Hunch.com Shows How Data = SEO

Whenever I work with a client that has a relatively undifferentiated service (I am talking to you Yellow Pages sites of the world), inevitably the discussion moves to linkbuilding. I like to say that doing on-page/technical SEO is like building a high performance sports car and that links, and increasingly social media signals, are like the gas. No gas, no go.

So how does a company that doesn’t really publish anything except a list of business names, addresses & phone numbers attract links? Well, one way is to do it with data. Look at this awesome infographic that Hunch.com just released:

Hunch knew that the “Mac v. PC” debate is one of the more enduring memes out there in the blogosphere. How many Mac & PC people saw a link to this and immediately went to Hunch to see how they fared? How many Mac & PC bloggers linked to this post?

Most sites are sitting on a bunch of proprietary data that can be used to tell interesting stories that people want to hear and that people want to link to. Do PC users search for computer repair services more than Mac users? Do Android users search more for Apple stores than IOS users? You just have to act like a publisher and publish.

A little promotion couldn’t hurt either.