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A Google analyst recently raised some eye brows when he said link building can be bad for search engine optimization.
In a recent Google+ live hangout, Google webmaster trends analyst John Mueller was asked, “Is link building in anyway way good?” He answered: “In general, I’d try to avoid that.”
Make sure that your content “stands on its own,” he advised. Google does include links in its algorithm but also considers many other factors, so focusing only on links will probably hurt more than help.
To say SEO experts were skeptical of his comment would be an understatement. A collective guffaw seemed to burst through the Search Engine Roundtable blog comments.
Many accused him of promoting Google’s interests. Some called the question stupid in the first place. It was like asking a police officer how fast you should drive, one commented. One commenter accused Mueller of “lying his big fat ass off.”
Others urged their SEO peers to calm down. Mueller was not talking about link building in general, only about linking building strictly for SEO purposes, they said.
Linking building is certainly one of the most important factors for improving search engine page results. Perhaps it’s the most important factor. As a result, SEO pros, webmasters and marketers constant seek methods to create backlinks that improve search results and increase website traffic.
Link-Building Tips from SEO Experts
Blogging Cage recently solicited a dozen SEO experts for their best linking building strategies. Here’s a synopsis.
• Create “killer content” that provides a compelling reason for others to link to your site. Work on building those natural backlinks over time.
• Provide something useful. Read blog forums to find what issues and problems your audience faces and create content that answers their questions and resolves their problems
• Focus on creating evergreen content that maintains its value over time.
• Engage in content marketing. Reach out to others and convince them to link to your content.
A “build it and they will come” philosophy is doomed to fail. Link building requires more than simply creating content and passively hoping others will link to it.
• Identify top influencers and high-ranking websites in your niche. Find a way to connect with them.
• Conduct a competitive analysis to find websites that link to your competitors. Open a relationship with them.
• Pursue public relations strategies that establish relationships with influencers, and obtain news coverage and publicity. Those natural links won’t prompt any Google penalties and will boost search rankings.
• Arrange to be included in expert interviews. The tactic will develop your standing as an authority, create networking opportunities, and promote your name since other interview participates will cite the interview on their social media networks.
• Publish round-up posts. Ask outside experts to contribute their input for a post. They’re likely to link to the post and promote it on their social networks. Plus, they’ll provide a fresh perspective to your blog.
Some experts say they pursue linking building to increase website traffic but not to intentionally increase their Google rankings, and some expressed dislike for the expression “link building,” saying they prefer the term “link earning.”
Blogging Cage also asked SEO pros for their favorite link-building tools. Although several mentioned tools, like BuzzSome or BuzzStream, many said they don’t use link-building tools, other than backlink checkers. Tools that build links quickly and automatically can prompt Google penalties.
Link Building without Content
Although creating outstanding content is the standard linking building advice, Backlink Sentry suggests 41 ways to obtain links without content, or at least additional content. A few of them include:
• Reclaim links to 404 pages. Find broken links with Google Webmaster tools and redirect them to relevant pages or rebuild lost pages.
• Monitor your backlinks. If they disappear, ask the site’s webmaster to restore them.
• Find websites that link to your social profiles. Request their webmasters to also link to your website.
• Find websites in your niche that are no longer maintained. If necessary, recreate and update their popular content. Ask websites linking to them to link to you instead.
• Find websites that mention your brand without linking to you. Then ask them to link to your site.
Bottom Line: Despite a Google staffer’s recommendation to avoid linking-building, the strategy remains a priority for SEO. With that in mind, these tips from SEO experts can help webmasters and marketers create backlinks to increase website traffic and improve search engine rankings.
William J. Comcowich founded and served as CEO of CyberAlert LLC, the predecessor of Glean.info. He is currently serving as Interim CEO and member of the Board of Directors. Glean.info provides customized media monitoring, media measurement and analytics solutions across all types of traditional and social media.
Yeah, I agree with you. However, we need to have limitations with our links it should not have spam links. 🙂
It is really a nice and helpful piece of information. I’m happy that you shared this useful info with us. Please keep us informed like this. Thanks for sharing.
Google gives you a lot of good info, but they’re never going to tell you to build something that totally defeats the purpose of what they do. Good quality links are always important, but there are several factors beyond just links that are taken into consideration.
For example, local vs affiliate are done very similar, but very differently as well.