Warning: Many people may disagree with my thoughts in this post about back-linking but here goes…
Not that long ago, Meta tags were an important part of optimizing your website / blog.
Website owners stuffed their Meta tags with the same targeted keywords, like ‘cat food, lovely cat food, best cat food’…and numerous other slogans mentioning the same keyword phrase.
Along with other search engine optimization criteria, stuffing your Meta tags with keywords ensured you ranked pretty well.
Google changed their algorithm, and Meta tags are no longer used as part of their search engine optimization.
It’s the same story with reciprocal linking. I link my site to your site and you link your site to mine. We both get a great backlink! Everyone did it – well a lot of website owners did!
Google now puts very little emphasis on reciprocal linking.
“GIVE US THE BACKLINKS”
Then over the last 2 to 3 years it’s all been about building backlinks using anchor text. Build as many links as you can, vary the anchor text and you’ll get ranked.
Now that method of optimization is being abused.
Website and blogs owners are using ‘spammy’ SEO services that promise to build you thousands of backlinks for cents. And they do. Problem is the backlinks often come from ‘spammy’ or undesirable sites.
Hence the recent Panda and Penguin Google algorithm changes.
These algorithm changes were aimed at removing spammy backlinks and over optimized sites were impacted.
The Complaints Are Pouring In…
Many websites owners are complaining.
Many blog owners are complaining.
Their site rankings are falling.
They feel they are being penalized for building too many backlinks.
They’re not.
They are being penalized for building too many ‘spammy’ backlinks.
But this is just the beginning…
I believe over the next few months we will see more Google algorithm changes…all to do with targeting spammy backlinks.
And in 2013 backlinks will be way down in the algorithm that determines your website position in the search engines.
I think there will be more emphasis on quality content.
Oh no, here we go again…it’s all about the content.
But it’s true!
Your visitors come to the internet to find a solution to their problem.
“I have this problem and I need it fixed”.
They don’t want just theory.
They want actions they can use.
They want to be told what to do.
Let me say this again: They don’t want just theory.
Now be honest…how many of your blog posts are just theory?
High level fluff!
Dare, I say…I think it’s the majority!
So how will Google determine quality content?
Like they do now.
How long do people stay on your site?
How many pages do they view?
The bounce rate.
How many people link to your content from their site?
How many people have shared the content on the major social sites like Twitter, Facebook and Google+?
These aspects will be given more emphasis.
This is going to be my back linking strategy from now on…
Don’t even think about backlinks.
“Whoa” I hear you say!
Think of it this way…if you are doing certain things / tasks JUST to build a backlink…STOP NOW!
Do you comment…just to build a backlink?
If yes…then STOP! You should comment because you want to comment and add to the conversation.
Do you guest post…just to get a backlink?
If yes…then STOP! You should guest post because you want to widen your brand and profile.
Do you set up social site profiles just to get a backlink?
If yes…then STOP! You should set up social site profiles because you want to share other people’s work.
That’s the theory out the way!
Actions For You…
Forget about backlinks but do this…
1. Social Profiles
Set up accounts at the following:
Google+
YouTube
Each of the above allows you to add links to your site.
But remember we are not setting these up just for the backlinks…we want to share other people’s work on these sites.
2. Commenting
Comment on blog posts but ensure you add to the conversation. Remember others will read your comment and get an opinion of you. You are not writing just to get a backlink. If you do, think of it as a bonus.
After your comment is approved, add the blog post to your social sites like Google+, Twitter, etc.
3. Guest Posting
Above I mention that quality content is important. It is even more important when you guest post.
Every day I receive about 5 – 10 requests for guest posts to be published on my blog. The vast majority are absolutely rubbish. Not related to my niche, poor grammar, high level fluff or they want backlinks to their sales pages!
They go straight into the email trash!
Go ahead and guest post but ensure you provide awesome quality content and only link back to your website/blog or “about me” page.
4. Your Own Content
Make it the best possible. Make it so good, people want to share and link to it.
From now on, don’t perform tasks that just build backlinks.
Simply concentrate on sharing your wonderful knowledge and experience to help people solve their problems.
