AlexJuel.com

How to Build “Send to LLM” Buttons to Get Your Content in AI Search Faster

Alex — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 03:27:58 +0000

It’s believed that submitting your website in an LLM prompt could help seed it within AI platforms. And if you can get more people to do it, it might have a greater effect. So how can you get your site visitors to seed your content?

One way is to create links or buttons that send readers to an LLM, sort of like those old-school “Share on Twitter” buttons. But you can’t expect anyone to share an article with an LLM. What would the purpose be? Instead, you need to get them to use your content as inspiration for more research.

The most obvious task is to summarize and/or analyze the content. But depending on the site, you might have more creative ideas. For example, one of my former clients made freeze-dried camping food and their most popular blog posts were recipes that enhanced that food. You could have a button to create a unique recipe from that food pouch. There are so many creative ways to do it.

There are few reasons why this could be useful:

it “primes” LLMs to train on your data
sends signals to LLMs that your content is important
connects your domain with your topics of choice
readers may be doing it already, might as well make it easier for them

I want to give credit where credit’s due – as far as I can tell, Metehan Yesilyurt came up with this idea first. Roger Montti blogged about it with some additional thoughts (and concerns of the morality of some of Metehan’s suggestions), but the idea really took off from there.

I’ve seen several public examples of this out in the wild such as this one from Jake Stainer and this one from Andrew Garberson.

Unfortunately, I can’t find any data that supports this theory or case studies that show this tactic works.

I’m not saying it doesn’t work, just that it’s only a theory at this point. And as people tend to do on social media, they’ve taken the theory and spread it all over as if it’s a proven tactic.

Nonetheless, I like it and I’m interested in testing it to see if there’s a benefit. So I’ve implemented it on one of my sites – as you can see in the featured image at the top of the page.

There are various ways you could implement this.

For example, below is what Andrew Garberson implemented on his company’s site (at least on that one post). I actually considered this exact style while I was building my own buttons because it looks so clean and organized.

You could also create a simple list of links, build a drop-down menu with as many LLMs as you want, or even use logos like social sharing tools do.

I decided to be more descriptive with my buttons since various LLMs are better-suited to certain things so I wanted to help guide my visitors. But I still might change my buttons later to see if it makes a difference.

Building “Share to LLM” Buttons

Important: I’m not a professional developer. Use the following code at your own risk.

My test site is on WordPress, so the process below is catered to that platform, but this is general code that should work on any platform.

This code uses JavaScript but the links are href links, so outbound clicks can be easily tracked in Google Analytics.

First, here’s the HTML.

Adjust the code to your preferences – choose the button text and the prompt you want to send to each LLM.



  Summarize in ChatGPT

  Analyze in Claude

  Research in Perplexity

  Summarize in Gemini

Here’s the CSS:

These styles are not customized to my website, so they should work well enough for you too, but you’ll most likely still need to do some minor changes of the gaps, padding, margins, font size, color, etc to make it look how you want it. This code is also designed to make the buttons responsive so that they fit well on various screen sizes.

And here’s the JavaScript code:

The official parameter-based URLs in the above JavaScript code for each LLM allows you append a prompt. These URLs are accurate as of the time of writing this post but those URLs could change at any time, so check each button occasionally on your site to make sure they still work.

Putting it Together in WP Coder

I use WP Coder on WordPress for building code experiments like this so that I don’t have to deal with creating various files and editing child themes. You can easily create an “app” and activate it on the page with a simple shortcode.

Simply add the code above to the various tabs of the snippet shown in the image below.

Just a heads up, when you save the shortcode, you might get a warning from your security plugin if you’re using one. I did (I use Wordfence), but I ignored it since I created this code (with the help of AI) and I can see there’s nothing nefarious in it.

When you’re done, all you need to do is put the shortcode on any page where you want the buttons to show up.

Activating It Sitewide

If you want this to show on all posts (not pages) of your site, you can do that too. You will need to create another shortcode in WP Coder.

And this is important. It MUST be a new shortcode. You can’t insert this code into the PHP tab of the existing shortcode or it will cause an infinite loop and cause a critical failure.

if ( ! function_exists( 'my_ai_buttons_prepend' ) ) {
    function my_ai_buttons_prepend( $content ) {
        if ( is_singular( 'post' ) && in_the_loop() && is_main_query() ) {
            if ( strpos( $content, 'class="ai-row"' ) === false ) {
                $buttons = do_shortcode( '[wp_code id="1"]' );
                return $buttons . $content;
            }
        }
        return $content;
    }
    add_filter( 'the_content', 'my_ai_buttons_prepend', 5 );
}

Name the shortcode as it’s named in the code and set it to “run everywhere” in the right sidebar.

And there you have it! Your buttons will run on all posts.

Potential Drawbacks

There are some negatives to consider, as my friend Everett Sizemore pointed out here. The biggest issue is that you could be sending visitors away from your site. That’s why I often tell my clients to embed YouTube videos instead of linking to them. And it’s why many, but not all, people believe that external links should open in a new tab or window, so that there’s a higher chance of the user coming back to your site after they close that tab.

Sending customers away could have an impact on conversions. If the reader clicks the button before they even read the page, they might never see any of your CTAs at all, or the expertly crafted copy you’ve written. And also like Everett mentions, the LLM might even suggest a competitor of yours in its response!

And we all know that LLMs hallucinate. What if it says something about your content or your business that isn’t true at all?

So yeah, consider these things. Consider if the benefits are worth the drawbacks. Maybe they are. Definitely think about the pages these buttons go on. I would probably recommend against landing pages that your paid ads go to (but hey, maybe worth a test?)

And think about the positions of the buttons. Should they be at the top of the page, where they migth get lots of clicks and seed your content quickly. Or should they be at the bottom, where far fewer readers will see them, but at least you’ve protected your CTAs. Of you might choose something different, like placing them mid-page, in an iframe, or even a pop-up that shows up after a user has scrolled 50% of the page.

Tracking and Future Tests

I plan to test this for at least the next 30 days to see what sort of impact it might have on basic metrics like bounce rate, dwell time, and outbound clicks.

I also hope to see if there’s a noticeable uptick in visits from LLMs (using log files and reports in GA). I also run Microsoft Clarity on my site, so I’ll be reviewing screen recordings as well.

And depending on how well the test goes, I might run some CRO tests, such as putting the buttons in a dropdown, changing names of buttons, moving them to the bottom of the page, changing button colors, and so on.

I’ll provide an update soon. If you decide to give this a try, please let me know how it goes for you!

