The Wordtracker Academy > Ken McGaffin
Ken McGaffin is an experienced internet marketing consultant and has worked for major pharmaceutical companies, advertising agencies, government bodies and non-profit organizations.
Ken unveils the secrets of successful link building in his 384-page e-book, Successful Link Building
You can watch recordings of his extremely popular (and free) Link Building Webinars
And you can read Ken's articles about keyword research and link building throughout the Academy.
Articles by Ken McGaffin
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4 ways to expand your hunt for relevant links Posted by Ken McGaffin on 28 May 2013
Of course, you want to get links from your own industry. That’s a no-brainer. But links from your own industry aren’t the only links that are relevant. There are many more prospects that could be of interest. Read on to find out more ...
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Link building is dead. Long live link building! Posted by Ken McGaffin on 09 April 2013
In webinars and emails, I increasingly get the question, “Isn’t link building dead?” The answer is that a certain type of link building is dead, and a new type of link building has taken its place ...
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Yes, YOU really can get quality links (like these)! Posted by Ken McGaffin on 28 February 2013
Link building can be a difficult business. And sometimes you can ask yourself if all the trouble is really worth it. In times like that, it’s great to read about what other businesses in your situation have done to win fantastic links. Their experiences - and the benefits they got from link building - can inspire us all.
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How to shamelessly steal great ideas (and get away with it!) Posted by Ken McGaffin on 15 February 2013
The ideas behind this article are not new. I have shamelessly stolen them and not only do I intend to get away with it scot free, but I hope over the course of the next 800 words or so, to persuade you to do the same and steal the very best ideas you can find.
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Customer focused link building Posted by Ken McGaffin on 13 February 2013
The most important thing for any business is to satisfy customer needs profitably. In doing so you build a unique knowledge of your customers, an understanding of the problems they face and a pretty good idea of the questions they ask. You answer these customer questions every day and tell people exactly what your products or services do to solve problems for you. This is rich content for link building.
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59 lists you really must have to build links Posted by Ken McGaffin on 05 February 2013
Compiling lists of all kinds is integral to the work of a link builder. Not only do lists make the job easier, they save a lot of time and ensure you don’t miss easy opportunities. Both Garrett French (the co-author of this article) and I almost build our working lives around lists.
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Are your chances of getting quality links diddly-squat? Posted by Ken McGaffin on 30 January 2013
You probably don’t need me to remind you of the 6 major benefits of link building because we covered them last week when we talked about how link building is a marketing priority.
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Six reasons why link building is a marketing priority Posted by Ken McGaffin on 23 January 2013
Link building is not just important for search engine optimization. In fact link building has multiple benefits that can boost your online profits, yet often get ignored.
In this article, Ken McGaffin describes the six major benefits of link building and give you some tips for each so that you can maximize your return on investment from all those lovely links you’re able to attract.
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Why you already have the basic skills required for link building Posted by Ken McGaffin on 19 September 2012
If you don't think you have the skills to build links, you're probably wrong. Ken McGaffin explains why.
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What is the "Get Links!" course all about? Posted by Ken McGaffin on 12 September 2012
The Get Links! video training course - what it is, and why you need it.
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Introduction to the Get Links! Video Training Course Posted by Ken McGaffin on 30 August 2012
Getting quality links from quality sites can be a time consuming and frustrating process. This new video training course presented by link building experts Ken McGaffin and Garrett French will teach you everything you need to know to get links that will bring traffic to your website for years to come.
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![Illustration for Learning the importance of video in SEO [Video]](http://www.wordtracker.com/attachments/styles/thumbnail/public/field/image/video.png "Illustration for Learning the importance of video in SEO [Video]")
Learning the importance of video in SEO [Video] Posted by Ken McGaffin on 29 March 2012
CEO of ReelSEO answers Ken McGaffin's questions on how video has impacted on the world of SEO.
