Linkearning that works: digital PR that delivers success for clients
Our linkearning services boost the performance of websites large and small, securing a sizzling return on investment for clients.
Search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo, analyze digital backlinks pointing between websites to better understand the popularity and quality of these sites.
For example, if Googlebot discovers enough relevant editorial links pointing at your website from authoritative news websites, it helps Google better understand what your company offers, and its relative importance – boosting your search engine rankings and online success – so we will:
1) Undertake media and content research to identify which websites you should build more of an online presence on, via editorial channels – often working with PR databases to shortlist target media outlets, professional bodies and influencers.
2) Develop an outreach and digital PR plan – determining your key messages, targets and KPIs, and sparking off new ideas for content and media-friendly stories. It’ll be crucially important to earn backlinks only through independent editorial review, so we’ll detail that aspect here.
3) Implement your plan: reaching out to journalists and others to earn backlinks and brand mentions from authoritative websites – alternatively, we can work with your existing PR and digital content providers, aligning their work with our linkearning priorities and targets.
Taken together, these three stages will boost your company’s search engine performance – driving more customers to your website via free and unpaid “organic” search engine traffic, and via direct site visits generated by media coverage.
Book your free 1-hour SEO check from Word Waiter Digital, and we’ll analyze your company’s SEO potential – providing expert feedback on where things stand, and where best to focus your future SEO efforts.
Linkearning – not Linkbuilding!
We call it linkearning because linkbuilding doesn’t differentiate between good and bad backlinks…
Our specialists never manually build or pay for links (on directory listings, guest blogs, etc.) because such an approach has the potential to upset Google, attracting penalties to clients’ websites.
Nor do we ask for backlinks when running outreach and PR campaigns, because even requesting editorial backlinks could be seen as manipulative SEO behaviour by Google.
Instead, we earn backlinks and brand mentions on relevant and authoritative sites, via independent editorial review – which shows Google we’re adding value to the web with quality stories and content, rather than cynically attempting to manipulate search engine rankings.
None of our linkearning work has ever been penalized by Google, which is a rare thing in the world of SEO – because we keep things clean, honest, transparent and focused on quality!
In fact we’re often employed to remove the penalties inflicted by other SEO consultants, who have irked Google with their spammy linkbuilding work.
How do we approach Linkearning?
• Traditional PR-style outreach tactics – our experts develop engaging news and commentary for target sites and media outlets, which we pitch to our contacts. Where coverage is secured, the editor may or may not choose to include backlinks to a clients’ websites – such decisions should be subject to independent editorial review.
Although such backlinks help boost SEO performance, we never demand links should be included because that could be frowned upon as spammy and manipulative by Google – potentially attracting an SEO penalty.
• Producing content for clients’ websites – we create sizzling copy for clients’ websites, often for blogs – and then earn links to this content by running digital marketing campaigns, targeting this new content at media outlets, influencers and other third party sites.
Again, any freely given backlinks should be subject to independent editiorial review – we’ll never demand or even suggest backlinks because such an approach would breach guidelines, possibly resulting in a Google penalty for your site.
Our main Linkearning services include:
• Media Research and Databases: We have access to some of the world’s best media databases, so we’ll research and draw up a shortlist of target media outlets and freelance journalists for your outreach and digital PR campaign.
• PR and Outreach: We’ll employ the full spread of tactics for your company: •Strategies and action plans •news releases •photoshoots •photocalls •features •case studies •launch events •press conferences •interviews •exclusives •media trips and familiarization visits •attention grabbing stunts •surveys and research •videos •podcasts •infographics.
Over the years, we’ve worked with hundreds of local, national and international media outlets, including the National Geographic, Boston Globe, Condé Nast Traveller, Guardian, Observer, Daily Mail, De Standaard, Western Mail, Bristol Evening Post, BBC Coast, BBC Countryfile, HTV News… you name it!
Everything from a sea kayaking expedition with Benedict Allen to sparking the idea behind this travel blog.
• Content Production and Marketing: Good content has the potential to earn links and brand mentions, which in turn will drive your SEO performance – so we offer the entire range of content marketing services, including: •Content creation •strategies and plans •content SEO (ensuring content is optimized as well as possible for the search engines) •social media marketing, including paid social •PPC (pay per click – Google AdWords, etc.).
We’ve even produced content directly for national and international publishers, including BBC Magazines. All of our content and outreach specialists have worked in the industry for at least 10 years. They’re senior-level experts waiting to get to work, and drive your online results. We’ve previously been accepted as full members of the PRCA, acknowledging our level of experience as a consultancy.
• Backlink Audits > Risk Removal: We’ll audit your backlinks to assess whether they put your online performance at risk – where they do, often due to low quality linkbuilding, remedial action will be taken to remove the risk to your website: from manual link removal to tagging the problem links correctly.
When you build certain types of backlinks on third party sites, pointing to your own website – e.g. via guest blogs, competitions, sponsorship and adverts – these links must be tagged correctly, so Google understands they aren’t natural links earned on their own merit, via independent editorial review, and knows not to pass their SEO ranking benefit onto your company.
• Google Penalty Troubleshooting: Many websites have suffered Google penalties that have destroyed their performance, because of poor linkbuilding – where unnatural backlinks have been built to avoid the challenge of independent editorial review.
We’ve never offered this type of linkbuilding – often carried out in poor quality online directories and private link networks – because it’s spammy and manipulative, breaching Google’s guidelines. So if your website has been hit by a penalty, or suspect one is impacting your site, our experts will diagnose and fix the problem.