Understanding Negative SEO & How to Defend Your Website

Google has stirred up some fear by sending out the following message within Google Webmaster Tools, resulting in several discussions in the Internet marketing community on the current effectiveness of negative SEO.

It was previously known that Google would send messages notifying a site owner if their site was pointing to what would be considered spammy pages. It now looks as though Google feels comfortable letting site owners know links they have identified as part of what they would call a link scheme are currently pointing to their site. This is an attempt by Google to discourage the use of paid links to manipulate PageRank and gain higher rankings.
The Google Webmaster Tools message shown above, in combination with the recent Penguin algorithm update, has lead many people to believe that negative SEO is a very real danger. This is because Penguin was partially created to take out sites utilizing paid links.

What is Negative SEO?

Negative SEO attacks can come in a few forms. Generally, negative SEO refers to when one website buys links and points them at a competitor’s website in an effort to torpedo their rankings. Other instances of negative SEO have included such tactics as hacking a website to inflict some sort of malicious damage on a website, review bombing (pointing a large number of 5-star reviews at a business so it appears they paid for them), or simply by reporting another website’s “black hat” tactics to Google.
Since external links are more or less beyond the control of the site owner, it would seem competitors could very easily improve their search rankings by using tactics to negatively impact their competitors.
The reality of the situation is... this is only partially true. You can do things to protect your website. Before you get too worried about a competitor targeting your site to harm your rankings using negative SEO tactics, understand that:

• It’s generally agreed that a site with strong domain authority is less susceptible to negative SEO tactics.
• It’s very risky for a business to engage in a negative SEO campaign. Most legitimate businesses won’t take the gamble.
• Google has systems in place to review sites that might be affected, understanding the process can mean a swift recovery if something were to happen.
• It’s extremely important to monitor SEO factors that can easily be manipulated by competitors such as backlinks and reviews.

Negative SEO Tactics

Below are some notes on tactics that were part of what was considered to be a successful negative SEO campaign.

• Paid linking: If thousands of links get pointed to your site there is a reasonable chance it will most likely get on the radar of Google. Work with Google, change your site to comply within their guidelines the best you can, and submit a reconsideration request containing details on links you have no control over.
• Stealing content before it can get indexed: This is an attempt to copy a site’s content to make it look like the original site is actually duplicating it. You can prevent this from being an effective tactic by maintaining an updated sitemap and consistently re-submitting when new content is published. The use of an absolute rel=canonical tag on pages can help establish your site as the authority when content is getting scraped by a third party. A great way to identify if your site is getting scraped and duplicated is by performing a Google search containing a a sentence from your webpage within quotes.

• Fake reviews - A competitor can easily add fake reviews to a business listing, making it seem like it is your business creating them. This supposedly worked in the “case study”. In that, reviews were removed from the victim’s Google Place listing. To prevent this from happening be sure to monitor reviews and use the “report a problem” link at the bottom of your business listing to notify Google of the issue.

• Site speed: Excessive crawling of a site can cause latency issues for a typical user browsing a site. It’s possible to prevent malicious crawlers from having access to your site, but it should be done very carefully so as not to block Google, Bing, or users from navigating. Knowing Google and Bing’s IP addresses can be helpful if using IP detection as a method for identifying and stopping bad crawlers.
• DMCA removal requests: This is, by far, is the most effective and scary negative SEO tactic. Targeting a site’s most valuable backlinks, a competitor sends emails notifying the webmaster that the page containing a link to your site is considered a copyright infringement and should be removed immediately. One defense for this is to establish a relationship with the site before it can happen. Even an email saying, "thank you for the link!", could be enough to help keep that link permanent. Keeping an eye on new referral traffic in analytics can help identify new links worth being thankful for! This is faster than waiting for a link index, such as Open Site Explorer, to update and surface new links.

The Best Negative SEO Defense

Just to be clear, there is no set list of negative SEO tactics. A negative SEO campaign will identify the weaknesses of your site and exploit them.
The best defense is having a website with a solid SEO focused foundation and constantly monitoring important ranking metrics for foul play. Additionally, an open and honest relationship (if possible, customer service can be non-existent) with Google can help you maintain long standing rankings.
Google truly opened up a big can of worms with the Penguin algorithm update and the latest Google Webmaster Tools message warning sites of paid links. It will be hard for them to distinguish whether a site has a serious issue of a competitor implementing negative SEO or if the site owner is guilty of playing outside the rules and pretending it was someone else.
It would be surprising if Google isn’t aware of the effect this move is having. My guess is that they’ve begun spearheading identifying patterns of link manipulation, beefing up customer support and the webspam team, and preparing for the ensuing onslaught of controversy.

