Everyone talks about getting "quality" links to their sites but what exactly does that mean?
I mean specifically for an ecomerce site in a high competition field what can you do that G will see as white hat link building?
I'm looking for a list of specifics, build quality links doesn't mean anything. It's pretty much impossible to get a link from an authority site(for one because they don't really exist in this field) and I'm left with web 2.0 blog style links, profile links, social bookmarks and forum posts... but ALL of that stuff is blackhat or at the very best case scenario grey hat.
Can anyone post a list of specific link types and ideas that they consider 100% white hat?
The reason I'm asking is that I am about to launch SEO services and while this sounds like a question a person in this field shouldn't be asking, I'm after some second opinions. Call me a pessimist but the moment anyone starts doing offpage SEO/link building, in my eyes it's against google guidelines as you're not actually supposed to build any links to your sites but rather "motivate" people to build "natural" links to you instead. In that sense the moment anyone builds any link to their site themselves it's grey/black hat...
I am quoting you just because I would like to refresh the subject to those who are reading and following this thread. I have not seen a single reply to your post that answered more than just the post title. You are sincerely asking for opinions on a matter that is quite significant in IM.
White hat = natural (or what Big G would consider the natural flow of traffic, visitor interaction, and linking over time).
Next question you asked was about what getting 'quality' links means. This just means to get as natural a link as possible from the most AUTHORITATIVE source possible. This link may be created in a Black Hat fashion, but if it looks entirely natural (how Big G will see it/crawl it), then it is a very white hat linking strategy (manual linking does not necessarily mean white hat and vice versa).
It is this statement that really bothers me though:
"It's pretty much impossible to get a link from an authority site(for one because they don't really exist in this field) and I'm left with web 2.0 blog style links, profile links, social bookmarks and forum posts... but ALL of that stuff is blackhat or at the very best case scenario grey hat".
If your Web 2.0, profile links, social bookmarks, forum posts, etc. look completely natural (whether it is created artificially AND comes from various IP's), then this is not black hat at all (in Big G's eye) cause nobody (your traffic or the search engine) won't know the difference (when disguised well).
Black hat methods are purely timesavers so you can focus on multiple campaigns. When used effectively, the best black hat methods 'mimic' those of white hatters. You already know this (just offering some advice...see below) as you have ranked many "sites" in the past.
Let me just clarify something from all of those fellow members following this thread:
Sites DO NOT RANK!! If you are trying to rank a "site", then you are wasting your time...instead,you should focus on how to best RANK EACH INDIVIDUAL PAGE of a site. This may come as to a surprise to some of you in IM, but it is true (If anyone would like to dispute this, I would be glad to point them to my sources). Each page ranks for several reasons and there are many formulas plus much speculation as to how this actually works.
When you are trying to target traffic in a particular niche (or in your case field) in attempts to get them to visit your PAGES, you simply are trying to outrank your competition for the specific keywords that are typed into a search box. Since you mentioned that you are involved in a highly competitive e-commerce niche, then this would be a prime opportunity for you to alter your linking strategy and marketing approach overall.
What I would suggest here (as I am successful in marketing for high-competition e-commerce niche markets myself) is to focus on making each particular page become as high ranking as possible. This may require (as it has in the past for me and let's just say Amazon Affiliate marketing) re-optimizing your individual pages, tags, and inbound linking anchor text (a huge boost for me since the last Panda update!).
I repeatedly compete in high competition niche markets for e-commerce where my 'review' pages outrank the companies I sell for. I also gather inbound links from the manufacturers in most cases. They are often quite receptive to my efforts as it aids them by strengthening their online presence. This is done as a reciprocal linking strategy that I arrange through e-mail correspondence with webmasters from that particular manufacturer.
I use similar strategy (very white hat btw) with many of my niche sites and not just my e-commerce ones.
You posted this thread to get answers to the questions that you asked and I am trying to do my best to provide you with the kind of information that you need to get yourself ranking well in the SERP's. I have presented a couple linking strategies that I use successfully and apologize that they are not in a list form like you asked.
I am a bit curious, as are several other readers of this thread I can see, what kinds of SEO services are you looking to offer? It looks as if you are referring to off-page SEO in particular.
You had also mentioned: "I have ranked every site i have worked on to page 1 and multiple #1 rankings. This is simply a post to get some ideas on making the process as clean and googleproof as possible". Were these ranking methods that you used to achieve these results 'dirty' to you?
I am just trying to offer my take on this matter as it is becoming more a an issue with marketers recently. Not too sure if it is guilt or ethics for some of us folks. Just remember....no matter how dirty it is, money is always green!
Good luck in your SEO venture and hope that this e-commerce site works out well for you!
