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Say no to link building
I said no to link building a year or more ago and have been trusting in incoming earned organic links. It is not easy to drop an old strategy but when the technique is no longer getting the same results, it is time to get real. Notice how Matt Cutts from Google suggests “attracting” incoming links but does not use the word “link building”?
And the sort of people who have been doing “new” SEO, or whatever you want to call it, that’s social media optimization, link bait, things that are interesting to people and attract word of mouth and buzz, those sorts of sites naturally attract visitors, attract repeat visitors, attract back links, attract lots of discussion, those sorts of sites are going to benefit as the world goes forward.
If you also shy away from social media optimization how do you get the links to float your battleship?
Simple, build sites and wait for people to find you via content that ranks organically in search engines and guess what? It works, people naturally link to well written, useful content - what a concept eh?
Let’s use this blog as an example, even though I did do some SMO in the form of SEO interviews and tested out link baiting, I have done no link building. That’s right, no submissions to directories, no paid links, no social media spamming and no reciprocal link building.
Do not feel like you are missing anything, organic search is being designed for those who write the best copy and have good honest intent. You will often work in silence BUT you will find yourself ranking better than those who got to where they are artificially in the future.
Anyone believe in this more natural link building concept?
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March 15th, 2007 at 6:49 am
You still have to tell people about your excellent content. That’s link building.
March 15th, 2007 at 6:51 am
Good point, what are some ways you “tell” people stoney?
March 15th, 2007 at 6:53 am
So you think the “build it and they will come” strategy is the best way to market a website these days?
March 15th, 2007 at 7:02 am
Peter - It is a time thing, if you have no deadline, build it and use natural link building. There is more value in a single related, editorially chosen link than a whole pile of artificial links right? This is clearly what Google’s goal is to achive algorithmically and they are already doing a superior job.
If you are an SEO and need quicker results to impress “clients”, yes…social media does have it’s value.
But yes, I build my sites slowly, links and algorithms come and reward me kindly.
Another thought: Want to get in on an area that is currently heavily spammmed? You can do so simply by playing by the current rules. ;)
March 15th, 2007 at 7:02 am
Link building isn’t always about asking for links. One of the reasons I never bought into the “reciprocal linking is bad” theory is because even reciprocal links get exposure for a site which can turn into natural links (because of the great content!)
I’m not advocating a reciprocal link strategy, just pointing out that any way of telling others about your site is technically a link building strategy.
But to answer your question… I think participating in forms, blogs, distributing articles, link bait, etc. are all legitimate forms of “link building”. It really boils down to 1) having something people want 2) building a relationship with them in some form that they also want to link to it.
March 15th, 2007 at 7:07 am
Stoney - Yes indeed, you choose a more “social” approach, that can work also and is good for those who do not have time on their side. The ways you mention also “attract” links, keyword: attract
March 15th, 2007 at 9:02 am
My problem with the whole reciprocal linking is good theory has nothing to do with search engines…it’s that most sites that subscribe to the theory suck and would get no real traffic anyway.
So, assuming 1% of visitors go to the links page and click on my link…next to bugger all x 1% = even closer to bugger all.
Now, if I don’t have a site that draws traffic, I really don’t have much to lose…but if I do have a site that draws traffic, I get the short end of the stick. Since I’m in the latter category, I’m not going to go down that road.
As far as link building, I tend to agree with Stoney. There’s a way to do it, and there’s a way not to do it. When I choose to distribute my link, I do so without SEs in mind…I do so with traffic in mind. I want my link where people are going to see it, and where it will do some good (like here, for instance.) And I’m willing to give a piece of my mind to someone for it. It’s a fair trade, because there’s not much up there to begin with.
This tends to work well for me (particularly on the SEFL site) because I find myself getting referrals from sites I know nothing about (and a buttload from StumbleUpon, despite never having participated or used it). I’ve even gotten visitors from a Turkish site…took me a while to find my link on it, but it was a legit one. Nothing cooler than that.
In other words, you still have to tell people about your link, and that requires some form of link building. But if you don’t do it with “link building” in mind as such, and you’re willing to make a trade of something you have excess of (in my case, loud-mouthed opinions and mad knowledge), then you win.
