Why You Should Build Links Properly
Today, internet marketers that engage in automated link building practices risk angering Google’s birds and beasts.
Three algorithm updates named after animals– Panda, Penguin and Hummingbird– have made it very hard to exploit the way Google organizes search results.
If you don’t want your site to get chomped, pecked and stung to death by Google’s algorithmic filters, avoid black hat SEO practices.
One shady SEO technique in particular has definitely gone the way of the dinosaur: automated link building.
What Is Automated Link Building?
I
n the past, so-called “black hat” internet marketers developed automated software programs (aka “bots”) that were capable of visiting thousands of blogs simultaneously.
If you’ve ever scrolled through comments on a popular blog, you may have seen a few bot comments before.
Bot comments look a lot like spam e-mail. They contain spammy messages and links leading back to various commercial websites.
Automated marketing bots were annoying, but they used to be very effective. If someone wanted to give their site a boost, all they had to do was fork over two or three hundred dollars to a black hat marketeer. The black hatter would then program his army of drones to bombard thousands of popular blogs with promotional comments and backlinks.
Google’s Massive Spam Cleanup Project
Before Google’s animal themed algorithm updates came out, automated link building was very effective. That’s because Google used to rely on links to measure popularity.
When someone posts content that’s extremely useful or entertaining, people tend to share it across the web.
Every time content is shared, another link to the content appears on the web.
Google’s old way of relying on backlinks to determine a site’s popularity was fairly effective at identifying stuff that people wanted to look at on the web. But after a while, hackers, spammers and scammers started using automated link building software to promote shady websites across popular Google search results pages.
Google’s recent algorithm updates have put an end to shady marketing techniques. Today, the only way to gain popularity on the web is by doing things the right way.
Stop Building Links… and Start Making Friends
Internet marketing used to be a numbers game. Now, it’s all about people. In order to get popular on the web, you need to make friends.
Trusted bloggers with lots of followers (aka “influencers”) are instrumental in helping new brands survive and thrive.
It takes some time and effort (and possibly even some free product samples) to befriend an influencer. But once you have a crew of social media all-stars on your side, they can really help your internet marketing efforts take off.
Choose Your Friends Wisely
Of course, just because an influencer has a large following doesn’t necessarily mean that they can help your cause. If their audience probably won’t be interested in what you’re selling, they won’t be able to give you a boost.
For example, if you sell arthritis cream… there’s really no point in sending a free sample of your product to a teenage YouTube fashionista. A famous doctor who blogs about medical issues is a much better choice.
Want to learn more about how to tap into lucrative internet markets? Contact Above the Fold Media today!
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