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Link Wars: The SEO Awakens
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Amanda Jordan
November 20, 2024
Marketing & SEO
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Link Wars: The SEO Awakens
Amanda Jordan
November 20, 2024
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Transcript
Link Wars: The SEO Awakens Amanda Jordan RicketyRoo Speakerdeck.com/ajordanseo @amandatjordan
Why This Topic???
2023 Local Search Ranking Factors Source: https://whitespark.ca/local-search-ranking-factors Local Pack 12
of top 50 Local Ranking Factors Organic 5 of top 15 Local Ranking Factors
Local Organic Ranking Factors
Link Reminder: Quality>Quantity
What Makes a "Quality" Backlink
Quality backlinks for local businesses can be relevant to either
the topic or the location
Hypothesis High-performing websites are more likely to focus on locally
relevant link building instead of topically relevant link building.
Why? Ideal backlinks provide context and helps establish clear relationships
between your site, your topic, and your location.
This is the Way These types of backlinks are more
likely to provide actual referral traffic in addition to providing more connections, more information, and more context for AI and LLMs.
Case Study
Methodology Top 50 Cities & HVAC Industry Websites with First-Page
Rankings Categorized Links
Top 5 Sites and Their Link Profiles 1st-Page Rankings 63
Average # of Keywords 87% Of 1st-Page Rankings Came from 5 Sites
Top Performing Pages High # of Backlinks ≠ Better Rankings
Top Performing Pages Site # of Backlinks Page 1 Terms
Site 1 59 133 Site 2 58 191 Site 3 32 121 Site 4 17 146 Site 5 7 118
Top Performing Pages
What You’re Probably Missing Truly Local Links A Diverse Link
Profile
So How Do I Use This to Build Better Backlinks?
Identify Competitors Choose competitors who are consistently eating your lunch.
Tip: BrightLocal’s Local Search Grid is great for identifying these types of competitors.
When Competitors Have Poor Links Choose a larger nearby metro
and complete the process again. High-ranking local businesses in a more competitive city could turn up more opportunities than your smaller, local competitors.
Get Backlink Data Use your favorite link analysis tool to
get competitor backlink data.
Categorize Backlinks Create your categorization guidelines and start categorizing. Tip:
You can do this one-by-one, you can use a tool, you can build a tool. I’m not going to tell you how to live your life, friend.
Analyze Data What does the data tell you about your
top-performing competitors? Are they favoring a type of backlink you currently ignore?
Identify Opportunities Identify backlink opportunities that meet the traditional link
quality guidelines PLUS have a local focus.
Acquire Links Once you’ve identified where the gaps are in
your backlink profile, go after your competitors’ best quality backlinks.
Okay But I Don’t Have Time to Categorize a Ton
of Links
What We’ve Been Up To
What We’ve Been Up To
Case Study: Local Links Increases Franchise Clicks by 38%
The Client Nationwide house cleaning franchise The Competitors SMBs and
national franchises The Findings Competitor-based link acquisition WORKS
Results Test Locations 38% Clicks Increase YoY Control Locations 14%
Clicks Increase YoY
Find Out More ricketyroo.com/blog/link-benchmark/
Capitalizing on Competitor Opps Reverse Engineering Most Linked Content Target
Links from 301s or 404s Find Unlinked Competitor Mentions
Reverse Engineering Most Linked Content Target Competitor Articles That Are:
Outdated - Published over a year ago Evergreen - Topic is always relevant
Target Links from 301s or 404s Use This Tactic When:
A relevant article/post has been removed but still has links pointing to it A relevant page has been redirected to a home or contact page
Find Unlinked Competitor Mentions Target Competitor Mentions When: Content isn’t
competitor-specific Industry or niche blog with no brand bias
The Power of Round-Up Articles Round-up articles that your competitors
are listed on can be extremely helpful and could be the difference between an AI search recommendation or not.
Round-Up Articles & AI AI uses round-up articles to create
many of their recommendations for local businesses. They are often shown as the sources in ChatGPT and AI overviews.
Round-Up Articles are Good for AI It’s easy to understand
why. These roundup pages are often from topically relevant or local sites and provide a significant amount of context.
Round-Up Articles Testing & AI During testing, I discovered that
in addition to getting a link, businesses that are highly ranked on roundup pages are more likely to be featured in AI results.
Round-Up Results & AI All three of these sites from
this one cited source show up in AI results in exactly the same order. This is the only cited source that included all 3.
Round-Up Articles Increase Visibility Your visibility on these round-up pages
could be the difference between showing up in AI searches.
The Benefits of Choosing the Right Sites is More Than
Having Just Another Link
Remember: Having the Right Links is More Important Than Having
the Most
Remember: Truly Local Links and Topical Links are Best
Thanks!!!!