I read the results of a poll last year (I wish I could source it here, but I couldn’t find it – you’ll have to take my word for it) that said only somewhere around half of all SEOs do link building.
I wasn’t surprised. For many, many years, I was one who didn’t do any link building. Not because I didn’t believe in it, but because:
- It is confusing
- It is time consuming
- It is hard to sell through to clients
- I can’t find a lot of specific tips to make it approachable
- It doesn’t seem entirely valuable compared to the on-page SEO I am doing
If you’re an SEO who was like me, or a new SEO who needs a place to start, let’s look at each of the above issues through a late-2011 (and personal) lens. My hope is it gives you a footing to make smart decisions around link building. I remember my bug frustration was there was no manual to link building – I’m hoping this serves as a more valuable pseudo-manual for you.
I Can’t Find A Lot Of Specific Tips To Make It Approachable
I remember when I first started link building, I found more articles about the value of link building than any how-to manuals. I found – and still find – articles that are more about philosophy than actual “do this, then this…” The reason, I believe, is partly because SEOs like to keep their tricks mostly out of the eyes of Google.
I remember going to a Jim Boykin presentation at SES in 2010. He had a huge list of great tips for link building, unlike anything I could remember reading in the blogosphere. He gave his tips on keeping a clean link profile so Google wouldn’t discover what you’re doing. He suggested not to report link buyers, because that may bring attention from Google on to you. This was a great presentation, and I scribbled down notes furiously.
This didn’t give insight into whether Jim was a white-hat, black-hat, or gray-hat SEO – he was just teaching all sides of the topic. But it really was an eye-opener for me. Maybe the threat of Google – and their army of hand editors and mis-firing spam detection algorothims – is really something I should take more seriously. Maybe I should be a little more conservative like other link builders.
And so, I’ve become more covert.
In doing so, I also realized that I’m hiding my tactics from my competitors. In the agency world, it’s not too hard to find out what agency is handling a competitor’s SEO (with LinkedIn and an SEOs general thirst for blogging). I constantly look at my competitors backlinks and try to figure out their link building techniques. Why? Because I want to make sure I’m going toe to toe with them. But if they’re doing more than I can recognize from a backlink portfolio, then I would love some kind of insight from their actual SEO.
Believe me – I’ve had a few competitors who’s SEO gave more away than they probably expected to. Some verticals are very competitive. In the big dollar market, we can be that CIA about it.
But there are others who are still incredibly successful SEOs and aren’t afraid to give you some actual blueprints. I try to tweet them out as often as I can (so follow me), but below are a few resources I think you’ll find more than valuable if you’re new to link building.
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