Linkbait in difficult industries

Here is the first question in the SEO questions series.

I would like to know how you go about optimising for clients who run companies that might not be able to create typical link bait articles.

For example, SEO for a funeral directors? Or kitchen fitters? I can think of a few funny videos that would go great on a funeral site, but I don’t think the client would find them suitable!

The first thing to remember is that some industries that are hard to linkbait for are not very competitive. For example if I was looking at the links for people ranking for “funeral directors leeds” the site ranking second has only 4 links. My strategy would be to add articles and quality content to the site so it passes a manual review by Google and then replicate the link profiles of sites already ranking (don’t replicate the low quality links). Add to this a few articles syndicated on real sites (not just directories) and you should be able to rank quite well.

Linkbait for something like this shouldn’t be about “Top 10″ articles, it’s about creating quality content and tools and then finding places that might want to link to them. Alternatively find a place you want a link from and create an article or tool for them to either use on their site or link to.

Alternatively you have industries such as insurance or loans that are almost impossible to linkbait for and very competitive. For these clients links from blogs and news sites are the key but they can be hard to get. I would start by creating an affiliate program with links that pass weight, then employ a PR agency to get the client in the mainstream media every month and then figure out how to create something controversial enough to get links.

This sort of strategy isn’t easy and it certainly isn’t cheap. The value of getting a site to the top of an insurance vertical naturally is probably in the millions.

Useful link:
Beginners Guide to Linkbait

BY Patrick Altoft AT 3:49am ON Wednesday, 26 March 2008

Patrick Altoft is Director of Search at Branded3 and has worked in the SEO industry for over 10 years. With experience across some of the worlds largest brands as well as startup businesses Patrick is well known in the industry and speaks regularly at the major SEO conferences and events. Follow Patrick on Twitter or Google+