Link Metrics Matchup: Purina vs Nature's Variety

Do It For The Fans

By: Zak Priest

Digital marketing isn't just about what you as a company put out on the web; it's about what people are putting out their about you. We're going to take some time, having a look at what the web thinks about Purina and Nature's Variety

Purina

Not a whole lot going on for Purina in this category. Every mention on twitter is just in passing and not by dedicated pet/pet food accounts and all inbound links to their site are singular news stories, again, not by dedicated pet/pet food sites. Purina does get a lot of mention this way for good reason though; they sponsor/hold a lot of charity and awareness events. I'm going to post a few of these news stories here so you get what I mean.

Canadian Pet Heroes Celebrated for Going Beyond the Call of Duty

Media Advisory - Family Day Funderland - Presented by Purina® Dog Chow®

New research chair aims to reduce pet abandonment

Nature's Variety

This is where Nature's Variety shines. They might not have the best social media presence but people still love their brand and it shows. I'm going to show you some inbound links just like above, but unlike above I'm going to explain to give you a brief description of each link to really drive home that this is the kind of stuff we're looking for as marketers.

Suzanne Dean AKA: @dogtraininglady

Ok, I know this isn't really an inbound link but I had to include this Twitter account. Not only is she the top listed influencer for Nature's Variety but she runs a really great Twitter. If you are a dog lover, definitely consider following her.

Stray Rescue of St. Louis

The title says it all. It's really great to get constant recognition from a community leader like this one.

Martha Stewart

Nature's Variety has had quite a few mentions on Martha Stewart's website. The site is in a blog format and talks about a whole bunch of homemaking topics, from making a bed to making pork.

Conclusion

I knew Nature's Variety was going to have great link metrics but I was really surprised at how awful Purina's were. Winner: Nature's Variety.

Link Metrics Matchup: Petcurean and Canidae Pet Foods

A look into the top influencers and fans of these two pet food brands!

Kelsey LeCoure


In the marketing world, word-of-mouth marketing is very important. People are much more likely to trust another consumer's opinion of a product than the company's advertisements. There is more trust and a better likelihood to buy a product when a good review comes from a consumer than anyone making money off of their review or the company themselves. One way to analyse link metrics data is using the Moz Toolbar. Here are some of the results I found with this tool based on the Petcurean and Canidae Pet food brands.

Fido Friendly - Top inbound link for Petcurean

The top inbound link to Petcurean's website is "Fido Friendly" - a magazine for dog lovers. On their homepage there is a large badge that reads: Petcurean blogger advocate. When you click on the badge, it brings you directly to the Petcurean website. This is fantastic word-of-mouth marketing for Petcurean!

The second inbound link for petcurean is a site called "My Best Friend's Barkery" - a pet store in North Carolina that sells a variety of dog food and treats. On the side of all of their pages is a link to the Petcurean website.

The third most popular inbound link for Petcurean is from "Hautedogs" on their Howl'oween parade page. There was a contest for one person to win one year's supply of dog food from Petcurean. Contest and giveaways are a great way, if used correctly, to gain traffic on your social media pages!

The Missing Manual - Top inbound link for Canidae

Now, moving on to Canidae. The top inbound link for Canidae is from "The Missing Manual". This site includes a list of many different natural and organic companies that provide products for everything from your home, to your office, to makeup, and pet food. There is an abundance of information for anyone interested in living green!

The second inbound link for Canidae is from "Arden Moore Knows Pets". This site is an online magazine that includes a wide variety of useful information for pet owners.

The last inbound link for Canidae is from "Self Serve Pet Spa's Blog". The self serve pet spa is a company that offers pet owners a place to wash their pets themselves (instead of having a certified groomer do the work for them. They run a blog that contains information for pet owners regarding health, safety, food, and more!

Link Metrics Matchup

Internets Opinion of Blue Buffalo and IAMs Website

Mark Faber

Blue Buffalo's Moz Analytics

As you know there are billions of web sites on the internet so how do you know which are reliable sources of information? One helpful tool is called the Moz toolbar, it analyzes the web page you are on and gives a “credit” score. Moz does this by analyzing the number of inbound links, or outside websites that refers readers to your website. If lots of other reputable websites are referring users to your site the domain authority or ‘credit score’ of your page increases.

Looking at the Blue Buffalo and IAMs websites using the Moz toolbar there are some interesting things to discover about the brands:

	IAMs	Blue Buffalo
Domain Authority (high=good)	40/100	61/100
Total Links	25	5,475
Spam Score (lower the better)	3/17	2/17

Vancitybuzz.com

The most followed link to IAMs domain comes from a website called SheKnows, a cosmetics blog, and names IAMs as an offender in product testing on animals, which seems logical to me but is apparently a no-go. The next 2 sites linking to IAMs.com are much more positive, one a Quebec newsletter, from newswire.com, names IAMs as the main sponsor in helping 7 million shelter pets find a home. The other from vancitybuzz.com, a website focusing on Vancouver and sharing tips on keeping our furry friends cool during the summer.

Blue Buffalo’s top inbound link unsurprisingly is Google, followed by Wikipedia which names Blue Buffalo in a pet food recall, which is not the kind of attention that a company would like to attract. Fortunately the third link is from Pinterest

which is another social media site that gathers interesting websites, articles and pictures form the internet in one place to be shared. The post that has been redirecting people to Blue Buffalo names them as a top brand for weight control in dogs and their positive role in the End Pet Cancer movement.