Last week's Link Whore firestorm really made me re-think things....
At what point does a link-building tactic make the leap from acceptable to not? When does white hat become black hat? Or gray hat? Or pink?
And who is to say what is acceptable and what isn't? What works is what's acceptable, and vice-versa, right? It's not your fault blog comment spam got out of control. It's the other guy. If he'd stop link farming so would I. Ok. Sure. I give.
I think the whole white hat / black hat link-building and SEM argument clouds the larger point. Appropriate link building tactics will be different depending on the site you are seeking links for. This site needs a different approach than this one. Your link pursuits should always be driven by your content, and yes, I agree sometimes your content can even be driven by link opportunities, though that's a slippery slope.
In its most simplest terms: to me a white-hat non-link-whore link-building tactic is link you seek for reasons other than search engine rank. But this isn't all. Even non-SEO links can be spam and make the web an uglier place. "Intent" is at the core of the white-hat / black-hat debate. Why do you want that link? Answer that queston honestly and you'll see why I wrote last week's post.
The sad downside of the new algorithmic link analysis is that when combined with increased user generated content and links, the intent of the linker can no longer be trusted. So links today are becoming like meta tags 10 years ago. Anything goes as long as it get's me traffic, right?
Wow, four one-way inbound links to me in one sentence...That was some impressive link building.
Or was it?
Eric
Continue reading "Is White Hat Linking a Myth?" ... Read the full article
MarketingProfs provides thousands of marketing resources, entirely free!
Simply subscribe to our newsletter and get instant access to how-to articles, guides, webinars and more for nada, nothing, zip, zilch, on the house...delivered right to your inbox! MarketingProfs is the largest marketing community in the world, and we are here to help you be a better marketer.
Sign in with your preferred account, below.
Search Engine Marketing Articles
You may like these other MarketingProfs articles related to Search Engine Marketing:
- How Many Words Do People Use When Searching Online?
- Three SEO Trends Marketers Need to Know in 2022
- 10 Important Google Search Algorithm Updates From 2021 [Infographic]
- How to Use Google Search Console Insights for Your SEO Strategy
- Marketers' Top SEO Priorities in 2022
- SEO, Sleeping Outside, and Super Tuscan Wine: Wil Reynolds on Marketing Smarts [Podcast]