Un-Natural Google Links cuz You’re Naughty…
I just watched a webinar with SEO Braintrust – I like those guys. It motivated me to make this post. Its sort of a combo of my thinking and theirs (as I understand it)…
If you’ve received an unnatural links notice from Google recenlty, remember you haven’t necessarily been penalized. It takes a manual review by a person to de-index you. BUT, if you have been relying on a bad link network, those links have now been nuked, so obviously you have less links to your site now… so naturally you would lose rankings.
Now if you have ALSO done a lot of good linking practices, those links will still count, so you may only drop a few places. It depends on how heavily you were relying on the naughty links. And keep in mind, during this time, your competitor may have been doing things right, so it makes sense that he now passed you.
Google’s TOS says you cannot use the automatic distribution of poor quality content in order to inflate anchor text and links. So everyone knows what they’re doing. If you’re playing on thin ice, you know that ice may crack at any time. Its up to you. You may get lucky. You may stay under the radar.
Keep in mind, when google finds a forum that has 5 posts in the past month but 100k new profiles, its pretty obvious that they will either slap a “don’t trust” label on that forum, or they may de-index it altogether. Either way, your links are nuked.
You may get links from directories, profiles, forums, blog comments, sponsored reviews, guest posting, social, press releases, videos, etc – but if you go overboard on any one, they may go away and you’ll fall.
If you seriously never want to worry about rankings dropping, here is what you would need to do… now keep in mind on some sites I still personally use tools like UAW and some profiles, blog commenting, guest posts, sponsored reviews, etc, but I diversify so that if any of those things get killed overnight, I don’t drop too far. But when I do those things, I always try to add value – my articles dont suck, my comments are relevant to the post, I use my profile to leave decent comments in the forum, etc. (this may be considered by some as grey hat – whatevs)
But here’s what you do for real staying power, completely white hat:
Do press releases about stuff that is actually interesting on your site, not BS. If you aren’t interesting, get interesting.
Become facebook or twitter friends with similar sites, retweet for them, fb like them, converse with them, engage with them, advertise with them, follow the people that follow them, etc. Make these people like you.
Make cool youtube videos and share them… link bait.
Run contests and polls and share the results… link bait.
Give away ebooks, videos, the results of a case study, or do a hard hitting, controversial review of a product, anything of value. Link bait.
Try to get links from the same places as your competitors. Stalk them. Do what they do, while continuing to make them look good at the same time, and conversing with them.
An example at my site BringTheFresh.com is Greg Morrison – this guy has done nealy $1mil in the past 8 months or so, using our advice, and he’s given us plenty of proof and testimonials – he makes us look good – obviously we’d do just about anything for him at this point… and the same goes for others who are doing the same, whether or not they’ve mad $5k, or $500k. If they make us look good over and over, we want to help them. Don’t you think it works the same with SEO?
Many seo companies don’t have a “link building” division. They do marketing or events for their clients that lead to organic links like press releases, polls, events, case studies, a controversial opinion piece, etc. Even if its just a meme photo that gets shared. Its all legitimate link bait.
Think about the site “Cracked.com“. Take a look at their articles and tell me if they get backlinks all day. Its an obvious yes. Take a look at a company on facebook called Dayuum. They get huge interaction from just posting cool pics for guys.
Like Dan Thies says, he would pay $100+ or more per article for world class writing – because people will link back to it. LINK BAIT.
Think about what Google wants – they want stuff that they don’t already have in their index. They want unique value. Sure they screw up, but thats what they ultimately want. They don’t want less value.
If content is awesome, it will get links. Obviously, this is a much slower process than most people who want to get rich overnight or rank #1 overnight… which is why I do some greyish hat stuff on some sites. But if it stops working, I move on… I never have my stuff depend on any ONE thing too much…
Its not just SEO – your email list management company may dump you tomorrow, your merchant account may close your account without notice… STUFF happens. You need to be ready with a backup plan at all times.
If you don’t think you can create good content or hire someone for it, consider “content curation”. You can use a snippet from the original source, and/or a link, and just add your commentary. As long as your commentary far outweighs the original content, it now becomes original content, and its also an easy way to get inspiration for your writing. Adding in related youtube videos, etc can also be a good idea, or better yet, create your own.
Good content, participation, and link bait builds you an AUDIENCE. And your audience gets you links.
But if you wanna go the fast, risky route of 1000 profile links, an exact match domain, little competition, and little content, thats fine. Just don’t think the site will last forever, and don’t whine if it disappears. Just be thankful for the time that it was ranked and any money you DID make. Thats why launch jacking is so cool. By the time the ban hammer gets around to you, you’ve already cashed out.
