Internal Linking 101

• October
• 31

*This will be constantly updated as I find more and more resources regarding internal linking*

I was reviewing the internal linking structure for a client the other day to see if there was anything further we could be doing to help flow Page Rank throughout the site. Before I did that, I wanted to review the materials that were online regarding internal linking to gather some further ideas. Not surprisingly, there were plenty of great free resources around the web discussing internal linking strategies. Here are some of the best resources I could find:

Posts about internal linking:

Andy Beard has an excellent technical post regarding internal linking strategies for Wordpress blogs, and another post discussing ‘Ball Linking strategy and Toolbar PR. He goes into great detail and even provides examples using one of the Page Rank calculators listed below. A must read.

Jim Boykin’s post about getting pages out of the supplemental index.

Aaron Wall had a great post about blocking less valuable sections/pages of your site so your other pages get more link love and another post discussing how he significantly improved Shoemoney’s traffic by doing the same thing.
Update: Aaron has posted a video regarding effective internal link architecture.

Rand has a post regarding internal linking for large enterprise sites, and another about flowing PR.

Dan Thies has a whole section of his blog devoted to site structure

Eric Enge via Search Engine news wrote about flowing Page Rank using nofollow.

Dave Davies over at BeanStalk did a 10 part series to building an optimized site, and section five was dedicated to internal linking.

I have to apologize to Sebastian over at smart-it-consulting.com for leaving out his article about web site structuring (as he pointed out to me in the comments). It’s fairly technical, but very insightful.

E-Books

Dyanmic Linking and Revenge of the Mininet are two free e-books that go into more detail than you’ll probably ever need to know regarding internal linking strategies.

SEO Fast Start by Dan Thies has a great section regarding internal link structure (which he discusses in detail in this post) in his free ebook, which I highly recommend to anyone learning SEO.

Free Page Rank Calculators

Webworkshop.net’s Page Rank Calculator

Mark Horrell’s Page Rank Calculator

I’m sure there are plenty of other resources out there that I did not list. Please let me know of any and I will add to this post to make it more comprehensive.

Google is the Walmart of Search

• October
• 30

Walmart dominates the retail space. It is far and away the world’s largest retailer and nobody else is in the same galaxy. They do around a quarter trillion (yes, trillion!) dollars per year. It’s absolutely mind-boggling. As I was reading an article about Walmart and how they completely dominate their space and deal with their suppliers, I couldn’t help but notice similarities with how Google controls the search space and works with webmasters. I have taken segments directly from the article (http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/77/walmart.html) and replaced Walmart with Google and related it to search instead of instead of retail. My version is in italics. You’d be surprised at how little editing was necessary.

Excerpts

“Wal-Mart is more powerful than any retailer has ever been. It is, in fact, so big and so furtively powerful as to have become an entirely different order of corporate being.”

Google is more powerful than any search engine has ever been. It is, in fact, so big and so furtively powerful as to have become an entirely different order of corporate being.

“For many suppliers, though, the only thing worse than doing business with Wal-Mart may be not doing business with Wal-Mart. Last year, 7.5 cents of every dollar spent in any store in the United States (other than auto-parts stores) went to the retailer. That means a contract with Wal-Mart can be critical even for the largest consumer-goods companies. Dial Corp., for example, does 28% of its business with Wal-Mart. If Dial lost that one account, it would have to double its sales to its next nine customers just to stay even. “Wal-Mart is the essential retailer, in a way no other retailer is,” says Gib Carey, a partner at Bain & Co., who is leading a yearlong study of how to do business with Wal-Mart. “Our clients cannot grow without finding a way to be successful with Wal-Mart.”"

For many site owners, though, the only thing worse than doing business with Google may be not doing business with Google. Last year, 65% of all searches conducted online were done on Google. That means being ranked in Google’s search results can be critical even for the largest widget companies. Wily Widgets Corp., for example, gets 68% of its traffic from Google. If Wily Widgets lost that traffic source, it would have to double its traffic and sales from the next nine largest search engines just to stay even. “Google is the essential search engine, in a way no other engine is,” says Bob Wiley, a partner at Wily Widgets., who is leading a yearlong study of how to do business with Google. “Our clients cannot grow without finding a way to be successful with Google.”