Disclaimer: Of course, I have no inside knowledge (nor does anyone else – well unless you are Mr Google) of what Google are going to do next. This is just my gut feel.
Now…over to you…what do you think?
Am I talking rubbish?
Am I talking perfect sense?
Please share your thoughts in the comments below (and not just because you want a backlink!!!)
Does having a youtube account really draw traffic for you site?
It certainly does – if you create great videos!
Andrew
Hi Andrew,
If Google is able to make quality of content as the basis for ranking, then that is great news. When we search for something, it is because we want to know about something, and good or great information is very important in this aspect. Website owners should then try to compete with more content quality to get ranked instead of concentrating on adding more and more backlinks towards their sites.
That’s true, Facilia but what determines the quality of the content?
I provide some thoughts within the post but I’m sure there are many other ways.
Andrew
thanks for a good advise. I like to make blog commenting to add my blogging knownledge and how to improve it. Backlink is very important but not only made from blog commenting..
I think backlinks are still very important in making a site more visible and gain popularity on the web. In blog commenting, you should comment base on the topic being discussed and not just leave a comment that has no relation to the topic.
Actually I am new to blogging and I was told by many bloggers that backlinking is a must to stay alive blogging!.. So I had just started backlinking. So now after reading this article I am in dielima what exactly google does?.. And what should I follow in future!
Raviraj
Backlinking is important but it’s about quality backlinks not ‘spammy’ ones.
If you folllow my guidance, you’ll get quality backlinks.
Andew
For blogs it is clear what to do, just add unique content and promote it via social media sites, but what should do the owners of company websites?
What can we do? We cannot write blog posts about services that we don’t provide, and if we are writing only about our company after 10 articles there won’t be anything to write…
James
You have to use your imagination. I’m sure you could write 100’s of articles about a company, their customers, servcices, opinions, reviews, tools, software, competitors…
Andrew
This is a very useful information. I really appreciate your good hand work here. A very good tutorial.
I have visited many SEO sites and read their articles but it is not well explained as you did here.
Thank you, Ernest…I appreciate your kind words.
Andrew
Andrew,
I think you’re talking good sense. Getting spam backlinks is easy, just allow the spam comments to be published on your blog. They’re trash, but they’re backlinks. I don’t allow them. I go through all comments and mark spam and delete them when I empty the spam folder.
I do have a question, What about services like HostGator’s Attracta service? Do backlinks through it help?
Sherri
Your approach to spammy comments is the same as mine but sometimes, in my case, a few ones get through my “manual trap”!
Re: Attracta
From what I have seen on their website it helps search engines crawl all your pages.
I don’t see anything about backlinks.
And if you are:
. using WordPress
. your site is at least a few months old
. you are adding content regularly
.have a sitemap plugin installed
.verified your site with Google, Bing etc
I really cannot see why the search engines have not already crawled all your pages without Attracta.
Andrew
Andrew,
great advice. Backlinking has been a strategy to get traffic to my blog in the past. I still get backlinks to my sites but am getting more into the social media than backlinking. Got some golden nuggets from you. thanks…
Paul Butler
Paul,
Great to know you got some ‘golden nuggets’.
Andrew
Grateful for the advice. The benefit I find to doing it the ‘proper’ way is that you find so much fabulous, inspiring content on other people’s blogs. Info you would never come across if you just spammed. The comments lead to some very interesting connections too.
A lots of appreciation for your post. Backlinking to a sit lets to rank well in google and drives huge traffic. And backlinks from guest posts increases our fame and even drives traffic to our site.
Thanks for sharing.
Your article is great. I agree with you.
But, I think if you have great content and then you just start blog commenting , you will get your position.
Content is always king.
Jay
How do you define great content?
Andrew
I think that you are on the right track. But, I do not think that the days of backlinks are gone yet. They will always probably be one of the factors, just not the main one anymore. The shift will be toward social media backlinks.
I think they will be given less emphasis in the search algorithms…only time will tell!
Andrew
Great content = good writing pertaining to a worthwhile topic.
The writing doesn’t need to be literary but it should usually be clear and plain. Blogging is closer to journalism than academia.