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Link building strategies: News media Posted by Ken McGaffin on 21 March 2012
Targeting news media should be part of everyone’s link building campaigns. You can do this on your own, or use Wordtracker’s Link Builder tool as the perfect starting point.
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Link building strategies: Blogs Posted by Ken McGaffin on 21 March 2012
No matter what industry you’re in there will be bloggers that write about it. They’ll usually have a well-established audience and a good presence on search engines.
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Link building strategies: Social media Posted by Ken McGaffin on 21 March 2012
There’s a lot of link building opportunity in the big name social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and so on. But there’s also a lot of link building opportunities on less well known niche social media sites.
Wordtracker’s Link Builder tool helps you easily find such sites and keeps them all in one place.
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Link Building Made Simple 3: What's the current situation? Posted by Ken McGaffin on 27 February 2012
Ken McGaffin in the third article in his Link Building Made Simple series describes how to survey the current situation in your particular market, by building campaigns in Link Builder
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Link Building Made Simple 2: Measuring your success Posted by Ken McGaffin on 27 February 2012
It is of course important to measure the success of your link building campaigns. In this second in a series of six articles in the Link Building Made Simple series, Ken McGaffin shows how you can measure not only your return on investment but also what works and what doesn’t work for your website in your particular market.
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Link Building Made Simple 1: Strategy Posted by Ken McGaffin on 07 February 2012
Ken McGaffin, in the first of his Link Building Made Simple series of articles, explains how to form a simple strategy that will get your link building campaigns off to a great start.
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Introduction to the Link Building Made Simple series Posted by Ken McGaffin on 04 February 2012
Links bring your business multiple benefits that will repay your investment many times over and Ken McGaffin has written series of articles on how to build links the best way, very simply. Read his introduction to these articles, and links to the rest in series are at the bottom page.
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Link Building Made Simple 6: Promotion Posted by Ken McGaffin on 04 February 2012
Creating great content gives you tremendous ammunition for attracting links.
But content without active promotion is likely to turn into a very damp squib. So you must have mechanisms in place that will allow you to easily and repeatably get your message out to as many relevant people as possible.
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Link Building Made Simple 5: Content creation Posted by Ken McGaffin on 04 February 2012
Planning your content is crucial but it is not just something that you can churn out: it requires time, thought and effort. This fifth in the Link Building Made Simple series presents some ideas on how to produce lots of good content.
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Link Building Made Simple 4: Networking and link prospecting Posted by Ken McGaffin on 03 February 2012
Link building has changed dramatically over the last dozen or so years that Ken McGaffin has been in the business. In this article he advises how the linking landscape has changed and how to target new prospects.
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Link building introduction [VIDEOS] Posted by Ken McGaffin on 25 January 2012
In four short and clear videos, Ken McGaffin introduces link building for SEOs and all online marketers explaining why links are important, what a quality link is, what sites need links and what kind of sites you should try and get them from.
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Keyword Basics Part 1: How search engines work Posted by Ken McGaffin on 08 January 2012
One of the most frequently asked questions from website owners is, "Why can't my site be found on Google?" They know it's important to appear in search engine results but they just don't know why it doesn't happen to them. Ken McGaffin gives this introduction to search engines in Part 1 of Wordtracker's Keyword Basics series
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Keyword Basics Part 8: Building keyword rich inbound links Posted by Ken McGaffin on 01 January 2012
Most of the links that come to your website will point to your home page and normally use your domain name as the ‘anchor text’ (also called ‘linking text’). Ken McGaffin in this eighth article in the Keyword Basics series advises how to turn that into keyword rich link text in order to attract more search engine traffic.
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How to write killer headlines [video] Posted by Ken McGaffin on 30 November 2011
No matter how good your content, if you want it read and shared then you need great headlines. Here, Ken McGaffin interviews Nick Usborne, expert headline writer and author of Killer Headlines for Web Content
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Link building and the craft of persuasion Posted by Ken McGaffin on 25 November 2011
How do you persuade busy bloggers to link to you? By using the craft of persuasion, explains Ken McGaffin.
