"It’s not scalable, not sustainable and certainly not strategic.
The best links from one site to another are often a byproduct of something much bigger than standard link building. They’re evidence, in most cases, that the link destination offers value and that the linker feels will be of value to their readers. "
"process of creating awareness, building value, training on the mechanics and mechanisms for feedback on performance within a company can do wonders for link acquisition by leveraging existing content publishing and promotion activities."
I LOVE this advice. It's all about content and value. If you keep linking your readers to bad sites, you can kiss those readers good bye. Non-sustainable and non-strategic is an understatement. This method of link building also neglects a key point - if you don't have the content to keep people on your site, whats the point of getting linked to?
Lee Odden
· 6 months ago
Mark, "if you don’t have the content to keep people on your site, whats the point of getting linked to?" Love that!
Mark
· 6 months ago
Thanks Lee
It's what I tell everyone who comes to see us. That and "Content is king online." Nothing else really matters. Zen Habits and Get Rich Slowly didn't explode because they asked people to link to them, they just put up killer content and joined the blogging community. There are millions examples of this. (for starters, this page http://maddox.xmission.com/ gets more traffic than www.pepsi.com. And It's pretty easy to guess which one has spent more money on marketing and site design)
Pedro Souki
· 5 months ago
Matts Cutts, the chief of Page Rank Team at Google did that post "Natural links are better than non-natural" Explaining just that.
The worse thing that can happen to a bad product is to be sold, so the same thing happens with site with worthless content.
Eric Ward
· 6 months ago
Nicely put Lee. You've heard me talk about the etiology of link building, i.e., cause and effect and links based on merit. A well thought out online content and linking strategy recognizes links as more than just a residual effect of spinning wheels and tweeting like a monkey on crack. In all and every action, I.D. the link opps, and cultivate what you have right in front of you.
Lee Odden
· 6 months ago
Eric, yes I have and I appreciate your longtime approach and perspective for value based link building. Whenever I write anything along these lines, I think of your Link Moses wisdom. :)
Jamie Allsop
· 6 months ago
You need to have valid content on your website that people will find of interest so they will link to it, if your content is of no relevance then people are not going to.
Charles
· 6 months ago
bad content + bad traffic
OZ
· 6 months ago
Hi Lee, that is the most unique and direct take I've heard on link building, its refreshing.
What I understood from the post is that link building should not only be done using one method and channel. Successful link building involves using the most efficient channels (regardless of the medium) and multiple strategies to link build.
Purely relying on directly requesting links from people is time consuming and not worth the return on efforts in the long run. Just like any successful business strategy, it should use multiple channels and techniques.
That being said, depending on the size of the blog or business, that does not mean don't do direct link building by requests, just don't solely rely on it.
Well said.
Regards, OZ
Tom - Home Business Tips
· 6 months ago
Does Google look more at quality or quantity when it comes to link building? Link building will come "automatically" when you take the time to write useful content.When your visitors appreciate it, they will send it out to Twitter, StumbleUpon and other services for you and link back to you as well.
Michael Hartzell
· 6 months ago
Your approach to this topic is outstanding and the contribution toprank made in IMU very good. You have a fan (and appreciative one) thank you.
Mike
(I can attest to press / news being an advantage as well along with news feeds where comments can be made)
Garrett French
· 6 months ago
Hi Lee - excellent post, it got my wheels turning! I appreciate the concept of educating folks to see link opportunities on a daily basis, at all levels of an organization. Do you offer a service along these lines? If so, what do you think it would take to keep these best practices in place? I can imagine it could be easy for non-SEO folk to forget to ask for links... Thanks for the great article.
Garrett
Lee Odden
· 6 months ago
Thanks Garrett, educating our clients on link building is part of what we offer with TopRank consulting services. We've found that it takes an ongoing commitment (by both agency and client) as well as proper feedback to make client side link building last.
Joyce Brister
· 6 months ago
Good article and I am wondering if you are continually adding valuable content that is something your marketplace will learn or enjoy reading, should this be done on a blog attached to your website or should you have unique articles directly on your website? So where is the best place to put your content on page as well as off page?
Lou
· 6 months ago
I think the key factor is patience combined with link building. The days of a creating a flash bang site and getting traffic instantly are long over. Now it takes dedication and consistency with both content and link building. A site owner who is promoting on his or her own must think in terms of months or years to acquire a solid base of traffic.
sdefrawi
· 6 months ago
I couldn't agree more. The obsession with stockpiling inbound links has created a breed of marketers that have lost sight of the fundamental goal- to attract quality traffic that leads to conversions.
Karl Craig-West
· 6 months ago
I see this as a bit of a chicken and egg marketing situation. Without decent content you won't get links but without links you won't get traffic.
