“Natural link building” has long been a sore spot (some would call it an oxymoron) among many in the online marketing community. The general argument goes something like this: “Any link that comes about because you pursued it cannot be considered natural.” or “The very act of seeking links makes any link you obtain unnatural.” or “A link is supposed to be validation that your content is of some value.” The above arguments are all flawed, and I’ll include several examples to illustrate why later in this column. The “natural/not natural” argument is the link builders’ version of the larger white hat/black hat SEO argument, and it obscures many, far-more important points. I realize my opinion ultimately doesn’t matter, and that the fact I call myself a “natural linking strategist” could make me a liar, a hypocrite, clueless, or some combination thereof. But, there’s more at stake here than … [Read more...] about Link Building At The Speed Of Natural
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11 Reasons Link Building Is A Futile Waste Of Time — And One Big Reason It Isn’t
I don’t have to build links anymore, and I have never felt so liberated. So free. All the years I spent endless hours trying to help content get discovered — and I didn’t realize I didn’t have to do any of it. Those 163 conference gigs? Waste of time. 300+ articles, columns and posts? Digital litter. The massive project I just wrapped up for the Sochi Olympics? I’m sending their check back. Why? Because it’s been made clear by everyone that link building is now dead, the last nail in the coffin being the guest blog post, hammered in by my friend, colleague, and occasional co-panelist, Matt Cutts, who takes way more grief than he deserves. It’s not his fault you treated Google like a personal ATM for a decade. So there it is. Stop all your linking and publicity related activities. You now have one single solitary content mission: Be awesome. Be awesome and the world will find and share that awesomeness — this is the 2014 social version of … [Read more...] about 11 Reasons Link Building Is A Futile Waste Of Time — And One Big Reason It Isn’t
Food For Thought About Link Building: Some Tasty Tidbits
Presented for your consideration, below are a number of linking-related comments, thoughts, ideas and other notes that I believe you’ll find thought-provoking, interesting, or at least somewhat helpful. Bittersweet Vindication? On April 30 of 2007, almost exactly seven years ago today, I wrote The Coming Link Apocalypse. This was before Panda, Penguin, Hummingbird, Buffy, Dewey, Vince, Potsy, LaVerne or Shirley. Back before link deconstruction began. I genuinely tried to tell you what was coming. I wish more people had listened. Last week, I had to give a presentation of findings to the owners of a site that had fired their SEO agency after being hit with a manual penalty. My recommendation was kill the site. You may think I enjoy some sort of vindication, but it’s not enjoyable when you have to tell someone their online business is no longer viable due to another agency’s negligence. RFP Quality Checks. For anyone putting together a RFP for any type of … [Read more...] about Food For Thought About Link Building: Some Tasty Tidbits
Link Building Is Moving In House
Several years ago, I wrote a column here titled Why Link Building Must Go In-House. The main thesis of that column can be summed up with this quote: There are almost as many link building tactics as there are companies selling them. Google lists over a million. On more than one occasion, I have pretended to be in need of link building services just to engage in an email dialogue with a firm selling linking services, just to see what they did (or didn’t) know. It’s truly scary. Companies selling useless services that don’t know those services are useless. Or maybe they do. When you can’t trust that the company you are hiring knows what they are doing, in many cases you end up with a worse inbound link profile than you would have if you’d done no link building at all. We all know what’s happened since I wrote that article. Although it’s taken several years, I’ve seen a definite uptick recently in the number of companies that have taken … [Read more...] about Link Building Is Moving In House
5 Bad Link Building Habits To Break Now
For those who have been in the SEO industry for a while, you may remember the glory days of link building — you simply submitted your site/article/address/name, etc., and had 100 links within 24 hours. That sure was awesome. Unfortunately, those days are over — yet for many, bad link building habits are lingering. How many times have you seen an easy link and thought to yourself, “Just this one submission won’t hurt my site,” or, “My competitors are doing it, so I can, too”? If the answer is more than once, then you’d better keep reading. These days, link building is no longer just about the link. It’s about soliciting a solid mention from a relevant and quality site that drives traffic and sales. For marketers, this means taking the time to find the right sites, taking the time to find the right people, and most importantly, letting go of those bad habits we’ve built up over the years. 1. Directory Submissions Let me start by … [Read more...] about 5 Bad Link Building Habits To Break Now
E-Commerce Link Building — The Challenge That Won’t Go Away
