Is Tier Linkbuilding Dead?

ThopHayt

Elite Member
Joined
Jul 25, 2011
Messages
7,012
Reaction score
2,864
I've been thinking about this for quite some time, but my recent experiences with building tiers in linkbuilding have been increasingly negative. So after a couple months of experimenting I've come to wonder if one of two things is true... Either A) multi-tier linkbuilding (such as MS < T1 < T2 < T3) is dying out as cheap feeder links become useless. or B) Tiered linkbuilding needs to be done in a different and new way.

If it's just dead then having any discussion is pointless, so I'll look into what might be wrong with the way linkbuilding is being done. My primary concern in this, cheap spammy links are toxic... yet every tier needs links and the T2/T3/T4 etc can't afford to have high quality links like true PNB's. So if you're going to build more tiers you are forced to use cheaper and cheaper links as you go. This eventually builds up link toxicity, and pretty soon you've ruined your T1 link and your efforts are all ruined. I've tried a wide range of "cheap" links, links that can be produced or bought for a few dollars, and none were any good on even T3/4. I've experimented with social signals as well... they are great for supporting HQ links, for adding them to cheap crappy T3 links is not very helpful as the links are too spammy to pick up any PR.

So here is the big question... if that were the case then what would the solution be? Is the answer that building multi-tier structures is going to become a VERY expensive endeavor that will cost $100's for each tier's backlinks because we're forced to use such high quality on everything? Is it possible that the rules of the game really HAVE changed and tiers aren't useful?
 
Good question, as I am not experienced enough to tell you the answer. However I was testing last two days to get a web 2.0 ranked in google for a buying keyword 500 montly searches. Today main keyworf jumped to 250 position. With only social signals and some fiverr tier 2 tier 3 linkbuilding service. I am also planning to add 25000 links to tier at a later moment.

Posted via Topify using iPhone/iPad
 
I only build tier 1 and tier 2 links..
Why would you build tier 4 links? It's useless.. even tier 3 links in my opinion are useless..
 
They are not dead, the only thing to remember is that each of your tier 1 links should be given as much importance as a money site, which means, any links pointing at them, the tier 2 links should be drip fed and appropriately done.
 
The answer to your question is no. Using GSA to find you high quality backlinks, using senuke to create tier 1s, 2s, and 3s are still effective. You need social signals too. Those are a must have. Facebook likes, facebook shares, facebook comments, twitter links, instagram links, and youtube links.
 
I only build tier 1 and tier 2 links..
Why would you build tier 4 links? It's useless.. even tier 3 links in my opinion are useless..

Be sure that Tier Linkbuilding work yet , but about tier 3 and 4 you dont need it i think , only tier 1 and 2 and some social signals
from googleplus and facebook and twitter .
 
The answer to your question is no. Using GSA to find you high quality backlinks, using senuke to create tier 1s, 2s, and 3s are still effective. You need social signals too. Those are a must have. Facebook likes, facebook shares, facebook comments, twitter links, instagram links, and youtube links.

I completely disagree with the social signals. You are making out they are the x-factor of your tiered link building campaign when really they have such a small effect if any.

Especially if you are using shitty services with fake social signals. That's not what helps you rank.
 
I completely disagree with the social signals. You are making out they are the x-factor of your tiered link building campaign when really they have such a small effect if any.

Especially if you are using shitty services with fake social signals. That's not what helps you rank.


Please quote where I said delivering fake social signals worked? Getting a $5 blast from fiverr is not what I was talking about. Social signals ARE a must have. Real social signals are important and I am sure most will agree. What helped me rank what was was inside of my post. If you disagree, tell that to my keywords that are on the front page. I am not here for a confrontation, but that's what helped me rank.
 
Please quote where I said delivering fake social signals worked? Getting a $5 blast from fiverr is not what I was talking about. Social signals ARE a must have. Real social signals are important and I am sure most will agree. What helped me rank what was was inside of my post. If you disagree, tell that to my keywords that are on the front page. I am not here for a confrontation, but that's what helped me rank.

I was not confronting you.... You were mentioning Social signals with links pointing to your social bots. Obviously I am going to think you mean fake social signals...
 
I was not confronting you.... You were mentioning Social signals with links pointing to your social bots. Obviously I am going to think you mean fake social signals...

