6 Link Building Practices That Scare The Crap Out of Me
May 1, 2008 by ian
'Link building', for those who don't know, is the practice of gaining links from other sites. Links are important. They deliver authority in the eyes of search engines, traffic if you're lucky, and a chance that someone else will link to you, too.
You can't live without 'em. But there are no established best practices you can follow. Hopefully, if you hear what scares me, you'll learn a bit about what to avoid:
- The "Gain 600,000 links in just two weeks!" strategy. It's tempting to pay someone to build lots of links in one shot. But it's a bad idea. Search engines measure link velocity. Steady link growth is good. A sudden surge is bad. Google and Yahoo! will either ignore those new links, or penalize you for them. So unless 43,000 links a day is normal for you, skip it. Build links slowly and steadily.
- Link buying. I used to love this strategy. Buy a great quality link on a relevant, popular site, get a great advertisement and a boost in the search rankings at the same time. But Google has cracked down on link sellers hard. So hard, in fact, that it's hard to believe link buyers aren't getting hit, too. Buy links if you want. Stick to directories and other pay-to-play sites where the link you buy is on a single, highly relevant page and and clearly has an advertising purpose other than boosting your search rankings.
- Parasite hosting. In this risky (and sometimes unethical) practice, you pay the owner of the .org or .edu site to host one or more pages of your content, with links back to your site. Like magic, you've got links from high-authority sites (.org and .edu domains are generally accorded more authority). I hear folks argue about this all the time: Everyone else does it, etc. etc.. I disagree: If it smells like poo, it's poo. And after two babies, an incontinent geriatric cat (rest his soul) and now two guinea pigs, I don't need more poo in my life. Parasite hosting stinks. I don't step in it.
- Comment spam. If you're a blogger, you've seen comments that have nothing but dozens of links in 'em. That's comment spam. It's submitted by a computer program. It's one of the many ways folks build 600,000 links in just two weeks. Hopefully I don't have to explain why this one sucks. Don't do it.
- Link trading. Reciprocal linking, in small amounts, is harmless. I think. But trading links with 500 other sites isn't going to get you any traction with the search engines. Nor is it going to help you sell anything. Where do you put those links on your site? In a huge list of traded links. Search engines skip those pages. Visitors ignore them. So next time you get an e-mail saying "I found your web site. Our two sites have nothing whatsoever to do with each other, so I'd like to trade links", delete it.
- Forum spam. Just write "Great point!" on every comment thread and include a link back to your site - bingo, lots of links! Bingo, lots of bad karma! There's a new circle of Hell opening up just for forum spammers. When you die, you'll be forced to talk to demons who nod vigorously at your every word and say "Great point" all while they try to drag you into a piranha infested lake.
What's OK
I am very conservative about link building. I only see a few sound, safe strategies:
- Submit your site to directories. While this may not help much, it won't hurt you, either, so why not?
- Build links through press releases. See #1.
- Join a community. Make friends. Don't beg for links, but do let them see what you're doing online. They'll link to you now and then.
- Write a blog. Link to other bloggers when they write good stuff. They'll eventually reciprocate. This is not link trading. These links will show up in articles, in context, when they make sense. They'll give you a boost.
- The ever-elusive link bait. Write, film or photograph something so damned compelling that everyone and their cousin wants to link to it. Or create a tool everyone wants. If you can do it consistently, it's pure gold. This is a great tactic. All you have to do is consistently write stuff that grabs wide attention, and shouts down the 40,000 other people doing the same thing. Cough.
It's Your call
I can't give you much guidance on this one. Links are currency to buy attention and customers. You have to decide how far you'll go to get them.
But set guidelines with which you're comfortable. And then stay within them. Otherwise, the piranha-infested lake awaits...
Join the Conversation:
Justin Chen says:
May 1, 2008 16:54
As far as SEO goes, do you have any recommendations for press release submissions? Which services are worth it?
Janet Johnson says:
May 1, 2008 19:08
Okay, Ian, coming from you (and don't go look at my blog, I've gushed or posted on every topic you avoid - great LOL fun and my ears are red), I trust your link building strategies to avoid.
What about the notion of building conversations by commenting on relevant blogs?
Do you think it's inauthentic if you're doing it on behalf of a client if you're transparent about it?
