Update: Eugene tweaked the algo a bit. I’m now a B- :) I should get a B+ after the Chico River whitewater trip (booked and set to leave early August). If you’re interested to join us (10 have signed up so far) please contact me. P4000 for the rafting/hotel/meals and P1300 for the Manila - Kalinga - Manila bus fare. We leave Manila on a Saturday night.

Fresh linkbait. One of the best ones to come out from the Philippines this year.

My Lakbayan grade is B-!

How much of the Philippines have you visited? Find out at Lakbayan!

Created by Eugene Villar.

As you can see, I’m in desperate need for some Northern Exposure. Anyone up for this? At least talo ko si Aileen at Rico :P

Here’s a list of things I’m not doing which I think would help my personal blog attract more Text Link Ads advertisers (and higher paying ones too).
Read the rest of this entry »

Check it out - my mom’s a linkbaiter! When I saw the subject, I almost had a heart attack. Guess SEO runs in the family. Here’s your link po. Batch 63 represent!
Read the rest of this entry »

It’s been widely reported that all external Wikipedia links have been nofollow-ed.

And don’t worry — all links on non-article pages are coded by MediaWiki as “nofollow”, so no spammer gets a page ranking boost from those links when they’re on a user page.–A. B. (talk) 03:33, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

Did he say all external links? I can give you three examples showing the complete opposite: here, here and here. I didn’t bother capturing screenshots (who can’t fake a screenshot nowadays anyway), so you’ll have to trust me on this :)
Read the rest of this entry »

Refresh your linkbait knowhow for 2007 via Todd’s The Link Baiting Playbook: Hooks Revisited post. The two notable additions to the seminal Nick Wilson list are the Ego Hook and the Incentive Hook which work perfectly for gurus/rockstars/sneezers and guru/rockstar/sneezer wannabes, respectively.

Everyone loves to talk about themself or read about themself. I think the old saying goes “the sweetest word in any language is the sound of your own name”. I certainly like hearing when people say nice things about me. Offering people significant exposure to express their ideas (IE - giving them a soapbox where people might listen) is a common component of the ego hook. Letting people talk about themselves, their ideas, or their company with your assistance.

Paid Post Services and Linkbaiting
Paid post services like ReviewMe is probably the ultimate ego + incentive bait. To see your ranking stars and pricing rates increase and to have multiple review requests in your inbox…that’s ego food right there. And there’s still the $125/post for your 4-star blog.

As more and more of the top and up-and-coming mainstream bloggers (non-SEO) discover the value of links, it will become harder and harder to push deliberate linkbaits their way. One will really have to whip up a well thought out and cleverly executed campaign to get the top blogger in your niche to post about your bait without compensation. But being the top blogger that he is, chances are he’s on some post monetization program. Shorten the cycle. Take out your wallet and pay him or her to get the virus out in a fast, painless and ‘objective’ manner.

Abhilash brings the widget concept to the level that most SEOs can understand (and exploit) via this bookmark-worthy post. He mentions challenges, best practices and information sources for SEOs looking to ride on the widget bandwagon. Key takeaways include:

• target bloggers and entertainment publishers for maximum widget adoption
• “real widget success will take some serious insight, time & love” - comment spammers need not apply

The penalties for link selling are clear. Matt has mentioned them before. Now it’s Stefanie’s turn (Stephanie Ulrike Dürr from the Google Webmaster Central Blog to be exact):

…there are two ways for optimizing the link-based popularity of your website: Either the meritocratic and long-term option of developing natural links or the risky and short-term option of non-earned backlinks via link spamming tactics such as buying links. We’ve always taken a clear stance with respect to manipulating the PageRank algorithm in our Quality Guidelines. Despite these policies, the strategy of participating in link schemes might have previously paid off. But more recently, Google has tremendously refined its link-weighting algorithms. We have more people working on Google’s link-weighting for quality control and to correct issues we find. So nowadays, undermining the PageRank algorithm is likely to result in the loss of the ability of link-selling sites to pass on reputation via links to other sites (highlights are mine).

The thing is, the average publisher doesn’t give a rat’s ass whether they pass reputation or not. He doesn’t care if his site is permanently condomized. Passing reputation is just too far up his heirarchy of needs.
Read the rest of this entry »

PayPerPost is now requiring publishers to state that they’re getting paid for their review posts, no doubt brought about the FTC’s requirement for advertisers to disclose paid WOMM tactics.

PayPerPost, the leading marketplace connecting marketers with bloggers, videographers, photographers, podcasters and social networks, announced the second phase of its full disclosure model, whereby participating Consumer Content Creators are required to disclose their sponsored status. The new Terms of Service, effective today, will bring greater transparency to the growing Consumer Generated Advertising industry.
Since creating the concept of sponsored posting, PayPerPost has allowed and encouraged transparency, enabling marketers and bloggers to disclose word-of-mouth (WOM) or buzz marketing relationships. The company provides bloggers with tools to empower disclosure and has popularized the concept of adopting a Disclosure Policy for all bloggers through http://www.DisclosurePolicy.org. Consistent with WOM industry guidelines, PayPerPost also prohibits marketers who use the PayPerPost marketplace from requesting no disclosure.

Picked up from TechCrunch.

If this is what someone I met at SES China means about getting a link from Google.com, I’m not impressed :) I know it’s a redirect, but let’s just test if any of the search engines pick it up as a link.

• Globe Visibility
• Globe Visibility 3G

What happens when you get Dugg? Neil Patel (who I was able to meet in Pubcon) gives us a front seat view, courtesy of this interview from masterlinkbaiter Andy Hagans.

I know you get a lot of stuff on the Digg homepage. In your experience, how much traffic does a normal digg-homepage-story send?

The traffic that Digg drives when a story gets on the homepage can vary quite a bit depending on when it hits the homepage. I have had stories that got on the homepage in the middle of the night with over 2000 diggs which received roughly 3000 visitors from Digg and I have had stories with fewer than 1000 diggs that hit the homepage during the middle of the day that receive more than 10000 visitors from Digg. But usually if a story hits the homepage around 11 am to 2 pm PST it usually drives 5000 to 10000 visitors. If a story hits the homepage at night or during non-peak hours it usually drives 2000 to 6000 visitors.