Links - Penguin 2.0

[upandcoming]

Hi,

I was wondering what todays views are on link building and if you could help in settling an argument between two of my 'friends' whom have both done work to my website, which would also assist in my sway of who to trust.

Friend 'a' insists on fresh regular content and onsite work.

Friend 'b' insists that link building is still the way forward and after his interaction I appear to have hundreds of back links to w w w dot distributedrepublic dot net from various articles.

My site is only 10 months old and has been doing great until the latest Google algorithm change a week or two ago.

I have only dropped a few places - but wondered if these links could have been partly responsible or could it be a simple case of competitors upping their game?


Thanks.

 

[Alan]

Well, no one knows the exact nature of Google Algos, but all the evidence is that low quality backlinks no longer carry the influence they used to, and infact MAY damage ranking.

Certainly rankings will drop as low value links are disregarded by google(data refreshes & algo changes)

At a glance, it would like friend b has been creating low quality links, that have artificially lifted you, and now you are dropping back to where you should be.

Friend a is from the schol that believes everything google says, and whilst that isn't always the truth (as the complexity of rewarding people for NOT doing trick SEO is massive and not yet there), in the long term is the safe option.

Google make it clear what they think are tricks in their webmaster guideance.

 

[upandcoming]

Hi Locally,

Many thanks for your reply - I get what you are saying - maybe a bit of friend a and friend b ifthe links are honest and niche applicable.

Just a thought - as google disavow tool can often trigger a problem, is it possible to outweigh the bad links with good links over a period of time?

Probably a silly question, but do links drop/fade away over time like points off a driving licence?

Thanks again.

 

[Alan]

Links fade because
1. sites disappear or your original link content gets deleted
2. google decide to ignore a site with your link or 'downgrade' a whole class of sites that may have contained links

so not like points on a driving licence, which has a fixed lifespan, more like how often to you need to repaint your fence - all depends on the weather conditions and the quality of the original treatment and timber

 

[JonathanSEO]

Both friend a and friend b are right.

Just whoever is more right depends on the niche. Some require lots of content. Others just need links and some need both.

Yours needs neither, you should be able rank your site with a small number of good / reasonable links and without having to fire out content on a daily basis.

I'd keep the blog updated for sure but not just for the sake of it. If you have company news, industry news or something helpful to write then put it on.

Wouldn't be considering using the disavow tool here though.

 

[upandcoming]

Many thanks Jonathan - Reading many of the experiences on here its easy to think the worst!

Relevant links it is then!

Thanks.

 

[JonathanSEO]

I had a quick look at your link profile, it's not bad but not great at the same time, some low quality ones in there.

Really you should be able to rank for Sussex related keywords with citations and a few links without having to go down the article submission, low quality directory, blog commenting route.

 

[Websitehandyman]

The are no experts in this area but my own experiances seem to suggest the secret to high ranking is not just good content but lots of page object or events and links.

Links in these thory come in just two flavours. 1. Links you can effect and place in a carefull way, on related sites that have the same effics and content build efforts as your own. 2. Is the most importent these are natural links places by others in a natural way eitheir on website or within social networks and even via email.

The efforts above can weakend by bad on page optimisation. That does not mean yout title or descriptions these do little for ranking, although they may do a lot for clickthough. What I mean is having the right content titles, right content formats and events that help your average visitor. One good example that a lot of people miss is a simple Privacy Policy, another is helpfull external links.

In general reading forums and talking to people, in my experaince people spend too much time on the areas that make 1%-10% difference simply because it's the easy way. The extra effort pays but can take longer but also will last longer.

 

[BusyVids]

Content is king and always will be. You just need to keep it fresh and keep it coming.

 

[JonathanSEO]

The are no experts in this area but my own experiances seem to suggest the secret to high ranking is not just good content but lots of page object or events and links.

Links in these thory come in just two flavours. 1. Links you can effect and place in a carefull way, on related sites that have the same effics and content build efforts as your own. 2. Is the most importent these are natural links places by others in a natural way eitheir on website or within social networks and even via email.

The efforts above can weakend by bad on page optimisation. That does not mean yout title or descriptions these do little for ranking, although they may do a lot for clickthough. What I mean is having the right content titles, right content formats and events that help your average visitor. One good example that a lot of people miss is a simple Privacy Policy, another is helpfull external links.

In general reading forums and talking to people, in my experaince people spend too much time on the areas that make 1%-10% difference simply because it's the easy way. The extra effort pays but can take longer but also will last longer.

I thought I could understand most SEO jargon. But I have no idea what any of this means??