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10 reasons why your link requests are failing Posted by Ken McGaffin on 27 October 2011
One of the most common difficulties in link building is getting a response from link requests. Ken McGaffin gives 10 reasons why you might not be getting answers and how to fix each problem.
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Link building hero: how Nick Russill gets links for snow-forecast.com without asking Posted by Ken McGaffin on 12 October 2011
Snow-forecast.com has achieved every link builder’s dream of getting powerful quality inbound links without asking.
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Does your link building use the secret of the 'magic middle'? [Video] Posted by Ken McGaffin on 29 September 2011
When you're link building, you want to find high quality link prospects.
Yet, you also want to find prospects where there's a good chance of actually getting a link.
Ken McGaffin shows how such prospects can be found in the 'magic middle' ... -
Getting started with Link Builder transcript 2: Start with URLs Posted by Ken McGaffin on 26 September 2011
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Getting started with Link Builder - Transcript 1: Start with a Keyword Posted by Ken McGaffin on 26 September 2011
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Getting started with Link Builder - Transcript 4: Contact view Posted by Ken McGaffin on 23 September 2011
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Getting started with Link Builder - Transcript 3: Analysis view Posted by Ken McGaffin on 23 September 2011
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Getting started with Link Builder: Video 6 Posted by Ken McGaffin on 21 September 2011
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Getting started with Link Builder: Video 4 Posted by Ken McGaffin on 21 September 2011
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Effortless link building (Part 2) Posted by Ken McGaffin on 15 September 2011
In Effortless link building (part one), Ken McGaffin showed how finding a single quality news source allows us to quickly and effortlessly build a link building campaign of many thousands of link prospects. In this follow up article, he’ll take that one step further and show how both newbies and more experienced link builders can systematically turn these link prospects into valuable inbound links.
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Getting started with Link Builder: Video 3 Posted by Ken McGaffin on 11 September 2011
Link Builder provides details of link prospects already sorted into strategy groups such as blogs, news media and trusted sites. Ken McGaffin explains in Video 3 in the series Getting Started with Link Builder how to take advantage of this to sort out your prospects into effective link building campaigns.
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Getting Started with Link Builder: Video 2 Posted by Ken McGaffin on 11 September 2011
Entering up to 10 URLS into the Link Builder tool can deliver thousands of link prospects to help you with your link building campaigns. Ken McGaffin shows how this works in the second in his Getting Started with Link Builder videos.
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Getting started with Link Builder: Video 1 Posted by Ken McGaffin on 11 September 2011
Video 1 in Ken McGaffin's series Getting Started with Link Builder videos shows how to begin to build great link building campaigns using just one keyword.
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Effortless link building (Part 1) Posted by Ken McGaffin on 01 September 2011
Always be on the look out for new link building opportunities. And some of the best can emerge from your day-to-day business activities. Chatting to a restaurant owner about a bad review on TripAdvisor.com led Ken McGaffin to an interesting site on travel technology. The site was a good prospect in itself but from that single prospect, he quickly built a campaign of many thousands of link prospects.
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Link building strategies: Business Posted by Ken McGaffin on 12 August 2011
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Link building strategies: Co-linking sites Posted by Ken McGaffin on 28 July 2011
Sites that link to more than one of your competitors are must-have links that should be easy to get. Ken McGaffin shows you to find them.
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Is this the best link building tool ever? Posted by Ken McGaffin on 21 July 2011
A good link building campaign needs to be planned, managed, monitored and reported on. It will use a wide range of strategies with many link prospects for each.
This is a lot of work and Wordtracker's Link Builder tool has been rebuilt to do all these jobs for you. Can all this really be in one tool? Ken McGaffin says it can and here he shows you how.
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Ann Smarty talks guest blogging (the only link building technique she uses) Posted by Ken McGaffin on 28 June 2011
Ann Smarty promoted her own SEO career using guest posting, it’s the only link building technique she uses for her SEO clients and she built a community called MyBlogGuest to help guest bloggers. Here she talks to Ken McGaffin about (have you guessed?) guest blogging.
