In case you have haven’t heard the SEO game has changed massively. Ever since Google rolled out their Penguin update around the end of April 2012, the whole SEO game has changed. The days of building spammy links or renting high pr links with exact match anchor text are over. While you are free to debate whether a competitor can hurt you with backlinks, it is very apparent that having a spammy backlink profile can result in getting your site penalized, as many internet marketers would attest to.
Although the game has changed, its important to know that SEO done THE RIGHT WAY can still be an excellent source of traffic and income for your business. I wanted to write this post to highlight my opinions on how SEO needs to be done in a post penguin world.
Core Ideas To Be Mindful Of
Link building Methods To Avoid
It used to be so easy, buy a domain, build some content on it and then spam the shit out of it with low quality links. Watch it rise to the top of Google, sit back and count your money. Google basically let this happen for the best part of 15 years and but unfortunately this year the game changed. Low quality links tactics can now get your site penalized and only work in the short term. Here is a list of low quality tactics to avoid.
Link building To Follow
The only way to do link building now (to make sure your survives) is slow, manual and hard.
You must research and find high quality and relevant sites and post content on them. Make sure you have a link within the content back you site.
I still think its fine to pay to post the content on the websites (so in essence yes you are still buying links) but you have to do it to make it look natural!
So basically train some people up to identify , contact and negotiate the placement on links on quality, trusted and relevant domains. Keep building up your network of sites.
Every single link we get for our portfolio of sites now goes through a quality audit. If it doesn’t meet our criteria we wont try and place the link. Yes this is a very slow way of doing things but I promise it works and it will stand the test of time and Google algo changes. Every notice how some sites have managed to survive the algo changes? That’s because they’ve played by the these rules.
Sorry people, if you want your site to rank for the long term, in my opinion this is the only way to do it. I’m not a fan of the whitehat brigade Cutts, Fishkin etc but really in light of how hammered peoples income has been this is the only way to do it. Cheap link tactics will put your site at risk and will not stand the test of time.
Furthermore you must try to encourage more natural links by producing and promoting quality content. You must assign a content budget to your website so that it is continually replenished with helpful, relevant and link worthy content.
REMEBER TO MIX YOUR ANCHOR TEXT UP!!!
You must also remember that in 2012 you cannot simply spam the hell out of the anchor text you wish to rank for. It is now a big flag to Google, you must serious mix up your anchor text and remember to include a large amount of branded anchor text!!! Most sites with a natural link profile have their brand as their most prominent anchor text you really must try and mimic this.
Summary
Pre April 2012 gaming Google was too easy and there was good money to be made. You could link spam your way to the top with a small investment in low quality links. Since the rollout of the Penguin algo this has now changed!
Quality, manual and relevant link building is THE only way to d
Although the game has changed, its important to know that SEO done THE RIGHT WAY can still be an excellent source of traffic and income for your business. I wanted to write this post to highlight my opinions on how SEO needs to be done in a post penguin world.
Core Ideas To Be Mindful Of
- SEO has changed massively since Penguin update
- SEO is a lot harder, more expensive and takes a lot longer.
- Low quality and cheap SEO is temporary and most likely will results in your site getting penalized at some point
- The days of spamming a website to the top of Google and keeping it there are pretty much finished
- SEO is a lot more unreliable and should never be the primary source of income for your business
- You can still make money with SEO but you need to do it the right way.
Link building Methods To Avoid
It used to be so easy, buy a domain, build some content on it and then spam the shit out of it with low quality links. Watch it rise to the top of Google, sit back and count your money. Google basically let this happen for the best part of 15 years and but unfortunately this year the game changed. Low quality links tactics can now get your site penalized and only work in the short term. Here is a list of low quality tactics to avoid.
- No More Automated methods or software (Linkjuicer, Linxboss, AMR)
- No more blog networks (Free traffic system, BMR, ALN, FBL etc)
- No more spun content vie SENUKE etc, mass article submissions
- No more homepage backlinks on mass networks
- No more profile links
- No more blog comment spam
- No more forum spam
- No sidebar paid links
- No sitewide paid links
- No more mass links (automated or paid)
- No more low quality directories
Link building To Follow
The only way to do link building now (to make sure your survives) is slow, manual and hard.
You must research and find high quality and relevant sites and post content on them. Make sure you have a link within the content back you site.
I still think its fine to pay to post the content on the websites (so in essence yes you are still buying links) but you have to do it to make it look natural!
So basically train some people up to identify , contact and negotiate the placement on links on quality, trusted and relevant domains. Keep building up your network of sites.
Every single link we get for our portfolio of sites now goes through a quality audit. If it doesn’t meet our criteria we wont try and place the link. Yes this is a very slow way of doing things but I promise it works and it will stand the test of time and Google algo changes. Every notice how some sites have managed to survive the algo changes? That’s because they’ve played by the these rules.
Sorry people, if you want your site to rank for the long term, in my opinion this is the only way to do it. I’m not a fan of the whitehat brigade Cutts, Fishkin etc but really in light of how hammered peoples income has been this is the only way to do it. Cheap link tactics will put your site at risk and will not stand the test of time.
Furthermore you must try to encourage more natural links by producing and promoting quality content. You must assign a content budget to your website so that it is continually replenished with helpful, relevant and link worthy content.
REMEBER TO MIX YOUR ANCHOR TEXT UP!!!
You must also remember that in 2012 you cannot simply spam the hell out of the anchor text you wish to rank for. It is now a big flag to Google, you must serious mix up your anchor text and remember to include a large amount of branded anchor text!!! Most sites with a natural link profile have their brand as their most prominent anchor text you really must try and mimic this.
Summary
Pre April 2012 gaming Google was too easy and there was good money to be made. You could link spam your way to the top with a small investment in low quality links. Since the rollout of the Penguin algo this has now changed!
Quality, manual and relevant link building is THE only way to d
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