Google is always making changes to their algorithm in an effort to display ever more relevant content. The goal of Google is to always focus on the end user experience so if crappy websites are ranking for various keywords it just makes Google look bad for allowing them to rank in the first place. It’s been this way for years and that’s why the game between Google and website owners that optimize for SEO has continued for years.
Table Of Contents
- No matter what the future holds – Google still has to collect and rely on external information to determine rankings
- Balanced Link Building Has Always Been The Best Strategy
- What I’m Specifically Doing
- An Alternative Strategy – Authority Website Model
- The biggest question to ask yourself is what can hold your interest longest?
Why The SEO Sky Is not Falling:
No matter what the future holds – Google still has to collect and rely on external information to determine rankings
The way we SEO as it is today may look a lot different years from now, but the simple truth is that Google still has to look at a variety of external factors such as links, social signals etc. to determine how authoritative a website is and whether or not it should rank for a keyword or not and these external signals will always be possible to game for at least the next several years.
So when Google does something like go through and deindexes a blog network like Build My Rank all that tells me is that building links with blog networks is/was an effective strategy (time to build my very own private blog network lol) and serve to remind me that Google really is just an algorithm that can be beat with a little bit of work and effort. So now that they’ve gone and slapped down one strategy (and it’s not really even “dead”) what should you do?
Balanced Link Building Has Always Been The Best Strategy
I was in the process of doing a case study on link building using just blog networks (again just to prove you can build ranks with only blog networks) continuing the case study with just blog networks isn’t the best idea because this most recent attack by Google has shown that relying on one link building strategy isn’t a good idea (something I already knew, but for sake of controlling variables wanted to just use blog networks). The best strategy for building links has always been building links from a variety of sources. If you look at some of the recent niche site blogger updates on how their sites fared you’ll see those who weren’t hurt the most are people that didn’t rely on just one link building method like Spencer from Niche Pursuits.
What I’m Specifically Doing
When it comes to building links I’m specifically going to focus on some guest posting, some article marketing, some blog commenting, some social book marking and some profile link building. Before you ask, I don’t have a magic ratio of link building for various types of links (nor do I think that would be entirely helpful – or maybe it would help to have a general starting point – let me know in the comments below). What Google looks for is links that are built unnaturally so if you rely on any one specific source for link building you’re putting yourself at a higher risk of being hurt (like in the most recent targeted hit on private blog networks). So it only makes sense to build websites and subsequently links using a variety of link building methods (all of the strategies I’ve mentioned are scalable and can be easily outsourced).
I personally hate link building (boring), so even with guest posting I’m not doing that myself. I’ll pay someone to write the article, put my own link in it and then pay someone to find a website to put it on.
An Alternative Strategy – Authority Website Model
If all of these strategies around building links so that you can (in some cases) rank a site above others when it shouldn’t be there in the first place sound too tedious, hard or boring to you there is another strategy to consider – building authority websites.
An authority website would be something that would take a lot more time and effort to build because the goal is to actually be the best in your niche (or at least strives towards being the best). This is another strategy that I’ve used and it can be extremely profitable as well.
The biggest question to ask yourself is what can hold your interest longest?
1. Do you like the idea of building quick websites, playing the SEO game, outsourcing link building, testing new link strategies and constantly building new sites?
2. Do you prefer to build a handful of websites with the effort to be the best within your niche?
I’ve done both strategies and fluctuate between the various strategies I use based on what interests me at the time. I will still do some link building case studies since it’s clear people need help with this, but I need to re-think how I execute them.
Let me know what you would like to see in the comments below
I’ve been playing the small-site-constant-seo-changes game for the last 2 years with most success coming from my own products in very small niches, but I’m moving towards a few authority sites for reasons you mentioned.
Pat Flynn has mentioned numerous times in his posts that the majority of his traffic doesn’t come from Google… and that’s obviously the ideal situation for any website as far as not having to worry about their updates wiping out your business.
