Have SEOmoz members ever considered joining forces with link-building?
-
I really hope this isn't interpreted as gray hat or spammy, so please let me know if it is! I'm just always racking my brain to try to come up with creative link-building strategies.
Since we're all SEOs who are presumably doing some form of link-building, what if we got together and examined one anothers' sites, to find opportunities for links? I'm sure that still doesn't make sense, so I'll try to clarify.
OK, I've been seeing an in-house guy around here that works for a place that sells coat hangers. What if I had an existing blog post that mentioned coat hangers, allowing me to make that phrase a link to this site?
LET IT BE KNOWN THAT I'M NOT SUGGESTING A FREE-FOR-ALL OF POINTLESS LINKS! I'm only suggesting this to be done in instances where it makes sense and makes copy more informative!
I know a lot of kinks would have to be worked out (like making sure people are giving and not just taking) but I wanted to throw the general idea out there first to see if it's even a good idea.
-
Honestly, I think this kind of thing happens fairly often. The one paid link Google will never catch is the one that we agree to at the bar at the end of the day at SES/SMX/Pubcon/Mozcon/etc. On a less manipulative level than paid links, the best exchanged links come from relationship-building. If there's a site that's relevant to your site and where a link would benefit the users, reaching out to that site is just good, white-hat link-building, IMO.
I guess the problem comes in when you try to systematize it. Practically speaking, you end up with a lot of people looking for low-hanging fruit and submitting junk. Plus, as soon as you build a link network (no matter how good your intentions), you have to market it - once you market it, it's bound to get on Google's radar.
I think there are sites that skirt the edge of this, but it's tough. MyBlogGuest is a great example - it's a marketplace for guest bloggers, and often people guest blog for traffic/links. The site is just setting up that exchange and relationship, though - it's not directly driving link purchases or exchanges.
-
Yeah, you may be right. I guess there's not really a way to do it that doesn't make it like an indirect link network, huh?
-
I have a coworker who branded our reciprocal pages as "unethical" because we were "cheating" Google somehow.
That having been said...
The problem with this is that its a TON of work to run a link network. Even if we were all above board, what would the end value be? And what happens when Google's insert cute animal here update hits and knocks it all down? I honestly don't see any way for this to work in a long term because, as Mark noted, Google is trying to knock these sorts of things down.
-
Yeah, I agree that it could get out of hand and I see how it could be interpreted as creating the largest link network the world has ever seen, which is certainly not my intent. Like I said, it would only be in places where it actually made sense. But I also see how it's a dumb idea. I'm just looking for opinions at this point or suggestions on how to make it actually work in a legit way. I value the input you gave, and appreciate your not jumping all over it and accusing me of being a black-hat spammer.
-
Hi Marisa,
It sounds like you're advocating for all of us members to get organized and create the largest link network the world has ever seen (mwahahaha). While there is some logic to it, I really think this is exactly the type of stuff that Google is going after. In the end, what it would come down to is the user. By your linking from your site to the coat hanger site, are you benefiting your user? Is the link in context and does it make sense? If someone was genuinely interested in reading your article, would following your link help them? If so, by all means do it. I don't think Google will penalize people for naturally linking to friends, business partners, associates, local businesses, etc. But what happens when this becomes organized, and your DIY furniture blog starts linking to forex sites and cheap online prescriptions? While that is clearly an exaggeration, I see it as only a matter of time before things would deteriorate. While you should by all means be building relationships and establishing connections and then leveraging those connections for all purposes, including link equity, you need to keep your user in mind in the end and be focused on them.
That being said, I'm all for contextual outbound links to relevant sites - let's all spread the link love a bit more!
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
-
What are some Boilerplate Link-Building Activities for a new site?
Assuming you have built a new sophisticated site that involves high user engagement as in bounce rate < 30% sophisticated genuine content (pages > 2000 chars) best possible site speed what are some of the boilerplate link building activities you would execute under which considerations? Activities: I am thinking of things along the lines of building X social media links using a fiverr submission to curated link directories reach out for high quality links with thought leaders etc Considerations: I am thinking of things along the lines of keep a constant link gain velocity over the first 3 months make sure you place links across pages not just the root domain make sure you have a mix of follow and no-follow links and a natural anchor text distribution In short I am hoping we can crowdsource a linkbuilding starting guide in the SEO world of 2015. /T
Link Building | | petersocapro0 -
How to link building 5days domain
i like to start give some backlinks to my brand new domain any advices for new domain ?
Link Building | | cutekid10 -
SEO Link building from zero in a practical world
Hi, I'm a web developer with good knowledge of SEO friendly web development etc. When it comes to link building Im not quite sure where to start. I have read heaps of articles about building links, but can you guys please tell me how to start building links from 'zero' in a practice world? Im not even sure whether I have anyone who can link to my website or my client's website either 🙂 Thanks heaps.
Link Building | | Uds0 -
Building links to reviews: Movies, Restaurants, etc
My site has lots of reviews: Movies, TV, Music, Restaurants, etc. I'm looking for sites that take critic reviews and link back to the critic's site. We're already on Metacritic.com and Rottentomatoes.com, which seems to be the two biggies for movies & tv. But I'm sure there are more out there. Also, I'd love to find sites for restaurant reviews (specifically in the Boston area). Are there any lists out there of sites like these? I'm NOT looking for UGC sites that allow user reviews. I'm looking for sites that accept professional critic reviews, preferably via some sort of automated feed. Thanks Mozzers!
Link Building | | BostonWright0 -
Is this considered as Excessive Link Exchange?
Hi, I have two similar websites hosted on the same hosting plan. However, they are on 2 different IP addresses. The last 3 digits differ. Site A: 120.30.30.150 Site B: 120:30.30.151 The problem is that I have significant drops in rankings since the first site A linked to site B. The links were 2000 submitted all at once because of site A's structure. Later, I put no follow attribute in order to tell Google "please don't count those". I keep doing link building for the second website from mostly articles and still see up and downturns which are too big (10-12 positions back). Is it possible that somehow Google still considers links form the first site to the second site as excessive link exchange? I clearly cannot find any other logical reason for these drops. I don't do forum, blog comments spam, I regularly check webmaster tools for messages about unnatural links, I do article posting. I will highly appreciate any opinion on the matter. Thank you in advance Mozzers
Link Building | | VasilTasev0 -
Any value in link building to local pages on my site?
If I'm trying to rank for the term 'wedding band' with my url: http://www.musicliveuk.com/home/wedding-bands will linking to local pages such as: http://www.musicliveuk.com/live-acts/hire-wedding-bands/wedding-bands-london help the main page to rank? I added the 'local' pages to try and pick up any traffic from long tail search queries but my main focus is on getting the main page to rank as the traffic from long tail queries is so small. So is it worth me spending time building links to these local pages in order to try and help the main page rank?
Link Building | | SamCUK0 -
Link Building - Natural - My site is the best to rank #1
Hi, I like to ask the mozers. Write here, the link building methods, the most natural way, with 0% spam. Tell us, i make an example, on a small competition on the internet, i see competitors with 100 - 120 backlinks from root domains. Tell us, the best tips, to use and to build 50 - 80 backlinks for a month, on the most natural way, nothing is too much, so write here, demonstrate!
Link Building | | leadsprofi0