Search Engine Optimization
Where are the SEOers?
Hello. I'm a digital content creator. I do stuff like write blog posts, create graphics including infographics, write and send out press releases, and build backlinks and citations. I was hoping to find a thriving community of fellow SEOers on imzy, but perhaps I'm early to the party? Anyway I was hoping to get some help brainstorming new and creative ways to get backlinks.
I've done all the typical SEO.. local SEO citations in directories, asking bloggers for backlinks, guest blogging, posting on social media with links, using software to look for link pages, etc... Many of the newer, creative techniques require the client to have a blog to promote rather than a rather thin business website with just the basics. I'm really stuck what to do to help them any further.
What's next?




If I were you I'd stop thinking about links and I'd focus on the site itself. While links are important, they're meaningless if you have a poor website that doesn't answer the questions that your visitors need answering. You might want to read https://moz.com/blog/visual-guide-to-keyword-targeting-onpage-optimization.
Content creation is about more than just having a blog - it's about providing all sorts of great resources from information-rich services pages explaining what a business does, to case studies, testimonials, guides, FAQs, etc. If your site isn't good, you won't get leads/sales and all the links in the world won't matter anyway.
If it was my choice, I'd totally agree with you. But it's not. They aren't my websites. And yes, those things you mention would be great. That is what I do. It's funny you mention guides and case studies, because those were two of my recommendations for their website. I made a list the other day of what I personally would recommend. However, I'm just an employee. My boss tells me- get more links for a client's website, and that's what I have to do.
As someone who has managed SEO teams for nearly a decade, it's your responsibility to make sure that your boss, and hence, your clients, know what the best practice recommendations for their sites entail. It is simply not good enough to take a client's money and carry on with a campaign that you know won't work.
I have a couple of questions for you, what sorts of blogs/bloggers are you targeting? Are you picking sites that you'd want even if Google wasn't a factor? When you send out press releases, are you mass sending via a service or are you hand selecting relevant journalists and personalising the messaging? What types of links are you actually getting back? The advice you need for an outreach campaign will depend on the quality of what you're currently doing. If you're being asked to target quantity over quality I'd start looking for a new job.
My boss is great. He's been my SEO mentor for over 10 years. We've been through all the changes. But here's the big difference, which also makes us a great team. He's very technical and analytical. I'm an artist and a writer. In my opinion, SEO should be used as a complement to content that is unique and valuable to the users. I've discussed this with my boss, but we are dealing with a few clients who are dead set against having a blog or adding any content to their websites. Thankfully, they at least let me rewrite some of the pages to make them more user friendly, include targeted KWs, and correct the grammar errors.
For evaluating a potential backlink source, we have a set of standards for relevance and quality depending on the goals for each client. When I send out press releases, it's the same thing.. handpicked bloggers and reporters with press releases sent manually, individually with a personalized approach. I have been able to get many high quality backlinks.
My issue is finding things to do to help those who don't have content to promote. Beyond citations and asking bloggers for links, I feel like my hands are tied. Yes, the emphasis is definitely on quality over quantity, but I feel like I've done all I can with what I know.
I have proposed a few ideas to my boss such as creating content for social media such as an infographic that includes the link in the image metadata. Also, we could do some web 2.0 content marketing. I had the idea to create and use infographics, guides, and articles in web 2.0 and guest blogging, then package as an ebook/Kindle ebook to give to users and/or offer free on Amazon. That would be better if the client had a blog. I actually sell coloring books on Amazon, and they have author pages that include a blog feed. So yeah, I've been brainstorming new ideas.