Incoming links for Google

[TedWestie]

Hi,

New here - well sort of (had an account a few years ago but cannot access it as password reset form didn't work)

Just interested on peoples thoughts regarding reciprocal linking versus links for decent content.

I produce decent content for my niche (got some decent links but don't think Google sees them as they are behind Moodle log-ins! ) but it's not really the niche where people would go 'WOW thats great I'll link to it / share it, so links can be hard to come by.

Most of my competitors are engaged in reciprocal linking and I just cannot hope to get the quantity of links that they seem to acquire (even if my content started attracting links I very much doubt it would keep up with what others acquire).

If you look at someone like Rand Fishkin (just an example) content is king etc, but people will hang on everything he says, re-tweet thousands of times as thats the niche he operates in and everybody who reads his stuff are online and social media savvy and will quite often share!

I am doing anything wrong do you think or should i just go down the route of my competitors and start churning out reciprocal links?! (I don't really want to do that).

[Test-ok]

Not everyone hangs on Randfish...
But content is king...start a blog...and here's the important part...put it on your site, add good content and you won't need links, your site will be building nitch content.
For some reason everyone wants to get links after links after links. Don't get me wrong..links are good, but kickass content is better and it'll do the link thing for ya.
What I'm getting at is spend you time on your site rather than getting others to link to you and getting your nitch content from other sites. Their doing what you should be doing...their building nitch content your site needs and hopefully you get a link...why give it to them...you do it.

oh and welcome back Ted

[DarrenHaye]

Hi,

New here - well sort of (had an account a few years ago but cannot access it as password reset form didn't work)

Just interested on peoples thoughts regarding reciprocal linking versus links for decent content.

I produce decent content for my niche (got some decent links but don't think Google sees them as they are behind Moodle log-ins! ) but it's not really the niche where people would go 'WOW thats great I'll link to it / share it, so links can be hard to come by.

Most of my competitors are engaged in reciprocal linking and I just cannot hope to get the quantity of links that they seem to acquire (even if my content started attracting links I very much doubt it would keep up with what others acquire).

If you look at someone like Rand Fishkin (just an example) content is king etc, but people will hang on everything he says, re-tweet thousands of times as thats the niche he operates in and everybody who reads his stuff are online and social media savvy and will quite often share!

I am doing anything wrong do you think or should i just go down the route of my competitors and start churning out reciprocal links?! (I don't really want to do that).

What niche are you in? maybe could help you with ideas on where/how to get links.. at least if the suggestions aren't helpeful might get your mind rolling on to better ideas.

Reciprocal linking can often look pretty unnatural, it's not something I would want to get involved in to any large extent generally.

[TedWestie]

Not every hangs on Randfish...
But content is king...start a blog...and here's the important part...put it on your site, add good content and you won't need links, your site will be building nitch content.
For some reason everyone wants to get links after links after links. Don't get me wrong..links are good, but kickass content is better and it'll do the link thing for ya.

No no, didn't mean the Fishkin thing like that but for example if he demonstrates link bait lets say, it will work 100% of the time as various seo blogs mention it and more than likely link to it!

I do have a blog and thats the part with all the Moodle back links (give me links google can read you swines! lol) but although get loads of pageviews (and retweets on twitter!) never seem to get an incoming link (other than moodle). So maybe I'm doing something wrong.

I am thinking of having some kind of seo person look at it for an audit/content point of view but not sure as we've been shafted in the past (before I get flamed I know not all of you are like that!).

[TedWestie]

What niche are you in? maybe could help you with ideas on where/how to get links.. at least if the suggestions aren't helpeful might get your mind rolling on to better ideas.

Reciprocal linking can often look pretty unnatural, it's not something I would want to get involved in to any large extent generally.

A niche within Timber products, made to measure stuff!

I know reciprocal can look unnatural, thats why I'm loathe to go down that route (I do have a links page, but it's not been touched for years). Having said that it does work for my 2 competitors that are No. 1 & 2 on Google (for now at least - they've not got a decent incoming link between them but No 1 spot holds a lot of the spots for various keywords and No 2 site is only about 1 year old and got there through swapping links!)

On our blog we post a mix of industry (woodworking news), helpful stuff on our products and info on timber.

[Kevin H]

A niche within Timber products, made to measure stuff!

I know reciprocal can look unnatural, thats why I'm loathe to go down that route (I do have a links page, but it's not been touched for years). Having said that it does work for my 2 competitors that are No. 1 & 2 on Google (for now at least - they've not got a decent incoming link between them but No 1 spot holds a lot of the spots for various keywords and No 2 site is only about 1 year old and got there through swapping links!)

On our blog we post a mix of industry (woodworking news), helpful stuff on our products and info on timber.

Hi there,

my views really split into two - one for each part of the question really (surprising huh)

You should always look to have good content! Ok, not all businesses have the opportunity to have good content naturally per se (some ecoomerce sites, some service companies etc), which is where the suggestions above about a blog come in - that's your opportunity to give good, catchy content. (OK, you answered that too). Anyway thats my view on that

With regards to reciprocal links; no problem at all if they are relevant. If you have a relationship with the company/website then why not? Just don't 'force it' overdo it etc.

SO, of the two, which would I prefer?
Good content.

