SEO
Common SEO Mistakes – The Bad Link
There is nothing better for a website than a high authority link. A couple great links can lift a website from obscurity to ranking well in the serps in a very short amount of time. Although links can be a great thing, it’s important to remember that bad links can harm your website as much as good ones can help them.
As search engines get smarter, the serps become more and more filtered with quality results. It’s no longer a viable option to just buy a bunch of links and hope for good results. The most powerful links today are gained organically and bring a good amount of quality traffic to your site. Remember the word quality because it’s the most important thing about your web traffic. You could get 100s or 1,000s of visits a day but unless those visits are coming from quality sources and actual people, they don’t mean anything. Search engines are looking more and more at the quality, consistency, and longevity of traffic to a website when they compile their results.
Most Bad Links Are Paid for.
It’s sad but true. You will want to avoid bad links like the plague and the most common place to find them is by paying for them. There is an awesome article by randfish from SEOmoz that explains how link building has changed. While I don’t agree with him that buying links is entirely a bad thing; it definitely pays to be cautious.
Don’t use link building services
It’s so tempting. There’s a site offering hundreds, possibly thousands of links for a mere $100. They promise you the links aren’t bad, they even claim most of the sites have a PR between 1 and 4. Sounds too good to be true; that’s because it is. What these services don’t tell you is that some (if not most) of the places your link will end up are in the bad part of town – the javascript-trojan-spam-fest part of the web.
Submit to Directories but be Cautious
Directories can be a great source of high quality back links but you’ll want to avoid submitting haphazardly to any directory you come across. Long term SEO goals should not rely on directory submissions, they are however, a good way to build page strength and quality back links quickly. Here are a few great tips to remember when submitting to directories:
What Makes a Good Directory?
Here are some quick things to keep in mind when looking at a directory for a potential back link.
What’s the Page and Domain Strength
Check the strength of the page your link will be appearing, is it worth having a back link? Is it worth paying for that link? Check the page and domain strength (I recommend Linkscape) and find out whether or not this link will be valuable.
Is the Site Indexed?
Always make sure your link will be indexed by search engines. If it’s not, don’t submit. If they don’t recognize it, the link is pretty much worthless; especially if you paying for it. Here’s a simple trick to find out whether or not your link will be indexed:
Type site:http://www.yourwebsite.com in any search engine and find out if it’s being indexed.
How much Advertising do they have?
Directories with so many ads that it becomes cumbersome to navigate (there are tons of these) are not worth links. You’ll find that the best directories online (free and paid) don’t have that many ads; sometimes they have none. It’s not a coincidence.
Do they List Adult Sites?
If a directory lists adult sites (unless it’s a large and prominent directory) don’t list your site there; unless of course you’re promoting an adult site. It’s always a good idea to remain in family friendly directories, the links are typically worth more and there is no possible guilt by association.
Avoid Auto Approval Directories
A good rule of thumb when submitting to directories is to make sure that they are human edited. If all sites are accepted, chances are your link won’t be worth much. Search Engines put more emphasis on directories which are human edited and actually try to avoid auto-submit directories.
Avoid Free Directories
In my experience, most free directories are not well edited. Most are used in hopes of generating traffic to click on their ads and make a few dollars for the webmaster; they’re mostly junk sites. But that’s not to say that there aren’t great free directories online, they’re just usually hard to find. The truth is, I’ve probably spent more time removing bad free directory links then I’ve ever had gaining good free directory links.
Here are some great free directories I’ve come across:
Simply put, this is the best directory online. If you can actually manage to secure a link here, it will significantly boost your page and domain strength. Be aware, the wait for link approval is beyond long and it’s highly political. So don’t count on your site being linked here, but if it is, be happy.
This is a great human edited free and paid directory. They have almost no advertising and have great domain and page strength. Their free approvals can be very long (up to 6 months) but they only list quality sites.
No advertising, human edited, great page strength.
No ads, human edited decent page strength.
Best Web Directories provides a great list of free directories online.
Listen to the Search Engines
Google, Bing, and Yahoo constantly give out information in interviews, blogs, and other sources which explains parts of their ranking process. In a great article by Chris Crum over at WebProNews, he talks about the dos and don’ts of link building for Bing with Rick DeJarnette of Bing’s Webmaster Center. The interview provides a great layout of what makes a website successful in today’s serps.
Be in Control of Your Links
The easiest way to avoid bad links is to know where your site is being linked. Keeping a constant watch of your back links is a great way to make sure your site isn’t ending up in the wrong part of town.
Google Webmaster Tools provides a great free service for your website which can check your back links recognized by Google.
Domain Inbound Links Checker is a really great tool that picks up on links a lot of other services don’t. (no anchor text in the results).
Backlink Watch is another great tool and picks up a lot of backlinks other tools don’t, but they have a lot of ads and the results are kind of slow (they display the anchor text).
Page Speed might affect Google Rankings in 2010
I recently read an article over at WebProNews that Google might be using the speed of your webpage as a factor that will affect search results. They haven’t made any changes yet, but an interview by WebProNews with Google’s Matt Cutts reveals their plans might change in 2010.
