5 Golden Rules Of Link Building
Over the past few years link building has really been shaken up. SEOs thought they were invincible and their rankings would last forever.
Google was cooking up their evil updates which they unleashed upon the SEO world in the hope of clearing up search results.
Did they improve the results with their pandas and penguins?
Ever so slightly, you do see fewer awful websites ranking for high volume money keywords now.
Even though things have been shaken up, the fundamentals of link building have remained the same and most of the old strategies still work. The unnatural link warnings and other Google happenings have scared off a lot of SEOs.
Many are saying they should stop link building altogether. The reality is that while good content alone will attract links, most of the time it’s not that simple. Most of the time good content requires a kick start, manual intervention in order to “get out there” and pick up momentum.
After all the Google trouble in the past year, many SEOs are lost, they have no idea what works anymore. This is why I decided to put together a short list of golden link building rules.
Rule One: Awesome content on an attractive website will gain attention, whether it’s from social media, natural backlinks, forums, or people talking about it off of the Internet.
I thought this should be the first golden rule of link building. Why? Simply because it’s extremely true and you can’t fault it. If your website kicks ass, has an awesome design and you publish epic content, you’ll attract visitors.
If you keep posting epic content on your awesome site, referral and social traffic will pick up. You WILL start to build momentum and links will eventually come, even in the smallest numbers.
Rule Two: Bad Websites Need More Attention
This is a fact, if your website sucks and isn’t visually appealing; the content you publish will need a lot of help getting out there. Naturally, if you have bad ass content and enough people read it; you’ll gain backlinks and shares. However, getting those initial people to the content can be tricky if your website sucks.
Rule Three: Never Rely On Link Building
SEO is volatile, you should never rely on it as your number one traffic source. If you are, you’re setting yourself up for failure. We’ve all experienced the Google updates, the pandas, penguins, and the crackdown on blog networks. What happens when Google targets one of your core link sources?
The lesson is to diversify the way you build links and diversify the way you get traffic.
Rule Four: Be Very Selective Over Links
Many SEO companies go after one link at a time. Their link acquisition strategies are 100% whitehat. Going after one link at a time can be very time-consuming. Make sure every link you go after is worth your time and effort. Whether you’re getting the link through bribery, guest blogging, or a cash payment or even asking for a link.
Rule Five: When Using Black Hat Tactics; Have A Backup Plan If You Get Penalized
Over the last few years SEOs have used some really dirty black hat SEO only to get penalized months or years later. 99% of those penalized were furious and literally left with nothing. If you do plan on using strategies that aren’t exactly white hat; have a backup plan.
In Prosperity,
David Wood
P.S. Leave me your thoughts, comments, and questions below. Also opt-in to the email list on the right for more link building tips, tricks, and strategies.
Comments (carried over from the previous site)
Garry Harper, November 2, 2012, 02:29
g,day were is the infinite symbol?
