Link Building Question
-
Hello,
Here is my situation - i'm number 10 for a moderate keyword and i want to rank higher .
Using the Open Site Explorer i studied the links of 12 competitors and noticed the following :
There are only 2 sites that are doing 100% white hat - one of them is on first page only because has a big,big domain autority, the other because is a brand name.
The rest of my competitors are on first page using directory submissions (i discovered 200+ directories - and not counting those that are not indexed.), buying links (for ex check these 2 :http://www.dentistsburbank.com/links , http://www.dentistinaustin.com/links/ - there are 50+ more sites like this), spam forums and article submissions.
For my site i tried to get only quality links, tried link bait, quality articles - etc(and this for more that 18 months). Unfortunately it seems that my efforts are not enough(seems that links from military.com are not enough to beat 200 low quality directories) and i want to ask the community what should i do.
Shall i invest in directory submissions (it will cost around $1500) ? If not in directories in what shall i invest the money ? Are there any companies able to create successful link baits ?
Shall i report the paid links hoping that Google will take action ?
Any other ideas
-
What about reporting the "black links" - did anyone had success doing that ?
-
Yes probably i need to get quantity and match them on number of c blocks (the only metric i;m behind)
-
I agree, directory submissions should cost no where near that, and the effort and cost far outway the benifits IMHO. Anyway, just a thought on the paid directories you mention - costs can be cut further if you do go down this route by applying to become an editor of a directoy such as Joeant , if accepeted, you can then get a free listing!
-
Good point and absolutely a must, though once you exhaust all that and have already a good content strategy and your competitors are still kicking your butt - what then?
Internally we go technical, big backlink profile analysis, do the maths and go hard and creative on links. It's kind of like brute force in some respect however within 2-3 months you're going up after many months of stagnation.
I see this all the time in highly competitive industries (e.g. insurance, flights...etc).
There have been cases though where we have seen quality beat quantities (in extreme differences)... still a bit of a mystery to me if I am to be completely honest.
-
The question that I always ask when a local service or retail site is involved is.... have you gotten all of the local and industry links that are available?
These include:
-- chamber of commerce and local service organizations (membership in these can be valuable for business reasons but their website often has a link to their members)
-- local business listings
-- your landlord's website
-- websites of your suppliers and service providers (do a testimonial for them)
-- trade associations for your industry (write an article for them)
-- med schools, law schools etc. often links to websites successful graduates
-- local charities often link to companies who support them (friends of the library, habitat, religious groups, little league boosters)
-- local business initiatives (tourism association, "buy local", downtown merchant association)
-- local online newspaper (advertise, write an article or column)
-- trade association publications (advertise, write an article or column)
-- local and state license boards
Go out searching for local websites. Although they might not be "dental" sites they are often very relevant for the name of your community. You can also draw up a charitable organization budget that will support your business in other ways.
Lots of people are amazed when they learn how many local links are possible.
-
Yeah I think you might be looking to hard at directories if the cost is that high... I wouldn't spend half that on them myself. You'll probably find that most of those directories aren't worth the dosh.
-
If your competition is getting quantities of links and beating you while your your best content effort cannot level up... that might be what you need to do - get as many new c-block links using all means possible apart from buying links and spam (I cannot recommend those).
Article submission and directories are not my favorite activity and I do not believe in it - however there is ample evidence that sheer quantities can win.
The answer I gave you is simplified as I have not analysed your and your competitor's links in details (anchor text, authority, numbers, velocity...etc).
-
I agree is not spam(Directory submissions)- and the cost is real - i made a list with url and cost per submissions and i'm getting close to 2k so far.
-
Directory submissions are not black hat... and they needn't cost you anywhere near that. There's a bunch of good directories out there, free ones that are fairly decent too. The only ones you should pay for in my opinion are BOTW, Yahoo Dir, and JoeAnt. But I wouldn't even bother with them, I never do... just go for some very relevant free ones that aren't spammy
What did you do for your link bait, and how did you promote it?
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
-
link building
I want to know is there any way of increasing DA/PA of the website? Is there any benefit in ranking if we increase PA of specific page? Recently my website DA is 6 i want to increase it 30.
Link Building | | hfameraya1980 -
Looking for a Link Building Strategy
Hi, I am looking for information on how to develop a link building strategy... I am wondering if its a good to go through a list of directory sites ( which I do not currently have)... Does anyone have a list? Do people set targets for the amount of links they wish to get?.
Link Building | | paddyaran0 -
Is RU white hat link building possible?
According to my RU content/SEO person all the major websites/blogs in RU asked for payment to post an article... and there is no advice in RU/Yandex for implementing white hat methods. I work for a gaming company, so trying white hat is difficult in any country.... but still seems worth trying. Does anyone have experience or advice about RU link building?
Link Building | | theLotter0 -
Build Links with Bloggers
Hi! A few days ago, someone asked about how to ask links from bloggers and we got good answers, specially from Egol. But, I do want to add to that question: after conducting research on each blogger and make sure they have good quality content, how would you factor in their page rank, visitors, page view and social media info? if they don't have much traffic, with PR3 (we are PR4), which means we can't count on too much traffic from them, but, will backlink from such places deemed as quality link by Google? I do understand the higher number in PR and traffic is better, but, in our case, they don't come by often. Is it still worthwhile to do the lower sites?
Link Building | | ypl0 -
Can anybody recommend a link building company for outsource?
I am about to land another fat client and it's in a highly competitive industry. While looking at the competition, it is clear to me that the competitors have an SEO link building team. Since Americans are too expensive for the budget allocated to this project, I need to outsource to India, Philippines, or some third world nation. CAN ANYONE RECOMMEND A GOOD LINK BUILDING COMPANY IN A DEVELOPING NATION (EDITED: 3RD WORLD) COUNTRY?
Link Building | | Francisco_Meza0 -
Link Building Through Blogs
A client of mine wants to look into new areas of link building after convincing them that their current link building strategies (purchasing multiple links from god knows where) was not working well for them. Essentially I felt they were spinning their wheels. Now, we are looking into content related blogs to get some honest links for their site. They sell sports equipment and we are looking at sports blogs to get links/partnerships. Most of these blogs want sponsorship fees or advertising fees. From an ethical standpoint I understand buying links is not the best idea. But because these are blogs that earn traffic, have relevant content, and can be helpful for the advertisement aspect to link to people who might be interested in their products as well. There shouldn't be a problem in acquiring a few of these links if the budget allows for it, correct? Also are blogs a good source to acquire links from?
Link Building | | USHoleInOne0 -
Link building
I have two separate websites on different servers and was wondering that since reciprocal links effectively eliminate each other, I'm curious if this link strategy will keep the links counting. Here's the strategy: I will have someone link to my site A and if i link to their site from my site B in a three way link strategy, will the links count even though both my site A and B have me listed as the Whois so Google knows that both sites are owned by me? Or will the links be discounted as reciprocal? Thanks in advance for your feedback! Take care, Ron
Link Building | | Ron100 -
Yahoo Directory Link Question
Recently two of my clients purchased a listing in the Yahoo Directory, but they don't show up in the SEOmoz campaign analysis. Is there a reason why?
Link Building | | thriveseo0