The post How to Build “Send to LLM” Buttons to Get Your Content in AI Search Faster appeared first on AlexJuel.com.

How I Use the Pomodoro Technique to Get More Done

Alex — Fri, 14 Feb 2025 16:31:05 +0000

I first learned about the Pomodoro Technique early on in my career but it wasn’t until I took a productivity course a few years ago that I really put it into practice. As homework, this course required that we choose one productivity tactic and use it for a week, and then report on the results in the following week.

I started with a simple online timer I found on Google to track my sessions and I noticed a difference immediately. After just that first 25 minute block, I could clearly see how useful this tool was. And I’ve been using it ever since.

Fun fact: This technique was developed in the late 1980s by Francesco Cirillo and takes its name from the tomato-shaped kitchen timer he used. “Pomodoro” is the Italian word for “tomato.”

Online Pomodoro Timers

There are lots of choices when it comes to online timers. Here are a few:

Google has a timer-feature built into search. Type “25-Minute Timer” into the search bar and the timer will start.
StudyWithMe is a popular timer because it has aesthetically pleasing backgrounds and a Spotify widget built into the page.
The creator of the Pomodoro technique has free apps on his site, pomodorotechnique.com
There are browser plugins, such as the Pomodoro Chrome Extension
There are even videos on YouTube, such as this one with three 25-minute sessions and soothing background music

How I Use Pomodoro in My Daily Routine

Over time, I moved from online timers to a physical Pomodoro timer that I love. I was tempted to get an actual tomato timer like Cirillo used, but I opted for something a little more modern, so I bought this one (affiliate). Though, I’m still considering picking up a tomato timer, because I wouldn’t mind having a collection of Pomodoro timers!

It’s a small cube with different preset times on each side: 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 25 minutes, and 50 minutes. I mostly use the 25-minute setting for focused work sessions and the 5-minute setting for breaks.

When I start my workday, I already have my tasks planned out. Most of my tasks take longer than 25 minutes to complete, but I use the timer to break them into manageable chunks. Even if I don’t finish a task in one session, I take a break when the timer goes off and then start again after my five minute break. The key for me is not to let the time limit stress me out. Instead, I use it as a tool to stay focused and avoid distractions.

The Benefits of the Pomodoro Technique

Since using the Pomodoro Technique, I’ve noticed a significant improvement in my focus, productivity, and time management. The 25-minute work sessions help me stay on task without distractions – no social media, no unnecessary browsing, just focused work. It’s also motivating because I know that after each session, I get a short break to do whatever I want – all those little things that popped into my head while working.

One of the biggest advantages of this method is that it makes work feel more manageable. A 25-minute session is such a small commitment that it doesn’t feel overwhelming, but those focused bursts of effort add up over time. I find that I get a lot of work done without feeling exhausted or burned out.

The Challenge For Me Is Actually Using It

The biggest challenge I run into is simply turning on the timer! Some days, I get into my work and forget to use it, or just decide not to use it, even though I know it would help. By the end of the day, I always look back and wish I had turned it on.

One strategy I plan to implement is setting a daily goal for the number of Pomodoro sessions I complete. I already use a habit journal, so tracking my Pomodoro sessions alongside my other habits could help reinforce the routine.

Customizing Pomodoro for Maximum Productivity

I stick to the traditional 25-minute work sessions with 5-minute breaks, but I have combined the Pomodoro Technique with other productivity methods to make it even more effective. One tool I’ve found useful is the Eisenhower Matrix, which helps me prioritize tasks based on urgency and importance. By first organizing my tasks into high-priority and lower-priority categories, I ensure that my Pomodoro sessions are focused on what truly matters.

One thing I don’t recommend is changing the length of the Pomodoro sessions. The 25-minute work period is effective because it’s short enough to stay focused but long enough to make meaningful progress. Extending it to 30 or 35 minutes might seem like a small change, but it can quickly feel overwhelming. Sticking to the standard time frame keeps the process simple and sustainable.

Advice for Beginners

If you’re new to the Pomodoro Technique, my best advice is to keep it simple. You don’t need a fancy setup – just go to Google, search for a Pomodoro timer, and try it out. Choose a few tasks for the day, set your timer for 25 minutes, and see how much you can get done. When the timer goes off, take a 5-minute break, then start again.

One mistake to avoid is ignoring the time limits. The real power of the technique comes from strictly following the 25-minute work period.

There’s something called Parkinson’s law, which says “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” You’re probably familiar with this in your own life. If you have two weeks to finish a work project, you’ll often take the full two weeks to finish it. But if the same project is due in three days, you’ll finish it in three days.

This is why the Pomodoro technique works.

If you extend your work sessions beyond 25 minutes, it starts to lose its effectiveness. Also, a 25 minute block feels manageable but a small shift to 30 minutes starts to make it feel like a larger block of time and can create a mental block in your mind.

If you find the technique helpful, I highly recommend getting a physical timer. I use a small cube timer, which keeps me from having to search for a digital timer online. It eliminates distractions and makes it even easier to stick to my Pomodoro sessions.

Final Thoughts

The Pomodoro Technique has been huge for my productivity. It keeps me focused, helps me manage my time more effectively, and prevents burnout by encouraging regular breaks. If you’re looking for a simple yet powerful way to boost your productivity, give it a try. You might be surprised by how much you can accomplish in just 25 minutes.

The post How I Use the Pomodoro Technique to Get More Done appeared first on AlexJuel.com.

Lessons Learned While Starting a Freelance Business

Alex — Sun, 05 Jan 2025 05:43:37 +0000

After nearly 20 years working in SEO within agencies, I decided it was time for a change last year. I wanted a new challenge and the chance to grow in ways that my agency roles hadn’t allowed. So, ten months ago, I took the leap and started my own freelance SEO consulting business. It’s been an exciting, sometimes difficult, but ultimately rewarding journey. Here are the key lessons I’ve learned along the way.

The Shift from Agency to Freelance

Transitioning from a long career in agencies to running my own business brought some predictable challenges and a few steep learning curves. As an agency employee, I had the safety net of a team—dedicated salespeople, legal experts to handle contracts, and a steady stream of clients provided by the company. Suddenly, as a freelancer, all of those responsibilities were mine alone.

I wasn’t entirely surprised by how much there was to manage — I knew freelancing wouldn’t be easy—but it was still a lot to take on. From finding clients to negotiating contracts and handling administrative work, I had to figure out how to wear every hat in the business.