A good motto: eschew prolixity.
Closely followed by: the currency of superlatives is devalued through overuse (esp. pertains to the US)
Also: stick close to experience and/or the topic.
The worthwhileness of the topic will depend. It can deal with a difficulty that people have. It could be a little known fact or useful procedure. Something that assists people to move toward a valued goal.
I don’t think it is hard to define good content. And I think most of us most of the time could agree on what it is when shown examples and will easily rank better and worse.
Evan,
And what you think is great content may not be great content to me (and vice versa).
It must depend upon whether the content helps me move forward at the time of reading/viewing.
Would you agree?
Andrew
Great content!
You are right Andrew. One should not comment or write a guest post just to gain a back link. It is to be done to build up our brand name. Even though the importance of back links is too much. But, one should not spam for back links.
Hey this is very motivational for me, because I prefer quality than quantity this makes me think that I´m on the right track. thank you very much for this article
I really didn’t hear that much arguing with you on this topic…
Anyhow, Google mentioned that the +1 will have no affect on their search algorithm. In addition, links from social media sites still don’t seem to be making that much of a difference to rankings, even post recent Google updates. I think this is a pretty bold statement to make, and I commend you for it, but I think linking is still going to be part of the game…not spam linking… but atleast something close to organic link building.
Gabriel
I think link building will still play its part in SEO but not as much emphasis will be given to it.
But we shall have to wait and see.
Andrew
Really great post.
Funny you should write this one.This is great news for people like me.I think that you are on the right track. But, I do not think that the days of backlinks are gone yet.
Agree…not gone yet but as I say above…less emphasis on backlinking.
Andrew
Is backlinking coming to an end because I have always read that backlinking is so important in the building up of a website. If content is the supreme, do you think content alone will bring suficient visitors to a site? Don’t we need to bring the site to a position when after that it is not affected by how much backlinks we are building and the content alone is sufficient?
vicky
I’m not sure you have read the post.
I’m not saying backlinking is coming to an end – what I am saying is change your approach to how you build backlinks.
Andrew
You’re making perfect sense! I know that in the end, your content procures readers. Mindless clicks from a dozen “users” through your website are literally nothing compared to a single person who likes your content and takes the time to read it. But when you start out, and you have close to NO people aware of your blog, it’s hard to stay steadfast and positive with this mindset.
Ameenah
I agree…when you first start out…it just feels like hard work and nothing in return. Hence why so many bloggers give up. You have to get past the first 6 months.
Andrew
I am 6 months in and I had better search rankings 3 months ago. I’m not sure why, I have been posting quality content like mad. I’m chalking it up to the backlinks, because I haven’t had as much time to post. I have a great readership and significant search traffic, I’m just not ranking as high as I want to be on some of my major posts.
However, my site is ranking as very slow on Alexa right now. Definitely could be an issue.
Brandy
You could be targeting the wrong keywords or not have the keywords you are targeting in your site build or blog posts.
I could not see any obvious keywords in your site’s title or description. Plus your blog posts don’t have any meta descriptions.
Both of those points would have a major impact on your rankings.
Andrew
Thank you so very much for responding! I determined that my Yoast settings got lost (also solving the issue of bad meta descriptions in my search results that I was also having. Google was generating descriptions that weren’t even from the post). I added the tag to place my auto excerpts (yes, I’m lazy) back in and resubmitted to Google.
I’m going to pay more attention to my keywords and crafting better descriptions for my site going forward and spend a little time each day going backwards to update everything.
Thank you for sharing this nice post.I am a new blogger. This blog is really helpful for me and also other new bloggers.Now i got the clear idea about how to make back links in short time.sure i suggest this site with my friends.i hope this information will help me to increase my page rank…
Great post. Even i had the same thought in my mind. Quality rules and not the quantity. Do the things you do normally and backlinks will come automatically is my motto. I never waste my time on creating backlinks.
I have heard many bloggers talking about how backlinks become a less effective method, however this is the first time i hear someone telling people to stop link building for the sake of link building and i think this is not 100% right or wrong.
What i am sure about is: backlinks are still a good way for both ranking and traffic.