Here, I will examine some of the most common link building tactics employed by e-commerce sites — including common problems with tactics and creative ideas for making them work to the fullest. 1. Adding A Blog In Hopes Of Attracting Links While it is theoretically possible to garner links by adding a blog to your e-commerce site, there are a number of challenges that come along with this approach. The objection I hear most often is that sites that sell products directly don’t really want to be content publishers, often due to a lack of resources or a lack of interest. Adding a blog is often done reluctantly. I think back to the scuba site I once worked with, where the owner said, “I want to be in the water all day, not typing.” He had no interest in blogging himself, and he had no interest in hiring a writer because that person would not have his diving expertise. There’s also the lesser-discussed issue of blog promotion. Your new blog is invisible unless … [Read more...] about E-Commerce Link Building — The Challenge That Won’t Go Away
Why Manual Link Building Will Never Be Obsolete
I recently read an article titled, “SEO Practices That Will Become Obsolete By The End Of 2016” on (what is normally) a highly respected site. The author is someone I read and respect, but he made the claim that in 2016, manual link building will become obsolete. He has since edited the article and changed “Manual Link Building” to “Bulk Link Building.” This seemingly minor edit (which I greatly welcome and appreciate) is actually at the crux of a much larger movement that seems to be permeating the SEO community. That movement is based on the belief that doing anything one at a time, or “manually,” is a waste of time, because the sheer mass of the web and link graph makes it impossible to impact it without resorting to automated or mass tactics. Wrong. Manual link building will never be obsolete. I agree that there are many more ways to build links today than there were when the web first caught fire. And I also agree that it is … [Read more...] about Why Manual Link Building Will Never Be Obsolete
Why There’s No Such Thing as Cheap SEO or Link Building
Search marketing matters. As the owner of a local search engine optimization (SEO) consulting agency, it seems to me that it’s almost every day I hear potential clients say things like, “Well, I can get SEO done for $50 a month” or whatever price-range they have been given by a previous guru. After being in the SEO industry for a fairly long time, I have met more than a handful of marketers who outsource their SEO and link building, and most of them think they are getting such a great deal, but from the looks of things, it seems to me that none of them are making any money through any of their online efforts. When looked upon from afar, there’s really no such thing as cheap SEO or cheap link building. Maybe it’s a good thing for those of you (close-minded) who “think” your’e getting a good deal, but the truth is, there’s no such thing as a cheap SEO plan. There are those who are very desperate, and they offer SEO services, as well … [Read more...] about Why There’s No Such Thing as Cheap SEO or Link Building
Smart Alternatives to Dangerous Link Building Strategies
Last December, we at Yoast wrote about all the things that you should take in account when cleaning up bad backlinks. We asked Christoph at LinkResearchTools to check all of the information to ensure we were not missing anything. When going over that post, we felt that we should elaborate on the subject of link building on our website, although link building is not the same (trade) as website optimization. And that is why we are pleased to present you with this post Christoph wrote for you. In this article, you will find practical tips and smart alternatives to dangerous link building strategies. Link Building Today: “Sweat Plus Creativity” Before the first Google Penguin update in 2012, people just wanted to build as many links as possible, using any available means. In the Penguin era the focus has shifted to white hat SEO – building trusted and powerful links. Is this easy? Of course it’s not! Building high quality links is no easy job. As Matt Cutts said … [Read more...] about Smart Alternatives to Dangerous Link Building Strategies
What Is Link-Building, and Why Does It Matter in 2015?
I’ve spent the last three years of my life professionally obsessed with links. My agency’s primary specialization is link-building, but it’s often impossible to build links if the site itself isn’t well optimized, and furthermore less likely to have the desired impact. Link-building is the majority of what we do, but we have to do everything in between in order to really make the link-building shine. My day-to-day job is 100 percent content marketing, but I work for a link-building agency. I very much have a foot in both worlds, which I’d like to think gives me a unique perspective. Today, I want to share with you my perspective on link-building and why I think links will continue to matter for real businesses in 2015. The Evolution of Link-Building and My Definition Despite having the job title of “link builder” for longer than a year, explaining the term “link-building” is surprisingly hard. I’ve had to do it for friends, … [Read more...] about What Is Link-Building, and Why Does It Matter in 2015?