Building a Foundation

One of the smartest things I did was leverage my existing network. Before leaving my agency job, I was already in talks with a friend about a potential contract. That connection turned into a major six-month project — managing a massive website migration involving more than a million pages. This gave me financial stability and confidence during the critical first months of freelancing.

I also leaned heavily on relationships I’d built over the years. Posting on LinkedIn about my new venture brought referrals from people I’d worked with in the past, and their trust helped open doors to new opportunities. Networking made all the difference, and I’d advise anyone considering freelancing to focus on cultivating those connections well before making the leap.

Adapting and Learning

Starting a business meant learning a lot on the fly. I spent countless hours researching templates for sales decks, contracts, and other tools I’d need to land and manage clients. Thankfully, my years of agency experience prepared me to handle sales calls and customize materials to fit my style and services, but the process was still slow and involved plenty of trial and error.

For anyone starting out, I recommend doing as much prep work as possible about running a business, like contracts, sales, taxes, and creating an LLC. Research, learn, and gather the resources you’ll need to hit the ground running. It won’t eliminate all the challenges, but it will make the transition smoother.

But you can’t prepare for things you don’t even know you need to prepare for. I’ve had to learn some hard lessons through experience. For example, one client of mine is a large organization who pay their vendors in multiple ways – direct deposit (ACH), mailed check, or Mastercard. Mastercard was the fastest way to get paid, so I went with that one.

Huge mistake.

You can’t just deposit a virtual credit card into your bank account. You need a payment processor. I ended up paying for Quickbooks (this was a good decision in the long run anyway, because it made invoicing other clients a lot easier), but there are bunch of hoops you need to jump through to pay yourself with a credit card in Quickbooks.

And after finally getting the payment to go through, I learned my hardest lesson – there’s a 3% credit card processing fee! There are no warnings about this when you submit the payment, so I found this after it was already too late. I lost $800 of my earnings. That was tough.

There are other hard lessons to learn too, like how organizations have different net 30/60/90 payment policies. It’s tough to work for a month and not get paid for it until two months later. Or having to remind a client to pay their invoice – that’s not fun and it’s even a little scary, wondering if they’ll pay it.

It Can Be Lonely

I’m fortunate enough that my wife also works from home, so I’m not alone all day. Otherwise, this transition might have been much harder. But my wife is working on her own thing and she works in a completely different field than I do, so I can’t talk industry with her. My previous agency was fully-remote, so I’m familiar with working from home, but we had daily morning meetings, team meetings throughout the week, and I was a manager, so I also had one-on-one check-ins with my team. I was in a lot of video calls nearly every day. That all went away when I went out on my own.

This is where online communities were a life-saver. I thought about this before leaving my agency job, so I signed up to two paid communities more than a year ago; the SPI community created by Pat Flynn and the HeyCreator community created by Darrell Vesterfelt and Matt Ragland. I’ve also recently joined Liz Wilcox’ Email Marketing Membership community a couple of months ago.

These communities serve multiple purposes for me. For one, they all have a main focus, which is education in specialized topics and areas where I want to grow my business. And they give me a place to talk to like-minded people. These communities aren’t free but I feel have been absolutely worth what I pay for them.

Pat Flynn’s SPI Community (affiliate link) focuses on entrepreneurship and teaches digital marketing of all kinds. He covers subjects like building a channel on YouTube, podcasting, email marketing, affiliate marketing, brand building, business taxes and everything else that a business owner should know. His team also does weekly live presentations and Pat does a weekly office hours where you can join live and ask any question you want. Pat serves on various boards and advises several large companies, so he knows a lot.

HeyCreator is similar to SPI, but they’re on a much smaller-scale (and much more affordable). They also focus entirely on creators – people creating content on YouTube, social media, and podcasts. Matt also covers topics around productivity and being a solopreneur. HeyCreator does weekly live presentations and office hours too, with audience involvement.

And Liz Wilcox’s Email Marketing Membership (affiliate link) focuses entirely on email marketing. She also does weekly live video calls with the audience and provides the community with access to previously created content and new email templates regularly.

All three of these communities make me feel like I’m still part of a team, I can talk to people live, and I can ask questions of the hosts and other members of the community.

Don’t Sell Yourself Short

When I announced I was going out on my own, a lot of people in my network reached out to me expecting to get extremely cheap services. Former colleagues, clients, and agencies I had worked with in the past thought I’d be working for a fraction of the cost of working with an agency. While I do consider my rates more affordable than a lot of agencies, I’m not cheap.

Maybe people don’t immediately see freelancers as business owners. But that’s what you are, even though the only employee is you. You have to pay high taxes on your revenue, buy software, contribute to your own 401k, buy your own computer, hire a bookkeeper, and pay for insurance (both business and health). That adds up. You can’t expect to stay in business long, at least not happily, if you’re charging normal employee hourly rates. Overhead is why agencies are so expensive. As a contractor, you have a lot of the same costs. You’re basically a one-person agency.

For additional context about rates, I have a good friend who is also a contractor in this industry, and he advised me to go no lower than $175 per hour, considering my level of experience (20 years). I didn’t go that high, but I certainly kept that number in mind while I was setting my rates. That’s something to strongly consider when you decide what you want to charge.

You Don’t Get Paid Time Off, But You Can Take Time Off Whenever You Want

One of the great advantages of freelancing is being able to take a day off whenever you want. While you still need to be available for critical client needs (if they arise), for the most part, you’re in charge of your schedule.

But here’s the catch: there’s no paid time off (PTO) in freelancing. Unlike a full-time employee, if you take a day off, you’re not earning anything for that day. This reality can make taking time off financially challenging, especially when those unpaid days start adding up.

For instance, last year I took a two-month trip to Germany. I decided to take the first week completely off to explore the country, and then worked remotely for the remainder of the trip. While it was absolutely worth it, that single week off significantly impacted my earnings for the month. It was a stark reminder that, as a freelancer, you have to weigh the cost of taking time off against your income.

Finding Balance Comes With Risks

The most rewarding part of freelancing so far has been realizing that I’m not only surviving – I’m thriving. Okay, that’s a little cheesy. But it’s true, mostly…

For the majority of last year, I was earning just as much as I did at my agency job, but the amazing thing is that I was working half the hours – until October when my largest client went through a major organizational restructure and ended up firing all of their contractors, except for me. I was lucky. But they did cut my hours in half. That significantly impacted my revenue. I’m still earning more per hour than I did as an employee at an agency, but now I’m earning less per year. It’s still worth it, for now, but we’ll see if I still feel that way at the end of 2025.

