Rand Fishkin celebrated a big number showing up in Yahoo Site Explorer, one that plenty of search optimization-minded folks would love to see.
SEO professional and occasional murdok video host Rand Fishkin picked up seven digits of hot link love from Yahoo. He’s hit the million-link mark after 33 months of blogging.
He’s so happy, Rand shared the secrets of his achievement:
Actually, there were three keys to our linking success – Content, Community and Timing.
Content: Our blog, articles, tools & antics follow less of a link “bait” formula and more one of link “appeal.” The content we put out isn’t just designed for a link – it’s really designed to make our readers into raving fans.
Community: I’ve personally met and interacted with between 2-4 thousand people over the last 3 years – shaken hands, shared meals and drinks, held conversations and exchanged business cards. As much as the online world connects us, the real world ties the knots in those binds.
Timing: When SEOmoz started writing about search marketing (way back in 2003, though we didn’t start the blog until October of 2004), there was relatively little competition. SearchEngineWatch didn’t start their daily blog (in a blog format) until August of 2004 and with the exception of the major forums and fewer than a dozen other popular sites in the niche, we were ahead of the curve.
While matching Rand’s timing would require the invention of a time machine and solving a slew of temporal paradox issues, other bloggers in and out of SEO can work on content and community.
As with any creative venture, talent, persistence, and a little luck will be the difference makers today.
