Are You Missing Out on “Low Hanging Links”?

When we help organizations optimize their websites for organic search, one of the first things we do is look for “low-hanging fruit”. Is there a technology or architectural decision that’s inhibiting the search engines’ access to content? Are the website’s page titles adequately descriptive and do they include targeted keywords? Quite simply, we start with the basics.

The same approach is often the case with link building. For all the recent hype and arguments regarding the various methods for acquiring links (which I will gladly stay out of), we typically find opportunities for acquiring new inbound links or optimizing existing links staring us in the face. A favorite source of these “low hanging links” comes from partner sites. I’m not talking about traffic partners. I’m talking about strategic partners, distribution partners, business service providers, etc.|

Existing Links are “Low Hanging Links”
Case in point: I recently worked with a software company on initiating a link building effort. Checking their existing inbound links, I found there were already a number of links from high-quality, authoritative sites, many of them partner sites. But in almost every case, the partner link was a hyperlinked logo from the “Partners” page to my client’s homepage. If there was clickable text, it was always my client’s brand. If there was other accompanying text it was, without fail, product babble about synergistic, scalable solutions. In short, there was not a targeted keyword in sight – which is bad news for building relevant link popularity.

I also asked our client about other partners. Turns out they have an army of additional partners (primarily resellers) that can (and should) be linking to them. Another missed opportunity.

With all this low-hanging fruit available, why do so many companies work (or pay) to acquire new links when they haven’t optimized the links they’ve already got? Why start down the time-consuming path of requesting links from third-party sites? These take multiple rounds of communication and will often have a lower success rate. Bottom line: it’s almost always easier to get someone to modify a link than add a new one.

Why Are Low Hanging Links Often Missed?
Low-hanging links are typically missed for the same reason simple on-page optimization opportunities are missed: SEO is not ingrained throughout the organization. SEO (and link building) remains something that is “handled” by the marketing team, web team, or technology team. That team sprinkles their magic SEO dust around the server room and the site miraculously shoots to the top (its rightful place, mind you).

In the case of partner links, responsibility for acquiring these links often lies with those who know little to nothing about SEO and are certainly not held accountable for SEO results. Partner links are often acquired by Managers of Strategic Partnerships or sales staff. It’s just something that is done in an automatic and template-driven fashion. Thinking it through and getting the right link to the right place with the right text is both confusing and time-consuming. They don’t have time for it and frankly, may not care.

Why doesn’t the SEO team step in and optimize these links? Maybe it’s a turf issue. Maybe there’s a lack of knowledge about the existence of these links by those responsible for SEO. Maybe it’s part of the larger confusion regarding where “link building” as a whole really belongs. Is it PR? Is it web communications?

Whatever the specific reason, reality requires that you step in and do something about it.

How To Capture Low Hanging Links

1. First, you need to identify your partner link opportunities. Review the existing links from your partners and identify partners not yet linking to your site. While this may be a bit easier for those in the business-to-business space, there are plenty of opportunities in the business-to-consumer world as well. If you’re lacking links from a selection of strategic partners, identify your resellers, suppliers, service providers (e.g. legal firm, accounting firm, etc.), etc. as potential candidates.
2. Get support. Educate those responsible for getting links on why this is important and how to do it properly. Make the case. Flatter them with the power “their links” will have. Do what it takes to get buy in. You may even need to offer to work directly with the partner on the link execution. Sales managers may have no interest in doing extra work for something that doesn’t impact their commissions, but they’re likely to let you do it.
3. If possible, put a link requirement into partner contracts. Require your partner to implement a link with a mutually agreeable implementation. Try to avoid reciprocal linking requirements. While a reciprocal link with an authoritative site is better than nothing, its impact is much less than the one-way link.
4. Get your links out from behind the results of a “partner search” tool. This is particularly common on larger sites with a plethora of partners. Your link being served through a database-driven tool that requires users to submit a request equals no link at all.
5. Ensure these links have targeted keyword-rich anchor text as well as relevant copy surrounding the link. If all your inbound links are anchored with the text “visit our partner at www.yourcompanyurl.com”, you are helping to ensure you rank #1 for your brand – which is likely already the case.
6. Use page targeting. Don’t just get links that point to the homepage. Obtain links to the page you are targeting to rank for each particular keyword.

What Next?
As you begin, please keep in mind how you got all those “low hanging links” in the first place. Be aware there might be some issues your organization will need to overcome in order to establish an effective SEO program and build relevant link popularity.

At the end of the day, SEO is everyone’s responsibility. It is a long-term effort that requires nearly the entire organization’s participation and support. Use the low hanging link guidelines above as both an opportunity to get additional links and to discuss why SEO needs more visibility and consideration throughout your organization.

Now jump in and get to it.