This also showed me the importance of diversifying income sources. I actually already knew this long before I went out on my own because I experienced this at my previous agency. We actually had a client so large that if they left us (and they always do at some point), it would impact the department’s revenue so much that we likely would have had to fire an employee. So we purposely reduced their retainer so that we could free up time for a couple of smaller clients. It’s the same with freelancing – if most of your income comes from one client, and they leave, you’re cooked.

That said, my goal for 2025 is to diversify my revenue streams, which I’ve already started doing.

I’ve taken on two additional clients, which I’m super excited about.

And I’m also charging companies for product review videos. I’ve been doing product reviews in a small niche for years, but I’ve always accepted the free product as payment. That was a big mistake and a missed opportunity to get paid for my time. Lesson learned. But it’s paying off now. Some months I don’t get any orders, some months I might make only $100-300 from reviews, and some months are amazing. This month is one of those amazing months. And that’s revenue from my own properties. I’m my own client! I hope to keep this revenue stream growing this year.

All that said, the extra time I’ve gained from leaving agency work has given me freedom and control over how I work and live. And it has allowed me to spend more time on my own personal projects, which is much more fun.

Encouragement for Aspiring Freelancers

If you’re thinking about freelancing, my biggest piece of advice is to plan ahead. Build your network, and if possible, line up a client or more before you leave your job. Having that safety net made a huge difference for me.

And if freelancing is something you’ve been dreaming about, don’t let fear hold you back. You only get one life, and it’s worth taking risks to see what’s possible. If it doesn’t work out, you can always go back to a traditional job, but if it does work out, the rewards – both personal and professional – are more than worth it.

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Four Chrome Extensions to Supercharge Google Search Console

Alex — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 17:31:32 +0000

Google Search Console (GSC) is an amazing tool for analyzing and reporting on website performance, and these four Chrome plugins will make your workflow smoother, faster, and more effective. Let’s dive into each tool and explore how they can enhance your GSC experience.

Here’s a video walkthrough of each extension or you can read the summaries below.

1. GSC Guardian

Key Features:

Algorithm Update Tracking: See when updates occurred, how long they lasted, and their impact on performance graphs.
Annotations: Add notes directly to GSC to record events like site updates or campaign launches.
Night Mode: Toggle between day and night modes for better visibility.

This plugin overlays algorithm update data directly onto the GSC performance graph. By clicking the “Incidents” button, you can track when updates were released and how they align with traffic spikes or drops. Use the annotation feature to document key changes, helping you analyze data trends with context.

Example Use: If your traffic dropped sharply on a specific date, check for algorithm updates using GSC Guardian. Annotate the event, and gain a clear understanding of potential causes.

2. Advanced GSC Visualizer

Key Features:

Enhanced Graphing Options: Add new visualization layers to your performance reports.
Time Customization: Adjust date ranges to daily, weekly, or monthly views.
Design Tools: Highlight periods, add text, and draw directly on graphs for easy reporting.

Once installed, this plugin adds an “Advanced Visualization” button to GSC. With it, you can overlay additional charts, including trend lines and moving averages. Customize chart types (line, bar, or area) and annotate graphs to emphasize critical data points.

Example Use: Highlight a traffic surge following a marketing campaign by adding vertical markers and text annotations to the graph. Export this for presentations or client reports.

3. Gandalf

Key Features:

Keyword Clustering: Groups keywords into meaningful clusters.
Detailed Graphs: Visualize metrics like click-through rate, impressions, and keyword positions.
Keyword Sorting: Drill down into specific data sets for granular analysis.

When you navigate to the Queries tab in GSC and activate Gandalf, you’ll be presented with intuitive graphs for keyword analysis. For instance, you can see how keywords that rank in positions 1-3 performed in terms of clicks and impressions. Expand these clusters to dive deeper into individual keyword data.

Example Use: Use Gandalf to identify high-performing clusters with low click-through rates. Optimize meta titles and descriptions to boost engagement in the SERPs.

4. Better Regex for Google Search Console

Key Features:

Regex Presets: Quickly apply Regex patterns for advanced filtering.
Custom Filters: Create and save your own Regex filters for future use.
E-commerce Tools: Easily analyze transactional queries or specific URL patterns.

Regex is powerful but can be intimidating. This plugin simplifies the process with pre-built patterns for common tasks like finding queries with purchase intent or filtering pages by URL depth. Save your favorite filters to streamline future analyses.

Example Use: Use the “Transactional Intent” preset to find queries like “buy,” “cheap,” or “promo code” and focus on optimizing pages targeting those keywords.

Why These Plugins Are Must-Haves

These tools make Google Search Console a far more advanced reporting platform. They allow you to visualize data in new ways, automate repetitive tasks, and uncover actionable insights with ease. You can use the data to inform strategies such as identifying algorithm penalties, building high-performing topic clusters, and developing the type of content your customers want from your brand.

And if you’re building deliverable reports using GSC data, these tools can also display your findings to clients and bosses in more helpful ways.

Give these Google Search Console extensions a try and let me know how it goes!

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What Are Nofollow and Dofollow Links

Alex — Mon, 29 Apr 2024 22:15:02 +0000

If you’ve done any link building in your career, internal or external, you’re probably familiar with nofollow and dofollow links. If not, let’s start with some history and why it’s important to know the difference.

Google’s PageRank Algorithm

One of Google’s original core algorithms was their PageRank algorithm. The simplified explanation of how it worked is that a site’s value could be determined based on how many links it has and the quality of those links. The more links a page has, the more valuable it is, and the better it would rank.

The image below shows an example of the PageRank algorithm and how websites of varying authority levels can link to others and increase their authority. The percentage represents how authoritative each site is based on the authority of the sites linking to them.

As part of the PageRank algorithm, Google gave every page on the internet a PageRank score between 1 and 10. They even had a browser toolbar that showed the site’s score.

A higher PageRank score meant that the page was more powerful than pages with lower scores. That also meant that getting links from pages with higher PageRank scores would be more valuable.

Even though Google killed off the publicly available PageRank data in 2013, Google continued to use the data internally (though it’s uncertain if they still use it). Tools like Moz, SEMRush, and Ahrefs also calculate scores similar to the PageRank score. Each tool has its own way of calculating these metrics, but they’re basically scores between 1 and 100 that use a combination of link metrics much like Google did; the number of backlinks a page has and the quality of those backlinks.

The scores from these tools may not be official PageRank scores, but they can still give you some idea of the value of the site’s link profile and what Google’s scoring of a website is likely to be. Higher scores indicate how powerful a domain is – but a word of caution, these numbers can be manipulated by unethical website owners who are trying to auction off their sites or sell links and ad space at premium rates.

