Link building has changed, specifically around the concept of Web 2.0.
Here is the definition from SEW:
Web 2.0:
A term that refers to a supposed second generation of Internet-based services. These usually include tools that let people collaborate and share information online, such as social networking sites, wikis, communication tools, and folksonomies.
Web 2.0 has had a profound impact on the way people use and interact with others on the internet. Since the root of link building is about the links to a website and with the more users having a voice online because of Web 2.0, it has had an important direct impact on link development. Due to this, search engines have been addressing the cascading number and effects of links from forums, blogs, social networks, social bookmarks and how they impact ranking algorithms. While this has given users a greater voice online, it has also increased the number of outlets to artificially impact search results more outlets.
So, how do you build a holistic approach to link development in a Web 2.0 internet without stepping over that invisible ethical line?
One of the most important thing to consider when working to build inbound links is the intention. If your intent is to get a link from any site then it is a method to artificially inflate rankings, then it is not truly holistic. Link development should be driven by one goal: deliver relevant users that actually want to visit your site.
The best way to encourage valuable links in a Web 2.0 world is to offer a means to aid users in delivering details of your information, product or service in the way or place that they want to deliver it. You don’t have to account for every new social platform that makes a splash, but knowing what platforms your visitors use will be a valuable piece of information.
What’s best: Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Sphinn or something else?
It depends on what will drive the most valuable traffic to your site, plain and simple. Knowing your audience is the most important aspect of marketing a website, whether it be in a paid or organic arena.
So, what’s the best URL shortening platform?
It doesn’t matter… because the traffic is the most important thing, not the potential link value.
Link development should be more about being present in the places that your audience is. It isn’t as corny as it sounds, but if you have the right content then the links and traffic will follow.
There are a number of plugins for most of the content platforms that will help you give your users an easy way to share your information with others. You can even build your own. I would recommend that you look at where users are coming to your site from, where they are talking about you or ask your visitors directly. It is also good to provide a way fro users to access your information on their terms (namely RSS or XML feeds) and a way to share theym in archaic ways (like email).
Link building 2.0 is just like regular link building, not a means to push your links on users or search engines, but to deliver the best content and experience that users want and the links will come.
Holistic Link Building 101
- Holistic Link Building Defined
- Directory Submissions
- Content Development to Build Links
- Direct Link Requests
- LinkBaiting
- Link Building 2.0
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- Holistic Link Building 101
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- Link Building Strategies – Eric Ward
- Balanced Link Building
{ 32 comments… read them below or add one }
If you’re content deserves it and you know where to present said content, people will link to it. Agreed.
At some point though there will be far too many social media platforms that will dilute link development, also with links being devalued left right and centre it does not bode well for proper link building.
The race is on for real-time link building and coupled with haphazard SERPS it’s going to make for an interesting 2010+
Very nice post and absolutely interesting. I liked the idea of link building by consciously thinking where the people you are writing to are and offer then your content to them. It’s not just being another member at link farms who nobody sees but delivering your content, where you think your audience is or may be interested in being.
@evolvor: I totally agree with you because it’s exactly what I experience. A few years ago I could not expect many links by just presenting good articles. Today people tend to push and click just everything if they begin to like it
@pittfall: Nice article about the old-school method of just publishing high quality content. I prefer this method before others even if it means I’m not getting as much backlinks as I could. In the end the quality backlinks are those which count.
I want to say that there is a typo in the penultimate passage. You wrote to “share theym in [...]“
Quality Content still and always will be the top way to get the best linking strategies. Write good content and people will link to you. I don’t like link farms, I think that is the fastest way to destructing your site.
Thanks for the information on linking. While some SEO strategies get boring and are the same old same old , link building is always an interesting topic.
Good quality content is important but it’s not everything. I’ve seen blogs with bad content, yet they still manage to rank on top for several keywords. Sure, they will certainly bore the reader with bad content.
But, when it comes to SEO, content is not everything. It’s just a piece of the algorythm that determines your rankings. I’d say backlinks and on page SEO is are the main factors when it comes to SEO.
Cheers
For the majority of users, who do not have the skills to create new and innovative content which would be required to achieve links from other pages, a more active way in link building would be needed, which is to seek pages related to your website or internal pages and ask to link to related pages on your website.
Due to competition in the market there are few optimizers who prefer to buy links from high page rank site but i am not sure about that strategy whether it is right or wrong can you please help me understanding that issue. Thanks for the valuable information shared.
I agree, link building to promote websites must be becoming a headache for Google to deal with. The more diluted the data becomes with paid-for links, the harder it’s going to be for Google to rank the legitimate sites.
It’d be interesting to know what Google has planned in their algorithms to keep up with this problem.