“Historically, we haven’t had to use it in our search rankings, but a lot of people within Google think that the web should be fast,” says Cutts. “It should be a good experience, and so it’s sort of fair to say that if you’re a fast site, maybe you should get a little bit of a bonus. If you really have an awfully slow site, then maybe users don’t want that as much.” Cutts says. “I think a lot of people in 2010 are going to be thinking more about ‘how do I have my site be fast,’ how do I have it be rich without writing a bunch of custom javascript?’”
This is nothing but good news, I think sites that load quickly should be rewarded in the SERPS. Good hosting and programming provide a better experience to visitors. It’s becoming increasingly clear that seo and website design are becoming the same industry. If you’re not building a website with seo in mind you’re not building it right.
Even though Google hasn’t changed anything yet, they have already created a Google code resource center aimed at making the web “faster”. This seems to be a clear indication that speed will be a bigger issue in seo in the next year.
What are your thoughts?
Comment Hunt | The DoFollow Blog Search
Recently I came across a really great “dofollow” blog search engine called Comment Hunt.
What’s great about “dofollow” blogs is that if you include your url, search engines will count it for backlink purposes; it’s a free and great way to get high quality backlinks.
It works like any other search engine. Type in a phrase and the results are a bunch of dofollow blogs. I’ve seen some suspect sites, but the majority of the results are quality content. It’s rare, but I have come across a couple nofollow blogs; but they do have a form to add a dofollow blog or report a nofollow blog.
They also offer a comment submission service:
- $19.99 for 100 Comments
- $44.99 for 250 Comments
- $83.99 for 500 Comments
I haven’t personally tried it so I can’t recommend it, but I’ve read mixed things. Here is a great review from Essential SEO Tools & Resources.
Be warned, most of the blog owners actually read and approve your comments, so providing quality content will be the only way to get approved. One thing I have noticed is that most of the search results will begin to repeat themselves, leading me to believe that they’re really aren’t as many blogs being searched as you might think.
I’d be interested to know if anyone has had a positive experience with their paid comment service. Anyone else have any good “dofollow” blog resources?
7 Tips for Good Link Building
Without a doubt, one of the most important aspects to any SEO campaign is building quality back links. But creating a good network of links takes both time and research – remember to put quality before quantity. One of the most common places to acquire high quality links is through both paid and free directories.
But with the thousands, if not millions of directories online, which are the most valuable to link to?
Here are a few quick tips to help determine a valuable directory:
1. Determine the Page Strength
And I’m not just talking about Google PageRank. It’s been known for awhile that the simplified PageRank (which is most commonly seen in the Google Toolbar) is not actually your real PageRank; that is a much more complex number kept by Google. Although don’t delete your toolbar just yet, PageRank can be a good first impression. If a directory, especially a paid one, has a PR below 2, chances are it’s not worth the link.
*Just recently Google removed PageRank from its Webmaster Tools (full story from WebProNews).
Another common form of page ranking is the Alexa Ranking System. Like Google PageRank, it’s more of a safety net than a valuable resource, but generally directories which fall below the 100,000 mark on the Alexa scale are going to be worthy of a link.
I prefer to use the LinkScape tool over at seomoz to determine Page Strength. It provides more detailed data than both Google PageRank and the Alexa Ranking. They offer a number of free tools, but if you’re serious about pursuing SEO, you should definitely sign up for a PRO account.
Here are some things to keep in mind when evaluating Page Strength:
Don’t Just Check the Page Strength of the Home Page
Is your link going to be placed on the homepage of the directory? Chances are no.
Check the Page Strength to the Page Your Linking To
Before submitting a link, find the page on the directory where your link will appear. Look to see how the links are organized (a lot of them do it by PR, some sort on a first-come-first-serve basis; others have a bidding system, etc.). If you’re link is going to end up on a low ranking page of a directory, you probably shouldn’t submit. It’s true the overall strength of the domain will help build your link strength, but the page your link appears on is more important than anything else.
2. How Many Links Are On the Page
How many other links are on the page you’re link will be on?
Too many links on a page can negatively affect their value. If you’re link is going to be added to a page with 100 other links, unless that page has an incredibly high Page Strength, you’re not going to be seeing much benefit.
Stick to directories and categories with a low number of links per page and high Page Strength. Many times you can list your site in a sub-category, or a similar category that contains less links and decent page strength.
3. Is the Directory Indexed?
Is the directory you’re submitting to index by Google, Yahoo, and Bing? If it’s not, it’s pretty much worthless. The only way those links are going to count is if Google, Yahoo, or Bing, says they do.
Here is a nifty trick to see if a site is indexed. Use this string in any search engine:site:http://www.yourwebsite.com the results will be which pages the search engine has indexed.
Google’s Webmaster Tools can provide excellent data on which of your back links are being recognized by Google. A single directory submission can result in a number of quality back links.
4. Use Keywords in the Anchor Text
Adding keywords to your anchor text is highly encouraged, so finding a directory that allows you to use keywords in your anchor text is a definite plus.