March 15th, 2007 at 9:30 am
Yes sir, was looking at the results for link building in Google and the information is not exactly relevant anymore. Maybe “link building” is the wrong phrase for what you guys are talking about here? Social media marketing?
March 15th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
I wouldn’t even call it that. I’d call it “traffic building”.
March 16th, 2007 at 6:18 am
“The ways you mention also “attract” links, keyword: attract”
I agree very much… but there is no way to attract links in the first place until someone knows its there and no one will know its there (via search engines) without links. It’s almost a catch 22, but at least other forms of marketing can draw traffic which will then get natural links as well. I just don’t see the point in waiting if you don’t need to.
March 16th, 2007 at 4:47 pm
Waiting is what people who know nothing about influencing search engines via link building do, search engines like Google are smart to remember this in their ranking system, hint hint ;)
March 16th, 2007 at 8:48 pm
I’m not sure I understand your comment. You suggested that the slow, natural process is best, but doesn’t that mean being willing to wait it out? Are you saying that you know nothing about influencing search engines via link building? I’m confused.
March 17th, 2007 at 6:18 am
Search engines are being designed to benefit all that is natural, it is not natural for a site to do excessive link building, anything that is not editorially chosen and linked to is of low value. So, yes I suggest a slow natural process of “earned organics”.
Read about link weighting algorithms
Keyword: Weighting
March 17th, 2007 at 7:15 am
Aaron, the article at Google you referenced is about link buying. Only in the last paragraph is “reciprocal links” thrown in. I don’t think we should assume that Stephanie is referencing anything more than the old “I’ll link to you on my link page if you link to me on your link page” schemes. Those have been pretty useless for some time.
Personally, I don’t see anything unearned from writing or developing good (targeted) linkbait, asking for a link from a relevant site, developing content for other sites that’ll link back or even (gasp!) arranging for a reciprocal link, provided that certain standards of credibility have been met.
Having a great website is only one qualified way to get links and I would suggest the single most important, but that doesn’t mean all others should be discounted.
March 17th, 2007 at 11:18 am
I think your concept is a nice idea but I do optimisation for small to medium sized businesses and it is very difficult if not impossible to get people to link to their sites naturally, I generally use directories for links plus I have friends who I can contact if I need links for a certain site, you are practically famous in the SEO industry and I see you in bigshot SEO blogrolls all over the place, most of my clients don’t know what a blog is, they just have an online store that they need to rank, how do you get people to link to a MP4 player site naturally? I could make a blog for the site but who is going to read it if it doesn’t rank in the search engines? What am I going to talk about on the blog? Even if someone does read it MP4 player stuff isn’t exactly link bait.
March 17th, 2007 at 12:51 pm
I dislike the phrase “linkbait” because it implies that you are tricking the end user, if the MP4 Player rocks and you show it to people who agree via Digg, the links will come sooner rather than later. I am just noting that Google also is aware of those who do not know SEO and are currently treating them well also.
As you see in Matt Cutts blockqoute above Google is fully aware that some stuff does not get links that easy so they support social media as a form of link building.
Be in all those areas that are fully aligned with the current rules and you can only do well.
March 17th, 2007 at 1:08 pm
Thanks for the response Aaron, I will bare that in mind.
March 17th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
Just tried submitting the site to Digg, it doesn’t look like anyone is going for it:
http://digg.com/gadgets/Cheap_MP4_Players_that_Rock
March 17th, 2007 at 3:40 pm
Heh I have not had to resort to Digging anything yet but is Saturday afternoon/evening a good time to Digg something? ;)
March 17th, 2007 at 4:05 pm
Probably right, I suck at social marketing, I know I am going to have to get the hang of it, I keep encouraging my clients to set up news sections and blogs on their sites, I even just got one to add digg, reedit and delicious buttons to his news articles, this guy helps people with UK immigration and I am trying to get him to come up with really contreversial news articles about immigration and asylum seekers, he is all for immigration obviously but he is against letting in unskilled non English talking aslum seeekers and I think alot of people would agree with that so I am getting him to write a news article about it, hopefully the Digg crew will go for it.
March 28th, 2007 at 9:48 pm
Waiting is what people who know nothing about influencing search engines via link building do, search engines like Google are smart to remember this in their ranking system, hint hint!