But like you’ve said in some of your posts, no matter how well-written your articles about psoriasis are, no one is going to be “liking” them on facebook or tweeting them to their friends… they’re not gonna go viral no matter what, so organic traffic is kind of your only bet.
On a side note, my smaller sites that have slipped in Google rankings in the last few weeks are all in the top 5 on Bing and Yahoo, and Youtube videos on those sites are still holding strong in the top 10 of Google. So it’s all about adapting and diversifying your efforts.
Always great info, Chris. My strategy is some link building (personally I find it boring) and blog commenting with most of my focus on curating an authority site. My traffic is peanuts compared to most, but it’s growing.
Hi Chris,
I just recently read the Google book ‘In the plex’ – (actually audio book). It is really good and helped me understand where Google is coming from when it comes to search. Sites need to look natural and made by humans. Google will only get better and better at sorting out good vs bad.
What are your predictions on how Siri will effect searches? Do you think a keyword search will be different if it is spoken versus written? Do people say the same words when they search with Siri? I don’t have an iPhone so I would be interested in your opinion,
Thanks
David
Not sure. I think mobile is a pretty big space, but with Siri I see it more as a local type search stuff now which I don’t deal with.
Great post Chris. I’m starting to lean more towards a handful of authority sites myself. Although it can take more time to see an ROI for my efforts, I’m certain that I’m building something that will outlast any Google algorithm changes. I also find that by focusing on a niche that I actually feel like I can write a massive amount of content for is more motivating.
Hey Jon,
Yah it’s all about doing what you’re most passionate about and interested in really.
Chris
Would sites like Link Authority and Article Ranks be considered guest posting since they rely on other people’s blog to host their posts?
Would need to look at them more. When I’m talking about guest posting I’m talking about what I linked to in my blog post about how you contact an owner etc.
“No matter what the future holds ๏ฟฝ Google still has to collect and rely on external information to determine rankings.” so true! This is why SEO is important and is not falling because SEO in not only getting links but it’s strategically building links that with techniques that copes up with Google updates to maintain sites ranking and presence online.
Hey Chris! I too think authority style sites are the way to go. But they are a lot of hard work. You have a broader amount of keywords/topics covered, therefore more competition. But as you and everyone else says, you don’t have to do as much of the “Google dance.”
BTW I was first introduced to you on Pat Flynn’s podcast about buying websites. That was awesome stuff! Keep up the good work man.
Thanks glad you stopped by
Chris, I can’t agree more with you that we should build backlinks with various source and naturally.
Sometimes random schedule and building links with velocity works for me.
Also I love scaling up some of my sites as authority ones as people share and link back to mine. Some of my niche site posts got tweeted and FB like too!
Looking forward to your Case Study. Thanks!
Great post Chris.
I am relatively new the IM world. I’m one of those that took bad advice when I started and built my sites primarily using one method. I haven’t really seen my site’s rankings dip yet, and hope they don’t, but am trying to diversity at the moment.
I am doing some manual blog commenting by finding them with Scrapebox.
I am also doing a small amount of social bookmarking.
Another thing I need to do more of utilizing Web 2.0 sites and building more of a link wheel structure.
Hi Chris,
My first post here ๐
I couldn’t agree more with what you are saying. I have 1 authority site that I started building 3 years ago. For the past 2 and 1/2 years it has been ranking great in google and panda and other updates have never budged it. In fact the site only seems to do better!
I don’t have any social media thing going on personally, I don;t use face back, but the site gets traffic from facebook, and others, just from people wanting to share the info, not to mention all the natural links that I have gained also. Combine that with some active link building, and you got really solid rankings. The site makes good dollar too, much more than any job has every paid me.
In addition I got another two sites that are in the process of becoming authority site, but need a lot more posts on them, but still they are earning some cash. Much easier than trying to manage 50 or 100 sites that are built on a less secure base.
Indeed, adpating to the new climate is the way to go, and you highlight it well here.
Darren
I was a little mad at first since I hate link building and BMR worked great for ranking newer sites. However the more I have been thinking about it, the more I like it. It has caused me to rethink how I do things and where I’m going. TIme to sell off a bunch of sites and focus on building some really good content and long term assets.