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Link building strategies Posted by Ken McGaffin on 20 June 2011
Professional SEOs will tell you that different types of sites require different approaches to link building. Tailor your link building - and you’ll increase your chances of getting a link.
In the Link Builder tool, we’ve already filtered your prospects and organized them into strategies so you can tailor your link building - and increase your chances of getting a link.
Here is a list of the articles we've featured, based on these strategies, that will help you on your way to create effective, traffic-attracting link building campaigns:
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Link building strategies: Already linking Posted by Ken McGaffin on 20 June 2011
Link building is about building relationships. And the daftest thing you can do is stop once you've got a link. So pay attention to people who already link to you and see what else you can do together.
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Quick guide to Link Builder Posted by Ken McGaffin on 16 June 2011
Link building is not only good for search engine rankings, it’s essential. But not all links are equal - some links are excellent, and many others next to useless. It’s quality, not quantity of inbound links that make winners stand out. That’s why link building is the biggest challenge SEOs and website owners face.
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13 ways to assess a link prospect Posted by Ken McGaffin on 16 June 2011
Assessing the quality of link prospects and sorting them using tools like Link Builder is crucial at every stage of a link building campaign. Get it right and you’ll be way ahead of your competitors: spending time on link prospects will bring you the best business and SEO benefits. But how do you assess the quality of a link prospect? No more mystery in that - Ken McGaffin gives you 13 ways to assess a link prospect.
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Link building tool help Posted by Ken McGaffin on 15 June 2011
You need help and advice in carrying out your link building campaigns or on using the Wordtracker Link Builder tool? Read on to find advice on link building strategies, guides and tips and any other link building tidbits we can think of on this page.
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Link building strategies: Jobs Posted by Ken McGaffin on 15 June 2011
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25 reasons why another site will link to yours Posted by Ken McGaffin on 11 June 2011
Why would anyone link to your site? Here are 25 reasons why another site will link to yours. With real world examples from Ken McGaffin.
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Link building strategies: Trusted sites Posted by Ken McGaffin on 30 May 2011
Trusted sites are usually defined as non-profit websites (.org), educational bodies (.edu) and government agencies (.gov). Contrary to popular belief, Google doesn’t treat links from trusted sites any differently from other links. However, just because Google doesn’t treat them any differently, that doesn’t mean that they’re not different.
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Link building strategies: Shopping Posted by Ken McGaffin on 30 May 2011
Shopping on the web is of course a major activity so the number of sites retailing goods and the number of sites writing, advising and commenting on products and the companies who produce them is huge.
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Link building strategies: Directories Posted by Ken McGaffin on 29 May 2011
Online directories offer a source of easy links and remain a good first step for many link building campaigns. Yet, many links from directories offer little value. Ken McGaffin outlines his approach to link building with directories.
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Getting to know your online community Posted by Ken McGaffin on 05 May 2011
Ken McGaffin in this extract from Wordtracker Masterclass: Link Building explains how online communities work and how to find and contact link building prospects within that community to help you build a profitable, traffic-attracting website:
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Why you need different link building strategies for different types of sites Posted by Ken McGaffin on 25 April 2011
Finding quality link prospects is easy. Making an approach and winning that link is not. And if you’ve got thousands of link prospects you’ll not have much success if you make the same blanket approach to each one.
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The importance of preparation for link building Posted by Ken McGaffin on 14 April 2011
Quality link building needs great ideas for content that others will want to link to. But ‘build it and they will come’ is not enough. You need to first find the sites you want to link to you and build relationships with them. Ken McGaffin shows us how to prepare for link building.
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Original ideas for building content for links Posted by Ken McGaffin on 04 February 2011
Link building is a creative process. At least the type of link building that can generate hundreds of editorial links is. Where does the inspiration for such powerful ideas come from? A breakdown on the London Underground gave Ken McGaffin the inspiration for this article – and an opportunity to summarize some of his thoughts on creativity.