 Negative SEO & Black Hat SEO

• Negative SEO: Looking for Answers from Google
• Old Black Hat SEO Tricks Still Work
• 2 Ways to Protect Your Site From SEO Attacks
• 5 Black Hat Attack Vulnerabilities & Defensive Strategies
• 3 Website Exploits -- Are You Protected?
• Black Hat SEO: Killing Your Competition With Google
• The Difference Between Black Hat SEO and Bad SEO

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60 Day Fitness Challenge for Intermediate Level Lifters

How to Use Link Bombs to Your Advantage

How to use Link Bombs to your advantage

Link bombing has been around for awhile and all it really is is a SEO tactic which some people used to link certain words to certain websites. As soon as I heard about things like this and read up on how they did it, it made me look at this search engine optimization tactic in a different light.
I like many others who have read a little on search engine optimization look upon it as an impossible task. But along comes the link bomb and proves how easy it can be to do some of these little tricks.
In this lens I will show you how to use the tactics used in link bombing and hopefully like me you should be able to rank a lot better in google (and the other search engines) for a single long tail keyword.

What is a Link Bomb

To find out what an actual link bomb is you should read this article it outlines the good and bad things to do with link bombing, and, if you are like me and read between the lines you should see that by employing techniques like these for yourself you should be able to rank fairly highly for a good search phrase. Don't be over eager though by going for a really competitive one.

Basically you all should realise now what a link bomb is. All it is is tagging a certain phrase to a link and using it as much as possible. Now I aint saying you have to use it on a huge scale. All you have to do is choose a good keyphrase to back up your website link and use it EVERY time you link to your site, whether it is from a forum or signing someone's guestbook. Just stick to the phrase you choose and use it whenever you can.

Ok, for this tutorial I'm going to use the website I'm webmaster for for the examples. This kills two birds with one stone, it gives my site a bit extra PR (not much because the subject is unrelated but it is an article about the site) and it is much better for teaching/learning purposes.

One thing you definitely have to avoid when linking to your site is using statements like this.

Please visit my website by clicking on this link.

This kind of statement is good for sending people to your site but is absolute rubbish for giving your site better rankings. It does give an extra link to your site but you have missed a good chance to give your site an extra leg up.

Using a statement like this is way better:

Please visit Knoll House Interforum for all your personal wealth creation needs.

Methodology

Ok - lets get down to the method. What you need to do is create a subtitle for your website. With Knoll House Interforum (not the best website name in the world but it is nice and unique) we picked the subtitle 'The Home of Personal Wealth Creation' which is not a brilliant keyword phrase but Personal Wealth Creation is as that is what our site is all about.

Now you need to use your site's subtitle in your links by using the title tag. Here is our link to show you how to do it:-

<a href="http://www.knollhouse-interforum.com" title="The Home of Personal Wealth Creation">Knoll House Interforum</a>

This will produce a link like the following:-

Knoll House Interforum

By using this method I have linked the phrase 'The Home of Personal Wealth Creation' to the Knoll House Interforum site. It does take time just make sure when you linking to your site you use this method and the same keyword phrase everytime.

By using this method Knoll House Interforum ranks number one on MSN for the search phrase 'the home of personal wealth creation' and ranks number five on MSN for the search phrase 'personal wealth creation'. Knoll House Interforum also ranks on the first page on Google for the search 'the home of personal wealth creation'. So as you see it does actually work and good luck with getting it to work for you.

Update:

This lens was created in June 2007, now six months later (December) we now rank Number One in Google for the phrase "Personal Wealth Creation". We are also on the first page of Google for the phrase "Wealth Creation" which proves without a doubt that this SEO strategy does in fact work.

