BuzzStream

🎧 Loved chatting with Olivia Lott on the new BuzzStream Podcast episode about her personalized, SEO-driven approach to digital PR. Some quick tips: 🔥 Personalize, Don’t “Spray and Pray”: Tailor pitches to each journalist’s style for stronger, authentic connections. ♥️ Repurpose Content: Use existing content to save budget and secure valuable links with “editorial outreach.” ⭐️ PR + SEO = Powerful Combo Align PR efforts with SEO goals to boost visibility and authority. Catch more from Olivia on BuzzStream's latest episode in the comments! #DigitalPR

Google's June 2024 Link Spam update was mostly overlooked. However, it had a much bigger impact than we thought. In my analysis of Ahrefs and Ryan Law's 50 Best Bootstrapped Backlink Builders list, I found that the Link Spam Update appeared to affect 28 out of the 50. You can see an apparent plateau or dip in the traffic while the links still go up. In looking for signals and trends, most of the sites that got hit were the ones with low-quality links with these features: 📌-  The post topic is irrelevant to the software 📅 - Multiple posts written about similar topics on separate sites published around the same time 🔗 - Anchor link with exact match keywords 🤖 - AI-generated or low-quality content 📝 - Full post with a single outgoing link 🔧 - Links that feel shoe-horned into the copy 🔄 - Two links to a domain in succession 📉 - Site with high DR but low traffic All are common features of purchased links. Another big trend was the number of backlinks from "Best Tools for X" type posts. These kinds of posts are a common link exchange tactic. So, I don't know if Google's SpamBrain can sniff these out and is just blanketly devaluing placements on listicle posts like these (which would make sense, given how rife they are with link exchanges). Or potentially, the sites writing the posts themselves are just low quality, and I'm looking to connect dots that aren't there. Or a little of both. Either way, if your link profile is made up of only one kind of link building tactic—especially listicle link exchanges—chances are Google will hit you at some point. I've outlined a lot of these examples and more in a post in the comments! #linkbuilding #linkspam

I was inspired by a chat with Kalina MacKay from Go Fish Digital. Kalina recommended using a quote pitching platform like Qwoted, Featured, or Cision's Connectively (formerly HARO) for brainstorming. You can easily see trending topics and ideas that journalists are writing. So why not follow the leaders? Have you ever tried anything like this? #digitalpr #emailoutreach

I had a great conversation with Bekki Ramsay of RVU about re-pitching content. This one is loaded with a ton of great tips. I've outlined a few here: 📝 - Add a Boilerplate -  Include a quick site description in every outreach to keep your brand top-of-mind for journalists needing expert commentary later. 🔗 - Look Beyond Links -  Analyze why coverage happens. Tracking this can reveal new angles and when and how to pitch. 💡 - Turn Social Wins into PR - Convert popular social posts into PR pitches—if it resonates with your audience, it can do the same in media. (Or vice versa) 🔍 Scout Competitor Backlinks - Track competitor coverage to find new contacts to pitch (and content ideas) ✍️ - Personalize Expert Commentary - Customize expert quotes for each journalist’s interests—don't mass-email the same quote. See the full video in the comments or on our blog! #digitalpr #linkbuilding

I compiled a 156-page analysis on how Ahrefs Best Bootstrapped (SaaS) Link Builders list got their links and if they drove traffic. 👇 I'll admit it: I went a little nuts. I analyzed every one of the 50 sites. 🫠 But, once I started digging, I couldn't stop. This was one of the most interesting and eye-opening studies I've done in a long time. (I even got some great ideas for BuzzStream.) I hope you can check it out! Here are some overall takeaways from my study: 📝 "Promotion" (this includes link exchange, purchased links, and organic mentions.) was the most common way sites gained links over the past year. ❌ "Promotion" also stands out as the most penalized strategy, with 12 sites doing this seemingly getting hit by the Link Spam Updates. ❌ Overall, 28 sites appeared to get hit by the Link Spam Update. ❌ Overall, 13 sites were hit by Helpful Content Updates. ⭐️ Just 8 sites avoided both Helpful Content and Link Spam penalties in the last year. ⭐️ Data, Stats & Reports, and Informational Content were the most successful strategies for gaining links while avoiding penalties. Sites like Ahrefs, Glassnode, Stripo, Elfsight, SavvyCal, and Short.io stand out as top sites, gaining traffic and links with the strategies listed. Link in the comments! #linkbuilding #saas

I talked to Alex Johnson of The Grit Group on the BuzzStream podcast about how brands play a much bigger role in SEO 👇 Alex drops a LOT of great insights for agency leaders and SEOs alike. The days of spinning up a site just to make some money are virtually over. Big brands are winning. No more shortcuts. So, SEOs need to think differently about how we build and work with brands. Instead of working in a silo, we need to work together to build brand awareness outside of just Google. Digital PR and PR, in general, are huge parts of this because they can help build brands with significant coverage and exposure. We discuss this and more in this episode, which you can find in the comments or on the blog. #seo #branding #digitalpr #Linkbuilding

Have you done digital PR in the past 12 months? BuzzStream needs your insights and expertise for this quick survey: https://lnkd.in/gJkXjPmP #digitalpr #seo #linkbuilding