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Linkbaiting Education 101
September 19, 2007
Linkbait is a word that gets passed round a lot in SEO - but it's not a massively used or understood term, and a Google search only yields a few specialist sites based on SEO. Some describe it as a technique; others dismiss it as a by-product of producing quality content.
But what is linkbait exactly, and how does it fit in as an SEO technique?
Definition
Linkbait is essentially a piece of content placed on a web page - whether it's an article, blog post, picture, or any other section of cyberspace - that is designed for the specific intention of gathering links from as many different sources as possible.
With the rise of the blogosphere, meritocracy and social bookmarking sites, all it takes is one interesting page on a site, someone to notice the page, and a few people to share the link - and before you know it, you've accrued a large number of links across a wide variety of sites.
Linkbait as a technique
So is linkbaiting a technique or a side effect of good article writing? It can be as easy as making things interesting and using some original research and putting it into the ever-popular top 10 list. A quick submission to Digg, a social-based tech news site, and a few positive 'Diggs' from the users there, you can break the front page, and your subject to a massive surge in traffic, and perhaps more importantly, a massive influx of inbound links.
So, in theory at least, if you can write great (or at least interesting) content, and if you can submit it to the right sort of site in the right sort of field with the right sort of audience, with a pinch of luck you might just find yourself with a deluge of traffic. There are, of course, any number of ways to garner such links - a few of which are listed below.
Timely, current content
With the advent of constantly-updated blogs and the thirst for news that has grown with it, current affairs can be a good source of links. Many of the social media sites, including Digg and Newsvine, have a predominantly news-oriented approach to their content.
If you can cover a news story whilst it's still a current event, and publicise the link to enough people, you should be able to gather traffic and links as people spread the word and link to you. If you're lucky enough to have a sector with an established
Controversial viewpoint
If you can stir up controversy (NB: Controversy should not be confused with slander, profanity or abuse) on a topic, and provide a sound opposing viewpoint to a given doctrine, or another article, then that may well prove sufficient to provoke people into linking to you.
One such instance is http://www.internetisshit.org/ - a particularly abrasive and single-dimensioned point of view, but boasts a healthy PageRank and consistent traffic for what is essentially an overblown Powerpoint presentation. The reason? 4,040 inbound links and a steady stream of traffic. A quick glance at Alexa's historical data shows the site 'spiked' sometime between 2003 and 2004. It is clear, then, that controversy can work wonders in getting traffic.
Structured, visual content
Interesting and well-written articles also fare well when it comes to links - this makes sense, of course, as if a reader enjoys an article then they are more likely to share the link with their friends. This can be either over more traditional 'private' sharing methods - word of mouth, email, or instant messenger - or, more increasingly, through a social method.
The most basic of these social methods of sharing links is the common or garden discussion forum - but there are any number of new ways of bookmarking a site in a public way. One of the most popular sites, Del.icio.us, provides a very simple method to store bookmarks in a publicly available fashion. Upon reaching a 'critical mass' of bookmarks, a site will often find itself on the 'popular' page, exposing the link to many more users and boosting your traffic further. This is part of the power of social bookmarking, and with Google rolling out this sort of technology you can expect this sort of thing to grow in popularity.
Funny, crazy, or 'cool'.
Finally, it would seem that the internet has an ongoing obsession with all that is funny, crazy, cool, or just plain odd. Humour sites, amusing videos and jokes are a massively popular part of the internet today, and people love to share that sort of stuff. In my experience, the links aren't great - they'll tend to be from deep within forums as to confer no ranking advantage per se, but every little helps!
Viral campaigns and sneaky marketing campaigns try to employ this sort of linking - funny videos with subtle branding, or sites crafted to entertain the visitor first and promote the brand second. If done correctly, this can be an effective method of spreading a message below the usual advertising radar, and - although perhaps slower than some other methods - can provide a consistent traffic stream over time.
Good or bad?
So is linkbait a good thing or a bad thing?
Of course, that depends on the content in question and the intention behind it - but one advantage with social linking and social media based sites is that the dull, spammy and unworthy content generally sinks to the bottom, leaving the good, well crafted stuff to float to the top.
So this should be a clear message to all webmasters out there: content is still king, and if you write for your visitors and provide them with great content, you might just be rewarded (with perhaps a little element of promotion and submission to get the ball rolling) with the traffic you deserve. As I learnt last week, the power of the social internet is quite overwhelming should you be picked up by a large site.
I have read a ton of stuff on linkbait over the past year, I thought I would put together a list of the linkbait articles I have come across. Pay particular attention to Andy Hagens Ultimate post, and I like Brian Clark of Coppyblogger too for his copywriting.