Ali,
Backlinks are still important but we should change our approach to how we build them.
If you make a comment JUST to get a backlink, your “heart and soul” will not be included in the comment!
Andrew
This post will certainly help me out. I am trying my best to creating my best content for my website.
the most important thing in blogging is not only the quality of content that need to be noticed, there is still much important Grama other than quality of content, such as load time, how people will read your item which he qualified if your blog load time, realized master-frills quality content was ruled out first, which should be prioritized in blogging it is your blog load as soon as possible, in this world full of information, full of competition, not only providing you quality content. people will surely leave your item which he qualified because your blog load too slow …….
I think ‘content is king’.If you can really write some awesome stuff,I think you are on a way to become a blogging pro.Backlinking can be useful only if visitors who visit your site has something valuable to read..!
Robert
Agreed…but easier said than done. Fat too many of us THINK our content is great…when it isn’t.
Andrew
I do not agree with you fully but form the post i have got the point or message that you wanted to pass to your readers that we only should not imphasis on backlinks rather improving the quality of our own content.Because if we only depend on backlinks then finally the quality of our own content gets degraded.Nice share by the way.
Himadri
What don’t you agree with?
Andrew
reviews of interesting, really helped me. I was looking about this,
thanks for sharing ..
and Greetings from Indonesia
I am a new blogger
I’m glad that I found this post. SEO is no easy task; however, just from reading this blog post I feel that I have a more understanding. I will come back to this blog post and use it as a reference. I will also continue to visit your blog for you latest post because I really like your content. Take care
Great post Andrew
I think you have made your point pretty well.
I believe that content is a king.Google can change algorithm for other things, but if you write quality content,
you won’t have to worry about future algorithm changes.
Thanks Andrew..
Krunal
Agreed but the hardest point is writng great content. Easy to say…much harder to do!
Andrew
How many times have you done a Google search for something and have had to contend with dozens of useless results that took you to hub pages and websites without the information you were after before you actually hit pay dirt? This is because Google gives too much heed to backlinks. If Google were to rank a site entirely on quality of content, it would make searching for something so much easier and quicker. Bring it on, I say!
Brady
I agree! How do you think Google should measure quality?
Andrew
I wonder how often we come across this phrase “Quality content” and yet we fail to realize the true significance of it. Everyone mentions it but not everyone understands its value. Quality content is actually the key to your success. I would like to agree with you here that we should not worry about any Google’s strategy as long as we provide content that is qualitative and to the point.
Lucy
Very true but much harder to do than say. Often we THINK our content is of a high standard but it’s not.
Andrew
I totally agree with your post.. Although creating backlinks are really important but since google has made several changes, we have also to make some changes as well. I believe that if you create social network profiles, you should also engage yourself to become an active member of it – share your opinions, ideas or even share your great deals about your website. Also, creating unique quality content is the king if you want google to notice your site. Although creating unique content takes time but it’s worth it.
Rusty
I agree with everything you say! Just a little harder to do…due to time constraints and making great content is hard!
Andrew
Hi Andrew, it’s me again. I want to ask about paid links. What is the benefit using paid links? Is paid links is better than a free link?
Aufa
Stay away from paid links – Google HATES them and you could be penalized.
Andrew
Is it really going to happen n 2013? I just started by blog so making backlink is really tough for me. As many websites have 1000s of backlinks on my niche topic and I, don’t have 1.
I write quality content so if backlink factor will be removed then I will rank better for my hard work.
Saurabh
Do you REALLY write quality content?
We all THINK we do but do we really?
What makes yours great?
Andrew
Very right I strongly agree with you. You should not look for backlinks but you should look for making long term relationship with fellow bloggers.
This is the way things should go. Otherwise one day Google will eventually blacklist all these tricky link building tactics.
Yes they will, Ankit. Shame so many are still ignoring the warning signs.
Andrew
Hi Andrew,
In reference to your views………..
“They don’t want just theory.
They want actions they can use.
They want to be told what to do.”
Do you mean we should get directly to the solution while writing the article instead of explaining about the problem?
Naser
You should be doing both – explian the problem and then provide the solution with some actions the visitor can take away.
