Adam Hansen says, “Link-building software is amazingly powerful when it comes to automating and streamlining your SEO campaigns. But use it incorrectly or irresponsibly, and your site will drop from the rankings faster than the Titanic post-North Atlantic iceberg. These programs can literally build tens of thousands of links in a week. But having tools like that is like having a loaded gun. Yes, you can hunt with it, but if you’re not careful you can also shoot yourself in the face!”. Link-Building Software: With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility Mark Ling’s  ’Affilorama’... [...]

Rand Fishkin says, “Why hello there! You’re looking marvelous today, you really are. And, in other good news, Open Site Explorer has a bit of a new look—and an entirely new section called “Link Opportunities” to help make some link prospecting tasks easier and more automated. Come with me and I’ll show you; it’ll be fun 🙂”. Open Site Explorer’s New Link Building Opportunities Section (and a Slight Redesign) MOZ Blog  [...]

Rand Fishkin says, “All signs point to links with exact match anchor text retaining the huge value we’ve seen throughout the years, but many of the techniques for acquiring those links are spammy. There are a few, though, that not even Google would frown upon, and in today’s Whiteboard Friday, Rand shows you what they are”. How to Acquire Anchor Text-Rich Links Without Resorting to Spam or Manipulation MOZ Blog  [...]

Paddy Morgan says, “Building the types of links that help grow your online business and organic search traffic is getting harder. It used to be fairly straightforward, back before Google worked out how to treat links with different levels of quality and trust. However, the fact that it’s getting harder doesn’t mean that it’s dead. What does the future hold? I’m going to talk about links, but the truth is, the future isn’t really about the links. It is far bigger than that”. The Future of Link Building MOZ Blog  [...]

Russ Jones says, “It was a little over a year ago that I first wrote the “Broken Link Building Bible” and it seemed like it was time for an update. If you haven’t had a chance yet, please head over to the original, as most of it is still highly relevant today, and it contains the basics which will not be covered in this post. Today I present a New Testament, complete with ethical guidelines, new prospecting, content, and outreach techniques. Throughout this guide I will show you how to accomplish most of these tactics using a culmination of tools like Open Site Explorer, Domain... [...]

Andy Curry says, “This month’s article will address how to build links to our website. This is one of the most critical aspects of search engine optimization and one of the most difficult to get right. Why Backlinks? The first point is to address why link building (also called “backlinking” or “backlinks”) is so important. Google first launched in the late 1990s with the premise that websites having lots of links from other websites is an indicator of popularity — and, therefore, a website people should see when they’re looking for that very thing”. Do-it-yourself SEO:... [...]

Marie Haynes says, “There has been a lot of talk lately about negative SEO. Does it really happen? If so, should you be worried? How do you know whether someone is attempting to attack you with negative SEO? And what should you do to protect yourself? The purpose of this article is to shed some light on the subject, and hopefully to reduce some of the fear exists in this area. What is negative SEO? Negative SEO occurs when someone makes attempt to lower a site’s rankings in the search engines. There are multiple ways that this can be attempted”. Negative SEO: Should You Be Worried? If... [...]

Trevor Klein says, “It is my great pleasure to announce the release of Moz’s third guide for marketers, written by the inimitable  Paddy Moogan of Distilled: We could tell you all about how high-quality, authoritative links pointing to your site benefit your standing in the SERPs, but instead we’ll just copy the words straight from the proverbial horse’s mouth”. Announcing the All-New Beginner’s Guide to Link Building MOZ Blog  [...]

Rand Fishkin says, “One of the more interesting phenomena illustrated by Rand’s IMEC Lab project is that of “link echoes,” sometimes referred to as “link ghosts.” The idea is that if we move a page up in rankings by pointing links to it, and then removethose links, the bump in rankings often remains. In today’s Whiteboard Friday, Rand explains what’s going on. One quick note: Rand mentions a bit.ly link in this video that isn’t quite accurate; here’s the correct one”. Link Echoes (a.k.a. Link Ghosts): Why Rankings Remain Even After Links... [...]

Travis Bliffen says, “If you have a website that exists to provide useful information to readers without any intention of monetizing the traffic or peddling your product or services, you can get some pretty awesome back links. The problem is, without a monetization strategy or a promotional intent; you are not going to be rewarded for your efforts. If you are passionate about a topic and blog as a hobby, this shouldn’t be an issue, if you however are like most webmasters; you need your Web property to make some money for you. Making money is a great thing to do and if you can do it by... [...]