We have been thinking a lot about this whole linking thing that is causing such an uproar in the Internet marketing community. If you haven’t heard, Google is supposedly cracking down on paid links and is de-emphasizing the importance of links to a site’s rankings…supposedly. We haven’t seen it.
We are doing a lot of work right now for a company that is in an industry in which the top competitors are very aggressive about using paid links. In order to compete, we had no choice but to emulate the strategy. There was just no way we were going to be able to catch up using a purely natural linking strategy. It would take years…and we don’t have years. So we’re paying for links.
Are we going to be punished for buying links? We think not. Another thing we have in common with the companies we are competing against is that we are all heavy spenders on paid search ads. Is Google going to punish some of its best customers…customers who are generating millions of dollars in revenue for the company…for being aggressive in promoting their web sites?
We understand that Google wants its search engine results to be as genuine as possible and does not want companies doing things to try to artificially influence those results. But as a multi-billion dollar company, we do not believe that Google is going to piss off some of its largest advertisers.
Maybe the situation in your industry is different. But how would Google apply different rules to different industries? We don’t think it would do that.
Our point here is that you have nothing to fear by going out and pursuing links to your site. Use a number of different strategies – link swapping, directories, paying for them, whatever. Now…we’re not saying you should add your site to FFA pages or other sources of junk links. It will be a waste of your time. But for higher quality sources of links – go for it. The best strategy of all is to create content that is so interesting that other sites are compelled to link to you. Natural, non-paid, one-way links are still king. But regardless of what linking strategy you pursue…do not be afraid.
If you need help with your search engine optimization campaign, contact Work Media at 888-299-4837 or email Info@WorkMedia.net.