“No one wants to end up in what is known among Wal-Mart vendors as the “penalty box”–punished, or even excluded from the store shelves, for saying something that makes Wal-Mart unhappy. (The penalty box is normally reserved for vendors who don’t meet performance benchmarks, not for those who talk to the press.)”

No one wants to end up with what is known among webmasters as the “hand edit”–punished, or even excluded from the search rankings, for doing something that makes Google unhappy. (The hand edit is normally reserved for websites that blatantly violate Google guidelines or those sites that are knowingly operated by well known SEO’s.)

“There is also no question that doing business with Wal-Mart can give a supplier a fast, heady jolt of sales and market share. But that fix can come with long-term consequences for the health of a brand and a business.”

There is also no question that doing business with Google can give a site owner a fast, heady jolt of sales and market share. But that fix can come with long-term consequences for the health of a brand and a business.
Lessons to be learned:

1. It is a poor business practice to put all your eggs in one basket. If you are relying on Google for a significant portion of your traffic/sales, you are setting yourself up for failure when Google has an algorithm shift or your site gets penalized, justifiably or not. They effectively own your business.
2. Google currently owns the search space. If you are going to be playing in their space, it is best to play by their rules, especially if they supply most of your traffic. If you feel the need to take risks with your site, you should have a solid customer base along with a permission asset that allows you to successfully market to these people over and over again.
3. Both Google and Walmart provide great services to end users. Although Walmart wreaks havoc on their suppliers margins, they do it to provide people with ‘Everyday low prices.’ Similarly, Google operates with the goal of having the largest most relevant index so people can find what they’re searching for.

There are many other quotes that could be applicable to Google in this article, but I have decided to only touch on a few. There are plenty of people out there who have their own opinions of Google who could find other segments of the article and relate it to their own personal experiences. I encourage you to go and read the article here, and let me know of any other similarities you can find between the two behemoths.

How I became a brand evangelist

• October
• 27

I am in the process of training for a half marathon. My girlfriend was told by a coworker about a running group that gets together every Thursday evening for an evening run called ‘Road Runners.’ I thought it was just a creative name but it is actually the name of the store that was putting on the run. I had never heard of Road Runners before that day, but now they are the only brand that comes to my mind when I think of running. If I need a new pair of running shoes or anything else running related that is where I’ll go. If anybody asks me where to get track and field gear I will direct them to the store. Here is why:

• Upon arrival we were warmly greeted by the ‘run leaders’ who also happen to be employees of the store.
• There was an opportunity for Q&A before the run
• During the actual run the leaders would run along side you to see how you were doing
• After the run they provided bottles of water, bagels and cream cheese , and bananas.
• Before we left we were given a bag with energy snacks, a pair of Asics running socks, and more information about the store

To sum it up, my interaction with their brand was extremely satisfying. One of the things that will contribute to this store’s success is that all the employees that I interacted with all genuinely enjoyed running. They are passionate about it and that showed throughout the evening. I was so impressed that at the end of the night I provided them with my contact information and gave them permission to continually market to me, something that I do not do with most companies.

From an SEO perspective, I’m very impressed with their website. Optimized meta tags all around, and you can sort by shoe size, shoe width, type, brand, and other things. They rank in the top 2 for the terms in their title tags. Product pages have unique title tags in the “Buy PRODUCT at Roadrunner Sports” format and are indexed. Site is 11 years old and seems to have plenty of inbound links.

P.S. - No this was not a paid post. I was genuinely very impressed with this brand.

