What's Your Opinion on "Linkless Links?"

[ContentWriter]

One of the expected SEO trends this 2018 are the "linkless links". Last year, Bing has confirmed that they are using them. So now I am just wondering: will this change link building strategy? What is your opinion on this one?

Loren

 

[BassTrackerBoats]

I've been a fan of those for the past couple of years and have had conversations with a couple of people about them... I call them mentions.

Although there is zero link juice from what I can see I do believe there is something in terms of giving your site some authority or "back bone" and I use them as part of some of my SEO strategies for myself as well as clients.

I don't target Bing rankings, and I'm not sure if anyone does that is looking to really make money in most niches, but I am 96.7% sure that Google sees them and takes them into account.

 

[ContentWriter]

I've been a fan of those for the past couple of years and have had conversations with a couple of people about them... I call them mentions.

Although there is zero link juice from what I can see I do believe there is something in terms of giving your site some authority or "back bone" and I use them as part of some of my SEO strategies for myself as well as clients.

I don't target Bing rankings, and I'm not sure if anyone does that is looking to really make money in most niches, but I am 96.7% sure that Google sees them and takes them into account.

Thanks, @https://www.blackhatworld.com/members/basstrackerboats.100373/. With that new update, do you see link building to be obsolete in the future and replaced with mentions?

 

[KHer0]

I believe they might help, but will never be equal to classic links.

 

[BassTrackerBoats]

Thanks, @BassTrackerBoats. With that new update, do you see link building to be obsolete in the future and replaced with mentions?

That is not a new update as it has been in play for a couple of years from what I have seen and done but I doubt link building will ever go away. SEO, like most things, will continue to evolve but I don't see that drastic a change coming.

 

[AngelSeo]

Thanks, @BassTrackerBoats. With that new update, do you see link building to be obsolete in the future and replaced with mentions?

This is highly unlikely - people cannot click on mentions. The whole purpose of the link is to give a easy way to visit another website. Like BassTrackerBoats said mentions are nice, while not giving ranking power directly, they help build the "reputation" of the website in Google eyes.

 

[Unreliable Witness]

I reckon they are something search engines take into account in a small way. They wouldn't have anything like the same importance as regular links.

There has been talk of the importance of mentions for a number of years.

The more websites that mention your brand, the more likely you are to be reputable, even if they don't link to you.

I would guess that search engines use it to support other ranking factors.

Of course, mentions will only work if your site can be recognised as a brand in context of the page linking to it. I doubt Amazon (the shopping site) get credit in articles about the Brazilian jungle.

 

[aidenhera]

I havent checked their influence but it makes a lot of sense if they provided strong kick (assuming they are coming from HQ sites)

 

[ContentWriter]

I reckon they are something search engines take into account in a small way. They wouldn't have anything like the same importance as regular links.

There has been talk of the importance of mentions for a number of years.

The more websites that mention your brand, the more likely you are to be reputable, even if they don't link to you.

I would guess that search engines use it to support other ranking factors.

Of course, mentions will only work if your site can be recognised as a brand in context of the page linking to it. I doubt Amazon (the shopping site) get credit in articles about the Brazilian jungle.

I agree. With these linkless link strategy, there is another way in aiming to build overall brand awareness and reputation. With it, we can have another option aside from gaining backlinks to broaden our reach and achieve our goals. Thank you for sharing your opinion about that.

 

[don chino]

I know it should work, especially for local seo (citations), however never been a fan of it myself. Doesn't give the same feeling as creating a fat juicy hyperlink on a good website homepage, also hard to analyse such "links" with seo tools.

 

[ContentWriter]

I know it should work, especially for local seo (citations), however never been a fan of it myself. Doesn't give the same feeling as creating a fat juicy hyperlink on a good website homepage, also hard to analyse such "links" with seo tools.

That's true, @don chino. Having hyperlinks are much more satisfying than just "mentions". Thanks for your input

 

[Whitehatservices]

I had also used it in the past. But it did not provide me with much reputation. Now, I am using backlinks strategy, these are more useful as compared to those.

 

[Power SEO]

linkless links is ORM strategy many guys use this.

 

[Array Experts]

One of the expected SEO trends this 2018 are the "linkless links". Last year, Bing has confirmed that they are using them. So now I am just wondering: will this change link building strategy? What is your opinion on this one?

Loren

I am not big fan of these kind links but agree these links is upcoming link building trend as in 2018 direct traffic & brand searches is one of top ranking factor so i strongly believe people will definitely play with linkless links to increase direct traffic

 

[TheMadMarketer]

Like BassTrackerBoats said, mentions have been around for a few years and yes they might help (with brand awareness more than anything), but not as much as actual links.
Is good you asked this here, I'm so tired of these "trends" at the beginning of each year that are based on nothing. All we know for certain in 2018 is that mobile speed will be a ranking factor, the rest...we'll wait and see.

 

[SEOLair]

Since they are way easier to game than links themselves, it's hard to believe they would ever be used. Every time Google tries to get away from links, social signals anyone?, they fail because its even more spammable than links.

 

[geekypeeky]

I think it does help as a citation.