Building Links for Blogs

[John V]

Quality over quantity every time. Link farms are now so obvious you’d be crazy to use them. Why would anyone writing about pet care assume links from a travel agency would carry authority, or that Google won’t notice?

There are free sites such as academia.edu and LinkedIn which carry high authority. Of course, they don’t cater to the usual sales pitch disguised as information, but as it’s assumed you’re a blogger who can write original content they’re a gold mine for links back to your own site.

Spinning other people’s content and quantity links is the lazy way to promote your blog and it doesn’t work. You can’t beat original content and coupled with a well SEOd article containing a minimum of 500 words, plus the odd few relevant images which Google will publish with a link and also maybe an info graphic, your backlinks will build naturally over time if your content is good. The problem is many people want lots of immediate links and it doesn’t work like that.

A final thing to point out here is age. After a period of time Google will start to ignore the article you spent so much time on, because just like songs, movies or books, Google loves new content and your links will decline. You don’t need to keep writing more and more; what you need to do is change the original article by taking out bits and adding on others, maybe changing the images … Google will then start to promote the article as new content and your links will begin to increase again.

 

[Evan Grayson]

Why did I never think like this? I always considered more writing as a good way to promote my blog but after reading this I will definitely try making a few changes in the content rather than writing all over again. Hopefully it will also help in promoting the links.

 

[Mr Positive]

Noted newbie some good points but nothing new, and use better formatting for next posts.

 

[John V]

Why did I never think like this? I always considered more writing as a good way to promote my blog but after reading this I will definitely try making a few changes in the content rather than writing all over again. Hopefully it will also help in promoting the links.

I think many people get caught up in the hype as standard practice and then wonder why their efforts are failing, just like the others. It’s the herd mentality. You wrote your articles, they’re unique, they’re yours, not a copy of everyone else’s. You stand or fall on content, not competition.

It’s the same in marketing. Calls to action, email collections, pop-ups … And that’s supposed to be original? It’s so obvious and predictable that the first pop-up that appears, I’m gone. Why is it that the best marketing sites like Amazon don’t engage in those practices, but concentrate on content?

On academia.edu my top article has had 1403 views and I have 119 followers. That means the article which has a canonical link back to my own site has been well received. That’s slowing down now so time permitting I have to start editing it to get back on track. On Russia Insider my top article has 5249 views and 139 shares. That means it’s also been well distributed across the social media and other blogs. That’s where your links will come from and after a couple of months if you’re not getting the links, bin the article because the topic either lacks appeal, or the content is poor.

 

[John V]

Noted newbie some good points but nothing new, and use better formatting for next posts.

I’m sorry you can’t sell me any backlinks, but you know, we all have our opinions.

 

[John V]

If we’re being honest with ourselves, are various sites are needles in a haystack compared to the major players. Not only are we not going to beat them, we’re never going to get anywhere near them, despite those trying to make money from telling us we will. Are the ones no one has ever heard of doing the selling in the top ten of their particular niche?

Some sites sell stuff and do so in bullet points that are easily skim readable. I’d do the same if I was selling a car. Yet others like myself write lengthy articles mainly about social and political science, travel and education. Either format would look odd if it were swopped. Can you imagine Orwell’s ‘1984’ written using bullet points and one line sentences?

There is no agreed on format and we all write for an audience. Why would I want to copy the format and style of others if they’re the ones complaining they’re not getting links, or noticed?

A few years ago in an experiment, a University professor named Jeff Scardino sent 10 resumes to different companies. These were different; they also included failures, things he’s messed up and non-successes. In a month he’d had eight responses and got five meetings! These were some of the comments he received.

"First off, I applaud you. I have never received a résumé like yours. I see hundreds of résumés a year so it was refreshing to see someone take a different approach. I've been passing it around the office, and everyone is dying to meet you."

"I just received your relevant résumé. Very interesting . . .This is the kind of thinking we love here."

Why? Because he was different and the difference made an impact. That’s the point of website SEO and content, to be a square peg in an internet of round holes. In the same way as Jeff Scardino, it’s originality that gets us noticed, not following the herd.

