Here’s the latest question that Matt Cutts got asked by Mani from Delhi. Mani is trying to see how Google treats links from social media sites like Twitter and Facebook…ok not a bad question. While it reminds me of the kind of crap you’d hear on Digital Point, it’s not a bad n00b question. What caught my ear was the point about how .edu and .gov links don’t pass any more value that some .com. So many people are under the illusion that extra link weight is giving to those domain extensions.
what a lot of people who are just getting into the world of link building must understand that it’s the domain’s overall stance that gives out a certain power of link juice. So why do people obsess about getting .edu and .gov links? Well that’s mainly because of the hype, but for the most part those .edu/gov pages have been indexed and around for years and years. Most websites don’t really deserve links from sites like these, and the spam to obtain them is going to do nothing but bring it all down.
Here’s another quick and small update to keep you folks posted until my next big post is out this week. Akama is an old and still very well ranked business directory that has been kicking since 2001 and is a great place to get a company link. you may not get a targeted anchor text but no worries, you’re still getting a little link love. The directory is virtually spam free for an open directory and has over 90,000 pages indexed in Google, over 67,000 in Yahoo and only a couple thousand in Bing.
So if you have a legit company you’re more than welcome to submit your company profile and enjoy a whole range of profile features. I ask for the sake of Akama that you don’t spam anything that’s going to waste the time of the staff over there. It’s a free resource and it should be respected and used for only what it is intended for. I highly suggest you take a quick glance at their FAQ before filling out the company submission forms.
It has been a long while since I’ve dropped a decent link building tip so I thought I would give you folks something to work with. One of the link building tasks you should always have in your sight is getting links from authoritative websites. These types of links are so coveted because they come from a source your competitor might be able to leverage. About.com is a wealth of high quality information that is written by people who know their facts. If you have SEO Quake for Firefox then I suggest turning it on while browsing the site. For those of you with that app, you can download the information here.
About.com has information on just about everything you can think about (no pun intended). What I like about this link building tip is that it can’t be spammed or scammed. If you have a valid resource in some form of media( widget, resource guide, video, unique product, etc), then you stand a good chance on getting your site a juicy link. I by no means have the intention of making lives of the editors more stressful with an influx to their inbox. So if you consider emailing them with a suggestion, make sure you aren’t going to embarrass yourself and ruin your chances. If you fancy yourself a guru in your niche you might want to think about becoming a guide.
If you don’t think your website/business/blog has the stuff it takes to be worthy of a link then there are a few things you can do. No, I’m not talking about bribery. Take a good long look at what kind of websites are linked to in not only your niche’s section, but on others as well. Although each section has its own guide, you should quickly see a pattern emerge. I mentioned earlier if you have something unique, you website stands a chance to get those links. For example, take a look at this page from the online business section of About.com. Here is another example of how a company’s website with a widget for their niche got picked up and linked to. If you think you have a better link to offer why not hunt down the guides email address and let them know. Most guides list their contact information so be polite and be honest.
Well this repost of the video might be dupe content all on its own(lol), but I still cannot let you folks go without seeing it. Rand brings a lot of the issues and questions out in the open and I cannot think of a clearer way of getting the message. If you’ve been enjoying these Whiteboard Friday videos then check out the rest of them on Scott’s Vimeo account.
This week, Rand looks at how some typical link growth patterns tend to be interpreted by the engines. Did you launch your site with a massive PR blitz and then stop all efforts? The resultant spike and sudden drop-off in link acquisition could cause you some serious problems in the SERPs. There’s got to be a better way, right? Indeed! Rand will also show you how to construct a staged link acquisition strategy that will provide a much more natural link-growth curve that the engines will trust and respect.
