Link Building With Directories: Does it Still Work?

In the past, submitting your website to SEO friendly directories as a link building strategy was a great way to build your backlink profile and improve your rankings in the search engine results pages (SERPs). It didn't take a lot of time, effort, or critical thinking to get the job done. As a result, it was one of the most relied upon link building strategies for many years. And yet, as Google and other search engines improve their algorithms to better recognize quality backlinks and the value behind them, submitting to directories as a link building strategy has become less popular. This transition has a lot of people throughout the SEO community asking, "Does submitting to directories still work? Should directory submissions be a part of my building strategy?" Let's discuss what you need to know.

Sponsored Reviews: Paid Link Forum Review

Sponsored Reviews is a forum that webmasters can access to find paid link opportunities. Back in June, I wrote a review on Digital Point, perhaps the most popular paid links forum, and since then have had some requests to give my input on Sponsored Reviews as well. As I always do when discussing paid links, it is necessary to point out that Google is not a fan of paid links, and if you are overdoing it, there is some risk involved a la JCPenney and Overstock.com. While we know that buying links at times can be necessary depending on the industry and particular keyword phrase one is trying to rank for, it is best to respect the process and ensure that the links you are paying for are placed on related (and quality) websites. With that in mind, let's discuss some of the positive and negative factors associated with using Sponsored Reviews.

Link Building Strategies: Improving Anchor Text for Better SERPs Rankings

It is well established in the SEO community that the number and quality of keyword rich anchor text backlinks that a website has is the number one determinate of ranking positions in the search engine results pages (SERPs). This is due to the fact that Google's algorithm is link based - meaning, their search engine robots crawl the web via links, and these robots arrive at websites by following these links.

The anchor text of those links (the link title that one clicks on) demonstrates to the robots what the page they are crawling to is all about. As such, when someone performs a search query, Google retrieves web pages from their index (that have been crawled by the robots) that may be relevant to what that individual is searching for. The anchor text directed towards a website allows the search engine to, generally speaking, assess the subject matter of the site's content, and how valuable it may be to online users (once they have actually crawled the site). While we know of many standard ways to go out and build links to a website, there are a couple of strategies that interestingly enough often elude webmasters and SEO professionals alike.

Digital Point: Paid Links Forum Review

There are many sources that webmasters can use to buy links, and it is inevitable that more will pop up as the ever-changing world of link building continues to evolve. I have talked about paid links in posts that I have written in the past, but I think it is always important to reiterate the following - buying links is a risk, as it is a tactic that can be used to manipulate Google's algorithm, and any action taken to manipulate that algorithm can result in a penalty. As a result, it is important that webmasters who resort to buying links or selling link opportunities understand that notion and tread those waters with caution. I want to discuss Digital Point, a collection of webmaster forums that discusses all things related to search engines, online marketing, and the technical aspects of web development.

Anchor Text Links and SERPs Rankings

The key to ranking high in the search engine results pages (SERPs) is having a high quality backlink profile. The more websites that link to your website, the more of an authority Google's algorithm will perceive your site to be. The algorithm was constructed to solve a complex problem - how do we return the best possible information to an online user that is searching for something? Links are the exponential factor that help Google partially solve that problem.

Have Blog Commenting Links Lost Their Value?

Last week I discussed the process of purchasing links from blogs, what webmasters who are considering buying links need to look for, and what the risks are of buying links from websites that are entirely unrelated in content. Ideally, webmasters should be working hard to acquire non-paid, high quality links from other webmasters that maintain sites that are in the same niche or industry as their own. As Google's algorithm develops and becomes smarter, acquiring high quality unpaid links has inevitably become increasingly difficult. One tactic that most relied on, the acquisition of valued links through blog commenting, may not be as sound of an approach any more.

Buying Links from Blogs to Increase Rankings

There will always be two sides to the story of whether or not buying links is an effective strategy to increase your rankings in the search engine results pages (SERPs). All things being equal (quality of content, on-site optimization etc.), it is necessary to understand that a website that has a large number of high quality links will outrank a competitor that has a less impressive backlink profile. As a result, I don't necessarily think that whether or not you should buy links is the appropriate question to ask.

Google Penalizes JCPenney and Overstock.com Websites

Everyone in the world of SEO at this juncture is aware of the recent events involving JCPenney and Overstock.com and the penalties each company's website received from Google as a result of their actions. Essentially, Google determined that JCPenney and Overstock were using link-building tactics that violated their webmaster guidelines, thus dropping their rankings for queries that they had maintained listings on the first page of the organic search results for long periods of time.