Ian
says:
May 1, 2008 19:19
@janet Now I'm blushing too :)
I contact bloggers all the time and say something like "I have a client who makes a product that's right up your alley, would you like to review it?". Or I pester fellow bloggers to read something I just wrote.
In the end, if you're transparent and respectful about it, it's still up to that blogger whether they want to write about you.
I don't suggest paying for posts unless the blogger promises to be VERY clear about the fact that they've been paid. Even then, it can taint your image.
But the blogging world is made for the kind of outreach you're describing. Go for it.
Ian
says:
May 1, 2008 19:22
I prefer PRWeb myself (PRWEB.com). They have a nice console for managing the process and seem to do well getting their press releases into the search engines.
Alex says:
May 2, 2008 01:31
So where do you stand on sponsored review networks like reviewme.com?
Some pretty respected sites are on there, like Vitamin...
Mark Pilatowski says:
May 2, 2008 06:53
While I mostly agree with everything here I do have to take a small issue with number one. I agree that those "Get 600,000 links" services are garbage. They will get nothing but crappy links and even if you are not penalized those links will do nothing to help your site. My disagreement is that phenomenal link growth even for sites who don't have a bunch of links could be very natural and if so would not garner any penalties. You may not get an immediate boost but eventually those links could prove very valuable.
If you offer a new service or an article hits big on Digg and other social networks it could pick up a ton of links from other sites talking about it. This would be totally natural and theoretically could result in thousands of links almost overnight. The search engine should not, and generally will not, punish this and it could be a huge boost.
A large influx of natural links is a good thing, a large influx of unnatural links will not help and could actually hurt. Other than that very small point I agree with everything here.
Ian
says:
May 2, 2008 08:10
@Mark I'm right there with ya.
Here's the difference: If you get a Digg hit like what you describe, you'll likely get a huge burst of links that then tails off slowly. That kind of peak-and-slow-decline pattern seems to work great for establishing near-term link velocity that Google and Yahoo! appreciate.
Good Diggbait or other social network hits seem to snowball, and you never return to your previous link velocity. The search engines seem to understand that.
Ian
says:
May 2, 2008 08:25
@Alex Put yourself in the consumer's shoes. How will they react when they realize you paid someone to write about your product in an environment where folks usually do NOT do that?
It's not like the blogger becomes an official spokesperson. They slip sponsored reviews between the unpaid ones and get some cash for it.
I think the damage to your brand is too much to be worth it, in the long run.
That said, if search engines are more important to your strategy than the possible impact to your brand, you have to consider it (I guess). But Google's even trying to find ways to detect sponsored posts. So be careful...
David Manila Philippines says:
May 2, 2008 10:02
I have had success with blog catalog. Not only do I get backlinks I get some traffic from there everyday.
Ian
says:
May 2, 2008 10:21
@David as I said I'm very cautious. Blog comment submission via automated software (I'm assuming that's what you mean) is spam. At some point using that as a tool it's going to come back to bite you.
Alex says:
May 4, 2008 03:39
Point taken. I'll be giving paid reviews a miss.
Web Success Diva says:
May 5, 2008 14:36
Great post, as usual. PR Web definitely has one of the best rates for getting releases in the search engines.
M.
Kirk Stephen says:
May 5, 2008 16:16
finally a common sense approach
Thank you
K. Ihrig says:
May 6, 2008 09:10
Great Point.
Just kidding. I like the poo link list. You should name it that, by the way.
Your good link list (sorry, no catchy name this time - unless you like lovable link list?) is okay, but I think you might abbreviate too much.
Along with PR's, what about writing a few good articles?
I was also surprised at how much blog directories could help me - pleasantly surprised.
And while plenty of people are promoting the idea of link bait, I find that it doesn't have to be super compelling. It just has to be good. A great post or write up every so often is great, of course, but a pretty good one helps, too.
So like I said, great point.
Adam Kirby says:
May 12, 2008 22:15
Great Point.
.
.
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Just kidding, this post brings back fond memories of internet past. Ahhh those were the days, back when your seo hat was just an seo hat. There was no 'white', 'black', 'grey', 'red', a hat was a hat was a hat.
Now where was I? Oh yeah, Great Point Ian :)