Does Link Building Still Exist as an SEO Practice in 2011?
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This week I have written a post for the cognitiveSEO blog about the best link building blogs, experts and their most important postings from this year. It sounds funny in a way because I am the guy who has explained years ago that you don't need link building anymore. In fact
according to my own SEO 2.0 theory you rather attract and get links instead of doing link building.
So how can I reconcile both? Do I contradict myself? Does SEO 2.0 not work as desired? Does link building still exist as an SEO practice in 2011?
Let me start with the bigger picture. What happened to the concept of SEO 2.0 as a whole? Is it still valid? It is. How?
Most SEO 2.0 techniques I have tried to spread since 2007 are common sense by now.
They are just called SEO nowadays. The meaning of SEO changed not the term itself.
At the same time link building has evolved and encompasses link baiting and getting links as well if you ask me. It's the old term but it has a new meaning by now. Just consider the term "white paper". Is it a paper at all these days? Yet people understand what it is.
Likewise link building has a new definition in 2011.
It may not be manual link building anymore. It may not even contain widely used old school techniques like
- directory submission
- article marketing
- press releases
Some of these techniques are obsolete by now others have changed as well.
There are still directories worth being included in, heck, I have one right here at SEO 2.0, article marketing has been killed off with the Panda update though and guest posting has replaced it. Press releases still get used but their SEO value is very low. They're just good enough for getting a healthy link profile. Social Media outreach and blogger relations trump it by far though.
In my recent presentation over at Search Marketing Day I have used the term link building in the old school way. I mean the tedious, manual practice of contacting and bargaining with webmasters, trying to find link partners etc.
Even this part of link building still exists. Luckily we don't have to rely solely on these tactics anymore in 2011 but the smaller and more conservative the niche or country you optimize for the less social media and bloggers are there to get links from. The more difficult is it to attract links naturally or to enhance the process of getting the links.
So at the end of day link building is sometimes the
- management of contacts
- overseeing the technical integrity of links
- planning campaigns that target influencers
to make them link to you.
Link building is the name of the game even though it might be an altogether different link building than just a few years ago.
It's the same with SEO. It might be called search engine optimization but it may also cover social media and content creation. So it's basically SEO 2.0 as I imagined it but the people prefer to use the word they are accustomed to.
This phenomenon is not just limited to search marketing. Just consider cars. We still measure "horse power" there even though we aren't cowboys either are we?
So link building still does exist as a SEO practice but it's not the same it was just a few years ago. Even link baiting has changed now that Digg is dead.
* Image by Darwin Bell
It’s like all things in technology, they evolve over time and often become something completely different to what the original name implies.
All the time that links are part of the algorithm people will be involved in some form of link building, the day it’s taken out of the equasion, is the day it becomes obsolete as an seo practice.
Great insight on a field that is constantly changing and evolving. I always appreciate new information and I believe in the beginners mind set. “Never Consider Yourself An Expert”. It’s important to continually educate yourself and never get stuck in old ways.
Link building,.. I wish it will last.
Yes, Link building still exist in 2011 SEO. But it should natural way not a reciprocal link building.
Social Media will change the landscape of SEO and SEO 2.0. It has already started. Link profiles still need to be rounded out with PR’s, blog commenting and some very niche directories, but in the end, the SE’s are moving toward social media key indicators. Exactly what and how much weight they get is not really known right now.
Either way…it works for me! I for one am glad to see the shift and not only support it…I embrace it and encourage all of my clients too as well.
Is strange to see that this is evolving so rapidly. Authority and the combination of pagerank does matter but the social part is important as well. Remarkable: if you only start of with social links, you need a whole lot of retweets but the impact will be tremendous. Does the impact stay? No it doesn’t.
Definitely! A lot of people, like me depend on link building. It’s our job, it’s our life.
I have to agree with this post. Acquiring links the natural way seems to weight heavily with search engines now. This just highlights the fact that your website must produce great content in order to get backlinks in a natural way. When you produce interesting and compelling content on your website, you will notice that you get more of a following…this same following will often times link right back to your website.
I read it every where that all these techniques like Directory submissions, Article Marketing, Link Exchanges are old school techniques now and don’t have much importance now.
Everybody advises the same these days that create something so useful that people link to you themselves. But I don’t think that is possible in every case. I want to know what you agree to be an effective link building strategy even today.
Well I still feel that article marketing, directory submisions, guest blogging can still be effective if properly done.
Want to know your views on that.
Akash: You can still ride a horse instead of going places by train, bus or car. Some riders will be almost as fast as car drivers.
I see this sort of post more and more often these days – Thank god!
Link building is, and has always been the biggest pain in the proverbial – but it’s the only thing customers seem to understand.
The sooner clients come round to appreciate that there is no such things as “natural” or “organic” link building, and link “worthiness” is the key, the better.
Yes, Link building still exists in 2011 and I think will still last till the very end. like the one said by the other reader that, you can still ride a horse instead of you using a car.
Link building is still a part of SEO and will continue to be in the foreseeable future. It’s the process and types of links that will benefit you. Not necessarily the amount of links.
Technology, including the internet, evolves at an exponential rate but the core values are likely to remain.
Anything automated will be abused by the masses which diminishes it’s effectiveness.
And don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Have a well rounded link profile, provide great content/product/service and engage with your customers/visitors and within your industry.
It has been quite apparent for a while now that nearly all form of SEO or SEO 2.0 are not organic. Natural, high quality content that will draw traffic in seems to be our only goal at the moment as it adds true value within our niche.
I hope that the killing off of more popular link building techniques actually improves networking between businesses. It will force webmasters or small business owners to become social and possibly improve products and services as a result.
Yes, Link building with normal way is still exist in 2011 SEO.It should not a reciprocal link building,it must be one way link building.
Indeed, linkbuilding still exists and is functional.
I see this sort of post more and more often these days – Thank god!
Link building is, and has always been the biggest pain in the proverbial – but it’s the only thing customers seem to understand.
The sooner clients come round to appreciate that there is no such things as “natural” or “organic” link building, and link “worthiness” is the key, the better.
I don’t think link building is dead, but I do think regular and popular content is where to put your resources. If you have something worth saying (and you say it well), people will think it worth sharing. And that gets you the best links of all.
This stuff is gold!
Easy to read and understand.
I am trying to teach myself some SEO techniques and some sites just surround themselves with jargon and acronyms.
Be gentle with us elderly newbies and keep the stuff flowing.
Many thanks.
Link building is still useful for SEO and to promote websites…
Link Building is a big part of seo. It plays an important role to improve web popularity.
I wasn’t aware digg was dead. Also didn’t know about article marketing being made less important after the Panda update. Leanred a couple things!