I think link building can be very hard for smaller companies with products that don’t garner alot of attention. You are right that link building is very important especially with the upcoming Caffeine update. Kepp up the good blog work!:)
Link building is important. But, its not the only thing to be concerned with. There’s also the keywords and keyphrases. I just read something about the longtail of search recently. That’s what I learnt
“deliver the best content and experience that users want and the links will come”
Maybe. Webmasters are getting increasingly stingy about OB links, even though OB links to quality content/sites are considered good SEO. Also, the more competitive the market, the more difficult it is to find quality, relevant content to receive links from.
This really emphasizes the need to learn ‘how’ to create linkbait, and the tougher your market, the better you have to get at it.
Traffic is the idea, true. But when you say that is more important than the link value, I am not so sure.
I guess what I’m trying to say is, if you have a link that nets you say 20 visitors one day and then trickles off after that blog post gets archived, or whatnot. Compare it to a link that might be a bit more valuable but drive less short term traffic. You might only get a couple visitors from that link, but if in turn, that link helps boost your ranking for a relevant term, it has helped net a greater amount of traffic than the other link that only gave you a little over 20 visitors.
Linkbuilding is easier with 2.0 sites, but it’s mostly no follow. So I look to boost traffic. Quality content is always better, but you have to network with a lot of blogs and friends to get them to notice it! What will Web 3.0 bring?
I would have to agree with this especially with the web 2.0 being very easy to get links. As has been stated above quality content plays a very big part to link building for your sites and is possibly along with good SEO optimized pages the best way to get your site noticed.
I try to stay clear of the social networks as over the years i find that these fads come and go and when they go so do all your hard efforts at building links with them.
I’ve read many articles, blogs, books and ebooks on SEO topics and people say different things on link building. Basically I see the internet as a wall the more you throw your website at it the more stuff sticks on to the wall, the more stuff on the wall the more you’ll get noticed. I dont think google has the time to figure out quality of links Versus Quantity of links for every website. Although I dont think having 100 backlinks on one website is healthy and this might be highlighted with Google.
i too agree that link building to promote websites is an headache for Google to deal with, but its not manually driven, everything is taken care off by algorithms that are implemented in Object oriented systems, well it could be possible to detect the legitimate sites for Google, but i m sure they will come up again with some new innovations
I think that putting the right content on the right sites with the right intentions is the most ethical way you can go but I’m not sure it’s the most effective with Google. I think that the most successful SEO’s try to find balance between ethical behavior and filling links from wherever the can get them.
Really interesting post – topical at the moment. It is interesting to see tactics are changing in regard to web 2.0 and this social “era” in which live. I think there has to be some balance in link building for the search engines and link building purely for traffic. Again, the caffeine update will make things interesting for the future.
I definitely stick to the old school method of quality content. When I do go out to build links, I generally keep it very focused to where I think my market is. Knowing where to work on your SEO is as important as spending time doing it, if not more important. Nice article, thanks for sharing.
I agree with porter i will also stick with quality content. End of the day content is KING!! Nice article and Thank You, for sharing with us.
Waleed Mohammed
If there is a Link Building 2.0 I might have missed that particular class. To me, the old-school strategies of quality content, quality backlinks, and a bit of promotion (not to overdo things) has worked best. Social media / Web 2.0 etc. are not often than not walled gardens (eg Facebook) so you could say it’s more for human traffic than for SEO/link building purposes.
“Link development should be more about being present in the places that your audience is.”
I like this sentence. It really sums up the importance that it’s all about your audience, not about you. If you are providing excellent quality content that draws your visitors in, you are going to outperform every time. Great post.
I think these days, link development (especially one-way) is very difficult unless you have the quality content to back it up. Previously, it was possbile to attain high rankings through hundreds of forums, directories and link exchanges alone but search engines have now wised up to these methods. Link baiting now seems like one of the fastest and most effective methods of building links.
Interesting article… really. I just got finished reading some other guy’s post on SEO pitfalls, and he said that Google can tell if you’re buying links. I told him that he was giving google too much credit, but after reading your article, I wonder. What’s your take on buying links?
Jimbo,
Link buying really is a question of risk. I don’t think that Google is all knowing and can figure out every link that was placed because of some exchange, monetary or otherwise. However, there is still of risk of it having a negative impact on your rankings, so it is a question of how risk adverse you are with your site. Thanks for the question.
nice fresh idea here and i agree content still the king.
we cannot depend on social bookmarking self, if you submit regular content very little readers you got. if you submit very unique content tons of readers you got, as simple as that
For the majority of users, who do not have the skills to create new and innovative content which would be required to achieve links from other pages, a more active way in link building would be needed, which is to seek pages related to your website or internal pages and ask to link to related pages on your website.
@kaskus: thats actually a rather classic approach to link building. More like 1.0. But you’re right. And it’s always better than link buying because the price of a bought link is not a quality characteristic. Not for the link itself and not for SEO.
i agree, Link development should be more about being present in the places that the audience is. i also agree with minnieapolis. thanks for share the information!
I love how your talking about content for link building. It seems like directories don’t always cut it anymore and you really need to have good quality content.
I don’t think that is necessarily the case. How do you get links to an ecommerce site?