You can see them fleeing, scurrying out of the dark corners of “Internet marketing” like rats jumping from a sinking, burning ship: all the great “link builders” are now become “content marketers, publicists, and specialists”.
The transition from “link building” to “promoting content” is a mix of change in philosophy and change in description. But are these guys really giving up on links? Of course not. They’re just repackaging their services in new language to avoid the stigma attached to “link building”.
People who have followed my SEO Theory articles over the years know that I have been very critical of the SEOs who built their (clients’) success on the basis of link placements. Not only was that the least efficient (less ROI or “bang for your buck”) way of performing search engine optimization, it was one of the riskiest strategies.
And 2012 showed us just how risky the strategy was as Google went after linking networks, low-quality backlink profiles, even one high-profile SEO company whose network of paid links was brought to light by an irate blogger.
And yet, not much has changed. The same people are still telling you that you must go out and get links. After all, now you are “promoting your content”, “publicizing your work”, and “looking for value” — all things that I have advised people to do in the past. The link builders have co-opted my advice and are using it as a cover for their same old tricks: link building.
But Wait: Not ALL Link Building Is Bad
Link building has become such a poisonous expression that no one wants to be associated with it even though there are still very good link building practices. It’s not that link building was the problem — it’s that too many people substituted link building for real marketing.
Let’s take a look at some ways of building links that are still good for you:
Internal Links – Once you get beyond your Website’s internal navigation (basically the menu you show your users on every page) you still have to build links into your content to cross-promote related articles, products, and services; to promote crawl; and to help your visitors find what they are looking for. If you provide a site search tool that is NOT powered by a database on the back end that site search utility needs to crawl your Website, so you need good, informative links within your content and across your site.
Interlinking Related Sites – It is very common today for many individuals and companies to operate multiple Websites for perfectly legitimate reasons. You have the right to interlink these Websites; however, many people have had bad experiences with interlinking sites because they tried to maximize the benefit they got from their links for search engine rankings. That’s not how sites should be interlinked. You need to create an interlinking strategy that provides value for your visitors by explaining to them what additional products, services, and/or information you can provide them. It’s okay if these links help search engines — just don’t use these links to manipulate the search engines for your own competitive benefit.
Linking From Friendly Sites – You have friends, business partners, relatives, and community associations. You have the right to ask those people or organizations for links to your Websites. They may not give those links to you but you should not be ashamed to ask for them. This is perfectly normal and it’s a well-established link building practice. But if you’re thinking in terms of “I need to vary the anchor text” or “I can only ask for ‘brand anchor text’” then you’re overthinking the process. Just ask your associates for the links that they would be proud to show their visitors; the rest will take care of itself.
Appropriate Directory Submission – Let’s face it, there are only a small number of large directories that everyone agrees provide “safe” links. These directories don’t guarantee you’ll get a link and most of them charge for the privilege of being reviewed. You should submit your sites to at least a few of these directories just to see if your sites are deemed acceptable by (semi-)professional link editors. If the stingiest linkers on the Web will give you links, your sites have passed a critical test.
Media Outreach – SEO companies do not provide “Publicity & Public Relations” outreach. Many SEO firms tell you they offer PR services but basically they just write “press releases” and submit them to PR distribution sites; or, worse, they write “guest blog articles” and submit them to content-hungry Websites that are waiting for the next Google algorithm to knock them down. You’re allowed to create some buzz for your business, but it’s safer to work with a real media specialist who actually has contacts in the news and entertainment industry and who can get you links, interviews, news stories, guest appearances, etc.
Content Syndication – The rules have changed a little bit but you can still syndicate your content on popular Websites if you can swing the deals. You just need to ensure that proper attribution and canonicalization are in place. A competent SEO firm whose skills and knowledge are up-to-date can help you manage your syndication strategy in a safe, acceptable manner.
Social Media Placement – You’re allowed to have your own social media accounts and to publish links to those accounts for your own benefit. But each social media service has its own rules that you should respect; and don’t fall for the SEO industry myth about “social signals”. The only “social signals” search engines have to work with are just like the “content signals” they have been working with all along. Artificially inflating your social media visibility is not an optimal marketing strategy.
Link Building Should Not Be Stigmatized
Link building got a bad name because it was abused not only by the worst marketers (who repeatedly complained about being slapped down by search engine updates and algorithms) but because it was abused with the worst practices. And people continue to follow the worst practices.
They are trying to get as many links as possible in as short a time as is possible. Their underlying philosophies have not changed; they just took a few well-worn practices off the market.
Real search engine optimization puts link building in its place, alongside content strategy, analytics and measurement, and performance adjustment. There are many things that need to be done for SEO to reduce duplicate content, enhance search listings, fine-tune on-page optimization, etc. These are time-consuming tasks — tasks that often produce an immediate return on investment — and yet they are typically ignored or downplayed by the link building “content marketing” SEO services.
Link building should be kept in its place, not made the poster child for bad marketing practices. You should not shy away from proper link placements.
Paying For Link Acquisition Is Okay
Every link you obtain with help from a professional service is a “paid” link; not all paid links violate search engine guidelines. If the links are obtained on the basis of editorial choice, provide value to Web visitors, and are created for reasons other than influencing search engines then they are usually deemed okay.
However, in a time when people are shuffling away from offering link services you need to ask yourself, whose marketing do you really need? If people are to ashamed to say they are building links for clients then you have to ask how long it will be until they get caught in another round of search engine updates.
On the other hand, you don’t want to do business with people who brag about their manipulative linking placements.
You need to work with service providers who focus on creating value for you and your future visitors, who help distribute real information across the Web, and who understand that doing everything for search engines is anything but “search engine optimization”.
You don’t have to change service providers if you don’t want to. Sit down with them, discuss the options that are still available for “link building”, and see what they can do for you. But you need to set realistic expectations, too. Your marketing goals should be looking at traffic and conversions, not rankings and link profiles. If your SEO provider cannot help you measure success according to changes in visitor traffic and conversions, then maybe you should look around for some alternatives.
Link Building Is Here To Stay
As long as we have a World Wide Web we will have to build links just to “bring new sites online”, to integrate new content into the vast array of information and offerings. We will need people who understand what link building is really supposed to be about.
And if you want to be aggressive in your link acquisition strategies then you need to understand the risks that you are taking on and how to manage them.
Link building is not dead — in fact, it is as much alive now as it ever has been. But maybe, just maybe, link building has finally shed some of the dead weight that was dragging it down. Hopefully the rats won’t realize the ship really isn’t burning and sinking; we don’t need any more of their kind of “marketing”.
Read More about Search Engine Optimization
How Long Does It Take SEO To Work?
Outbound Links: Why Use Forward Links for SEO?
On-Page Optimization SEO Checklist
White Hat Link Earning Techniques
Follow Reflective Dynamics |
Click here to follow Reflective Dynamics on Twitter: @refdynamics. Click here to follow SEO Theory on Twitter: @seo_theory. Reflective Dynamics' RSS Feed (summaries only) |