The Introduction of Nofollow

Since links were one of the biggest factors in Google’s ranking algorithm, link spam was rampant. Spammers put links all over the internet, and one area hit especially hard was blog comment sections.

All someone had to do was leave a URL in the comment “website” field or in the comment body, and they’d get a link. And many blogs auto-approved these links because they weren’t using spam-filtering software.

I still get spam like this every day.

Some of the more unscrupulous spammers would use automated software to leave link spam on thousands of websites at a time. So in 2005, Google introduced the nofollow attribute.

The nofollow attribute, also often referred to as the nofollow tag, tells search engines that you, as a site owner, do not endorse the link and that Google should not count it in their ranking analysis. It’s not a negative signal; it just tells the search engines to ignore that link.

Nofollow was designed specifically to address comment spam, but it has since evolved to address link spam in general. Today, it’s the default setting for comments on most content management systems such as WordPress, Squarespace, and Shopify. The attribute is also default on pretty much any website where someone can add a link to their own site, such as YouTube, Flickr, and Twitter.

Page Rank Sculpting

In the early 2000s, there was also another tactic SEOs used called PageRank sculpting.

As I mentioned earlier, Google had a PageRank score for every page on the internet. This score basically equated to the amount of authority a page had, and that authority would be distributed evenly to every link on the page. As a hypothetical example, if a page had a PageRank score of 10 and there were 10 links on the page, each link would get 1 point.

The SEO industry called the amount of authority a page could distribute its “link juice.”

To get the most out of your link juice, you could distribute PageRank to specific links of your choice on the page. So instead of each of the 10 links getting 1 point, you could filter it into 5 links, and get 2 points for each. PageRank didn’t flow through links with the nofollow attribute, so people would use this method for directing the flow of link juice throughout their site and pumping up their most important pages.

PageRank sculpting existed for years before nofollow was announced, but it didn’t become a well-known tactic until around 2008, when Rand Fishkin discussed it on SEOMoz.

Before nofollow, you could sculpt your PageRank by limiting the number of links you placed on a page or by wrapping a link in Javascript or Flash, which Google couldn’t read. Google never supported the idea of PageRank sculpting, but it didn’t become a problem for them until the nofollow attribute made it so easy for widespread adoption.

Because Google doesn’t like tactics that manipulate their search results and artificially improve rankings, they eventually put a stop to nofollow PageRank sculpting in 2009, as announced by Matt Cutts. Instead of the nofollow attribute preventing the flow of PageRank, as it had in the past, now PageRank would be distributed evenly to all links on the page, even links with nofollow, which would essentially waste PageRank instead of redirecting it.

The concept of PageRank Sculpting mostly died after that, but that doesn’t mean the tactic stopped working. It just doesn’t work with nofollow. In fact, it still works today and Cyrus Shepard even released research last year proving it.

Nofollow vs Dofollow Links

Now you know what nofollow is, but what is dofollow?

Dofollow is the industry term for any link that doesn’t have the rel=”nofollow” attribute on it. Dofollow links pass link equity to the site they point to. There is no such thing as a dofollow attribute. All links are “dofollow” until they have a “nofollow” attribute applied to them.

Here is what each looks like:

Nofollow Example
rel=”nofollow”>Super Cool Company

Dofollow Example
Super Cool Company

Nofollow links do not pass link juice, are not counted in Google’s PageRank scores, and are ignored by search engines. Clearly, nofollow links are much less valuable than dofollow links, right? On its face, it seems that way, but there is much more to it.

Nofollow Links Can Send Traffic

Any link can send traffic to your site, and traffic is what leads to conversions. Would you rather have a nofollow link from The New York Times or a dofollow link from GenericPoorlyWrittenNewsSite.com? I would go for the site most likely to send me traffic every time. I’ve done a lot of link-building over the years, and the number one metric I start with is traffic.

Nofollow Links Can Result in Dofollow Links

A nofollow link can actually lead to a dofollow link. For example, let’s say your business is mentioned on a huge site like ScaryMommy.com – while that link might be nofollowed, think about the exposure that post will get. Thousands of people will see that article, and hundreds of websites will write about the same topic and mention your business. In many cases, those sites will not use the nofollow attribute. This exact scenario happened to a client of mine, and it sped up the growth of their business by years in only a matter of a few months.

Google Does Follow Nofollow Links Sometimes

In 2013, Google officially stated that “In general, we don’t follow them.” So while they usually didn’t follow nofollow links, there still might be exceptions. While never proven (at least as far as I know), some people believe that big sites like Wikipedia are one of those exceptions. It makes sense, too. These big sites have a lot of trust.

Nofollow Is Now a “Hint” and Used for Discovery

In late 2019, Google updated their documentation to say that nofollow would now be treated as a “hint” because, over time, they’ve learned that nofollow links contain information that helps them improve search, understand the content on the page, and find unnatural linking patterns. Shifting to a hint model meant that they would “no longer lose this important information, while still allowing site owners to indicate that some links shouldn’t be given the weight of a first-party endorsement.”

Google’s Martin Splitt also pointed out that while nofollow attributes would continue to be respected and would not be associated with the site they were placed on, the links would be used for discovery.

Nofollow Links Are Natural

You may not have been around long enough to experience the Google Penguin update, but it was one of the most significant updates the SEO industry has ever seen. This update was designed to demote sites that had artificially improved their rankings with unnatural links, such as links created by spam or that were purchased. It killed businesses overnight. There were so many businesses that were affected by this update that the agency I worked with launched a service specifically to help these websites recover. And it was not fun. These clients were frustrated, angry, and worried, and they wanted results NOW. It was also tedious analyzing millions of links, cleaning up link profiles, and submitting disavows to Google.

But the point I’m trying to make here is that one of the easiest ways (but only one of many) to identify an unnatural link profile is the ratio of nofollow to dofollow links. It’s completely normal for a site to have nofollow links. But if 99% of your links are dofollow, and you know that many of your links have been purchased or built unnaturally, you’re asking for trouble.

What is a Good Nofollow to Dofollow Ratio?

There really is no simple answer for this because the ratio changes for different industries, types of content, and even specific keywords. Christoph Cemper from LinkResearchTools showed examples of this in research he did a few years ago.

Also, in 2022, John Mueller from Google stated that there is no ideal ratio and that any ranking issues with the site “would not be due to the ratio of follow to nofollow links. That’s just not a thing.”

Aiming for a specific ratio is not a good metric to work towards because it doesn’t tell you anything about the quality of links you’re getting. But if you do want to use it for analysis, I recommend comparing your site to your competitors to get a better idea of what’s normal for your industry.

