Craig Campbell SEO, SMXL Milan 15th November 2017
- 1. @craigcampbell03 Craig Campbell 1 Hi there! Im Craig based in Glasgow, Scotland. Been in the SEO industry 16 years, from being a freelancer in my bedroom to building up my own digital agency. Making many mistakes along the way. Now I offer training and consultancy to help people avoid the mistakes I made over the years. Craig Campbell, SEO Trainer & Consultant
- 2. @craigcampbell03 What hat do successful SEO’s wear 2 Anyone labelling themselves as wearing a white hat or a black hat do not know what they are doing IMO. White Hat vs Black Hat
- 3. @craigcampbell03 What is White Hat SEO 3 What is White Hat Ethical SEO, Ethical Practices, Huge Budgets Big brands, people with massive followings & resources can achieve this Not achievable by smaller brands or people with low budgets
- 4. @craigcampbell03 What is Black Hat SEO 4 Black Hat SEO Spammers, using automation and any type of tactic to get quick wins Scrapebox GSA PBNS & Expired Domains thrown up in minutes Spun Content Trashy Links Cheap gigs on Fiverr All low quality work
- 5. @craigcampbell03 Successful SEO’s Don’t Label Themselves 5 ROI Hat, Money Hat ✓ Silly to label yourself as one or the other ✓ One of Googles main ranking signals is Link Building ✓ There is a difference between being clever and being spammy ✓ Feed the search engines what they want
- 6. @craigcampbell03 Best SEO Approach 6 • Use a wide range of link building strategies • Do local citations • Do outreach • Use your data and analytics • Do guest blog posts • Use PBNS • Get featured on expert round ups • Appear on webinars • Speak at events • Look at making sure your content is as good as it can be • Make sure you take Technical SEO seriously ( this is vital ) • Continue to learn • Build relationships with other people who have something to offer Mix Everything Up, don’t just stick to one approach
- 7. @craigcampbell03 Worst SEO Approach 7 • Grabbing links on Fivver • Automation of directory submissions • Copy and paste content, or using spun content • Using one shared server and interlinking all your sites • Using automated tools without any thought or understanding • Thinking there is a quick fix to ranking well and making money online • Using low quality freelancers to cut corners • Social Bookmarking ( who even does this these days ) • Forum Profiles Using only Black Hat Techniques will get you banned
- 8. @craigcampbell03 Don’t Chase Domain Metrics 8 • People obsess over domain metrics • Domain metrics can be faked • Links from domains with traffic and real backlink profiles are important PA, DA, TF, CF are 3rd party metrics
- 9. @craigcampbell03 Don’t Always Believe Google 9 Google Do Lie IMO Updates are better Googles a machine Feed it what it needs
- 10. Unless you have manual action there is no need to submit a disavow? Gary IIIyes Barry likes to spread any old news it seems and has been doing it for years Barry Schwartz Has repeatedly said many SEO’s don’t use disavow, and this is a mistake in my opinion. Christoph C Cemper I see benefits in submitting disavow files, many others do to, surely we all cant be wrong. Follow what works Example of some BS from Google
- 11. @craigcampbell03 PBNS Private Blog Network 11 One of the main ranking signals as verified by those at Google Link Building So even though its a main ranking signal Googles terms of service state that any manipulation may lead to a penalty. Google Terms I believe that there are a lot of scare tactics released by the search engines. Scare Tactics There are two types of PBN’s a spammy PBN, and a real PBN build with someone who knows what they are doing. 2 Types of PBN’s
- 12. @craigcampbell03 Spammy PBNS Overview This is what NOT TO DO 12 Expired Domains Expired domains, is a good way of grabbing some aged domains with history, good domain metrics and you can take advantage of previous SEO efforts. Feeding Google some good quality relevant domains. However thats the bit of knowledge people stick to and forget the rest. A little knowledge can be dangerous. One IP address A shared server with any hosting account typically comes with one IP address. So all sites on this server have one common IP address which Google can easily identify. Avoiding Footprints are key to PBNs. Stay under the radar. Shared Server So any website needs to be hosted, but people generally go for the cheapest option. Shared hosting is a low cost and easy way to have a cluster of websites hosted. But leaves a footprint that gets you caught out. So be careful with hosting.
- 13. @craigcampbell03 Real PBN No Footprints 13 Real Websites, Real traffic Regularly updated No Footprints Totally Unique
- 14. Everyone chases links from other influencers and websites with good metrics Links Work Regardless of what tag you place on it, a link is a link, guest blog post, paid ads, outreach Outreach/Paid Links Algorithm changes have happened for years to keep things working well on the search engines Googles Algorithm Penguin Updates target questionable links Penguin Updates
- 15. Work Smart Work Smart, you don’t need to have 100,000 links, things take time, build up naturally. Do it Properly Treat every website like its your own, new content, new links, technical SEO, Site Speed Dont Think Cheap Dont use cheap ways to try and scale up a PBN, quality over quantity wins all the time.
- 16. @craigcampbell03 PBN Tips & Tools 16 Your looking for quality links There are many tools out there to help you find good expired domains, and many auction websites: expireddomains.net, Go Daddy Auctions, Domain Hunter Gatherer, Find someone who does this ! My strategy I mix my PBNS up, ill use www.domrecovery.com to pull sites up quickly from the way back machine, get them up and running quickly. Then treat these sites properly like they are genuine websites of mine, ill add new content, outreach for links and treat them like a real site. Do your research Before buying any domains, do research checking domain metrics using majestic, payback machine to see the previous website, and do your checks as many of these stats can be faked. Make sure you buy something genuine with a decent amount of history.
