Can You Ever Stop Building Links to Your Website?

By Duncan Heath

Most SEOs realise that by and large the distribution of power on the web is dictated by links. In very crude terms, the more links you have and the more powerful the sites are that link to you, the more credibility you will have in the search engines’ eyes, and the better your chances of ranking are – that’s pretty basic SEO.

What is not so simple however is how the age of a link affects the power it yields, and whether you need to keep building links to a site in order to maintain power and rankings? Well, here are a few points to consider:

Domain Age

As with most things in the world of SEO, there is divided opinion on whether the age of a domain has an influence on how much authority it is given by search engines. I think this is a really good post on the subject and without getting into this difficult argument too much, my experience tells me that domain age does matter. If you subscribe to the idea that domain age is an algorithm factor, then if you think about it, link age must be as well. If a domain increases in power over time, then by definition so do the links that are contained on that domain. So I think it is reasonable to suggest that old links pointing to your site increase in power rather than decrease.

Query Deserves Freshness (QDF)

We know that with the arrival of social sites such as Twitter and Facebook, which allow users to search for up to the minute information among their peers, search engines have been pushing to provide more ‘real-time’  and ‘fresh’ results in their SERPS. This spawned the term “Query Deserves Freshness” which basically means that in Google’s ranking algorithm, the ‘freshness’ of a result is taken into consideration (for certain search terms).

As fresh content tends to generate fresh links, there is a clear argument here that you cannot necessarily rely on old links to provide rankings, no matter how widespread or powerful they are.

Using simple logic, if people are not currently linking to content, it’s unlikely that it’s very popular at that time, and probably not what they want to see in search results.  I often see on my surf clothing site for example that the newest pages with the freshest links often outrank my older pages, despite them having a much larger back link profile.

Competition

Lastly, and probably most importantly, competition often forces us to continue our link building activities indefinitely. There is a great expression about link building that states all you need to do to beat your competition in the SERPS is to “match and exceed”. If you can investigate the back link profile of your competition, gain the links they have for your site as well, and then exceed what they have, chances are you will outrank them.  This logic is what drives link build efforts forward and means that you must continue to garner links to your site to prevent being overtaken by the competition.
So in conclusion, old links may get more powerful over time, but if you don’t continue your link building campaigns, you’re likely to get left behind.

Author Information

Duncan Heath is an SEO engineer and Internet marketing expert with over 5 years experience. He runs his own extreme sports site that compares everything from surfboards to flip flops. You can follow his business on Twitter.

Blogger Etiquette 101: How to Attract (and Keep!) Visitors

By Joseph Gustav

The Internet is a touchy place. The slightest mishap, though well-intentioned, can leave a user looking ignorant, unsavvy and at worst a shameless self-promoter in an atmosphere that is all about community. Bloggers exist in maybe one of the most fickle areas of the online world and so must respect basic etiquette to go about building — and maintaining — their readerships the right way.

The following are some basic blogger etiquette fundamentals to help you avoid common mistakes and put your best foot forward in the blogging community.

• Write good comments on other blogs’ posts. One of the best ways to expand readership is to comment on other, more established blogs’ posts. Comments are a good way to direct readers from a similar, but already loyal fanbase to your blog and to cement your place as new, needed, expert voice in a given field. Don’t just mindlessly praise or deride a post, instead thoughtfully respond and build on an argument, pointing out strengths and going from there. Or, you can politely, but critically exposing weaknesses and offer a second opinion. Many blogs allow commenters to leave a web address and here you should put your blog’s address. Absolutely do not use comments to shamelessly self-promote. It will make the bloggers lose respect for you, your work, and will make fellow commenters see you as a self-centered spammer.

• Keep an up-to-date blogroll. Blogrolls serve two purposes: to direct your readers to like-minded blogs and to let those blogs know you appreciate their work and hope they will return their favor, which will direct their readers to your site. Blogrolls should be well thought out, with blogs chosen specifically for their quality and relevance rather than simply to get a link back from a bigger site. Blogrolls should also be up-to-date. Remove any dead links on a regular basis, showing that you care about the information presented on your site. Be on the lookout for new blogs to welcome into the discussion. This will also help establish you as an expert in your field and a member of a community not just looking for personal glory, which will inspire more goodwill — and more link backs.

• Always cite your sources. Plagiarism and any accusation of it will immediately destroy all your credibility and get you booted out of the blogging community. It will make you look unprofessional and untrustworthy. Remove all doubt by citing your sources, generally through hyperlinks. Doing so will make your blog look trustworthy and professional — on the level of traditional journalism — and will also portray you as someone continuously looking for new information to share (and critically examining that information). If it’s from a fellow blog, even better, as it only underscores your role as an active member of the blogging community. This also goes for photo credits: make sure to cite where you obtained photos not taken by you or a friend.

• Use Facebook and Twitter as networking tools. Networking, not promotion. Have conversations with people, particularly other bloggers, readers, or the musicians/athletes/entertainers/politicians/etc., being profiled in your blog. Oftentimes, the people you are profiling will want to read what you’re saying about them, so don’t be afraid to @ them. If you get a retweet that will direct a lot of traffic your way given the subject’s seal of approval. That said, have conversations, and do not just promote your work (this is more so for Twitter than Facebook). Social media experts say tweeters should write 10-15 “conversation” tweets before every one that promotes a personal endeavor. However, do not just talk about your cat or the weather — make tweets pointed, where you add to a discussion or promote others’ work or endeavors that you find relevant and of note. Again, it’s all about being a member of a community and not an island.

• Write personal e-mails. When asking another blogger for a link back or to take a look at your work, always write a personal e-mail. Do not send out mass emails. You are asking someone to take the time to review your blog — show equal effort in writing a personal email — even compliment them on a recent post you liked or why you are seeking out their approval/link back in the first place. It will go a long way to helping you establish a mutually beneficial relationship.

Author Information

Joseph Gustav is a guest blogger for Pounding the Pavement and a writer on the subject of electrician school for the Guide to Career Education.