But to give you a number, I’ve looked at many sites over the years, and I typically see a ratio in the range of 70% dofollow links to 30% nofollow links, plus or minus 10% in either direction.

It’s important to understand that Google doesn’t usually penalize sites for bad backlinks anymore, but they will for the worst offenders. Instead, they mostly just ignore the links that they believe are unnatural or paid for.

But in my opinion, building an unnatural link profile could put your entire link profile in Google’s crosshairs; even good links. If Google thinks you’re doing something shady, their systems might assume that all of your links are unnatural.

Also, if you’re buying links and Google is simply ignoring them, that’s like throwing away money.

My suggestion is that you shouldn’t pass on a good link just because it’s nofollow.

Why You Should Use Dofollow On Your Own Website

Nofollow links are meant to indicate that you don’t endorse the page you’re linking to. They might also be used to prevent the flow of link juice when a link is sponsored or leads to an affiliate site (as per Google’s link spam guidelines).

Unfortunately, due to PageRank sculpting and fears of link penalties (linking out to bad sites can hurt your site, too), many sites have made it a default to use nofollow on all links, even truly useful links within editorial content.

In my opinion, we should give credit to the people who create useful content by supporting their work with a dofollow link. If a page is useful enough to share with your readers, it deserves any amount of link juice you can give it.

Case Studies

Don’t just take it from me. There are several great case studies showing the value of nofollow links.

Case Study On Google’s Treatment Of 404 Pages, Links And Nofollow (Internet Marketing Ninjas, 2014)
How Nofollow Links Increased Organic Traffic 288% in 1.5 Years (Teknicks, 2015)
The Hidden Value of a Nofollow Link: Two Content Marketing Case Studies (Fractl, 2016)
Nofollow Backlinks Are Passing the Link Juice and Here Is the Proof (SEMRush, 2017)

How to Identify Nofollow Links

Look, I know what it’s like to run a link-building campaign. I’ve been doing this for years while working at an agency. I know that dofollow links improve rankings. I also realize that in many cases, your client or boss will judge the performance of your efforts based on how many dofollow links you’ve earned.

Knowing this, some link-building campaigns require you to prioritize sites that provide dofollow links. If this is the type of link-building you’re doing, there are tools you can use to easily identify whether or not the site is using nofollow on its links, without having to look in the code.

One of my favorite browser tools is the Detailed SEO Extension from Glen Allsopp which has a tab that shows which links on a page are nofollow.

The SEO Pro Extension from Kristina Azarenko also has a similar feature. Both plugins also have an option to highlight nofollow links on the page, and they’re both free.

But I strongly recommend educating your clients about the value of nofollow links so that you get full credit for all of the links you earn.

Final Thoughts

Understanding the nuances between dofollow and nofollow links is important for anyone working in the field of digital marketing. While nofollow links were initially designed to combat spam and do not pass “link juice,” they still hold significant value by driving traffic and potentially leading to dofollow links. Dofollow links directly influence search rankings, but with the evolution of Google’s approach to nofollow links as “hints” and the importance of maintaining a natural link profile, nofollow links should be a part of your SEO strategy.

I hope this post was as interesting to read as it was for me to write. It was a lot of fun to put together because I started doing SEO in 2005 and actually got to live through all of the updates and announcements I’ve mentioned in this article! The SEO industry sure was wild.

Let me know your thoughts on nofollow and dofollow links. Do you have a different opinion or disagree with me? I’d love to hear what you think.

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Is EEAT a Ranking Factor? No, Buuuut…

Alex — Fri, 23 Feb 2024 17:12:25 +0000

This is a recurring topic within the SEO community and one that often results in heated debates. Some say that EEAT (Experience, Expertise, Authority, Trust) is a ranking factor, and others point to Tweets like the one below to show that EEAT is not a ranking factor.

When EAT, now EEAT, became a thing, people tried to game it. Like SEOs often do.

One of the biggest tactics I’ve seen around this in the last couple of years is prominently displaying expertise on the site by way of name-dropping or adding author bios on blog posts. If a business doesn’t have an expert on staff, they might hire a freelancer with nice credentials, or they might pay a doctor to “peer review” content before it’s published, just to be able to use that expert’s name on the page. Some people have even tried faking their expertise or they’ve used well-known experts in bios without their permission.

And in a lot of these cases, the end result is that it didn’t change anything. I hear people saying, “I added an expert to my site, and nothing happened! EEAT isn’t a ranking factor!”

Okay, yeah, maybe EEAT, as a whole, isn’t a ranking factor. But that doesn’t mean that parts of it are not ranking factors. Or that EEAT can’t influence ranking factors.

I believe Google is telling the truth that EEAT is not a ranking factor, but I also believe that they’re not being fully transparent in their answer. There are a lot of things they’re not saying when they talk about EEAT.

When you put all of the pieces together, including the pieces that exist outside of EEAT, you can better understand how EEAT might work to help your rankings.

Google says to use EEAT as a guide when creating content so that your content helps your users – not to influence your rankings. I believe that if you keep the EEAT guidelines in mind while improving your site, you’ll end up doing things that can assist SEO efforts.

You can read Google’s Search Rater Guidelines here. Marie Haynes also has a very in-depth page about EEAT if you want to dig into her thoughts on the guidelines. She also keeps it updated so it’s always a good resource to refer back to.

Information Gain and EEAT

The late great Bill Slawski introduced the SEO community to the concept of “Information Gain,” which is a patent filed by Google. Information gain starts with the idea that there are lots of pages on the internet that all have the same content. You could read 10 articles on the same topic on 10 different websites and not learn anything new beyond the first article you read. But when a page has something different than the others, its information gain score goes up.

Information Gain is where I believe EEAT plays a big role. A real expert will have far more to say than the same old regurgitated article everyone else is writing (or that AI is writing). An expert is able to increase the Information Gain score of a page simply because they have real-life expertise or experience to add.

Another benefit of creating content with EEAT and Information Gain in mind is that it’s just naturally going to be better. It’ll be useful. And when you have that type of content, people share it and link to it. Those links are going to benefit your SEO.

How EEAT Played a Role In Algorithm Updates Last Year

Cyrus Shepard also just recently published a study he did on sites that either lost or gained significant traffic during the big algorithm updates that happened in the the last half of last year. He identified the on-page features that those websites have that correlate to their traffic changes.

The features that Cyrus looked at are related to things that contribute to EEAT.

