Can Link Building Do You More Harm Than Good?

Recently, I was skimming through the web and came across an interesting article. How? I visit a handful of blogs every day, looking for changing trends within search engine optimization, content marketing, etc. I came across an article based on link building and how focusing too heavily on it can do you more harm than actual good. I continued to read through and find some of the points to be very interesting. Anyway, I’ve decided to break it down into the general points throughout the content and what we should do going forward to tweak our efforts so we’re NOT effected by over optimization through link building.

link-building

Here are some of the factors I’ll be talking about…

  • Argument against too much link building
  • How to tweak our link building strategy
  • How Google disavow will help
  • Conclusion

First, the argument against too much link building was made during a Google hangout by John Mueller from Google Switzerland. These days, with Google making so many changes, it’s important that your brand and content stands up on its own. You have to make sure you have the fundamental ground work in place so no matter what changes are taking place, you don’t lost rankings because of a poor link building pattern. John then went on to say the following…

“We do use links as part of our algorithm but we use lots and lots of other factors as well. So only focusing on links is probably going to cause more problems for your web site that actually helps.”

Here’s what I think and would like to provide my insight on the topic…

Link building is a very lengthy process and people tend to get impatient when building links to increase their blog within the SERPs. This forces them to start cutting corners and build links that will do them more harm than an actual benefit. I’ve made this mistake several times, especially when I’m relying on my blog to bring in the much needed income I need. However, we also fail to understand that Google has implemented over 200 ranking factors for a reason and it’s because they don’t want people to try and manipulate the algorithm by building unsafe links. These links hurt the user search experience and, ultimately, the user blog.

What Can We Do?

Here’s something cool that was suggested during the Google+ hangout by John. He suggest doing the following…

“Put a little widget on your page, if you like this, this is how you can link to it. Make sure that the URLs on your web site are easy to copy and paste. All of those things make it a little bit easier.”

Here’s my thoughts…

This will help do two important things…

First, it will create a natural linking pattern, especially receiving links from those bloggers who are relevant to your niche. For example, if you created an ultimate guide and add a widget showing people how to link to your content, you might receive links from authority blogs within your niche with enormous social engagement and traffic. Next, it will keep you away from unnatural link building patterns based on bulk links, spam websites, etc. It’s a pretty cool concept and can definitely help you receive natural links.

Disavow Tool

Adding a widget on your website showing people how to link to your content will NOT stop you from getting irrelevant links to your content. That’s why I recommend using Google Disavow every few weeks to eliminate unnatural links from spam websites. By doing this, you are keeping your link profile clean while still allowing high authority relevant blog to link back to your website. Here’s how you can access the Google Disavow tool… Disavow Tool – Google

It’s very simple to use and you’ll be able to find several tutorials that walk you through the entire process.

Wrapping It Up…

This content is different from the usual types of posts I published. This is more like a press release on news based around link building and how to keep it natural while avoiding being penalized in the future. Here’s what we learned in short…

First, there are over 200 rankings factors, so putting all your eggs in one basket can do you harm going forward. Next, avoid cutting corners when you build links and show your visitors how to easily link back to your content. This will diversify your link profile while providing you with high authority links from relevant blogs. Google Disavow is a great way to keep an eye on your link profile, removing spam links. Using this approach will help you create a blog with a strong foundation and one that implemented several different rankings factors to give you a complete diversity.

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