calum from big surf digital - keeping safe from penalties
TRANSCRIPT
Keeping your site safe from Google
penalties: tips for safe link building
Calum Macleod
Big Surf Digital
Links and penalties
• Links are a major ranking factor in Google.
• Not all links are created equal.
• Google dishes out ranking penalties to sites with bad links.
• Penalties can mean plummeting rankings and traffic.
What does Google want from us?
• They want to deliver the best results, without spam getting in the way. • They want people to stop manipulating their search results. • They want less people buying SEO services and more people paying
them for PPC.
Google’s algorithms have made link building a necessary but perilous process.
Avoid penalties – the Google suggestion…
• Stop link building altogether.
• Google’s John Mueller recently said that webmasters should avoid link building as it can do more harm than good.
• If you’re either very lucky or a big brand, this strategy can work for you.
Bullet proof your link building
It is possible to build links and stay clear of penalties.
Act natural: Look like a brand
• Create or cultivate a natural looking link profile.
• Branded anchor text (start at 100% percent branded and/or naked urls). Once you’ve got enough go for some anchor text rich links.
• Get the kind of links your site would pick up naturally.
• Local directory sites (Yell, Thomson) These links won’t push the needle but they will help build a strong foundation.
• Get some nofollow links.
Steer clear of industrial link building
Google will spot it and it’s hard to recover from.
Including:
• Directory networks
• Article sites
• Guest blogging en masse
Many old school SEO activities do still work
• Directories
• Paid links
• Blog roll links
• The key is to keep everything in moderation and hand pick. Don’t overdo any one tactic.
Paying for links
• Paying for links is against Google’s guidelines.• As google sees it any link or advert where money has changed hands should
have nofollow attached to it. • That said, there are a ton of ads that pass pagerank that don’t result in
penalties for the linked site. • There are lots of sites that don’t invest in SEO ranking perfectly well with
links from paid sources.
Make it your business to know your links
• Whether you are a client or an agency.
• Keep an eye on the latest links in webmaster tools.
• If you have any doubts about a link just disavow the domain.
Takeaway:
• The more natural your link profile the more you will be able to get away with.
• Not all paid links are bad.
• Links can be disavowed