In Cyrus’ study, features with strong correlations to traffic gain on the winning sites were first-person pronouns (I, we, me, us, etc), first-hand experience, contact information, and other signals of trust.

On a side note here; using first-person pronouns is another one of those things people took from EEAT and tried to use as an SEO tactic. But people are lazily plugging it into the content without thinking about why first-person pronouns would matter. When someone uses a first-person pronoun, they are usually talking about their experience with something. That’s where you start to create unique content (and information gain).

Features with a strong correlation to a loss of traffic are fixed ads (video and image), a high number of ads, stock images, missing or obscure contact info, and browser notifications. You can connect these things to various ranking factors, like slow page performance, a bad user experience, and a lack of unique content. These sites also likely have a poor backlink profile because nobody wants to link to spammy or untrustworthy sites. A lot of these things annoy site visitors and cause them to leave your site, which can lead to pogo-sticking, which is when someone lands on a page and quickly jumps back to the search results. And that’s also believed to be a small ranking factor.

EEAT Isn’t a Ranking Factor, But It Can Help You Rank

While EEAT as a whole isn’t a ranking factor, by using EEAT as a guide when improving your site, you can hit on a lot of those things that do impact rankings. You can also increase the Information Gain score of your content. Whether or not EEAT helps rankings, it helps your customers, which is good for conversions and for how people feel about your business.

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Five Tools to Help You Define Your Target Market

Alex — Wed, 16 Sep 2020 04:41:51 +0000

There are many tools that marketers can use to define their target market and I’m going to focus on a few of my favorites;

Google Analytics
Data USA
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Google’s “Find My Audience”
Claritas PRIZM.

I’m also going to discuss how you could use your findings to develop your marketing strategy.

Google Analytics

If you own a website, you most likely have Google Analytics installed. Analytics can give you some great data about your customers. This is valuable information because it’s catered specifically to your business. Google Analytics can give you details about your customer’s age, language, location, gender, the devices they use, and even their interests.

This is a good starting point for segmenting your audience and developing basic user personas. Google is very cautious about giving away personally identifiable information, especially after GDPR laws passed in 2018, so you won’t find specifics about your customers, but you can find enough information to help you verify what you think you know about your customers.

The “Interests” section of GA can be particularly helpful.

For example, if a large percentage of your customers are technophiles, it could be an indication that they would appreciate in-depth guides and that they aren’t afraid to get super-nerdy about your products. Broad, generic information for beginners might not work so well.

DATA USA

DATA USA has taken massive amounts of publicly-available US government data about jobs, skills, and education and turned that data into appealing and easy-to-digest visualizations. If you’re launching a new product or if you just don’t know where to start, DATA USA is a great resource.

For example, if we want to look into the professional video and photographer industry, we’ll learn that the average wage is around $58,627 per year, the average age is 41, 80% are male, and about 74% are white. They also most typically have a bachelor’s degree.

You could use this data to help you determine who to market to and the messaging to use to reach your audience. If the majority of your audience is male and in their 60s, the marketing messages that appeal to men in their 20s probably wouldn’t work very well.

Understanding wages can also be helpful in determining your pricing strategy. One segment of your market might be looking for a low-cost product while another segment would be happy to pay a premium price for a higher-end model with more features or accessories.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)

Although DATA USA also uses this same data, DATA USA tends to combine multiple sources into larger segments, while the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics will report data on very specific occupations. Specific data can sometimes be more helpful in developing your marketing strategy. For example, BLS has data specifically about occupations in the film and video editing field, which I had a hard time parsing from DATA USA. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics will also have the most up-to-date and accurate information because it’s coming straight from the source.

BLS also has some useful details about what people in these occupations do, their typical work environments, how the field is expected to grow (or decline), and similar occupations. This type of information can inform how you should change or improve your products in the future.

Find My Audience by Think With Google

Think With Google is a website created by Google that gives marketers “data, insights, and inspiration” for their marketing campaigns. The “Find My Audience” tool lets you drill down into specific topics, such as photography, to learn more about where your audience spends time on YouTube, the types of products/services they might be interested in, and other audiences they might be a part of.

You could use this data to develop your marketing plan in many ways.

For example, by knowing where your customers spend time on YouTube, you could identify influencers who you may be able to collaborate with to promote your product. Analyzing those channels can give you an idea of the type of content your audience might like you to create as well, helping you to develop a content marketing strategy. You could also run paid ads on these channels with Google Adwords.

By learning about other types of products your audience might buy, you might come up with some fun cross-promotional campaigns with other brands or maybe giveaways to drive traffic and interest.

Looking at other audiences they are a part of can also help you discover similar communities you can enter to promote your product. For example, Find My Audience shows that people who are interesting in buying a camera are also likely a part of the video editing and production software community. There are forums and Facebook groups related to video editing where you could participate and grow your brand. There are also bloggers who you could partner with for reviews and other similar websites that will sell you an advertising spot. Or you might develop content that shows your products being used by these other audiences.

Claritas PRIZM

Claritas PRIZM is a large collection of geo-demographic segments developed by Claritas to classify households in the U.S. There are 68 consumer segments in all and a lot of data to go with each one, including demographics, socioeconomic data, consumer behavior, geographic data, and purchasing preferences. If you want a quick rundown of each segment, Wikipedia lists them all on a single. If you want to explore each segment in-depth, visit Claritas’ PRIZM page and click whichever segment you’re interested in.

If you already know which segments your audience fits in or if you know which segments you want to target with your product, Claritas’ data will give you lots of great details about your segments to help build your marketing strategy.

For example, if we look at the Up and Comers segment, we can see that they have an upper-midscale income, tend to live in metro areas, have an above-average understanding of technology, they like to travel, and are college graduates. They may also have kids and own a home.

They own a BMW, eat at Jimmy Johns, shop at H&M, play tennis, watch CNN Decades, and listen to Urban One broadcasting on the radio. Of course, these are very specific traits that won’t apply to everyone in that segment, but it gives you an idea of who you’re talking to in your marketing message.

You can use this knowledge to develop marketing materials that speak to them. To market to the Up and Comers segment, you might hire a 25-40 spokesperson for television ads or use the appropriate generational lingo that resonates with them in radio spots. In advertisements, you would likely appeal to their higher education and occupational professionalism. The imagery on your website might portray someone who is already successful in life and looking to enjoy life through fun and adventurous experiences.

What Ideas Do You Have?

So there you have it! Five tools you can use to discover who your audience is, create customer segments, and develop marketing strategies using what you’ve learned. These are just a few of my favorites tools and some ways I might use them, but I’d love to hear what tools you like to use and how you might use the data to develop your own marketing strategies. Please let me know in the comments!