Andrew
I agree with you Andrew!!!!
we should create quality content for better ranking. as well we don’t know what will be next by Google 🙂
Thank you Andrew. I did a google search about backlinks, and found your article. I am a novice at this information, and your article helped put things in perspective. Everyone is telling me to backlink over and over, but I just don’t have the time, so I feel a relief not to worry so much about it. Anyway, happy holidays everyone.
Commenting is really good idea for link building (but only manual commenting), it will bring to us traffic and rise positions in serps.
I agree with you.You have shared such a good post.I got so much info from this post.Thanks a lot.
“It is even more important when you guest post.”
I love this sentence. Some bloggers don’t think about quality when they write a guest post. But I believe that guest post also should be high quality.
Raplus
The guest post should be your best content.
Andrew
The new quality policy and strategy of valuating websites and building quality backlinks are very right. They are more ethical and teleological. One naturally comes to a site for fulfilling her or his humane need of solution.
Moreover, otherwise, it would be unfair when ordinary people having no technical knowledge of backlink building, have very publicly useful and naturally popular sites, but their sites have lower pageranks than other sites JUST because of their having less backlinks (technical reasons).
I agree with the principle of “back to the natural, ethical, and quality links” both for pageranking and backlinking in this Andrew’s article. This is a principal article of backlinking that all backlinkers, either expert, experienced or new, have to read!
Happy New Year For You Andrew And All Readers!
Mario
Time will tell but I do believe Google will be looking for quality content rather than the number of backlinks you have.
Andrew
I have to say that your thesis sounds logical and true. It seems that sooner or later the search engines are moving to the point where they will be able to tell just by spidering a page whether or not a page is noteworthy or not.
On that day, I believe that SEO will be dead and it ALL be about only one thing…quality content.
We are probably about 10 years away from that right now, given the improvements in technology. So we might as well prepare for it now.
Tony,
Whether it’s 10 years or 2 years…I agree…prepare for it now!
Andrew
A very well thought article. If we see from the angle of a search engine, they would like to find out the most useful page. And number of backlinks may provide them a pointer on the reputation of the website. Before google changed its algorithm, there might be many sites, which were having good contents. Some of those sites created backlinks from some junk sites, only to survive in the competition ( and I see nothing wrong on that). Now after changing the algorithm, Google penalized those sites. This has given a signal to all the websites not to adopt any short-cut to build up reputation for the website.
On the same line, I believe that your points are very much valid.
I pretty much agree with everything you say about links here and that Content will play a major part in search this year. I’ve spoken to a lot of small business owners about having a blog on their site and many of them are resistant to committing time and resources and providing content. I guess you can understand this when there are only a few in the business – no-one wants to put their hand up for more work! But it is the way of the future.
Gavin,
I understand the reluctance to start a blog. It does take a lot of commitment. But those that do will win in the long run. Winning in business is about working hard (and smart!).
Andrew
Yes sir, i really believe in this. I think for a blogger like myself, the hardwork that we give in just to get the right quality in the post should and must be appreciated by any sort of search engine. And if people are really please by our content, they will automatically backlink or share it in social media sites. You have summarized it very well sir, thank you. 🙂
Raghavendra
You are right – people will share your posts but only if they are great!
Andrew
I got to this post with the pop up box that appeared as I was reading another one of your posts and actually wanted to ask you what plugin/program you used to do that? I think it would hugely benefit my blog.
Dickie
I use the plugin called: Qoate Scroll Triggered Box
Andrew
Now you said the TRUTH! Yes, this is what Google has been shouting right from the beginning, “Do it for readers, not for search engines.” Evergreen tips on SEO success. THIS is real SEO. SEO is not about cheating, it’s about providing best to audience. Thanks for sharing thoughts.
Jignesh
Excellent comment. Just wish more people would do/say exactly what you say.
Andrew
I think when it`s all said and done that quality and useful content will get the best results in terms of rankings. thanks…
You are right, Larry. The problem is creating quality and useful content. Many bloggers THINK they do and they don’t.
Andrew
Yes according to me backlink system will totally die and Google will come to a stage where it will only give importance to directory and other quality backlinks!