The holy grail of SEO, a self-feeding SEO machine, and all that jazz…
When the quirky meerkat Aleksandr Orlov appeared on our screens in 2009 to inform us of the difference between Comparethemarket.com and Comparethemeerkat.com, some brilliant linkbait was born.
The spin-off site Comparethemeerkat.com (where you can compare thousands of meerkats), has attracted nearly 10,000 inbound links, from people compelled to spread the meerkat word. By linking the spin-off site to the main price comparison site, Comparethemarket.com will have been able to pass on valuable link-juice and gained some well-earned Google-love. Simples!
So what is linkbait?
According to the head of Google’s Webspan team and SEO-guru Matt Cutts, linkbait is anything “interesting enough to catch people’s attention”. More specifically, linkbait differs from viral content in that it’s not just designed to be spread around, but to be linked to aswell. And while the primary purpose of linkbait is to attract inbound links, it can also help to generate press, create a buzz and drive traffic.
The beauty of linkbait is that once you have created your interesting content and told a few key people about it through any type of media channel, it can quickly snowball around the net and translate into numerous inbound links from blogs, Twitter, social networks, etc … These key people are often referred to as the LINKERATI (a term coined by Rand Fishkin of SEOMoz fame) and carry a lot of weight in the world wide web.
At the start of the summer I wake-boarded to work. My friend has a boat, we left at 7.15 am from the Marina, I shot past the two piers at 7.30 am and waded to shore still in my wetsuit with my office clothes in a waterproof bag on my back, James Bond style. When I got to work my PR colleague 
I recently told a friend of mine who is a journalist that I was doing 
Five ways to influence the minds of your potential customers - with web copy.