Worthwhile Tier 1 links for 2014 - Tiered Link Building

So guys,

The last time i set up a new site was around this time last year.

My strategy then was typical tiered link building

Tier 1 :
Primarily
Web 2.0's - Manually spun articles
Guest Blogs
Private Blog Network

A small amount of
Directory links
Directory articles (Ezine is the only one i can recall using but there was a few more)

Tier 2 & Beyond:
Automated using GSA / Scrape box

With the updates to Google in the past year, im wondering what tier 1 links are the 'in thing' for getting a new site up and running.

Are slidedeck sites, pdf uploads etc still worth doing to attract aback link from? If so can you please share some lists for worthwhile sites for uploading to?

Also what other methods are you using for tier 1?

Thanks guys

Well, I've been seeing a little bit of a waiting period for my sites to rank - about 3/4 weeks. I would hand write all your content in Tier 1, Use High PR blog networks, try to get some expired web 2.0s with hand written content. I use social signals even though there is no proof they even make a difference but promoting your website can do no harm.

I haven't been doing this for long but everything you mentioned still works. Maybe make your tier 2 less spammy, Google is getting better at detecting spun content and punishing you for spammed tier 1. Yes, adding PDF links and others like audio and video links for diversification and creating a natural link profile is effective, although obviously homepage PBN links are crushing everything else.

I'm using quality PBN links only and cover them up (anchor text diversification) using GSA SER along with very strict filters. So I guess T1 hasn't changed much. Pretty much the same for you from what I can tell by looking at your T1 setup.

It might be a good idea to avoid spam on T2, at least if you're planning on making the site worthwile. I'm getting the suspicion that Google has picked up on this whole tiered link building by now and is able to scan through T2 level, too. So I'd eather support those with quality links or use stronger PBN links and don't use tiers at all.

As for social signals - I don't really know. I simply like to sprinkle a couple, just for the sake of making my site look a little bit more natural, but I really don't know how many you need to actually influence your rankings.