- 17. @craigcampbell03 PBN Tips 17 • Domain Hunter Gatherer • Expireddomains.net • Auction Websites, Go Daddy and many others • Dom Recovery • Find decent hosting accounts ( avoid most SEO Hosting Companies ) Tips and Tools to Start your PBN
- 18. @craigcampbell03 Dom Recovery 18 A great tool that costs a one time fee of $97 and provides an instant return on investment. www.domrecovery.com Grabs all content, css files, JS files and anything else. feature one Quickest and easiest way to recover any website from the wayback machine feature two Saves you loads of time, this will take you a few minutes to get the job done feature three
- 19. @craigcampbell03 Domain Hunter Gatherer 19 There is a free account, a premium account at $17 per month and a Pro account at $87 per month www.domainhuntergatherer.com Domain auction hunter, find quality domains at many auction sites easily. feature one It can scrape web 2.0s, not a great tactic but useful for link diversity. feature two Uses API calls to Majestic and Moz to cross reference their domain metrics. feature three
- 20. @craigcampbell03 Website Hosting Use Multiple Web Hosts Server Locations, IP addresses 20
- 21. @craigcampbell03 Avoiding Footprints Its Vital 21 No Links Do not interlink your PBN websites that is the most common mistake I see. Different Hosts Use different hosting accounts and domain registrars for your domains and hosting.. Vary Whois Data Use fake persona’s to vary Whois data & use whois privacy Different TemplateUse different website templates for putting up your PBN’s. Vary Plugins Use a range of different plugins and keep them mixed up.
- 22. @craigcampbell03 Introducing Browzio 22 Fake Persona’s Every persona has a different proxy, its own browsers, macros scripts and can do anything browser based. features description ✓ Buy Domains & Hosting ✓ Own Social Profiles & Social Signals ✓ Google Reviews ✓ Use your mind as to what these can do.
- 23. @craigcampbell03 Proxies buyproxies.org 23 Proxies are Important Use proxies for most automation, it keeps things in working order. features description ✓ 5 Proxies = $10 ✓ 10 Proxies = $20 ✓ 20 Proxies = $40 ✓ 30 Proxies = $50
- 24. @craigcampbell03 PBN Websites 24 web design Try and use a mobile friendly website template and try and keep the site as unique as possible. Remember you can rent this site out, collect data or do affiliate stuff on here too. • Use different templates • Use Different Plugins • Different Layouts • Unique Content • Own Social Presence • Hosted on a nice unique IP address if possible
- 25. @craigcampbell03 Common Questions 25 PBN Questions • Can I use Spun Content • How long before I link to money site • Can I sell links on my PBNS • How many links go on my PBNs • Do I need to do build links to my PBN’s
- 26. @craigcampbell03 serped.net 26 Manage and Monitor Your PBN So managing a bunch of PBN’s gets easier using Serped, there are 45+ tools on Serped. features description ✓ Uptime Monitor ✓ Domain Finding ✓ Rank Tracking ✓ Domain Metrics
- 27. @craigcampbell03 serped.net 27 Domain & Research • Aged Domain Finder • Top Expired Domains • Domain Market Place • Exact Match Domains • Bulk URL Analyser • Long Tail Keyword Finder • Backlinks Explorer • Site Backups • Site Manager • Goal Tracking • Citation Scanner • Wordpress Manager • Site Auditing Tools • Spintax Checker Additional Extras
- 28. @craigcampbell03 Feed Google What It Wants 28 01 Domain Metrics Although google doesn’t use domain metrics these are a good way to figure out whether a link has any real value. 03 Use these as tools Use your PBN to bargain with other webmaster for genuine links. 02 Relevant websites Google wants to see links from websites that are relevant. 04 Keep the PBN a secret Dont tell people about your PBN, fly under the radar and use these assets to your advantage.
- 29. @craigcampbell03 Block Bots 29 Many SEOs will do this to stop others finding out what they are doing. Stop Bots Crawling Your PBN
- 30. @craigcampbell03 Blocking Bots 30 Blocking Bots • Block bots from all major tools to go under the radar • No competitor analysis • You don’t want competition reporting your PBN However be careful as blocking bots is a footprint too, so use this as and where you feel its required, maybe on your top PBN’s.
- 31. @craigcampbell03 benefits for you 31 Link Building Power Build your PBN slowly these will become your assets moving forward. Treat your PBN’s Well Treat your PBN’s like they are your own main website, they are valuable to you going forward and will always make you money. Never Sell Links My advice would be to keep your PBN’s to yourself and make them work for you in a number of different ways. Never sell links to others, you will no longer be a Private Blog Network.
- 32. @craigcampbell03 PBN Reporting 32 Most SEO’s I know will never report on their PBN’s or backlinks. Do you report on backlinks?
- 33. @craigcampbell03 What I do report on 33 03Rankings Showing clients increase rankings will keep them paying, if you are doing the job well then this will continually grow. And another major part of my reporting process. 02 Conversions Trying to set up goals such as sales, forms being filled out and other goals will help you see how well your campaign is going and an ideal way to report to a client to show some results. 01Traffic Showing your client what traffic their website is getting is ideal, you can show good steady progress using tools like analytics that they can monitor as often as they like.
- 34. @craigcampbell03 Client Demands 34 Clients want to know too much Clients often want to know too much, they want to know what links have been built, how many there are and how you got them. Client Education is important Giving a client enough information to allow them to understand what you do is vital, however this can very often run into much more than a service you are providing. Training is an option for a client No SEO will tell a client what they are doing exactly, its a grey area, a skill nurtured over many years and no-one is going to give that away, unless the client is paying money for training. Never report on your PBN’s.
- 35. @craigcampbell03 our main target 35 After we rank for the major keywords a client wants to rank well for, then everything else will slot into place, sales or enquiries will come as a direct result. Ranking for keywords
- 36. coffee break for me Thanks for watching