Is it worth pursing PR and guest posting just for links?
-
I'm still new to SEO, but I have a decent foundation on it.
To me, it seems like guest posting and earning PR on quality sites is good for the coverage, but will those one-off links really make a difference?
I'd have to assume that SEOs earn their worth when they build scalable links (i.e. tools that people link to, guides, etc)
So, while PR is nice, I feel as if I shouldn't focus my time there, but spending time on building a product such as QuickSprout.com's SEO audit tool, Cappex's college match tool, CNN's budget calculator, Moz's google weather report, etc.
-
Pursuing any avenue just for links is the wrong way to go about it. Press Release links have gotten hit bad lately because of their misuse and overuse... but if you have some news on your business that is actually PR worthy then shopping it around to respectable sites and getting your news out there to the right people can increase your qualified traffic. Same goes for guest posting. Its been hit bad lately but its not about the links per se. Getting your name out there, branding, sharing useful information or something humorous or poignant can help people learn who you are, increase your qualified traffic, etc. etc. and you don't need a followed link to reap the benefits. It also wouldn't hurt to look into social for branding and community purposes. And a product/tool/widget/infographic can also be a great way to gain links and/or spread via word of mouth/social mentions. But be sure not to go embedding any hidden links in sharable widgets or you'll get bitch slapped by Google as well. As Andy put it, creativity is the key here. There are so many ways of earning links, getting shared and being seen online that there practically is no limit to what is possible.
-
First, I'd forget about doing guest blogging for the sole purpose of gaining links. Matt Cutts, Google's head of web spam, told us in clear terms that online marketers should stop doing this. (I'd add that people should not have been doing this in the first place.)
Rather, I'd focus on contributing to online publications for the purpose of increasing awareness and coverage of your company, website, product, and/or service among a specific, targeted audience. Don't worry about the links. They'll come naturally themselves as long as you do online PR in the right way.
For more, I'd suggest looking at my Moz post on the topic: http://moz.com/blog/an-introduction-to-pr-strategy-for-seos
In short, I'd focus on the websites from whom you would want links even if Google did not exist. If you sell widgets, then you want a mention -- with or without a link! -- on a website that is read by people who are interested in widgets. Think about this issue like this and don't worry too much about getting links directly.
-
I honestly wouldn't look at PR services to build links Brandon. Google is well on to this one and it could do you more harm than good.
For links, there are hundreds of available tactics that can all help you, without penalty, and like you say, if you build something that people want, you will build links more naturally. Everyone likes a good tool, but the same is also said for great articles, studies and research that might have been done, but perhaps that you can improve on.
The only limitations here, are how creative you can get
-Andy
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Guest Posting
Is guest posting to get links a good idea? I have the blogs to post but do not have the time to find, approach and build a relationship with bloggers to get the guest posts. Are guest posting services a good idea and if so can anyone recommend one? Thanks
Link Building | | Studio330 -
How to promote my guest blog posts?
I have been using mybloguest.com and the articles were published by its blogs/websites. So far the traffics/share/likes from those blog posts they published are very few/small. I believe the blog post are very useful and unique. How can I promote them so that I get more social likes/share? Any idea? Thanks Stephen
Link Building | | LauraHT0 -
My site has more than 1,341,796 total links but only 500 external links after months of SEO. Please help me ,not sure what went wrong.
My site has more than 1,341,796 total links but only 500 external links after months of SEO. Please help me ,not sure what went wrong.
Link Building | | rsethia1230 -
Why are none of my incoming links showing up in SEOmoz or Google? How do I get good legit incoming links?
There are hundreds of sites that are linking to my website, but nobody is showing it. Google wont display any when using link:eugenecomputergeeks.com, and in webmaster tools it only shows 46 incoming links. SEOmoz shows only 3 links. This just isn't so. Why is this? I DESPERATELY need valid incoming links from well ranked websites , and having lots of trouble getting them. Nobody in town with a well ranked site seems to want to do a link exchange, and I've already made the mistake of buying my way into directories, which didn't do anything good for my rankings. Thanks!
Link Building | | eugenecomputergeeks0 -
Is using a tool such as My Blog Guest worth it?
I saw the post http://www.seomoz.org/blog/4-valuable-link-building-services and saw that MyBlogGuest seems like a good link building service, so I signed up. It really is confusing though, it almost makes me think I have to install WP Blogs on my sites which primarily run in Joomla, so linking directly to the blog is not an option. Okay, fine, so I'll just skip the part about putting in offers on other people's posts. I really signed up for the link building part of it anyways. So, now, I just write content in the site-used article generator? Then, go in and offer it manually to people? Doesn't really strike me as some super powerful method of linkbuilding, but there's a good chance I'm missing something. If this is the case, I'd assume I'd have to write content that is relevant to the site that I am trying to build links for, and then place links back to that site, so basically I want my posts on competitors sites and that will help out with backlinks and authority? It's really confusing. I just want to have my content writer write good content and get links from it, and this method just confuses me. I'd appreciate any insight from anyone who has used that service or can recommend something easier or better.
Link Building | | Boogily1 -
Whats with these links
I have a competitor
Link Building | | AlanMosley
that has shot up lately taking number one spot for various keywords when I look
at his links in Open Site Explorer I find many links that are links to downloadable
objects, not web pages. A few
examples, if you click on them, do not open who knows what they are. But what
the story, how are these links to his site, anyone know anything about this. Thanks http://wolfet.co.uk/etmain/mitchelldown.pk3 http://www2.dupont.com/Tyvek_Weatherization/en_US/assets/downloads/cad_fluidapplied/FA-S-201.dwg?Action=livre_or&start=24750&forum=alainfrancois http://mobile.earthcam.com/download/EarthCam%20Mobile%20v4.0.msi?faq&page=39560 -
How many links per week is too fast in link building?
For a new website/blog how many links per week looks suspicious or hurt the rankings?
Link Building | | aaran1 -
The Risks of Unrelated Guest Posts
Hi Mozzers! I'm really interested to get some opinions on whether a guest post on a blog that is far outside your niche could be a risky tactic. For example if your blog is about a technology product and you get a guest post published on an Elvis blog, will this appear manipulative or similar to a purchased link? Suppose your guest post is about Elvis, but at the end of the article is a link to a technology product with the anchor text "customized PC adapters". Won't that look manipulative to a search engine algorithm?
Link Building | | SparkplugDigital0