Live SEO Support 8/3/22 – Full Episode

Welcome to another episode of Live SEO Support!

Live SEO Support is an hour-long Weekly Livestream where our founders, Nicholas Altimore and Chris Tzitzis, take questions from the audience on anything related to SEO.

It’s 100% free, and anyone can join us weekly in our Facebook Group or on Youtube.

But in case you missed us live this week, here’s the full episode:

This Week’s Archived Livestream:

Summary:

[09:38] Can you rank using just niche edits?

You absolutely can, but we don’t recommend it. We always talk about link diversity, which is using different kinds of backlinks to rank. Our bread and butter are niche edits and guest posts; but, we also use pillow links which include web citations, Web 2.0s, directories, social signals, and profiles.

[16:25] Do you utilize high authority Tumblr expired domains as a backlink?

In our pillow link packs, those are sometimes the Web 2.0s you might get. They do pack a punch, but we do consider them a pillow link. So, we’re not using them exclusively for purposes of ranking. We’re looking more toward diversifying our backlink profile, especially with naked, branded, or generic-style anchors.

[18:08] What should you do when your homepage outranks your blog post for the keyword you wanted to rank in the blog post for a new site?

This tends to happen to new sites because Google is still trying to decide what’s going on. But if it’s been some time and you have a page outranking another page for a keyword, you’re looking at what’s called a “keyword cannibalization” issue. To fix keyword cannibalization, you need to make sure that you deoptimize the page for that keyword (in your case, your homepage) and make sure that your blog post is optimized correctly.

[21:01] Can you start the niche edits from month 1 or should you wait for the pillow links to index first?

You can do them at the same time. In fact, we don’t even worry about pillow link indexing. Due to resources, it’s not in Google’s interest to index absolutely everything. While it’s speculative, we firmly believe that there are links that are not indexed that Google knows exist. You can order niche edits alongside your pillow links; but, don’t get too aggressive with your anchors, especially if it’s a newer website. Diversify your backlink profile, but also include guest posts and niche edits because they add a little more authority. If any type of authority link is not indexing, it’s not good. Forcing it to index is not going to make it any better.

[28:27] How can I get backlinks for an .edu site with ePortfolios?

We use them as pillow links. We wouldn’t use them as anchors. There is a very high probability that these links will go down quickly, and they won’t help you rank tremendously.

[34:42] What are some of the low-cost ways to build backlinks to a local website?

For local sites, the number one way to get free backlinks is with citations. Use tools like Ahrefs to see what your competitors use, and imitate the types of links they have. Haro allows you to answer reporters’ questions and they link to your site if they like your answer. Broken link building is another strategy. If people are already talking about your business, use unlinked brand mentions. Free guest posting is another option, but a tricky one. Try infographics and videos if you’re a very niche, local business to really stand out. Similarly, resource links and statistics posts can make you valuable in the eyes of potential customers/clients around you. Pillow links and forum and blog comments in moderation are staples of ours. Stay away from free backlink generators and link exchanges.

[48:42] I’m considering deoptimizing the blog post for that keyword and optimizing the homepage which is ranking for that.

It will all depend on the scope of your website. If your site is all about this one thing and you don’t plan on expanding it any further, then the homepage can be perfectly okay for ranking for that specific thing. But if your business provides more services that don’t fall under that keyword, then you’ll want to rank your blog post higher.

[50:53] What are pillow links?

These are anything that is not a guest post, pillow link, niche edit, authority link, editorial link, or Haro. These are blog-style websites that write articles and link contextually. Everything else is what we would consider pillow links: blog comments, Web 2.0s, social profiles, forum profiles, forum posts, citations, directories, etc. You can get a lot of these pillow links for cheap. They add insulation or diversity to a link profile. They’re not your priority but they keep your website looking natural in Google’s eyes.

[54:02] Should I include my website URL in the blog comments?

When you fill out a blog comment, it usually asks you for your name, your website, and then your comment. Your name typically ends up being your anchor text in the blog comment. For example, if you put in “best plumber in Houston” for your name, that’s going to be your anchor text for your blog comment. But we don’t recommend it. Yes, you can get exact match anchors by doing that, but it’s not natural. If you’re going to do blog comments, use your actual name or your company’s name. You can put in your website’s homepage.

[58:06] I checked some of the blogs for the city but there aren’t any websites specifically located in that city. But there are some blog posts related to it. Would commenting on those help?

Yes, because you’re still getting location relevance doing that. But we like to get links from actual local publications if possible because those local websites tend to have backlink profiles with a lot of local links.

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