Email Publishers Profiting From the Inbox

The oldest form of social media is still the most potent for online publishers.
No, I’m not referring to Friendster.
The first email was sent in 1971, and it definitely didn’t include any “today only” offers on flatscreen TVs or discounted Indian food.
When we think of “social media” we think of faster, sexier platforms like Google +, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, or (ahem) Facebook.
But every single minute, some 170 million emails are sent by an estimated 3.3 billion accounts worldwide, and around 100 a day land in your own inbox.
How can this ancient technology possibly drive the profits of a business online?
Let’s take a look …

A responsive email list is a far more valuable asset than a Twitter following

The trick to email marketing that works isn’t a trick at all, it’s the foundation of any proftable content marketing strategy.
It starts with a subscriber, and the one thing that subscriber wants at the moment he or she finds your website.
You see those prominent “sign up” boxes on every smart website for a reason. They are asking for your permission to deepen the conversation about what you’re looking for, and in a much more personalized setting.
Your prospect is what legendary copywriter Robert Collier calls “the man on the speeding train.”
We see something shiny through the window as we speed through the massive clutter of the social media landscape, but we don’t look for long because a new thing is already in our periphery.
Attention alone will get you nowhere. That’s the secret that so many successful email marketers have learned. Keeping your prospect’s attention is where the hard work comes in.
Robert Collier points out:

Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.

Let’s take a look at 7 successful email publishers who are delivering that kind of content daily …

1. Thrillist

Thrillist is a free daily email that uses a mix of content and commerce to blur the lines of traditional media. They create one-on-one relationships with their audience of 20-something guys to showcase “cool stuff,” localized by city delivery.
Ben Lerer, founder of Thrillist Media Group, which now touts an audience of over 4 million, and revenue of more than $50 million said:

When someone subscribes, they invite you into their inbox on a regular basis …

Their innovative approach to regular daily content seems to be working pretty well for them.

2. HARO

Peter Shankman founded HARO (Help a Reporter Out) as a humble service helping journalists connect to sources.
When HARO outgrew its Facebook home, Shankman took it to a daily email list, which grew to more than 100,000 subscribers and soon began to change the PR industry’s model of how reporters found story sources.
It resonated enough with the changing tides to get acquired in 2010 for what was rumored to be a highly attractive number.

3. Daily Worth

DailyWorth, a daily financial e-newsletter empowering women to “save more + spend smarter,” landed on Forbes Top 100 Websites for Women.
It has raised over $3 million in investor funding on the strength of its 200,000+ subscribers.
Founder Amanda Steinberg says:

E-newsletters are a great business because they follow proven, highly-scalable models, which make it easy to focus.

4. Ideal Bite

Ideal Bite started out as a daily email newsletter that tapped into the growing demand for “eco-conscious” food products and services.
Disney caught on and swooped up the site for around $15 million, likely due to their growing audience of conscious moms in a key demographic.

5. GeekChicDaily

GeekChicDaily became a wildly popular email opt-in list of 425,000 nerds with know-how that attracted big name investors.
They joined forces with Nerdist Industries to create a geekdom-juggernaut that reaches into the millions and was named one of the most influential brands on Twitter by Time Magazine.

6. Red Tricycle

Red Tricycle offers localized content via e-newsletter aimed directly at new parents looking for fun things to do with their kids.
They are growing fast on the strength of their near 400,000 subscribers and recently found some big investors like entrepreneur Jason Calacanis.

7. Daily Candy

Daily Candy got the jump on email when they started offering their style-savvy e-newsletter for young women in 2000.
8 years later they were bought by Comcast for a mind-bending $125,000,000 on the strength of their 2.5 million subscribers.

What do all of these email newsletters have in common?

Undeniable value and the permission to deliver.
Psychologist Susan Weinschenk reminds us that our prospects are essentially “hard-wired” to seek out rewarding information and valuable services.
As content marketers, the easier we make it for prospects to get that truly valuable cookie content, the more addicted they become (in a good way) to engaging with you in a value exchange.
In a 2012 survey performed by ExactTarget, 91% of respondents said they checked their email daily, and 77% claimed that email was their preferred channel for “permission-based promotional messages.”
The runner up was direct mail at a whopping 9%.
Good old Facebook clocked-in at 4%.

Higher engagement means higher conversion rates

In the rather blunt phrasing of online marketer Derek Halpern:

If you’re not building your email list, you’re an idiot.

Get started today.

