Link, Link, who's got your link?
Being active in Utah Internet Marketing and working with companies that have been shorted the raw end of the deal, I am surprised at how many of the “Back-Linking Myths” are still being bought into. Pre- Google Panda release, the easiest way to get to the top of Google was by getting thousands of back links and getting them FAST. So many Internet Marketers made alot of money from companies who were fed the lie that if I buy 100,000 back links from SEO DOE (instead of JOHN DOE), then I would be made the AUTOMATIC winner for my search term and dominate the market… I can tell you there were more than a HANDFUL of local Utah Businesses that bought back links from Forums, Classifieds and many other places… So what is the REAL TRUTH on back links? Well, start with a short history lesson…..
Back in 1996-97 Larry Page and Sergey Brin develop a search engine called….. BackRub!! What? Yes that is right.. They name was changed later in 97 to Google. The first idea of “BackRub” was to go out and find which sites were most “popular”(ie links pointing to the sites made them popular). Fast forward to 2011… Google is aware of all of the bogus spam and linking going on. Even though Google will NEVER penalize you (according to them) for the number of links you have or who is linking to you. Panda/Farmer arrives on the scene and about 40% of all sites that were using LINKING ALONE take a HIT and a HUGE hit they take… So, what exactly is the best method for Linking and playing within the rules of the Panda/Farmer update. Listed here are a few things you should know.
Linking Quantity:
Though having a gazillion links would be cool for sure, there is no reason to shoot for a GAZILLION. Chances are if you have been around the block or tried to build links to your site you realize that just because you have a link out there, it does not mean Google “BackRub” sees it. In fact out of the Billions of websites out there, most of the links on them will never get crawled. This is mistake #1. How do get around that? Well, making Google crawl them is something we will talk about in a later article. So the consensus it is far better to have 100 indexed links than 100 million links that are not indexed by Google.
Onsite Linking:
This is the #1 mistake that most sites I look at or consult with are failing in. Having back links is a must, but not properly having ONSITE links and Anchor links with your keywords optimized on the site itself, are a surefire way to let others pass you up on the Google totem pole. Always make sure to include your Keywords, such as Utah Internet Marketing in the article or content you are writing.
Linking Quality:
I would much rather have 2 links from websites on the MAIN Page or BlogRolls from a page that has “Trust” with Google (ie PageRank) as opposed to 1000 from websites that have NO “Trust” (ie PageRank0). Building Trust within the Google realm is a must to achieve top SERP. It is important to use a collection of supplying good content (Article Submission, General Linking, Press Releases, Social Media Postings, Blogging, BookMarking etc) that focusing on just linking strategy. The proper combinations and strategies will ensure your success. There are many different approaches depending on the market you are tapping and your competition. A good strategy focuses on all options, and is imperative for your results. If you have any comments or questions, feel free to get ahold of me anytime.
For more information on the Panda Update you can read he Wired Article Q&A HERE