Problogger
What is Linkbait
An introduction to linkbaiting
Time wins linkbaiter of the year award
20 Linkbaiting Techniques
How to Cut Through the Clutter of an OVERLY BLOGGED STORY and Get Noticed
Factors for Successful Linkbaiting
How to Think Outside of the Box and Develop Attention Grabbing Content
Attention Grabbing Blogging - Persuasive Blogging Part I
7 Ways to Get to the Top of the del.icio.us Popular Page
Linkbaiting with Attack
Motivations for Linkbaiting - Why Links are Good for Your Blog
SEObook.com
Have You Created Linkbait Recently?
Linkbaiting or Link Baiting Strategies?
Digging for Links
Digg is for Dweebs: Free Link Bait Ideas
Content Publishing, Controlling Costs, Scaling Profits & Link Bait: Being Small & Competing With Big Fish
Linking for Conversion
Sensationalism, Hoaxes, and Bogus Predictions: SEO Techniques
Link Bait
SEOmoz
The Two Kinds of Linkbait
Rands 13 step guide to linkbait love
The Changing Face of Linkbait
Brainstorming LinkBait: A Four Step Approach
Talking about LinkBait
Action Tracking by Referral Source & the Linkbait Bump
Arguing with Link Moses - This Already Seems Like a Bad Idea
Rands 7 step guide to linkbait success
Results from our Latest Linkbait Adventure
Everyone can Linkbait
Free Linkbait Idea on Web Analytics
Social Media Traffic Isn’t Useless
Identifying the Linkerati
Linkbait Success Rates & Digg’s New, Tougher Algo
Stumbleupon, You’ve Stumbled into My Heart
Talking about LinkBait
A Piece of Content that Doesn’t Deserve to be Linkbait
Clever Linkbait Tactic over at SEOBlackHat
Blog Infected by The LinkBait Monster
Search Engine Land
Linkbait Articles & Is It Linkbait Or Link Bait?
2007 Guide To Linkbaiting: The Year Of Widgetbait?
Are You Linkbaiting The Right Audience
The Links That Can’t Be Baited
Hook Linkbait With The Right Headlines
Matt Cutts
SEO advice: Linkbait and linkbaiting
Search Engine Journal
Linkbait Driving the Creative Side of SEM + How to Develop those Links?
Link Baiting eBook : Viral Copy
Link Baiting Case Study from Search Engine Journal
Linkbaiting for Fun & Profit
Link Baiting Case Study from Search Engine Journal
Link Baiting & Effective Link Building
Link Building Blog
Link Baiting Case Study
Tropical SEO
Andy Hagans’ Ultimate Guide to Linkbaiting and Social Media Marketing
The Very Best Link Baiting Services
The Lazy Man’s Guide to Link Baiting
Performancing
The Art of Linkbaiting
How To Turn Link Posts Into Linkbait
Stuntdubl
The Link Baiting Playbook: Hooks Revisited
Link Baiting (How Nick Wilson Created SEO Even Seth Godin Could Love)
Copyblogger
Link Baiting, New York Times Style
Free Link Bait Report
Trading Words For Traffic
How to Write Headlines That Work
Linkbaiting: Vote Yes or No This Week Only
And the Verdict on Linkbaiting Is…
The History of Link Bait
Are You a Link Troll or a Spam Baiter?
Modern Life is Rubbish
What is Linkbaiting?
Cartoon Barry
How Much is Link Bait Worth?
Search Engine Round Table
Link Baiting & Viral Search Success
Jim Westergren
Link Bait
Pronet Advertising
Is honesty the best form of linkbait?
There is more to social media then links
Is linkbaiting a new word for an old technique?
Graywolf
Are You A Master Link Baiter or Just a Flasher
Linkbait if it’s Good Enough for Forbes it’s Good Enough for Me
Ghost Riding the Whip - Insurance Linkbait
Environmentally Friendly Link Bait
The Art of Title Bait
Similar sites, articles and content
If you find a really good article, try copying and pasting the full URL to above. Often times you will be able to find related articles.
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Digg Goes Deeper with Social Networking
09-19-07
With its audience expanding and interests diversifying, the popular site is launching new features to help users find like-minded friends
When Jay Adelson and Kevin Rose launched Digg three years ago, the Web site attracted a community of like-minded people. Digg users were technophiles, not unlike the company's founders. Rather than pay attention to the news dominating the national headlines, many early Digg users were more apt to respond to articles that Rose posted on new Web companies, open-source software, and even stories about mental illness that can haunt mathematicians after they solve complex puzzles.
But, with Digg's audience expanding to millions of monthly users worldwide, the techies have seen their preferred stories pushed from Digg's front page in favor of business news, sports write-ups, and bizarre comedic articles. This diversity of interest has led tech-minded Digg users to criticize the worthiness of popular articles and even accuse influential users of colluding to unfairly promote stories. "Now that nontech stories have exceeded the tech stories," says Adelson. "The challenge is on us to provide what our community needs."
