The big focus within SEO circles at the moment is firmly on link building. The recent Google Penguin 2.0 update has further brought this back into focus, as Google have once again looked to clamp down on various link building practices, specifically those that amount to little more than spam linking with the obvious means of boosting SEO performance.
The Importance of Links
Inbound links are important for a variety of reasons, but the biggest impact in terms of SEO is definitely the trust give to Google that your site is filled with content that is worth linking to. In fact, you can make a direct connection between the quality of a link portfolio and a sites’ prominence within search rankings.
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Link building is so important that Google actively encourage webmasters to do it. The trick is to make links appear as natural as possible so that they reflect what your link portfolio would look like if all of your inbound links were earned, organic ones pointing back to your site.
Not only will this help to boost your SEO performance now, it will prevent Google’s future algorithm updates from having a hugely negative affect on you.
Here are four things not to do if you want to avoid Google’s wrath.
Build Links from Irrelevant Sites
Quality definitely trumps quantity when it comes to modern link building.
That means if you’re submitting guest blogs to sites that have nothing to do with what you do, you aren’t giving yourself any SEO benefits, and are perhaps even setting yourself up for a manual Google penalty.
Blog commenting falls into this category, too; what reason do you have to be commenting on a cosmetics blog when you’re a property seller, for example? Remember, too, that you should take the time to post a constructive, high-value comment, rather than just writing anything for the sake of a link.
Build Links Too Quickly
How would you expect a new website to build a link portfolio? Would you expect a new website to be getting 100 new links every day, even after first launching, or would they be earning a handful a week before starting to earn more links as they become more popular?
If you’re building links too quickly, not only does this appear anything but natural, but it is likely they will be low quality ones, too, blowing a hole in your SEO efforts.
Use the Same Anchor Text
Yes, you want to rank for your chosen keywords, but that doesn’t mean using the same anchor text every time you build a link. Again, this tells Google that your link building is anything but natural, and is more likely to see you earn a penalty rather than a promotion up the search results.
There are a number of SEO tools online that you can use to view your link portfolio and avoid overusing anchor text. As a starting point, look to combine your keywords with your brand name, as well as varying your anchor text in general, as an external site would when they link to you.
Focus Exclusively on Follow Links
A natural link portfolio will consist of ‘do follow’ and ‘no follow’ links. If you’ve written an article or put forward a great point in a blog comment, then people will take the time to visit your site whether a link is ‘no follow’ or not.
If you’re in doubt about whether this is good advice, consider this: social media links are ‘no follow,’ and you aren’t about to stop tweeting or sharing content on Pinterest, are you?
Avoiding the SEO Dangers
If you’ve been following any of these practices, then the time to stop is now. Focus on building yourself the most natural link portfolio possible, and you’ll be protecting yourself from future Google Penguin algorithm updates, as well as any manual penalties that spammy link building could potentially send your way.
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[…] 4 Must Avoid Link Building Practices For Your SEO – This is the shortest article of this list, but it covers all the fundamentals that a beginner […]
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This is basic, and all seo serious guys should stick to it. But when you need to go fast for your clients, what is solution then ?
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@Dragan S, you know the story about the tortoise and the hare. It’s all about creating a strategy for longevity!
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Great article here. If you are new to webdesign and wanting to build better page ranking results, I would suggest you just focus on just being natural with your link building and networking. Seeking out links can sometimes do more harm than good as some of my clients would testify.
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Great blog with great strategies. I can’t tell you how many times I have recommended that blogger only try to get links on websites that are relevant to their niche. I mean it works in terms of SEO but it also helps to bring in more niche traffic as well. You have this pool of niche-based people surfing a website and then they see a link to another website that is about the same niche! Chances are, they are going to check it out.
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Good share! SEO beginners often do these mistakes while link building. The blog is indeed a good guide for them!
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I have been reading up on link building as I try to get ideas on how to really get my website out there so this is great advise. Some promote the use of link directories but some times I wonder if it is really safe. What if some directories are regarded by Google as being spammy and I had submitted to them?
I don’t see that as been good for me so I would love to get my site out there in the most natural yet effective way. Thanks for the info here.
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Good post. The first point is especially true. Even now, I know some folks who think exposure means putting themselves in every conceivable location hoping that will yield results.
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It was a pretty good read, I understand a lot more now. Thanks, very good entry.
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Very good article. I have a question regarding building links too quickly: For a seasoned article, what would you suggest is a reasonable amount of backlinks to strive for? And is this what they mean by “maintaining link velocity”? I seem to come across that term a lot lately. Thanks!
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Excellent cue on SEO. It should be noted that the link building process must be done by focusing the future. It will surely have positive effect now and in future.
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Agree with all your points!
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Hi Cristen, nice blog. Really helped me identify some areas I need to fix. For example I enjoy other non-related topics to my site. When I comment on these blog topics my signature has my website link. So I end up commenting on blogs that are not related to my topic. So I think in this case I should remove the signature link to avoid irrelevant site links.
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Great article. Thanks for the tips. I’ve read that any repetition of keywords in your blog should only constitute at most 6% of your blog. You can also link to your own article but it sounds like it’s much better to link to outside blogs/websites.