• Study your audience before you ever hit Send. Know your targeted niche and demographic cold.
• Make sure you are offering some kind of value exchange for people’s shrinking amount of free time. We’ve seen how well Groupon commodified the simplicity of email coupons, at least for awhile. Can you innovate in a different way?
• Localize your content to connect more deeply with a smaller audience, as opposed to having shallow relationships with a “catch-all” audience.
• Create email content that is succinct and easy to digest (see: Copywriting 101).
• When you build trust by offering valuable content, you can turn your audience’s precious attention into long-term interest that drives repeat traffic.

In a nutshell: Email marketing is still the most cost-effective and profitable way of delivering true value to an audience that wants it.

Making Money Online: List Building

Making Money Online: List Building: LIST BUILDING Building up a list of leads is an important part of marketing. Whether you capture them through your website, incomin...

A Beginners Guide to Pinterest

Like Facebook and Twitter, Pinterest is a social site that acts as a virtual bulletin board for users to share images and links that inspire them and interact, follow and connect with other ‘pinners’. Images known as ‘pins’ can be placed on a customised board to create collections of products you love or places to visit. Users then click on these pins and are taken directly to the site that the image belongs to.
For example, The Web Marketing Group could create boards of their latest products, users will click on a topic such as Link Building or Content Writing and can be taken to that exact page on the site.

How to Pin on Pinterest

Pinning on Pinterest is simple really. You can upload an image to pin yourself or link to a website. However, one of the simplest methods is to install the Pin It button directly from Pinterest. Once installed, this button will appear on your browser bar. Wshen you find an image online that you like, simply press the pin button and Pinterest will ask you to confirm which image you would like to select for pinning. By pinning with the button, there is no need to attribute the image as Pinterest will link it back to its original location. Simply add your new pin to the most relevant board and add a caption to ensure it is sufficiently optimised.

Why Pinterest?

People use Pinterest to find and store images of clothes they wish to buy, food they wish to cook, places they wish to visit and furniture that they would love in their homes.

• Pinterest is powerful
• Pinterest is growing
• Pinterest is unique
• Pinterest is free

Pinterest for Brands/Businesses

Pinterest is in essence the shop window of your site. Big and small businesses have cottoned on to the many benefits that Pinterest can offer including:

• Increased visibility and brand awareness
• Builds Do Follow Backlinks
• Sales
• Social Engagement
• SEO
• Traffic

Pinterest can be used to create a look book for your company, displaying your products and creating an idea of what your business is about. Success relies on creating ‘pinnable’ images that other users will want to repin. Travel, food, fashion, weddings and interior design are among the most popular niches.

Re-Pinning is the New Re-tweet

Pinterest may not be the newest social site but it is quickly taking over the old favourites and research has uncovered that Pinterest drives more traffic that Twitter. Recent research from Shareaholic revealed that Pinterest is now generating more traffic that Yahoo search.

Pinterest and SEO

You can optimise your profile as shown above.
Pinterest allows you to optimise your pins and include tags to attract users with keywords. Pinterest traffic can be tracked in Google Analytics and you can also track the number of repins from other users also.
There are a variety of ways that Pinterest can benefit your search engine optimisation strategy:

• Drive Traffic to Your Site – Pinterest is a great way to drive traffic to your site. As long as your site contains high quality, interesting images, people will want to pin them. These pins or recommendations will ensure larger numbers of people see your pins and can be directed back to your site with minimum fuss.
• Boost Your Keyword Strategy – Get found for the phrases that really matter to your business. Pinterest boards and profiles are indexed by Google which means that you can optimise your boards with specific keywords to help you appear in the search results.
• Identify Pins that Convert – Google Analytics allows you to identify which pins convert into sales. In doing so, you will get a better feel for the types of images your target market is likely to pin and the products they will be interested in purchasing.
• Encourage Natural Links – Content assets are a great way to encourage natural links to your site. However, if people do not know they are there or cannot find them through traditional search methods, it may be wise to pin things like infographics on Pinterest. This will enable your target market to find your content assets and pass them on quickly to other people, making them highly visible in a short space of time.

