Is it fair that Google likes paid links?
I’ve been asking this question to our SEO team for a while now. Why is it that Google ‘likes’ links? And how can this be fair?
For those of you unfamiliar with the concept of ‘links’, here’s some background information:
- Links (also known as backlinks) are from another site to your site
- Links can help your Google rankings because ‘they are a useful way of measuring a site’s value’
- The quantity and quality of links count towards your site’s rating
Google’s official guidelines state that links should be from trusted sources and should not be bought and sold illegitimately. This is part of Google’s commitment to make search results fair.
But in reality there is very little sanctioning to determine which links are legitimate and which aren’t. This means that successfully ranking sites often have links from what could only be described as ‘dodgy’ sources and are not penalised at all. Therefore many webmasters continue to buy their links from questionable sources simply because they are getting results.
As buying large quantities of links ultimately comes down to money, then companies with a higher budget can achieve better rankings. But isn’t this at the expense of search relevance?
So how can Google root out this practice? The trouble is that links are an SEO factor that is out of the webmaster’s control. In theory, you can’t help who links to your site and this means there is potential for interference from competitors should Google crack-down on ‘bad’ links.
This leaves Google with a conundrum. Either Google accepts that all links are a ‘vote of confidence’ from other users and gives them all a green light (no matter their legitimacy); or Google decides to ban all links (no matter the relevancy). Or perhaps, and in my opinion, the ‘right’ way would be to use a clever algorithm to root out those links that are irrelevant.
Unfortunately, SEO companies have very little control over Google’s decisions. We have to move with the times and do what Google says (and not necessarily as they do). But is the integrity of search being spoiled by this factor? I would certainly welcome your comments on links and how they should affect SEO rankings.
“Link baiting” – Just another term for building a good website?
SEO has its fair share of buzz words these days (we are marketers after all), one that is particularly common of late is “link baiting”. Don’t worry if you haven’t heard of this term before or if you’re not sure what it actually means because it’s quite simple really…
The term “link baiting” refers to a simple strategy for naturally increasing the number of links to your website, and as we all know the more links you have coming in to your website the higher your page rank and the better your site will rank in the SERP’s. Link baiting is a completely natural approach to link building and will leave your site with genuine, organically built links; it does not involve buying links, endlessly commenting on blogs, using any automated posting software or anything wacky like that. With this system other people will build links to your website for you and best of all it is so simple that any website owner can do it.
So what is the catch and how does it work?
Ok, lets get down to brass tacks…link baiting…lets think about it. The clue is in the name – so we are laying bait to promote people to link to our sites. I guess the big question is, what is the bait?
The bait can be anything that engages people, something they like, use, need or enjoy – something so engaging and attention grabbing they just have to link to it. So what type of content can cause enough of a fuss that people, without being asked, decide to link to your website? Well the first question is probably what kind of people are you looking to attract and what will engage them? This is when market research and a good knowledge of your customers comes into play, the answer is very different depending on the type and role of your website.
Common types of “link bait” include Interviews with industry guru’s, useful industry tools, great articles, specialised reports, contests, reviews, controversial opinions, free resources and tools, “how to” articles and videos, and anything else that you think might appeal you your audience.
In short, what you are looking to do here is build a good website. If you build a high quality, well thought out, engaging website that is focused around the user then you should never need to build a single link to your website – given time they will come to you.
To go back to Google phrase from time gone by, “content is king”.