Category Archives: RSS / Link Popularity
Importance of Ethical Link Development
There are many webmasters that will accept any inbound link in the erroneous belief that it will improve their search engine results and traffic stats. And there are link building companies that service webmasters who are more than happy to take advantage of their “link envy” by using shady or spam like tactics to build those links for them.
Ethical link development is the practice of only seeking out quality long term inbound links in a manner that is beneficial to the website in question and stays within the rules and guidelines set forth by each of the search engines.
Blindly hiring just any company to build links for your website is asking for trouble. Many of the so called link building services out there use a one or more of a combination of actions that can get your site penalized or banned by the search engines.
Practices such as buying links in bulk and reselling them, automated programs that blindly submit your link to thousands of sites with no page rank or who themselves have been banned from the search engines and the practice of submitting to link farms despite its well known negative effects on your search engine rankings.
Any of these practices can be considered spam by the search engines and your websites ranking will dramatically go down even though you are seeing more inbound links.
A truly quality website that prides itself on terrific content should be looking for quality links that can withstand the test of time. In the race for high search engine rankings an important thing to consider in your link building efforts is that quality beats quantity.
Any website should be looking for links that are trusted by the search engines to help organically grow your inbound traffic and search engine rankings over the long term. Manually building links takes time and effort and it is often hard to stay focused especially when there are so many “shortcuts” out there that can supposedly automate the process.
Add to this the fact that it sometimes takes weeks for your inbound links to show any results and it is often easier just to give up.
Outsourcing is definitely an option. If link building isnt your strong point as a webmaster then hiring an outside link building service can serve you well if you make sure that they do not engage in any of the negative techniques mentioned above.
Be sure that they are manually pursuing inbound links on your behalf in a manner that is consistent with the rules and guidelines set forth by the search engines and that they are building only quality links with a long term positive effect in mind.
Make sure whether you do it yourself or hire an outside company that you set realistic goals early on in your link building campaign and be discriminating when it comes to where you want your inbound links to come from.
Paid Links, Should You?
Paid links are a major topic of discussion after Google penalized many sites for taking part in paid links. Sites that would buy and sell links had their PR and listings reduced. This is a very loaded topic with fierce debate on both sides. Some debate the ethics of it, but I’m here to point out its not an ethical issue and help you make a choice.
Are Paid Links Black Hat
The only reason paid links is now considered Black Hat SEO is because Google changed the rules. Before the middle to end of 2007, selling links was not black hat. The main point is that Google dominates the search market and we must care about being indexed by Google. Google has changed the rules many times over there years. They changed the weight of meta tags, we adjusted. Then they changed link exchanges, so we adjusted. This is just another change and the SEO field will adjust.
Its All About Risk
It all comes down to a question of risk. Link buying and selling has not stopped, but just gone underground. People aren’t openly talking about it, but they still do it. Those who are conservative in their SEO will want to avoid paid links. If a competitor researches your links, and reports you, you make get penalized by Google. There are many on the net though who are buying link, getting away with it, and making a killing off it. Its just a choice about risk.
There is no need to get wrapped up in the debate of the ethics, or if Google is right or wrong. Simply, paid links get results, and Google does not like that. So they made it against the rules. Its their site, end of story. You just have to ask yourself if your willing to gamble your sites rankings to get ahead.
It the long run, SEO is all about results, and keeping up with Google. Google is constantly changing, and when it does, you need to keep up to stay ahead. So, it time to adjust. Change your strategies. Risk when you can risk, but protect your legit and important sites by not buying links. For some sites, the risk is too high.
Paid links get results, but come with a series of possible side effects if you get caught. This is always a possible path. The important thing is having the knowledge and making an informed decision. Understand people are getting reported and penalties everyday.
Should a Site Buy Links
The answer isn’t easy. The rules can be bent, and if you do, you may receive great results. If you get caught, you must understand the consequences and face them. You can make cash either way. It all depends on your strategy. It’s possible to make great money online without having to buy paid links.
At the end of the day, producing quality content that will generate natural links is the best way to build links. Don’t make your ranking 100% manipulated, but provide something for those who find you in Google. And as always, do the standard methods of link building: comments, articles, social sites. Stop taking short cuts and try to produce real high PR one way links because your site is just that great. That type of content will guarantee success. Those with great sites don’t have to be concerned about paid links.
Paid Links, Should You?
Paid links are a major topic of discussion after Google penalized many sites for taking part in paid links. Sites that would buy and sell links had their PR and listings reduced. This is a very loaded topic with fierce debate on both sides. Some debate the ethics of it, but I’m here to point out its not an ethical issue and help you make a choice.
Are Paid Links Black Hat
The only reason paid links is now considered Black Hat SEO is because Google changed the rules. Before the middle to end of 2007, selling links was not black hat. The main point is that Google dominates the search market and we must care about being indexed by Google. Google has changed the rules many times over there years. They changed the weight of meta tags, we adjusted. Then they changed link exchanges, so we adjusted. This is just another change and the SEO field will adjust.
Its All About Risk
It all comes down to a question of risk. Link buying and selling has not stopped, but just gone underground. People aren’t openly talking about it, but they still do it. Those who are conservative in their SEO will want to avoid paid links. If a competitor researches your links, and reports you, you make get penalized by Google. There are many on the net though who are buying link, getting away with it, and making a killing off it. Its just a choice about risk.
There is no need to get wrapped up in the debate of the ethics, or if Google is right or wrong. Simply, paid links get results, and Google does not like that. So they made it against the rules. Its their site, end of story. You just have to ask yourself if your willing to gamble your sites rankings to get ahead.
It the long run, SEO is all about results, and keeping up with Google. Google is constantly changing, and when it does, you need to keep up to stay ahead. So, it time to adjust. Change your strategies. Risk when you can risk, but protect your legit and important sites by not buying links. For some sites, the risk is too high.
Paid links get results, but come with a series of possible side effects if you get caught. This is always a possible path. The important thing is having the knowledge and making an informed decision. Understand people are getting reported and penalties everyday.
Should a Site Buy Links
The answer isn’t easy. The rules can be bent, and if you do, you may receive great results. If you get caught, you must understand the consequences and face them. You can make cash either way. It all depends on your strategy. It’s possible to make great money online without having to buy paid links.
At the end of the day, producing quality content that will generate natural links is the best way to build links. Don’t make your ranking 100% manipulated, but provide something for those who find you in Google. And as always, do the standard methods of link building: comments, articles, social sites. Stop taking short cuts and try to produce real high PR one way links because your site is just that great. That type of content will guarantee success. Those with great sites don’t have to be concerned about paid links.