The 5 Most Persuasive Words in the English Language

When it comes to assembling persuasive copy, like any other construction job, you need to rely on your skills, experience, and toolbox.
The toolbox of the writer is filled with words.
In defining what I believe is a critical element of crafting effective copy, I’ll make my case by amending the famous quote from Animal Farm: “All words are equal, but some words are more equal than others.”
And there are certain power words that hold more sway over our decision making process than others. You might be surprised to find that these “power words” don’t seem … well, all that powerful.
This speaks to just how damned efficient they are. Simple language is crystal-clear language, and these words make it clear just what you want your reader to do.
And you might be surprised just how effective these deceptively simple words can be.
I’ve listed these words below (along with studies related to their power) that will show you how to speak more persuasively to your audience.

Warning: I can’t stress enough — just as in the application of writing headlines that work — you must understand why these words are persuasive, and you must use them in the contexts that make sense for your audience and your business. If you just start slapping them on every piece of content you create for no apparent reason, you’ll quickly see just how unpersuasive they can be.

1. You

There’s an often-cited study in the copywriting world about a piece of Yale research that reveals “You” to be the #1 power word out of a supposed 12.
Despite the fact that the study likely never happened, I have some actual research that reveals the power of invoking the self.
As it turns out, while people might like the word “you,” it is guaranteed that that they love reading their own name much more.
According to recent research examining brain activation, few things light us up quite like seeing our own names in print or on the screen. Our names are intrinsically tied to our self-perception and make up a massive part of our identity. No surprise then, that we become more engaged and even more trusting of a message in which our name appears.
Research has shown that we will gladly pay more for personalization, so isn’t it about time you start getting personal with your customers?
However, there is one small problem with this finding …
Writing general web copy with name utilization in mind isn’t usually possible, but by capitalizing on the power of permission marketing, you can adapt this strategy easily — many email lists are greatly aided by being able to start off messages with a customer’s name.
While that may not be important for your blog updates, if you maintain a variety of separate lists for your products (and you should), make sure you’re grabbing a first name to make your broadcasts trigger that personal aspect with customers.

2. Free

Everybody loves free.
People love free stuff so much they’ll actually make different choices, even when the respective value of the item or service remains the same.
Dan Ariely revealed this startling fact in his book Predictably Irrational, where he examined a very unusual “battle” between Lindt chocolate truffles and Hershey Kisses.
To test the power of the word “free” in relation to concrete value, the study first asked people to choose between a 1 cent Hershey Kiss or a 15 cent Lindt truffle (about half its actual value, generally considered a richer, superior chocolate).
The results were as follows:

In other words, tastes were found to be very much in favor for the truffle. I mean, who’s going to pass up a deal, right?
Later though, another random group of subjects seemingly flipped on their opinion of these two treats. Ariely revealed that when the price was reduced by one cent for both brands (meaning the Kiss was now free), people altered their choices drastically.
With the new prices, here were the results:

Although in the first test it appears we simply can’t pass up a deal, as it turns out, we really can’t pass up a steal. Although the relation in prices remained the same (a 14 cent difference between the two), people chose the Kiss far more often when it was free.
Ariely points to loss aversion (our disdain for losing out on things) and our natural instinct to go after “low hanging fruit” as the reasons why we are so susceptible to snatching up free stuff.
The danger of free: As we’ve seen here, there is a certain inherit danger in trumpeting free things. Having something for free will attract more people. But that will most certainly include a fair share of “bargain hunters” who aren’t likely to turn into the superstar customers that really grow your business.
Use free only when it makes sense, and only in the right context.
Emphasizing the “freeness” of your free guides, courses, information, support, etc., can go a long way in attracting attention. On Sparring Mind, I emphasize the fact that my newsletter is “free to join,” because although most marketers understand this, many folks don’t quite understand what it means to subscribe.
Conversely, you should use minimal pricing to keep out those barnacle customers who aren’t ideal long-term buyers, or who aren’t truly suited for your flagship offerings.

3. Because

In a study from the classic book Influence by Robert Cialdini, tests were conducted on requests from a person in a hurry to use an in-office copy machine. The tests examined how different requests might affect people’s willingness to allow this person to “cut” in line.
In the first test, the participant simply stated:

Excuse me, I have 5 pages. May I use the Xerox machine?

In this scenario, around 60% of people allowed him to cut in line and use the machine first.
In the next scenario, the request was slightly tweaked. This time the participant said:

I have 5 pages. May I use the Xerox machine, because I am in a rush?