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8 Tips on Writing from Kurt Vonnegut

Alex — Sun, 24 Mar 2019 22:56:29 +0000

I was introduced to this video via Tim Ferris’ always awesome newsletter called 5 Bullet Friday.

I’m actually not familiar with Kurt Vonnegut, but supposedly he’s an amazing writer. And the tips in this video make me believe that he was too.

You don’t need to be a fictional writer to benefit from these tips. If you write non-fiction, copyedit client blog posts, or develop YouTube videos, these tips will help you.

Here’s my own summary:

Don’t leave the reader feeling like they wasted their time
Give the reader a character to root for
Every character should want something, even if just a glass of water
Every sentence should either reveal character or advance action
Start as close to the end as possible
Make awful things happen to your leading character, no matter how sweet and innocent they are. This shows the reader what the character is made of.
Write to please just one person, not the world
To heck with suspense. Give readers as much info as possible as soon as possible. Readers should be able to surmise the ending of the story if they end up not finishing it.

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What’s a Bad Bounce Rate and How To Improve it

Alex — Thu, 13 Dec 2018 22:19:23 +0000

This is something I wrote a while ago and send to my clients whenever they ask about bounce rates. I thought you might find useful too.

What Is Bounce Rate?

The bounce rate is a percentage of bounces that occur on pages of your site. A bounce occurs when someone visits your site and leaves without any engagement with the page they land on. Or if they stay on the page but don’t interact with it within 30 minutes, it also counts as a bounce.

Here is what Google says about bounce rates

Is Bounce Rate a Good Metric?

One of the most common mistakes I see people make is looking at overall site bounce rates in Google Analytics. This is a very poor metric because just a few poorly performing pages can totally throw off the numbers. Instead look at related types of pages or individual pages at a time.

Also, bounce rates are not always a bad thing. For example, someone may visit a page of your site, find what they need, then leave. For example, they might read an article and learn everything they need to know, they might look at your service page and call you, or they might write your business address down and visit your store in person later. This would be considered a bounce in Google Analytics, but these sessions could result in conversions later, which would obviously be a good thing.

Another metric to consider in conjunction with Bounce Rate is Time on Page. If people are leaving a page on your site immediately, there may be an issue. But if people are spending a decent amount of time on the page (however much time it takes to read most of the content), your page has likely provided value to the visitor.

If you want to take this analysis to a more advanced level, check out this awesome post from Glenn Gabe on using scroll depth tracking, adjusted bounce rate, and time on page to determine content quality.

What is a Good Bounce Rate?

According to RocketFuel, a bounce rate:

Between 26%-40% is very good
Between 41%-55% is average
Between 56%-70% is a little high, but could be typical for your site or industry
Anything over 70% is bad (unless it’s a blog, news, or event)

In regards to blog posts, high bounce rates are common because people read blog posts to learn. This is one of the first steps of the conversion funnel. They may come back again later.

How to Improve Bounce Rates

There are many ways to improve your bounce rates.

Adjust page titles to be more descriptive of the content
Adjust meta descriptions to be more relevant, while also enticing readers to click
Show users the page content they expect to see when they land on the page
Add more content to the page if necessary. Readers should have their questions/concerns addressed
Headers and subheaders should guide visitors to your CTA
Make your Call To Action prominent and relevant
Improve page load speed
Use internal linking to move visitors through the site
Make sure your site is mobile-friendly

You should also make your content easily digestible

Avoid walls of text
Use images and bullet points
Shorten paragraphs
Use subheadings
Use bold for key points

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45 Link Building Tips, Tactics, and Strategies

Alex — Mon, 10 Nov 2014 04:16:54 +0000

Loz James recently interviewed 33 SEO experts and asked them to share their most effective link building strategies.

I broke it down into a quick list of strategies for easy reference. I added some notes (in red) and also a few of my own tips at the end.

Write awesome content and share like crazy on Twitter (I pull 7-10+ tips from each article and schedule using HootSuite)
Embed offers in the content
Use trackable links for outreach
Get links from relevant resource/links pages
Infographics still work (if done right)
Do smart guest posting (high quality, relevant sites)
Curate resources to build great content
Perform outreach to the people you’ve linked to in your article
Get links to educational content on library or school resource pages
Give related sites custom coupons to give their readers
Thought leadership + bios & interviews, for example, speaking, podcasts, online hangouts, etc.
Create online tools, calculators, and interactive data
Participate in or run a monthly blog carnival for your niche
Build relationships with content curators in your niche
Get links from Wikipedia (check out WikiGrabber)
Use HARO and MuckRack to connect with journalists and reporters
Build your own Private Blog Network and don’t use someone else’s
404 link reclamation (identify errors in Google Webmaster Tools)
Pay big bloggers in your industry to guest post on your blog
Identify and claim existing citations and develop further local citations (Brightlocal put together an awesome list of 1000+ citation sites)
Broken link building (check out brokenlinkbuilding.com)
Find other people’s successful content and offer to enhance it with your own expertise or data
Sponsor events, charities, and organizations
Create a scholarship for your industry (I’ve never tried this, but this scholarship management service looks cool)
Offer testimonials to any business you’ve hired or worked with
Monitor for brand mentions and request links where your brand is referenced (check out Moz’s Reclaim Links tool if you have an account or set up Google Alerts for free)
Use the Skyscraper technique (from Brian Dean)
Offer senior or veteran discounts and look for pages that list these discounts
Give influencers an early look at new features to get great reviews
Build backlinks to your backlinks to make them stronger
Participate in industry-related forums
Do internal linking
Use targeted social media buys to get content in front of influencers

It’s a great list of strategies, but here are a few more I would add.

Run a contest or giveaway
Promote your best content in amplification services like Outbrain, Zemanta and NRelate
Do expert interviews (just like the 33 SEO Experts article this is based on)
Look for podcast interview opportunities on RadioGuestLists.com
Get listed in local Chamber of Commerce websites
Start marketing on SlideShare
Set up a Triberr.com account
Get links from partner/vendor pages
Get links where your competitors are getting links (run your competitors through Open Site Explorer, Majestic, or ahrefs
Offer your products to bloggers for review (check out BzzAgent.com, BloggersRequired.com, and Tomoson
Look for Twitter fans who own blogs and who aren’t linking to you
Look for people using your images and ask them for a link. Try Berify or TinEye

Image: “It’s about rules and strategy” by pshutterbug is licensed under CC BY 2.0

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