{"id":41505,"date":"2016-09-29T10:55:37","date_gmt":"2016-09-29T17:55:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bruceclay.com\/blog\/?p=41505"},"modified":"2017-02-24T09:36:57","modified_gmt":"2017-02-24T17:36:57","slug":"link-building-stories-to-save-your-site","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bruceclay.com\/blog\/link-building-stories-to-save-your-site\/","title":{"rendered":"17 Ways Link Building Can Go Awry"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a report from SMX East 2016. Search Marketing Expo (<\/em>SMX<\/em><\/a>) features speakers from industry-leading digital marketers and search engine representatives. <\/em>Subscribe to the BCI\u00a0Blog<\/em><\/a> to get coverage of key sessions sent to your inbox.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Shah
Link building specialist Sha Menz<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Link removal specialist Sha Menz<\/a> has a word of warning for SEOs: Manipulating the link game is like everything else \u2014 it’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye. <\/strong><\/p>\n

A superhero SEO can come along and save your site, but there are much more powerful things your superhero SEO could be doing rather than link cleanup.<\/p>\n

Menz shared 17 areas where link building<\/a> can go awry and 3 ways link earning<\/a>\/building can be done best!<\/p>\n

17 Ways Link Building Can Go Wrong<\/h2>\n

1. Anchor Text<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"link<\/a><\/p>\n

2. Paid Links<\/strong>
\nThere’s nothing wrong with a sponsored link, by the way \u2014 but call it out. Note that it’s sponsored, like Search Engine Land Editor Barry Schwartz does in the below example.<\/p>\n

\"link-nofollow-example\"<\/a><\/p>\n

3. Reciprocal Link Exchange<\/strong><\/p>\n

These seem to be having a resurgence, said Menz. If you’re shaking hands and agreeing to trade links with someone, it’s not necessarily a bad thing \u2014 if <\/em>there’s some actual reason that both of your sites can link to the other in a natural and useful way. BUT if this is the case, don’t hesitate to use a nofollow tag. Getting traffic and being useful are the key things you’re doing here.<\/p>\n

4. JavaScript and CSS Tricks<\/strong><\/p>\n

Don’t hide things here. Search engines will see it.<\/p>\n

5. Irrelevant and Spun Content<\/strong><\/p>\n

6. Footer Links<\/strong><\/p>\n

People can get very sneaky. In the below example, the word “C-o-p-y-r-i-g-h-t” actually has a link on every letter.<\/p>\n

\"linking<\/p>\n

7. Comment Spam<\/strong><\/p>\n

8. Wiki-loading<\/strong><\/p>\n

9. Bad Directories<\/strong><\/p>\n

10. Guest Posting<\/strong><\/p>\n

11. Kiss-of-Death Domains
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"kiss-of-death<\/a><\/p>\n

Learn about suspect domains at DomainTools.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

12. Link Networks<\/strong><\/p>\n

13. Redirect Madness<\/strong><\/p>\n

Watch out for third-party redirect passes through high-quality domains. This might appear in the form of intentionally misspelled domain names in the code. Use the SpamFlag Chrome extension in conjunction with Majestic SEO.<\/p>\n

14. Coupon Capers<\/strong><\/p>\n

15. Link Builders You Forgot to Fire<\/strong><\/p>\n

This may sound ridiculous, but it can happen. Ensure previous link builders have been informed and are not building additional links.<\/p>\n

16. Rogue Themes, Toolbars and Plugins<\/strong><\/p>\n

17. Black Hats Masquerading as White Hats<\/strong><\/p>\n

3 Ways Link Building Works<\/h2>\n

It’s all about doing the work. None of the tricks are worth it. Investing your time in actual work is much more profitable. Consider, then, doing the following:<\/p>\n

1. Help Others to Help Yourself<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sometimes you’re just out there in a forum being really helpful, or you have written a blog post that’s really valuable. Those kinds of things can pay you back dividends with links.<\/p>\n

2. Share Your Expertise<\/strong><\/p>\n

Loan a developer, teach a local class, etc.<\/p>\n

3. Do the Unexpected<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Elephant in the Room: Penguin in the Wild<\/h2>\n

Menz would be remiss if she didn’t bring up the elephant in the room: Penguin. Is the newly hatched real-time Penguin the light at the end of the tunnel for your site, or are you clinging to a runaway train?<\/p>\n

“Recognition of your cleanup work will be quicker by the search engines, but results will be harder to spot,” said Menz, adding that the only real results she’s seen (so far) have been people who are ill-affected.<\/p>\n

One thing she wants to note is that disavows are still important<\/strong>, which we also confirmed with Google Webmaster Trends Analyst Gary Illyes earlier this week:<\/p>\n

\n

@BruceClayInc<\/a> we haven’t changed our recommendations for the disavow tool with this launch<\/p>\n

\u2014 Gary Illyes (@methode) September 26, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n