I am sure most of you will remember around 3 weeks ago I decided to test the old outbound link theory myself, using the method to target the keyword “seo consultant leeds“. Now I have a little authority for the keyword SEO, but there are around 25 – 30 companies in the UK with mature domains and highly targeted content for “seo consultant leeds“, therefore I knew it would be difficult to target it by simply using outbound anchored text.
Just to clarify a point, I had a few emails about this thanks to my article at SEOmoz and on this site, one email was as follows;
“Out bound links have worked for years to drive traffic and increase rankings, this is no secret and is most certainly nothing knew, you really need to catch up.”
Ok I feel I need to clarify my position. It has been common knowledge in the SEO industry for years that outbound links build authority and help link relevant neighbourhoods together, after all this is what the internet is all about.
My issue was not “do outbound links work?” it was more “how much wieght do they hold”. For instance can you rank a page for a keyword with no anchored backlinks and little in terms of content?
Anyway moving on, I created the page for “seo consultant leeds” and anchored the phrase to a couple of well known ‘local’ training and government sites. Anyway after this little trial my page now sits at the bottom of the first page on google.co.uk for the keyword.
This suggests that outbound links hold a good bit of weight when it comes to ranking higher in Google. Use them in conjunction with a targeted title tag and generate some optimised inbound links and it could help cement your site at the top of Google for some pretty competitive keywords.
One keyword I am interested in is SEO consultant, however due to my site being knew it is hard to muscle may way in amongst the big boys. However I am going to set up a highly optimised page for the keyword and build some inbounds plus create some quality outbounds and see how it fairs in the serps. If it manages to make any kind of dent then I think this evidence will firmly prove the effectiveness of outbounds.
This is something I am now going to operate for clients on a more focused and consistent basis. If you want to read more on inbounds check my article on YOUmoz and Rands article on the SEOmoz daily blog.
Hope this helps you with your campaigns,
Tim
If you have found this page looking for SEO serivces in the leeds area, please visit my SEO Leeds page.