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How to get free links and online PR with HARO (Help A Reporter Out) Posted by Ken McGaffin on 28 January 2011
It’s true - free links and media coverage await you at HARO (Help A Reporter Out), a brilliant free service that brings the world of online PR within the reach of any small business owner or website. In an extract from his brilliant The Link Publicity Book, Ken McGaffin explains how HARO can work for you.
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Analyzing a magazine website for link prospects (Link building course part 4) Posted by Ken McGaffin on 21 January 2011
Analyzing the links to top magazines in your market can be a great source of high quality link prospects. Here, Ken McGaffin shows you how to do it and what to do when you find them.
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Link Building Q & A Posted by Ken McGaffin on 14 January 2011
Here’s a collection of link building Q & As from Ken McGaffin’s weekly link building webinars. You can join Ken live at his next link building webinar on 1st March 2011
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Ken McGaffin's link building webinar (recording) Posted by Ken McGaffin on 11 January 2011
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How to find the top news sources and journalists on Google News Posted by Ken McGaffin on 21 December 2010
In his never-ending search for the best possible link prospects, Ken McGaffin talked to Neil Pharazyn, CEO of Newsknife to discover how to find the find the most influential targeted online news sources.
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13 ways to evaluate link prospects and find quality Posted by Ken McGaffin on 08 December 2010
It’s important to look for quality links to your website. A small number of links from quality sites will bring you much more benefit than thousands of links from poor quality sites. But how do you judge what a quality site is and the value of a link from it? Different link builders will have different priorities, but here Ken McGaffin shows us what he looks for when eyeing up a prospect.
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Fastest link building campaign planner ever (8 different campaigns in minutes) Posted by Ken McGaffin on 03 December 2010
In this article Ken McGaffin shows you how Link Builder gets your link building project off to a flying start by creating ready made campaigns for you. You’ll be starting to approach quality link prospects within minutes.
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How to find anchor text links (the most powerful links your site can get) Posted by Ken McGaffin on 26 November 2010
Using keywords in the linking text (or anchor text) that points to a specific page on your site is one of the most powerful ways to boost your search engine rankings. Ken McGaffin shows you how a new feature on Wordtracker Link Builder helps you find more of these most sought after links.
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Link building FAQs with Ken McGaffin Posted by Ken McGaffin on 18 November 2010
What’s the deal with nofollow links? Do they count? Can it hurt your site if you have lots of links from low quality directories? Do your links really have to come from relevant sites? Ken McGaffin answers some of the questions frequently asked in his link building seminars.
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Discover your competitors' link building secrets (Link building course part 3) Posted by Ken McGaffin on 05 November 2010
Competitor link analysis is much more than finding out who’s linking to your competitors and getting them to link to you. There is a huge amount of useful information you can grab if you just take the time to research carefully.
In this article, the third in the series, Ken McGaffin shows you how to get the most from competitive link analysis and introduces two new features to the Link Builder tool – linking text analysis and linking domain categorization.
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Ken McGaffin's "How to Build Links to Your Website" webinar transcript Posted by Ken McGaffin on 13 October 2010
Read the transcript of a recent recording of Ken McGaffin's link building webinar - "How to Build Links To Your Website" - here now:
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Drive sales and links for SEO through online PR Posted by Ken McGaffin on 08 October 2010
The media is full of stories about businesses of all kinds – small, large, innovative, personal, family and multinational. This brings a lot of publicity and sales to the businesses that are featured.
But are you one of those businesses that don’t get any media coverage at all? Do you see your competitors grabbing headlines when you know you could do so much better?
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How a Link Building Hero uses a blog to build links, make a living and take lots of holidays Posted by Ken McGaffin on 03 September 2010
Andreas Kambanis of the London Cyclist blog didn’t start as a blogging or a cycling expert. But hard and smart work have turned his cycling blog into his main source of income. Andreas is the first subject of a new series of Link Building Heroes and Ken McGaffin, co-author of Wordtracker Masterclass: Link Building - How to build links to your website for SEO, traffic and response discovers how Andreas uses quality blog content to build links for SEO and an email list for marketing.