A lot of higher profile directories won’t allow you to put anything but your business name in the anchor text, but most of the smaller or mid-ranged directories (that still maintain good Page Strength) will allow you to place keywords and descriptive titles in your anchor text.
Example:
Good Listing: Search Engine Optimization Orange County
Bad Listing: Omikron Media
5. Expensive Directories Aren’t Always the Best Source of Links
It’s true. The most valuable links sometimes come from the most inexpensive sources.
While I would definitely recommend some high end directories like Yahoo or Best of the Web, some of your most valuable back links can be generated from lesser known and much more inexpensive directories.
The Yahoo Directory ($299 annually) can provide dozens – in some cases hundreds – of quality back links from a single submission. Best of the Web ($299.95 one-time) can provide multiple, high quality back links.
The absolute best directory online for quality back links doesn’t cost anything at all; although getting listed in there is quite a challenge. DMOZ is the largest and most respected human edited directory on the internet; it’s also free. Except getting a link approved could take months, sometimes years, and sometimes never.
6. Purchase Featured Listings
If you’re listing to a directory, especially an inexpensive one, consider purchasing a featured listing. I know a lot of directories will claim that this leads to more traffic to your site, but it really doesn’t. Don’t kid yourself, nobody uses directories for search results; they’re used to build quality back links.
Sometimes the difference of a few dollars can buy a lot more than a single link. Many directories will place featured listings on every page of their selected category; meaning multiple quality back links.
7. Submit Deep Links Where Available
Deep Links are links to your website other than the index page. Every page of your website has the opportunity to rank well in search results, so when you get the chance to submit one, do it.
Some inexpensive directories will allow deep links with a standard or featured listing, take advantage of these offers when available, never deny the opportunity to submit deep links.
Great Inexpensive Directories
Here are some great inexpensive directories to list to. All the directories listed below are indexed by search engines and provide quality links.
Omikron Media LLC is not affiliated with any of the directories listed below.
This is a great inexpensive directory that provides SEO friendly back links that are quickly indexed by Google. Submissions are approved within 8 hours and your links can be indexed a few days after listing. Their “Network Power Listing” ($8.99) submits your link to 6 different directories contained in their network; very much worth a submission.
This is another great inexpensive directory that provides SEO friendly links and the option to add three additional deep links. Their “Lifetime Top Regular Link” ($19) ensures that your link will appear on the first page of your category. They also offer the option to add three deep links to a submission for an additional $10. Submissions are approved very quickly and their pages are indexed weekly, if not daily, by Google.
Featured listings with 3 deep links are only $9.94. Their submissions are approved quickly and indexed by search engines.
This small business directory offers quality back links for cheap ($5.99). Their links are approved quickly and they are indexed.
While I wouldn’t recommend this directory over Pro Link, Omega 55, or Directory Vault, they are still worth submitting a link to. They don’t have many submissions per category, but the strength per page is pretty good. Their submission process is quick and the pages are indexed. Standard listings are $12.95, they do not offer deep links.
5 Social Media Websites You Should Know About.
When it comes to writing a Blog post or a Tweet, it’s always a great idea to know what people are talking about. The sites listed below give great detailed information from a wide spectrum of social networks; best of all, they’re free.
Blog Pulse (http://www.blogpulse.com)
Blog Pulse is a Nielson rating’s system for Blogs. Using their trend tool: http://www.blogpulse.com/trend simply place your keywords into the selected fields and see what comes up. (make sure to use quotes on each search term, ex. “drivers ed”)
Once you input your keywords and display label, you’ll be able to see just how popular your subject has been over the past few months. Click on the search results field to get actual blog posts that have used your keywords. Read their posts to find out what people are talking about and how you can contribute.
Technorati (http://www.technorati.com)
Technorati is a mix between Digg and Blog Pulse. It’s a social bookmarking service like Digg, but also a great Blog search engine like Blog Pulse.
Signing up for an account let’s you track your Blog as well as bookmark your posts. Technorati compiles information from blogs and press releases; it can be a very valuable resource.
Monitter (http://www.monitter.com)
If you use Twitter then it’s no doubt you’ve seen the trending topics tab. While this can be a useful tool in discovering popular subjects, it doesn’t provide much detailed information.
Monniter offers a way to track Tweets by subject and region through real-time feeds. Find out what people are saying in your area, about your business, right now.
Twendz (http://www.twendz.com)
Twendz is a lot like Monitter, except you can search only by subject and not by region. Find out what people are Twittering about in your subject area and respond accordingly. Detailed information is given on the popularity of the subject, the frequency of posts, and sub-topics.
Board Tracker (http://www.boardtracker.com)
Board Tracker is a search engine for message boards all around the internet. This is another great resource for monitoring popular subjects and even what customers might be saying about your products.
Message boards and Forums are still a very popular way for people to connect with one-another online. Having that personal communication is always an invaluable resource for gaining awareness about your website, products, or blog.
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News
Google Vs. Microsoft – The Search War Continues in 2010.
Currently Google takes up about 70% of all online searches, Yahoo claims around 16% and Bing claims about 10%