How I learned to appreciate crappy hip hop

• October
• 27

Recently I heard Hurricane Chris rapping on The Cipha Sounds effect morning show and was surprised to find that he had skills – serious skills – on the mic. I did not gather this by listening to his popular singles ‘A Bay Bay’ and ‘The Hand Clap.’ I began to ponder why he didn’t bring those skills to his singles. I’m a fan of early 90’s hip hop (think Wu-Tang, Nas, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, I could go on) and normally I don’t listen to or enjoy the radio friendly club single of today. But after thinking about it from a different perspective, not only did I respect Hurricane Chris significantly more as an artist, I gained newfound respect for all hip hop artists that sell large amounts of records.

Once I took time to view the music industry through a business lens, the motivation artists have to make radio friendly club singles became more apparent. In any business model, the ultimate goal is to profit, and the music industry is no different. Any artist who is signed to a major label does so to increase their reach and make money. If they were not primarily motivated by money, they would put out albums independently to have total creative control (something which is given up to an extent at major labels), while still having the opportunity to profit.

Music is not held to the same standards as other more traditional industries that sell goods and services. In traditional businesses, it is not the highest quality products that sell the most. The top sellers are the products that do the best job reaching the audience that is most likely to buy. Unfortunately, there is no correlation between quality of music and sales. Often artists will have to reach out and create music that appeals to other market segments to take album sales from good to great. In most industries this would be considered quality marketing. In hip hop this is called selling out. Jay-Z said it best on “Moment of Clarity” from The Black Album:

I dumbed down for my audience to double my dollars
They criticized me for it yet they all yell “HOLLA!”
If skills sold, truth be told, I’d probably be
lyrically, Talib Kweli
Truthfully I wanna rhyme like Common Sense
But I did five mill’ - I ain’t been rhymin like Common since

He gets it. Nelly gets it. Ludacris gets it. Multi-platinum selling hip hop artists get it. These are the same artists that are most heavily criticized in forums and elsewhere online for making songs that are radio friendly and not for the ‘real hip hop fan.’ These artists simply understand how to monetize the business of music and spread their message better than their peers. They understand the difference between going gold and multi-platinum doesn’t depend on hip hop fans, but 13 year old white girls. They’re aware that in order to go platinum there are going to be some songs that they have to ‘dumb down for their audience’ as Jay-Z mentioned. They understand that as in the business world, just because you have the highest quality product doesn’t mean it’s going to sell if nobody knows its there. These are the artists that have managed to build successful brands, that allow them to draw from a larger pool of potential customers, but that is a totally separate topic that I hope to touch on in the future.

As Andre 3000 of Outkast said on “Elevators” from ATLiens:

True I got more fans than the average man but not enough loot to last me
to the end of the week, I live by the beat like you live check to check
If you don’t move yo’ foot then I don’t eat, so we like neck to neck

In the business of creating and selling music, if artists don’t sell records they will have minimal shelf life. However, I believe that quality music will stand the test of time and over a long period sales would reflect that. Unfortunately music labels are only interested in the 1-3 month window starting the day the album is released since albums make a large portion of total sales the first month (the first week in some cases). Reaching out to parallel markets in order to broaden your reach (i.e. collaborating with an R&B artist for a record, or reaching out other well known artists for guest verses on your records) is not selling out. It is a smart business move to ensure they are reaching the largest audience possible. Remember, music is a business and artists on major labels are primarily trying to secure profits through their music.

It wasn’t until I viewed music through a business lens that I realized why artists don’t always bring their best and why they insist on making (what I consider) crappy music. Those songs on the radio and being played in the club are not being marketed toward me, and are not a reflection of the talent of the artist. Like all for profit businesses, they are simply trying to grow their market share and increase their piece of the pie. It shows me that they understand the game, and I’ve grown to further respect the artists who get it, since I just began to get it myself. Once you view artists as businesses, singles and radio/club play as marketing, and audience/reach as customers, you will have a better appreciation for people who have managed and continue to make large profits in the industry.

Hi there.

• October
• 27

Thanks for reading. This blog will mainly cover marketing related topics. I’m fascinated by the size and scope of the impact marketing has on our lives and our decisions. I will also be covering some of my other favorite topics, mainly sports and hip hop music. Enjoy.