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How to make a link request Posted by Ken McGaffin on 27 August 2010
So you’ve found some great link prospects. And you’ve created some great reasons why someone should link to you. Now you want to make an approach and craft a great link request. But are your link requests missing the most vital ingredient? Ken McGaffin asks the question and gives the answers.
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Finding link building prospects by analyzing links to ‘personality websites’ (Link building course part 2) Posted by Ken McGaffin on 27 August 2010
Some companies and websites can’t keep out of the news. Open up a newspaper, browse a news website, sit down in front of the television and you see the same companies featured time and again. How do they do that? Ken McGaffin explains and shows how to get link prospects from them.
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How to find great link prospects (Link building course part 1) Posted by Ken McGaffin on 19 August 2010
We struggle to find link prospects for our websites. And that means we struggle to get the links we need to move us up the search engine rankings and bring more visitors to our sites.
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8 questions to ask of sites that already link to you Posted by Ken McGaffin on 19 August 2010
Link building is one of the most difficult parts of search engine optimization and naturally we’re all delighted when we ‘crack it’ and get new links pointing to our site.
Job done. Good links. Let’s move on to the next job.
I don’t think so.
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A quick guide to Link Builder Posted by Ken McGaffin on 02 June 2010
Link building is not only good for search engine rankings, it’s essential. But not all links are equal - some links are excellent, and many others next to useless. It’s quality, not quantity of inbound links that make winners stand out. That’s why link building is the biggest challenge SEOs and website owners face.
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The link building mindset Posted by Ken McGaffin on 31 May 2010
We all know that one-way links from authority websites are essential if your link building efforts are to be successful. But what does it take to get those authority sites to link to you? Well, you’ll probably guess that it is not easy - quality links don’t materialize from feeble or automated requests. To get those ever so valuable links you’ve got to adopt the right mindset - the principles that show link targets you mean business and that you’re worth linking to.
Here’s my baker’s dozen ...
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Using Keywords Part 8: Use keywords in offline advertising Posted by Ken McGaffin on 29 May 2010
Offline advertising has a proven effect on people’s search behavior and planning optimized web content around certain keywords to support the advertising campaign is a tactic growing in popularity.
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Using Keywords Part 7: Build keyword rich inbound links Posted by Ken McGaffin on 29 May 2010
To rank well in search engine results you need to score well on both ‘on the page’ and ‘off the page’ factors.
‘On the page’ factors are about what is on your own pages and therefore within your own control. ‘Off the page’ factors are the links from external websites to your own, and these are much more difficult to control.
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Using Keywords Part 6: Optimize your press releases Posted by Ken McGaffin on 29 May 2010
When people consume news offline – in newspapers, magazines and broadcast media – their relationship with the material is usually transitory.
After the day of publication, a newspaper is thrown in the trash can while a broadcast story can fade from memory very quickly.
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Using Keywords Part 5: Choose keyword rich names Posted by Ken McGaffin on 29 May 2010
Inbound links are the single most important factor in determining your position on Google’s results pages.
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Using Keywords Part 4: Squeeze every bit of value from pay per click Posted by Ken McGaffin on 29 May 2010
PPC advertising now makes up a substantial share of search marketing spend. Paying for an advert when someone clicks on it reduces the up-front cost associated with traditional advertising and brings a powerful, revenue-generating machine within the grasp of any size of business.
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Using Keywords Part 1: Expand your keyword lists Posted by Ken McGaffin on 29 May 2010
The objective of a business website is to attract potential buyers and convert them into paying customers.
Keywords can help you fulfill this objective. Use appropriate keywords on your site and you’ll attract visitors who want to buy the types of products you have to offer.