Open for Discussion
What Digg's users need, says Adelson, are social-networking tools. On Sept. 19 the company is launching a host of new features that might seem more at home on Facebook or News Corp.'s (NWS) MySpace than on a Web site where users post links to online articles and other media. The intent is to make it easier for users to find others who share their passions by enabling them to form small groups of "friends" and create fuller personal profiles. "This is really the first time that we have enabled communications between users," says Rose.
Instead of submitting stories for review by the larger Digg community, users will be able to send—"shout" in Digg terms—story links along with messages to particular Digg friends. Friends, or small groups of friends, also will be able to chat or discuss stories on their personal pages with posts to a message board, a feature akin to the "wall" on Facebook.
Stronger Identities
Digg's new emphasis on user profile pages is also designed to let users better define their presence on the site by posting multiple photos, personal interests, biographical information, and even links to a member's personal blog, social network profile, or Web page. With the addition of these features, it will also be possible to control whether that content can be viewed by all Digg users or just designated friends.
As before, the profile pages will still feature those stories that an individual user has submitted to Digg as well as the site's overall tally of how many users also "dug" that story. But in addition, readers will be able to view a history of an individual user's comments on stories. The new features are "going to give everyone a bit of an identity on the site," says Rose.
Community Engagement
The changes are just the first in a series of new features slated to debut by yearend. In October, Digg plans to add a section dedicated to images. The plans also call for a new function that will suggest stories, or potential Digg friends, to members based on the articles they have read. "There is going to be a section where you will see these suggestions of news items and pictures and videos based on what you have been looking at," says Rose. "It will find connections—people you constantly agree with and just don't know it."
Rose and Adelson hope the new social-networking capabilities will encourage users who only read articles on the site to become more engaged with the community. Currently, 15% to 20% of Digg's audience are registered users. The vast majority of the 20-million-plus users, by Digg's count, just read the posted stories. Adelson believes the ability to share information with a select group of people and craft a personal identity will encourage more passive users to get involved. "We are creating this in-between world for people who maybe don't want to share information with the whole planet," says Adelson. "We all have a short list of probably 5 to 10 people whom we feel compelled to share certain information with."
Microsoft Connection
For Digg, more registered users mean more people whose interests the company knows enough about to show them targeted advertising. In July, Digg announced that Microsoft (MSFT) will be the site's exclusive provider of targeted ads for three years (BusinessWeek.com, 7/25/07). The deal came after a year of talks with various ad providers, says Adelson.
Of course, it's still an open question whether the site's new social-networking tools will prove popular with users. Digg knows better than most that, when dealing with communities, even slight changes can cause an uproar. But Rose says the community has been demanding more personalization and privacy for a while, even going so far as to build Digg applications for Facebook where they can discuss articles with smaller groups. Adelson and Rose first began discussing the features more than a year ago, but they decided to move slowly to ensure the applications would be robust enough to withstand the Digg community's well-worn reputation for overwhelming Web sites with traffic. "We have to build them to survive the Digg effect on themselves," says Rose.
Google Gadget Ads Launch
September 18th, 2007
Google Gadget Ads just launched today - heard about it from John Battelle. According to the AdWords Help Center, Google Gadget Ads is available to a small number of AdWords accounts:
".....You may not be able to create gadget ads in your own AdWords account just yet. Gadget ads require a high level of technical resources to create, and generally also require a high level of support from the AdWords support team. To avoid confusion for users, and to make sure we have appropriate levels of support, gadget ads are currently enabled for a limited number of AdWords advertisers who have created content-rich ads in the past."
John Battelle quotes a Google Press Release that has more details on Google Gadget Ads, including this spicy bit of information:
"...Gadget ads can incorporate real-time data feeds , images, video and much more in a single creative unit and can be developed using Flash, HTML or a combination of both."
I think people generally respond better to visual information than written and click through studies often show that a picture link is clicked on 4 times more often than a textual link. However, there needs to be some limitations on rich media ads, so we don't get to see so many of them packed into a web page, that the ads become "noisy".
I'm not sure where the ads will be show, but if it were on the search results page of Google and everyone used Google Gadget Ads, it might present too much information to process well, visually.
On the other hand, the Google Gadget Ads would do, I predict, much better than a textual ad being placed next to it .. and once Google Gadget Ads starts being used, most advertisers will be forced to use it too...making a lot of "eye candy" and ultimately, a headache.
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FOOD for thought...
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Successful people keep moving.
They make mistakes, but they don't quit.”"
- Quoted from Conrad Hilton.
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