Why 247 Webmasters Might Need A New Link Building Strategy
It appears that my current popularity knows no bounds.
I base this rather surprising fact on the large number of webmasters desperate to link to one or more of my websites. I’ve noticed an ever increasing number of link requests coming into my various inboxes over the past few months, so much so that I decided to count how many I’ve received in the past seven days.
The total is 247. 247 link requests in just one week!
I’m not letting this sudden surge of interest in my websites go to my head however. Not least because I’ve noticed a couple of things that may suggest I’m not exactly as popular as 247 link requests might suggest.
Firstly, a lot of the emails look worryingly similar. Bordering on spam even. Let’s just say two or three templates are in very wide use.
Secondly, all sing the praises of my websites. “I’ve greatly enjoyed looking through your site XXXXXXXXXX and I was wondering if you’d be interested in exchanging links with one of the websites I represent”, gushes one “Web Marketing Consultant” after another.
Naturally, I’m not surprised that people greatly enjoy looking through my sites. It does concern me though that they greatly enjoy looking through domain parking pages and holding pages. Because the vast majority of requests I receive are exactly that. Requests to link to parking pages or holding pages.
I presumably get more than my fair share of link requests simply because I have thousands of domain names. But if I’m getting hundreds every week, I can just imagine how many thousands (millions?) of similar link requests are being sent to everyone else.
Here’s the thing. Link building is dead. As a SEO strategy it is finished.
The only people telling you different are either trying to sell you link building services or are a million miles behind the game in terms of search engine marketing.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that certain links aren’t of value. Links from leading authority sites are still worth their weight in gold. But as far as say Google is concerned, I’ve no doubt that one such authority link is worth hundreds if not thousands of non-authority links.
Link building is a SEO strategy that has been so overplayed and so badly abused as to be practically worthless these days.
So if you’re about to launch a link building campaign, you might want to think again.
My advice? Devote your time, money and energy to building QUALITY websites and adding QUALITY content. That way the links will come naturally from genuine sources and they just might carry some weight in terms of search engine rankings.
PS Make that 248. Another one arrived while I was reading over the above.
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interesting and i’d say i 85% agree.
the thing that makes me hold back from agreeing fully is the context, linkbuilding for one of my tiny niche sites has a massive impact i.e. from not in page 1 -3 to ranking page 1. On my mid sized domain, its got less effect and from a larger site even less.
however, look at a merchant site and its a different ballgame, its so competitive that (i speculate) they need to include a component of linkbuilding along side a wider PR strategy and on site strategy.
i totally agree its about quality rather than quality, i’d rather get 2 PR4-6 links than a dozen 0pr links for example. link building might be dead, but everyone still does it.
I actually expect a lot of people to disagree with me so 85% is better than expected!
The problem is there are so many factors involved in ranking that people asume because they did something – ie link building – any boost in rankings must be related to that link building. From my own experience, tiny niche sites regularly go from page 3 to top of page one for no other reason than age.
We reached exactly this point many moons ago with keyword stuffing meta description tags. It stopped working – and months, years later, you still had people advocating it. When the shoeboy starts giving you share tips, sell your stocks. When everyone thinks link building is SEO heaven, it’s time to think about other strategies.
Quality links are still fantastic. I’d actually rather have one link from say the BBC than 1,000 links generated by spam emails.
i totally agree with you about quality…1 amazing link is far more valuable that 100 from a few crappy places.
now forget about SEO for a moment, but 1 link from BBC would give you traffic….its the BBC saying to people, this is a decent site you should check it out.
SEO aside, its a source of traffic in its own right. that in of itself should be reason enough to look for quality rather than crappy links from link farms.
Quality over Quantity applies to everything in life, however claiming that “link building is dead” is absolutely ridiculous. Its still a massive (if not the biggest) part of Googles Algorithm and those who wish to have a successful SEO campaign will need to engage in the practice of getting quality, authority links.
Show me one example single example of a website without inbound links, ranking well for a competitive keyword.
However – I can agree that link farms and all of that nonsense are a complete waste of time and money.
Anthony, you know as wel as I do that virtually all websites – whether they rank well or not – will have inbound links. The fact that those that rank well have inbound links therefore proves nothing.
Ranking websites share many common factors – and I don’t think it’s ridiculous at all to suggest that the link building component of that mix has been downgraded.
I don’t think link building – as I describe in my post – is an important part of the Google Algorithm any more. Google knows link building is being used and abused to game the search results – and I’m not just talking about the “link farms” that were discredited years ago. It has known it for years. And it has moved on.
Of course quality, authority links are still incredibly valuable, but that’s not the same as saying link building per se is still valuable. When was the last time you emailed the BBC asking to exchange links?
What’s absolutely ridiculous is the number of “SEO experts” who encourage the sort of link building nonsense that arrives in my inbox on a daily basis.
When was the last time you emailed the BBC asking to exchange links?
why ask, you can buy links on the BBC if you know who to email .. lol
DaveN
Just when I was starting to think I was the ONLY person in this crazy world of IM, someone else joins my way of thinking… Link Building IS Dead.
Granted, it may still play a small part, but not anywhere near the scale it used to and is not even worth thinking about!!
Just look at this site, http://www.entrepreneur.co.uk, ranking 1st page of Google UK for the keyword ‘entrepreneur’ and currently displaying 169 backlinks according to SEOBook toolbar.
Now don’t try to tell me that backlinking is ALIVE and KICKING!!
well thank goodness, another reason for me not to pursue link nirvana – not that I need one as I found that, on those rare occasions when I’ve succumbed to ‘link’ mania, it is the most incredibly boring part of the wonderful world of t’internet marketing.
I’ve long suspected that those sites with longevity, quality and playing in a not too competitive field really don’t need to anguish over link building – but, maybe, for those just starting and those trying to compete in porn, money or gambling it would make the difference but you would need an awful amount of money, time, know-how and PATIENCE – not for the faint hearted.
Still the link requests pour in!
Veronica Keiths, Web Marketing Consultant, for example took a look at entrepreneur.co.uk and found it “quite relevant with my partner’s websites”.
The word “quite” was presumably a typo for “very”, but I don’t think I’ll be linking to her partner’s websites somehow.
>>>>”…however claiming that “link building is dead” is absolutely ridiculous. Its still a massive (if not the biggest) part of Googles Algorithm and those who wish to have a successful SEO campaign will need to engage in the practice of getting quality, authority links.”<<<<<
Couldn't of said it better myself.
I hope you're not an SEO Consultant George. That is the worst piece of advice I've ever heard.
John, like a lot of others you are missing the point totally.
Link building – as in sending out hundreds of emails to webmasters asking for a link – is not a massive part of the Google Algorithm. I think the only SEO Consultants who “believe” that are the ones selling such a service. It’s nothing more than an attempt to game search engines into thinking your site is better than it is.
Authorative links ARE a massive part of the Google Algorithm. You attract them by providing content worth linking to. Not by sending out mass begging emails.
Tell me which part of the above qualifies as the worst advice you’ve ever heard?
Here’s a really nice graphic that explains why link building isn’t anywhere near as valuable as it was once upon a time:
http://www.seobook.com/learn-seo/infographics/organic-links.php