I don’t know if y’all knew this but, I used to be pretty good at this SEO crap. But after taking a few years off I an only assume I missed a lot of super important stuff. I heard something about a panda bear, some scheme-a-ma-jig, so-cal votes and facebook smears…
Seems important.
Do uh, links, still work for SEO? Anybody out there still spinning and winning? From what I have read, every type of automation has been systematically weeded out and all sites using it have been banned right? We need to “hand-job” everything in order to succeed?
One thing’s for sure, from the research I’ve done since I’ve been back, I can say this: there’s still just as much noise, fear mongering, ass licking, and bullshit being pushed from these so called “experts” as there was back in the day when I was ignoring them.
I call bullshit.
As much as some nuances have changed, the basics are still the same. Get links. The bigger the better. Get authority. And anchor text still works. Search engineers always find ways to close holes in their algorithms that have been exposed time and time again, right? But for some reason there still are holes so big you can still drive a Mack truck through them. And some of the new stuff they’re introducing is even easier to game in it’s early stages. *cough* *choke* *automated google +1 votes* *fart*
In all my years, I’ve played in and dominated very competitive verticals, and I have never had a single site banned. Because common sense tells you don’t get too spammy, and don’t be too obvious, and don’t be evil. Just because you can flare up some behind the proxy scraper / spinner / poster / pinger tools to harvest 30,00 links doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. But competitive sense should tell you that just because a few big time SEO names or search engine employees at some expensive drunk fest glad-handing circle jerk (I mean conference, in case you didn’t catch the reference) tell you not to do something, IT DOESN’T MEAN THAT IT WILL NOT WORK. You just have to get a feel for where the line is and don’t cross it… too often. And if you do cross the line, do it by a tip toe, not by a mile. Don’t be the Leeroyyyyyy Jenkins of link building.
There are safe ways to be aggressive. Even now, when everybody tells you it’s impossible. Don’t run around like an idiot blowing shit up with a hydrogen bomb where a single sniper should would do the trick. And don’t listen to these fools trying to throw you off course. Get links. Good ones. Lots of em. And rank Up!
March 31st, 2012 on 7:30 pm
First of all, I would like to say thank you for being so straight forward in your presentation- it is truly appreciated.
There are major holes in the search engines abilities although they continue to try to weed out the major issues, like you said. I mean the Panda did wipe out wasted space sites and while there are tricks to get by the world isn’t filled with so many worthless, Adsense “I’m trying to make a buck while it looks like I’m here to help” kind of websites.
As far as the linking is concerned I think that you basically said it all, but the fact is that their relevance has dropped in the eyes of the engines, I believe. Of course, they are still important but there are far other things out there worth seeking nowadays, especially with the drive of Facebook and building communities around your websites!
Overall, a great and very informative post. Thank you for taking the time!
July 12th, 2012 on 11:40 am
It is really tough finding good SEO advice and services. Every person claims to have the greatest software and tips, which makes it hard to figure out what’s truthful and what’s not. I will hate to get banned from Google.