I went through the exact same thing…I had just started using BMR with great results, so I was pissed at first. Had a “eff Google” mentality. But now I’m thinking, why should I be focusing on building anything that Google (or anyone else) might categorize as questionable? I’m refocusing on extremely high quality authority sites and natural link building.
We’ll see how this all pans out!
Hi All. Great article and dito comments. I’m always learning here.
I do not have a question. I just want to see if I can get you all to join me in motivating Chris to keep his podcast going!
I’ve enjoyed the 10 episodes you’ve released so far immensely and you’ve made an addict of me already. Please keep on going, you’re great.
So please join me in saying: Chris, keep those podcasts coming!
Thanks going to work on one again soon.
Chris
Thanks for sharing with us this several fruitful ideas, and linked topics about Balanced Link Building strategy…
Hi Chris,
I don’t know if you will agree with me that it’s still better to built up 2 or 3 sites for a component of gathering ideas to built the best among better you have started…
Building authority websites is an alternative but only if you are in a niche, which may go viral and only if you can generate lots of valuable content at little to no cost. The main problem with large authority niche sites is the investment into content. A hundred valuable posts may easily ruin your budget and you will not be able to see any returns for quite a long time. Great niches to build content rich authority sites are entertainment related niches, such as games, videos, jokes, etc. But the problem is that you really need thousands of visitors every day to earn a decent income.
Michal, with authority sites, you could get hundreds and thousands daily traffic as the trade-off. Sometimes you may get Tweets and FB Like backlinks that people do it free for you. ๐
For my mini niche sites (like those 5 page one), I only get about 30-50 max daily.
It all depends on ROI and testing, I usually just expand those Niche Site winners and scale them as semi-authority like 20-50 pages. (For me, they are faster as ROI comparing to build new sites.)
great info again Chris, i have stock to blog commenting and guest blogging as a way of building backlinks to my money making sites
SEO is very important nowadays and there are even a lot of blogs and sites that can be used in order to be more familiar with it…
Hey Chris,
Your 10 day step by step course at the top of your blog. I’m wondering about the success you have had with that? Any luck getting people to follow through and stay with it the whole way through?
I signed up just to see what you had to say and of course opened every email etc. Much better than I can do with something like that for sure. However, I am wondering if most people don’t give up on it as they are looking for the quick fix to make money?
If you don’t want to answer this thats cool and I understand.
Hey “Jack”,
I track open stats and they of course dip after day one. I recently redid the emails to emphasize the types of content I am talking about that day and also I recommend a few products as an affiliate i.e. Market Samurai and web hosting in a few of the emails.
I get a lot of emails from people throughout the course thanking me for the lesson or asking when the next one will be sent etc. so I think there is value.
I think if you’re just starting out the stuff I share in there is helpful.
Side note: you can always just email if you’d like lol or perhaps you don’t want to reveal your true identity.
I would email you but I’m trying to add value to your blog with insightful comments and questions.
LOL!
My situation is that I have no trouble getting people to sign up for my list. I do, however, have trouble getting people to open the emails. I went through and changed all my email titles to make them more exciting but not much of a change. I fear it may be partly due to the nature of the niche I am in.
I might have to check out your webinar tomorrow on list building.
Nice topic and useful ideas. I really learned a lot from what you have written and shared
I followed google’s demand and made sure that my site is providing quality contents. However, I am little in-confident with my SEO techniques. I am looking forward to learn your new discoveries yet I will continue to improve on my link building strategies while I wait. Thank you for the dedication to help.
We try to build content around our sites to set ourselves up as the expert in our field. I suppose that would be going the authority site route, yes? Putting as much relevant content out there as possible to try and draw in traffic from people who are researching a service that we provide. Have to give to get, right? I enjoyed your post. Always good to know the sky is in fact not falling. =)
Chris,
I just wanted to drop you a line and say thanks, I have been a fan for a while now and you always seem to come up with relevant advice in a timely manor. Thanks again!
Thanks ๐