

Andy (above) has explained how to do the other part of your question.

Let me know if you have any problems.

All the best,

James