My experience is that link building and baiting should be done concurrently. You build links as you're building your site.
Happy hunting,
Karl
Nick Stamoulis
· 6 months ago
I think if a person sort of puts the idea of "link building" on the back burner and focuses and actively marketing their business online the link building portion of it will just come naturally.
metafever
· 5 months ago
I found your blog on google and read a few of your other posts. I just added you to my Google News Reader. Keep up the good work. Look forward to reading more from you in the future. Thanks, Joe
Gabriella
· 5 months ago
Hello Lee- I have spent an hour reading articles on your site and felt "compelled" to post a comment. First I wanted to give you "kudos," you are very informative, engaging and spot on with the advise.
As an SEO copywriter and provider it's rare that I find someone as competent in explaining SEO, link building, Social media, etc. It seems I am seeing more SEO providers expand their services to include more than just high organic results or PPC etc. (the basics of SEO business standards.) What I have found refreshing is how open SEO geeks have embraced & study market trends like what and how Social media can help or affect your SEO. In my humble opinion you have to if you are going to stay in business. So it's a continuous learning experience for me & my team.
In my experience I have found "natural" link building to be the most successful. Not sure if you have been keeping up with Google's "profiling" of SEO's (another topic but one we discussed at length on our company blog I will include it in case you want to share it with your readers - http://www.level343.com/article_archive/2009/06... ) but the operative word seems to be "intent" behind the link. Something to think about.
Thanks Gabriella /AKA @SEOcopy
Gabriella
· 5 months ago
Rut roh I mucked up on the article post .. here is the correct link.
Thanks.
Debbie
· 5 months ago
Really good advice Lee. From studying successful linking strategies, can I also add sponsorship of sports teams and charities who actively promote events is an excellent opportunity for both branding and link building. Makes your brand look involved in community or charity, and gets loads of links for your website.
Iklan Baris
· 5 months ago
nice strategy for links building seo. Thanks for you tutorials.
teuku2
· 5 months ago
You need to have valid content on your website that people will find of interest so they will link to it, if your content is of no relevance then people are not going to.
Jeff Roberts
· 5 months ago
very informative! I will be taking different approaches to link building. Thanks!
All Comments
The best links from one site to another are often a byproduct of something much bigger than standard link building. They’re evidence, in most cases, that the link destination offers value and that the linker feels will be of value to their readers. "
"process of creating awareness, building value, training on the mechanics and mechanisms for feedback on performance within a company can do wonders for link acquisition by leveraging existing content publishing and promotion activities."
I LOVE this advice. It's all about content and value. If you keep linking your readers to bad sites, you can kiss those readers good bye. Non-sustainable and non-strategic is an understatement. This method of link building also neglects a key point - if you don't have the content to keep people on your site, whats the point of getting linked to?
It's what I tell everyone who comes to see us. That and "Content is king online." Nothing else really matters. Zen Habits and Get Rich Slowly didn't explode because they asked people to link to them, they just put up killer content and joined the blogging community.
There are millions examples of this. (for starters, this page http://maddox.xmission.com/ gets more traffic than www.pepsi.com. And It's pretty easy to guess which one has spent more money on marketing and site design)
The worse thing that can happen to a bad product is to be sold, so the same thing happens with site with worthless content.
What I understood from the post is that link building should not only be done using one method and channel. Successful link building involves using the most efficient channels (regardless of the medium) and multiple strategies to link build.
Purely relying on directly requesting links from people is time consuming and not worth the return on efforts in the long run. Just like any successful business strategy, it should use multiple channels and techniques.
That being said, depending on the size of the blog or business, that does not mean don't do direct link building by requests, just don't solely rely on it.
Well said.
Regards,
OZ
Mike
(I can attest to press / news being an advantage as well along with news feeds where comments can be made)
Garrett
My experience is that link building and baiting should be done concurrently. You build links as you're building your site.
Happy hunting,
Karl
Thanks,
Joe
As an SEO copywriter and provider it's rare that I find someone as competent in explaining SEO, link building, Social media, etc. It seems I am seeing more SEO providers expand their services to include more than just high organic results or PPC etc. (the basics of SEO business standards.) What I have found refreshing is how open SEO geeks have embraced & study market trends like what and how Social media can help or affect your SEO. In my humble opinion you have to if you are going to stay in business. So it's a continuous learning experience for me & my team.
In my experience I have found "natural" link building to be the most successful. Not sure if you have been keeping up with Google's "profiling" of SEO's (another topic but one we discussed at length on our company blog I will include it in case you want to share it with your readers - http://www.level343.com/article_archive/2009/06... ) but the operative word seems to be "intent" behind the link. Something to think about.
Thanks
Gabriella /AKA @SEOcopy
Thanks.