Now carry on, and remember the sky is always falling… (if you remember the Google “Florida” update of 2003 then you understand)
Posted: April 3rd, 2012 under seo.
Tags: bring the fresh, cracked, dayuum, kelly felix, seo, seo braintrust
Comments
Comment from Nic Coventry
April 9, 2012 at 2:15 pm
Wow Kelly, that is an interesting article, the main thing I like is how you mention that you need to be prepared for everything to come crashing down, and have a backup plan. I’m a BTF member, and I’m trying to sort through all this stuff, and its a bite overwhelming, but I’m getting it, slowly. Thanks so much for the article, it was good and helpful.
Comment from Dawn
April 17, 2012 at 10:38 am
Great post Kelly! I have seen a lot of people complaining about this. I personally don’t use services to get my link out there. I add it to my profiles, on any comments that I write and often my readers link to me.
I have heard that there was talk of competitors putting people’s websites into this kind of service to hurt their rankings. Not sure if it was happening, but unfortunately it doesn’t sound far off.
Great point about posting comments, must be relevant to the post. I leave comments for 2 reasons on blogs- 1 to let the owner know I enjoyed their content or 2 to contribute to the post. Of course having links is nice, but I have never commented for the sake of having my link out there.
Love the “if you are not interesting, get interesting” it put a smile on my face.
Have a wonderful day 
Comment from Shaun
April 26, 2012 at 8:25 am
Do you still recommend link juicer?
Comment from Zayne Thompson
April 30, 2012 at 1:08 pm
Hey there Kelly!
My name is Zayne Thompson, and there has been so much buzz around your name that I thought I would check out your Blog! Looks great man, and I have to say a particularly informative article on SEO.
We all know Google loves natural stuff, but natural looking stuff can be just as un natural as the rest right.
BTW, you are probalbly one of the most approachable “Rich Jerks” I know and have spoken to! (sorry for the double meaning there, I have been told that I can sometimes be a bit too dry)
Anyways, love the stuff man!
Talk later,
Zayne
Comment from Kevin Van Lear
June 8, 2012 at 8:15 am
Great information on current SEO. This will go a long way for most people trying to get ahead… And you’re so right when you say “always have a backup plan”… nothing could be more true. Thanks again!
-Kevin
Comment from k.hill
July 24, 2012 at 9:32 pm
hey kelly, thanks for the insights. you bring up a good point about being ready for anything. circumstances are always in flux so we just roll with the punches and ‘keep it moving’ — btf is a great forum to stay ahead of the curve.
Comment from James
July 28, 2012 at 8:02 pm
I’m a little confused by “an exact match domain, little competition, and little content” being a bad plan….isn’t that basically what you teach in Bring the Fresh?
You focus on getting a good domain, writing just a few simple blog posts, and doing minimal backlinking since there is supposed to be little competition.
I am new to BTF and it seems like a good course to me….so I am just a little confused on why you teach a strategy and then say it is a bad strategy….
Or am I missing something?
Comment from Jolene Christopherson
September 3, 2012 at 6:16 am
Kelly,
This is a timely post…even for today upon hearing of an imminent Penguin 2.0 release. I got a swift kick in the @$$ with the first one so while I am nervous about this one, I can see that if I do things in a way that “follow more of the rules,” there really shouldn’t be an issue. That’s what I’m trying to do now and hopefully things will turn out okay. Since I am still trying to find some consistency, I haven’t truly gotten rid of my own “the sky is falling” mentality. As a BTFer though, I know what I learn and am able to accomplish with you guys will help me to move beyond my own barriers and take my game to the next level.
P.S. The “Rich Jerk” was the first online marketing tool I ever purchased. I didn’t know you were behind it until recently. Finding that out gave me a sense of fate taking place and belief that this goal of online work success will be achieved.
Thanks,
Jolene
Comment from Robert Andrew
September 4, 2012 at 7:33 pm
Kelly,
You bring up some great points. I rely more on White hat SEO with really excellent content to back it up. Google is really putting a big emphasis on this.
I have no complaints about this as I am a decently good writer. And I love to produce content.
I really like the part of taking snippets and making your own commentary around it !
Good stuff !
Thanks man
Comment from Fred
April 4, 2012 at 6:15 am
Sup Kelly,
I was on that webinar too and have been a been a big fan of Dan & Leslie since **cough** Stompernet **cough**. My biggest takeaway is the realization of how far I got away from doing real marketing like I did with previous companies. Talking to and networking with real people n stuff. The biggest gains for me have always been with networking online and off. It took me 3 years to come to my senses! Oh well, better late than never. . .
Fred (BTF member)