Attending my first Search Engine Strategies (SES) conference a year ago marked a turning point, as I transitioned from attendee to speaker. SES and PubCon stand out as premier SEO/SEM conferences, drawing large crowds and prominent figures in the industry.
Among them is Barry Schwartz from Search Engine Roundtable, who has mastered the art of building a robust content base while simultaneously attracting high-quality, relevant links. His approach is surprisingly simple, yet remarkably effective.
Schwartz began covering SES events several shows ago, posting concise summaries of seminars on the SearchEngineWatch forum. These posts quickly became some of the most popular during the conference. He then started publishing more comprehensive summaries on his own website, catering to those unable to attend the events in person.
Today, Schwartz has become the go-to reporter for SES conferences. His strategy involves covering as many sessions as possible, often collaborating with other SEM experts. While some content still appears on SEW forums, much of it is now hosted on his own site.
The first key is consistent content development. The Search Engine Roundtable team creates detailed summaries of each seminar they attend and publishes them on their website daily or more frequently. Each summary has its dedicated static page, extensively linked within the site.
The second key is acquiring relevant, high-quality links. Because of this comprehensive coverage, people recognize Search Engine Roundtable as the primary source for SES information. This reputation leads to referrals and, more importantly, natural backlinks.
Links from one SEM site to another hold significant value. What would you pay to have your competitors link to you with numerous one-way links, many from authoritative sites? This strategy earns them links from various sources, including this article.
They also receive links from Search Engine Watch, both in forums and blog entries, along with other prominent industry sites. A link from Matt Cutts’ blog, accompanied by a photo, is invaluable.
Search Engine Roundtable builds its online reputation by consistently providing relevant, timely information that others find valuable, naturally encouraging them to link to the content.
Of the over 3,000 links to the site, a significant portion originates from content, specifically from the SES show summaries. A review of the top 100 links reveals a “who’s who” of the SEO industry, including links from the Yahoo Search Blog and the MSDN MSN search blog, as well as from Search Engine Watch, SEOmoz.com, and Search Engine Journal.
By consistently attending SES shows since 2003, Search Engine Roundtable has created a wealth of valuable content, reinforcing its authority to search engines like Google.
Furthermore, they’ve secured numerous quality inbound links from high-profile, related authority sites. They’ve also established a reputation as the go-to source for SES information, driving increased traffic to their site and fostering brand recognition.
Even if the site ranks lower for a branded search term, users seeking their specific brand will still click through because they recognize the name.
This demonstrates how effectively building quality content and links can work hand in hand.