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Link Builder tool definitions Posted by Ken McGaffin on 09 May 2010
The Link Builder tool is designed to help you instantly identify your best link prospects - and build a linking campaign that exponentially grows your online presence. And here we explain the different parts of the Link Builder interface.
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Keyword Basics Part 3: Choosing your best keywords Posted by Ken McGaffin on 01 May 2010
You know how sometimes you make a list of say, three things and then by the time you get to the end of the list, you remember that there’s something you really must include and your list of three becomes a list of four? This is Part 3 of Ken McGaffin's Keyword Basics series.
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Keyword Basics Part 4: Using keywords in website copywriting Posted by Ken McGaffin on 01 May 2010
You've done all your keyword research and you've found great keywords for your website. So, now your goal is to write your website text in such a way that you rank as highly as possible on the search engine results page.
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Why content is crucial to your website and what to write Posted by Ken McGaffin on 17 November 2009
Web content is crucial for any business that wants to succeed online. Good content will engage your customers, attract search traffic and help build your business.
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Is online PR the ultimate link building technique? Posted by Ken McGaffin on 29 September 2009
Getting coverage for your business in mainstream media can be hugely beneficial in bringing a swathe of new visitors to your site, and building inbound links from the media and from all the other people who comment on it. In this article, I want to give you guidelines on how you can use publicity in your own business.
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10 reasons why journalists will write about your website Posted by Ken McGaffin on 29 September 2009
“Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others.” Jonathan Swift
Opportunities for great free publicity and inbound links are all around us. They arise every day from a host of newspapers, magazines, blogs and online news sites… but we just don’t see them.
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We want to hear your honest opinions Posted by Ken McGaffin on 01 September 2009
Wordtracker would love to hear your opinions. We've come up with a short survey that we're hoping will help us to help you.
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3 ways to build large keyword lists using Wordtracker's new Keywords tool Posted by Ken McGaffin on 30 June 2009
Whenever Ken McGaffin wants to create a new website or add content to an existing one, he begins with keyword research. He spells out the reasons why this is so important, and demonstrates how you can carry it out with the aid of Wordtracker's new Keywords tool.
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Keywords tool help videos Posted by Ken McGaffin on 21 April 2009
These videos refer to our older toolset. To get the most from our new tools, have a look at the new tool's videos
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"Wordtracker Masterclass: Link Building" - your comments, feedback and questions Posted by Ken McGaffin on 11 February 2009
Let us have your comments, thoughts and questions on Wordtracker's Link Building ebook
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How to use a tool to build links: Introducing the keyword questions tool Posted by Ken McGaffin on 05 November 2008
Creating a useful free tool is a great way to build [links](/academy/linking). To illustrate the point, we’re releasing the free ‘Keyword Questions’ tool for the first time today. We’ll be starting with no links and we’ll update you on how our inbound links are doing. (If you like the tool please link to it). You’ll find it at [Wordtracker Keyword Questions Tool](https://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/keyword-questions/).
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How Lurpak's post-Xmas campaign was left with the scraps Posted by Ken McGaffin on 06 August 2008
Branding campaigns aim to build positive associations in the consumer’s mind so that they will look favorably on a company or product in the future.
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Why online PR and SEO go hand in hand Posted by Ken McGaffin on 06 August 2008
Once you’ve optimized your website copy, you’ll find that the most important part of the optimization process happens off the page – with links from external sites back to yours playing a vital role in telling Google and other search engines how important your site really is.
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Keyword creativity: An online opportunity for ad agencies? Posted by Ken McGaffin on 06 August 2008
In 2002, AT&T made a major mistake. As part of the launch of its mobile initiative mLife, the company purchased television advertising during the Super Bowl coverage. Nothing wrong with that – along with the Oscars, it attracts one of the biggest audiences in American television and is seen as a creative showcase for the best in American advertising.
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How quality newspapers can be a rich source of keyword ideas Posted by Ken McGaffin on 25 June 2008
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Link Builder webinars Posted by Ken McGaffin on 28 May 2008
To help you get the most from Wordtracker's Link Builder tool, we run regular online seminars.