Did you see the ever-so-subtle difference between the two?
Let’s break this down: Not only was the request only minimally changed, but the “because” (his reason) was barely a reason at all! “Because I’m in a rush” wouldn’t stand up as a good excuse for most of us, right? Isn’t a majority of the working world in a rush?
Despite what we might like to believe, around 94% of people allowed him to cut in line this time! If you think that’s strange, check out the request used in the 3rd and final test:

Excuse me, I have 5 pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I have to make copies?

That went from having a barely passable reason to absolutely no reason at all for letting the man cut. In spite of this, 93% of people let him cut on this third trial, only a 1% drop from when he had a weak reason (“I’m in a rush”) and a 33% improvement vs. the first test.
According to Cialdini:

A well-known principle of human behavior says that when we ask someone to do us a favor we will be more successful if we provide a reason. People simply like to have reasons for what they do.

Here’s the bottom line: Many companies are proud of the features that their product (or service) can offer, and that’s fine, but you have to remember that when you are focusing on writing persuasive copy, it all comes down to answering your customer’s #1 question:

What’s in it for me?

Although “because” may appear to have some sort of brainwashing effect on people at Xerox machines, it’s only really a matter of reasoning: even giving weak reasons have been shown to be more persuasive than giving no reason at all.
Only trumpet features and product traits you are proud of when they help make your point. Use them to create an incentive for customers to take action. And use “because” when pointing out these compelling reasons, but don’t rely on it as a crutch.

4. Instantly

The subject of delayed gratification is an important one among neuroscientists, as many famous studies (such as the Stanford marshmallow experiment) showcase how being able to delay rewards to a later date is a skill needed to become successful. (I know very few entrepreneurs who would argue against that.)
The reason this interests us as marketers is because it reveals an interesting aspect of human nature …
We want things yesterday!
Several MRI studies have shown just how fired up our mid-brain gets when we envision instant rewards, and how it’s our frontal cortex that’s activated when it comes to waiting for something (that’s a no-no for sales).
Words like “instant,” “immediately,” or even”fast” are triggers for flipping the switch on that mid-brain activity.
If you are in the business of selling web-based software, you already have an advantage here: “instant access” isn’t a vague promise, it’s often the reality. For those in the physical products or services business, reminding customers that they will receive their product quickly (or someone will get in touch with them ASAP) can go a long way in being the gentle push they need to buy.
We’ve seen how even “tightwad customers” can be swayed with these subtle changes in language to insinuate fast pain removal. It’s a reliable tactic for converting more prospects into customers as long as you follow the one golden rule …
Always deliver on your promises. And, whenever possible, overdeliver.
This is an area where many business get too optimistic, and although it’s smart to emphasis these instant rewards, it’s also always a good idea to under-promise and over-deliver, so be sure you can actually follow through on your promises or you may end up with a “tribe” that hates your guts.

5. New

This one almost seems paradoxical.
According neuroimaging research, we actually respond more favorably to recognized brands, and can have a hefty amount of disdain for any drastic changes. (Remember New Coke? Oh, the horror …)
On the other hand, it’s long been known that novelty plays an incredibly important role in activating our brain’s reward center and in keeping us content with our products.
“Newness” is important to products, especially because research has shown that they age far more quickly than “experiential” purchases. (In other words, you’ll hate your new headphones in 2 years, but that concert you went to 5 years ago probably aged in your mind like a fine wine.)
How can you achieve a zen-like balance against these two contradictory sides of the same word?
The important things to consider here are which parts of your business generate trust, and which parts generate utility. It’s your brand that creates trust, and as the saying goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Your products however are what customers get utility out of, and stagnant offerings are your first class ticket to an abysmally bored userbase.
Your core brand elements like your unique selling proposition, your dazzling customer service and your quality offering in the marketplace should be approached with excessive caution if things are going well.
With your products, it’s far easier to excite customers with new features and polish. Even if things don’t work out perfectly, a majority of customers will appreciate innovation attempts over no progression at all (unless you pull a Digg v4 and ruin everything in one fell swoop).
New fixes to old problems, new features and improvements, a fresh new design, or even new ways of getting your message out there (Red Bull anyone?) are all essential for keeping your customers “on their toes,” without losing the trust that has cemented you as an awesome brand in their mind.