What is Moving Man Method?

The Moving Man Method is a super-focused approach within the SEO world, aimed at increasing website traffic.

This strategy relies upon taking advantage of the common issue many websites face: the existence of dead links or broken backlinks. These are links directed towards web pages that no longer exist, causing visitors to be redirected to a 404 error page. This method was introduced to transform this apparent inconvenience into an opportunity for growth.

Websites get shut down every day, and when that happens, a lot of valuable backlinks end up leading to nowhere. However, for a savvy marketer, this isn't always a bad thing. The idea behind the Moving Man Method is to locate these defunct or "dead" websites that used to host similar content to your own, identify who was linking to them, and then offer your content as a new, active alternative. This tactic comes under the "Traffic" category because it helps increase visits to your website by effectively rerouting online traffic which was previously lost.

Examples of Moving Man Method

1. Say you run a tech review blog. You notice that a competitor's blog, which used to draw significant traffic, has become inactive. Using the Moving Man Method, you can take stock of the sites that previously linked to this competitor and let them know the link is now dead - but, you have a similar, active page they could link to instead.

2. Perhaps you operate an online store selling handcrafted jewelry. If you've noticed a popular blog about handmade accessories has shut down, you can contact sites that had linked to that blog, advise them of this change, and offer your own site as a viable alternative link.

3. Imagine you're managing a nutrition site and you discover a popular but now inactive health blog. You can find the sites that were connected via backlinks, inform them about the inactive site, and propose your site as a good substitute that their users would still find useful.

4. You notice that a widely-read online magazine which used to cover startup culture is no longer running. You can now inform other websites that linked to this magazine that it is inactive and suggest they link to your site, which also provides useful content about the startup world.

5. If you're running a travel blog and you've discovered a well-known but now inactive travel advice site, you could find all the internet sites that used to link to this page, inform them about the change in status, and suggest that linking to your travel blog would keep their visitors engaged with relevant content.

Marketing Tactics Similar to Moving Man Method

1. Broken Link Building: Much like the Moving Man Method, this strategy involves finding broken or dead links but on any site, not just those with similar content, and suggesting your page as a replacement.

2. Guest Blogging: This strategy focuses on writing a blog for other sites in your industry which allows you to take advantage of their audience and secure backlinks.

3. Link Reclamation: This method finds backlinks that your site has lost over time and reaches out to the host sites to reinstate them.

4. Competitor Backlink Analysis: Involves studying the backlink profile of your competitors to find opportunities for developing your own links. Similar to the Moving Man Method, but not limited to inactive sites.

5. Skyscraper Technique: This strategy revolves around finding popular content within your domain, creating something better, and reaching out to the original backlink sources to replace their link with yours. Similar to the Moving Man Method, only with active competitor pages.

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