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Using Keywords Part 9: Identify and exploit niche markets Posted by Ken McGaffin on 12 February 2008
If you want to build a thriving business, you must identify the niches within your market. Decide which ones you want to target, then tailor your message to the audience.
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Using Keywords Part 3: Generate search engine friendly content Posted by Ken McGaffin on 14 December 2007
Keyword research tells you what people are looking for online and therefore it is one of the best ways to find ideas for content on your website.
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Why keyword research matters Posted by Ken McGaffin on 15 August 2007
People describe things in different ways. The words you use in your business may be very different from the words your customers use. For example, Gerry McGovern explains, “low fares” is an airline industry term (121 searches predicted at time of writing); “cheap flights” is a term potential customers will use (8,057 searches predicted per day). Use industry terms instead of customer terms and you will not be found. These three cartoons show what happens:
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Using Keywords Part 2: Optimize your existing content Posted by Ken McGaffin on 22 July 2007
The first quick win of doing keyword research should be to optimize your existing content. Do that before you go on to create new content. That means looking again at the content you’ve already created and seeing what improvements you can make that will increase search engine traffic - and sales - from those particular pages.
You’ve got to make sure that you’ve organized your content and that you’ve used important keywords in all the right places.
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What you can do with Wordtracker Posted by Ken McGaffin on 24 November 2006
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Not this Saturday Posted by Ken McGaffin on 24 November 2006
The last thing Susan Webster wanted to do this morning was to go into the office.
Susan was in the habit of going in every Saturday to plan the week ahead. She liked the silence, and the atmosphere of her oak-paneled office helped her to think.
But after what she’d been through in the last seven days she just couldn’t face it. She was determined to have some time to herself and relax with the weekend papers and a cup – no, make that a large pot – of strong coffee.
Susan had given up her job on Wall Street to become the new CEO of the family firm, Virginia Veg.
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Find the keywords and you’ll find the marketplace Posted by Ken McGaffin on 24 November 2006
Email
From: Ken McGaffin, Linking Matters
To: Susan Webster, Virginia Veg
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Where to use your keyword phrases - a checklist Posted by Ken McGaffin on 24 November 2006
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Keyword quality and the Wordtracker database Posted by Ken McGaffin on 06 October 2006
Search engines get bombarded with automated queries from ranking monitors, popularity analyzers, bid optimizers and other tools. This deluge of non-human activity distorts keyword counts, and if it is not identified and eliminated will leave you with very poor keywords.
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Keyword creativity in web design Posted by Ken McGaffin on 05 October 2006
"Keyword Creativity" is the process of understanding customer behavior through keyword research and using the insights gained to drive the creative process.
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Keyword phrases in linking text Posted by Ken McGaffin on 27 October 2005
Often simple things really matter. And the use of keywords in linking text is one of those simple things that turn out to be hugely important. Linking text, sometimes called anchor text, is the clickable text that takes people to another page or resource. You need to choose that text carefully.
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How to get links without asking Posted by Ken McGaffin on 07 June 2005
Sending out link requests is a time-consuming business. So wouldn't it be wonderful if other sites linked to you without being asked?
Sound impossible? Well, it can be done and here are ten strategies to prove it.
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6 powerful ways to find link building targets Posted by Ken McGaffin on 06 February 2005
Finding quality sites to target is at the heart of any effective linking strategy. ‘Quality sites’ are not the ones that are easiest to get links from but those that will drive most relevant traffic to your site. In our last newsletter, we looked at how to maximize your link value to make your site more attractive to link targets. In this issue we’ll explore how to find quality link targets.
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The perfect link building strategy Posted by Ken McGaffin on 07 August 2004
If you’ve gone through all the hard work of a link building campaign, you expect to be rewarded with some impressive links. The reality is that many people are disappointed with the trickle of links and the trickle of traffic that their efforts produce.
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