89. Link Building Secrets of the Masters, Part 1 of 2 with Christoph Cemper

My guest today is Christoph Cemper, a guru at link analysis who has been a noteworthy figure in the online marketing space since the early 2000s. He created the remarkable LinkResearchTools, an amazing toolset that can help you triage your bad links. One of the tricky (and frustrating) things about SEO is that once you’re penalized by Google, it can be hard to recover. This is particularly true for manual penalties, as opposed to algorithmic penalties. Today, we’ll chat about analyzing your link profile, the important differences between 302 and 301 redirects, and much more.

Find Out More About Christoph Here:

LinkResearchTools
@cemper on Twitter
Christophcemper.com
Christoph Cemper on LinkedIn
Christoph Cemper on Facebook

In This Episode:

• [02:05] - Christoph and Stephan discuss how long they’ve known each other.
• [02:40] - We learn more about what, exactly, Christoph did in his earlier days of working with links. Christoph also talks about changes to the industry.
• [06:26] - What are presell pages, and how did Christoph make a significant amount of money with them?
• [08:08] - Christoph defines the term “co-citation,” which he used a moment previously, in the context of SEO.
• [10:12] - Christoph shares his views on PBNs, or private blog networks, then offers advice on how to use them properly.
• [13:21] - Google connects the dots and takes all your stuff down if you haven’t set up your PBN properly, Stephan explains. Christoph agrees, and elaborates on what Stephan has been saying.
• [16:07] - One mistake, such as one of your employees accidentally logging into the wrong account on the wrong computer, could cost you everything. Christoph explains what he means.
• [18:15] - Stephan emphasizes how high-risk PBNs are. He and Christoph then talk about algorithmic penalties and manual penalties, and talk about trying to recover from being penalized.
• [21:53] - Google has a history of penalizing retroactively, Christoph explains. Stephan then discusses this in relation to the example of Wikipedia.
• [24:37] - Christoph brings up an example of a pharmaceutical company editing the FDA page on Wikipedia.
• [25:01] - Stephan returns to the topic of Penguin, which he and Christoph then explain and discuss in some depth.
• [30:42] - The idea that Google devalues (rather than demotes) is FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt), as Stephan points out. Christoph then points out that he isn’t saying that Google lies, but rather that their PR team does an amazing job.
• [33:38] - Christoph responds to what Stephan has been saying about not taking too many tweets from Google too literally.
• [35:47] - We learn some of what Christoph has learned in his recent experiments on redirect rankings.
• [37:38] - Adwords is the true business that Google is in, Christoph explains.
• [38:27] - Stephan brings us back to the topic of 302 vs. 301 redirects. Christoph then shares his thoughts on the differences and which type you should always use.
• [41:43] - Christoph poses a question to Stephan: when he says a 302 is labeled a temporary redirect, what does Stephan think “temporary” is?
• [43:38] - Christoph questions whether even Google has the data to analyze the topics he has just been discussing. He then explains what he means by “red canonicals,” and talks about why he has that data.
• [45:40] - Stephan brings us back to the 302 redirect topic, pulling out a huge takeaway for listeners.
• [46:28] - People still follow the old patterns and rules without questioning them, Christoph points out. He then discusses the hate he’s gotten for deciding to do things differently.
• [51:10] - Listeners can go to www.linkresearchtools.com to sign up for Christoph’s toolset.

Links and Resources:

LinkResearchTools
@cemper on Twitter
Christophcemper.com
Christoph Cemper on LinkedIn
Christoph Cemper on Facebook
Co-citation
PBNs
AdSense
Penguin update
VWO
Mike Mandel on The Optimized Geek
Algorithmic penalties
Manual penalties
Matt Cutts
Gary Illyes
SMX East
The Art of SEO by Stephan Spencer