Okay, mate. Just making sure this was no confrontation. We are all on the same team here, so to speak (unless you are one of my competitors for my keywords). All jokes aside, I do not deliver social signals with GSA, I do not deliver them with bots. I have hired someone that I know that promotes my pages and everything is done manually.
 
I'll be honest, fake social signals haven't been super helpful to me either and it seems to me that creating authentic and updates FB, Twitter, etc would be extremely time consuming for all of my T1's. I can create a LOT of handmade, quality T1's... but as I mentioned in my OP it becomes time-consuming and/or expensive to create such high quality things to ALL my T1's.

Have you found a cheaper/easier shortcut for creating and maintaining all your authentic social signals?
 
We all laugh sarcastically, but you do realize that in all likelihood there will come a day when linkbuilding in general really IS a thing of the past. While I'm not suggesting that here, I would point out that I feel it is entirely possible that certain TYPES and QUALITIES of links are indeed being "phased out" by Google and that perhaps tiers themselves as mushrooming structure may begin to be seen as a negative if the quality of the links on the lower tiers aren't high enough. A footprint not made of tracks, but of quality stats.
 
If it gets to the point where high quality links have to be used for subsidiary tiers then tiered link building would become pointless as you can just build all of those good links directly to your site and gain the full link juice from them instead of a diluted one.

Tiered link building is not dead. A guest blogger on Mathew Woodward's blog ranked a spam site with tiered link building only a few months back. You just need to adjust your strategy slightly.

What might be causing what seems to be link toxicity to you is aggressive link building. Slow it down, even at the lower tiers, and you'll probably achieve better results.
 
Just make it look natural. for example a good blogpost would receive lots of facebook/twitter shares in a short period. So there is no problem creating a lot of them in a short time. Other types of second tier backlinks don't look natural if you make a lot of them in a short time (blog comments etc). So look at the type of backlinks you are building and adapt the speed your building them on natural behavior.
 
I've been thinking about this for quite some time, but my recent experiences with building tiers in linkbuilding have been increasingly negative. So after a couple months of experimenting I've come to wonder if one of two things is true... Either A) multi-tier linkbuilding (such as MS < T1 < T2 < T3) is dying out as cheap feeder links become useless. or B) Tiered linkbuilding needs to be done in a different and new way.

If it's just dead then having any discussion is pointless, so I'll look into what might be wrong with the way linkbuilding is being done. My primary concern in this, cheap spammy links are toxic... yet every tier needs links and the T2/T3/T4 etc can't afford to have high quality links like true PNB's. So if you're going to build more tiers you are forced to use cheaper and cheaper links as you go. This eventually builds up link toxicity, and pretty soon you've ruined your T1 link and your efforts are all ruined. I've tried a wide range of "cheap" links, links that can be produced or bought for a few dollars, and none were any good on even T3/4. I've experimented with social signals as well... they are great for supporting HQ links, for adding them to cheap crappy T3 links is not very helpful as the links are too spammy to pick up any PR.

So here is the big question... if that were the case then what would the solution be? Is the answer that building multi-tier structures is going to become a VERY expensive endeavor that will cost $100's for each tier's backlinks because we're forced to use such high quality on everything? Is it possible that the rules of the game really HAVE changed and tiers aren't useful?



I wrote about this in my Tiered Link Building Commandments...

The basic structure that is being used today and still successful.

Yes Tier 1 is getting expensive. it's sad, but for LASTING projects you gotta pay to play.
 
I think the biggest issue is then WHICH links to build pointing to a Tier 1, and/or how slow Google is wanting to see those links appear. Time used to be that creating 50 links pointing to a T1 the day after you create it was a fine tactic, but now I've seen few results even after waiting a week and then dripping. What type of links are you pointing to your T1? The issue I'm seeing is that if your T1 is a handmade web2.0 then what do you point at it... you can't point web2.0's at web2.0's at web2.0's. So much of the automated links are now considered "spam" then what isn't spam??
 
I wrote about this in my Tiered Link Building Commandments...

The basic structure that is being used today and still successful.

Yes Tier 1 is getting expensive. it's sad, but for LASTING projects you gotta pay to play.

Thought I would let you know, I think promoting other forums in same niche is against rules.
 
Back
Top