But do both (when appropriate)

[joshz]

Hi there,

my views really split into two - one for each part of the question really (surprising huh)

You should always look to have good content! Ok, not all businesses have the opportunity to have good content naturally per se (some ecoomerce sites, some service companies etc), which is where the suggestions above about a blog come in - that's your opportunity to give good, catchy content. (OK, you answered that too). Anyway thats my view on that

With regards to reciprocal links; no problem at all if they are relevant. If you have a relationship with the company/website then why not? Just don't 'force it' overdo it etc.

SO, of the two, which would I prefer?
Good content.

But do both (when appropriate)

You have an opportunity here, you just need to plan it. You could easily spy on your competition links to get those links and various other links. I don't agree with trading links, try to be more creative and get 1 way links to your site.

If it was me, I would spend 20% on content and 80% on links. That's just MY opinion and I'm known to not fall into the content brings traffic myth. You still need quality links. Content alone will not support your site; you build content in hopes of gaining links. Depending on your niche, simply going after the links in an aggressive fashion can be more beneficial.

[KernelPanic]

A niche within Timber products, made to measure stuff!

I know reciprocal can look unnatural, thats why I'm loathe to go down that route (I do have a links page, but it's not been touched for years). Having said that it does work for my 2 competitors that are No. 1 & 2 on Google (for now at least - they've not got a decent incoming link between them but No 1 spot holds a lot of the spots for various keywords and No 2 site is only about 1 year old and got there through swapping links!)

On our blog we post a mix of industry (woodworking news), helpful stuff on our products and info on timber.

Timber products! Nice, thanks for narrowing it down for us
Darren has made a generous offer to give you ideas on acquiring links in your niche, take him up on it.

If your company has more than 1 employee, consider putting an SEO like Darren, Test, or Josh to work for 10 or 20 hours just to get you started down the right path. It won't cost you money, just the opposite.

[TedWestie]

Timber products! Nice, thanks for narrowing it down for us
Darren has made a generous offer to give you ideas on acquiring links in your niche, take him up on it.

If your company has more than 1 employee, consider putting an SEO like Darren, Test, or Josh to work for 10 or 20 hours just to get you started down the right path. It won't cost you money, just the opposite.

I wasn't meaning to be secretive by 'timber products' but don't want to give too much away to my competition who seem at times to steal my thunder!

More than happy to share my url by PM (when I can send them!)

[TedWestie]

You have an opportunity here, you just need to plan it. You could easily spy on your competition links to get those links and various other links. I don't agree with trading links, try to be more creative and get 1 way links to your site.

If it was me, I would spend 20% on content and 80% on links. That's just MY opinion and I'm known to not fall into the content brings traffic myth. You still need quality links. Content alone will not support your site; you build content in hopes of gaining links. Depending on your niche, simply going after the links in an aggressive fashion can be more beneficial.

I've got one particular link on my radar at the moment, it's a jump through hoops type of link from a government site - just working on the content and then submission (not link submission btw - letter submission with examples of our work).

Started to dip my toe into guestblogging but not sure on this as I prefer to write something decent/readable/helpful to get the link (and I suppose it's not a natural link then! lol) but if I write something decent then it should be on my site shouldn't it?! Have got another guestblog coming shortly - do find twitter great for this!

How do you mean aggressively go for links?

[joshz]

I've got one particular link on my radar at the moment, it's a jump through hoops type of link from a government site - just working on the content and then submission (not link submission btw - letter submission with examples of our work).

Started to dip my toe into guestblogging but not sure on this as I prefer to write something decent/readable/helpful to get the link (and I suppose it's not a natural link then! lol) but if I write something decent then it should be on my site shouldn't it?! Have got another guestblog coming shortly - do find twitter great for this!

How do you mean aggressively go for links?

Research competition, research different vendors or suppliers of your product or service. Network with others in your industry. Review some directory sites such as DMOZ to look for possible linking partners, etc.

Guest blogging is okay, and will help - but me, personally, I go after longer lasting links that will stick around with time, and not be flushed into an archive in a few weeks or months.

[TedWestie]

Research competition, research different vendors or suppliers of your product or service. Network with others in your industry. Review some directory sites such as DMOZ to look for possible linking partners, etc.

Guest blogging is okay, and will help - but me, personally, I go after longer lasting links that will stick around with time, and not be flushed into an archive in a few weeks or months.

So if basically go after the links they have? Does this apply even if the majority are recip's?!

[TedWestie]

Would either of you two be interested in what the Kernel said about possibly giving me a couple of hours help?

I cannot do PM's at the mo but could either wait to my posts are up to 30 or sort something out via email?

[joshz]

So if basically go after the links they have? Does this apply even if the majority are recip's?!

That's half the battle. The other trick is going after those links.. link's. What sites are linkingto them? Your objective is to dominate your market and all said links. Just getting the links your competition has is one thing, but getting their links plus more is the key to success.

[TedWestie]

That's half the battle. The other trick is going after those links.. link's. What sites are linkingto them? Your objective is to dominate your market and all said links. Just getting the links your competition has is one thing, but getting their links plus more is the key to success.

As I say the majority of the links are recips and I would need to give a link to get a link back.

One idea I did have a while ago (feel free to shoot this idea down as it's dodgy!) is to create a separate woodworking blog, give links from this in return for a link to our site - but also add a few links freely to others to cover tracks - I've always avoided doing this as it's slightly dodgy (it's just 3 way linking).