The Internet is flooded with websites selling promises, but there’s a distinct lack of selling ideas, because those that have them keep it very quiet.

 

[Akira Hasselblad]

Really?

 

[G2 Maker]

What are you trying to do?

Nobody: Nothing
Literally no one on the forums: nothing
John V: Let me make a blog on BHW forums.

 

[wanderer101]

Thanks for this valuable advice - OP

 

[John V]

I blog as a hobby, an interest. I’m not here to sell anything, or buy anything and as such I’m about the last person here who would spam. I honestly can’t think of anything I’d spam about.

I’m a semi-retired teacher currently in the UK and write mostly about social and political science, travel and education, which I also publish on various International sites, as well as my own. Why on earth would I want links from an SEO site to an article on cultural Marxism, or teaching English grammar?

Over the years I’ve learned several tips and tricks and if they help someone you’re welcome and I’m happy I could help. I also hope to pick up some tips myself which will make me think and develop further ideas.

Some might not like the idea that I don’t buy into marketing strategies, or link buying and pay for the fantasy of ranking on Google’s first page, but that’s how it is. Not everyone wants to make money from websites.

 

[friendz]

thanks for all the answers. i am learning

 

[surfer30]

Links are the backbone of ranking on Google. If you want to outrank any web page, you need to build quality backlinks. And I see one single backlinks from authority sites is better than thousands from other sites... target keywords that have at least 1000 searches a month and then write good content that anybody can understand.

 

[GreenGrass2019]

why are you so mad lol waht is your beef wiith paying for links? In your mind do you think it's cheating?

I used to think you can outrank anything by just producing good content with 0 backlinks. Well guess what I'm wrong, if your up against giants you can't win the seo world no matter how good you think your content is.

 

[John V]

You’re right Surfer30 and if you can get one good link from an authority site, you’ve struck gold. Yet there seems to be this endless competition about outranking everyone else. No one here is going to outrank the major players or anyone near them and unless a site attracts many links, no one wants a link from it either. If your content is good Google and readers will find you.

I’m not mad, or gullible GreenGrass. Who sells links to .edu websites or others with high authority? Anyone bought a link from Amazon yet? You don’t have to buy links, you can hurt your site for free by joining a link swop site and getting as many useless backlinks from estate agents and knitting clubs as you like.

We’ve all invested a lot of time and effort in building up our sites. Yet the truth is that equal effort doesn’t produce equal rewards. We all get our rewards from content (c**p in c**p out), and if we’re not getting enough links it’s our fault and unfortunately we can’t buy our way out of that.

 

[John V]

There are an estimated 1.7 billion websites in the world and they all have one thing in common. Every owner thinks their site is best. Now, that may or may not be, but unfortunately it’s not for us to decide. Some will say content is what makes the best, others links, others SEO … But search engines will decide and they’re not telling us the whole criteria.

We really don’t know, but authority or popular sites won’t want your links and you won’t want ones that are lower than yours. Having said that, there’s a difference between popular and authoritative sites. It’s why porn sites are more popular than government ones even though they don’t link out, but government sites carry more authority.

Some will say content and it’s certainly true that if you write 100 word rubbish Google won’t like it and neither will those reading it, if it ever sees the light of day.

SEO? Google best SEO practices and learn for yourself and don’t be so lazy. It’s where those trying to sell you the information got it from.

So we really don’t know, but logic says it’s all three and more and so it becomes a guessing game. Good SEO will enable the Google taxi to deliver your site to where it’s required. Content will attract the readership from whom will come the links and followers. What matters most, links, shares or followers? That depends on what your site is about, but if you haven’t got good SEO and content, forget the links.

I’ll go for good SEO and content then. If there are things I write about and they don’t attract a following or links, I’ll bin the article after a couple of months and write about something else. Why flog a dead horse in wasted time and effort in the hope that I can persuade people to like something they obviously don’t?

I could write a good size article on what makes a website, but I’ve a feeling it wouldn’t go down well.