Yes, It’s Still All About The Links
Every time Google changes or updates their algorithm, the same thing always happens. Forums and blog comments get flooded with people who shout that "the sky is falling" for tried and true search engine optimization techniques.
This has never been more true than with Google's latest Panda update. The cries from the sky-is-falling crowd have been louder than I've ever heard them before.
But how much, really, has changed? Are the basic SEO tactics (quality content plus lots of links) still working?
Let me recount the story of one website of mine, and you can decide for yourself.
First of all, let me say that this website was simply a test of my 3WayLinks.net link network. I wanted to see how well 3WL could rank the websites in the network. That means that the quality of the site isn't all that great, and the content, while unique, is nothing that's going to win a Pulitzer. To put it simply: I would never create a serious site that mirrors this test case site.
I created the site back in August of 2007. It took 5 hours total. I put the site in the 3WayLinks network and sat back to see what would happen. (If you're interested in all of the details, I chronicled the whole thing in a series of blog posts back when I created the site.)
It was only a couple of months before the site was in the top 5 results of Google for its keywords, pulling in thousands of visitors and hundreds of dollars a month in AdSense revenue.
But that was back in 2007. Google has made many changes to their algorithm since then. Meanwhile, I haven't changed this cheesy little site at all. How has it fared in all that time?
Well, for the first three and a half years the site varied in position from number three to number seven on page one of Google, happily earning me on average around $175 a month in AdSense revenue. In the last six months, though, competition in the niche has heated up, and other sites have started doing some pretty serious link building, so my site (which I've not touched at all) now ranges from number nine to number eleven.
Let me emphasize again: this is not a high quality site. I added ten pages of content related to the keywords I wanted to rank, dropped the site in the 3WayLinks network, and sat back to watch what would happen.
Four years later, the site is still ranking well and earning me money every month. In fact, over the last four years this site has earned me $7,501.89 in AdSense revenue. From five hours of work, that means it's earned me about $1,500 an hour! Not bad.
This might seem counter-intuitive. I mean, hasn't everyone been preaching that Google has updated its algorithm to lessen the value of links and to make site and content quality more important? Yeah, that's what I keep hearing, and yet my cheesy little site still ranks well. And this site is not alone, not by far.
I'm aware of one site that blatantly advertises itself as a link selling site, whose quality is very mid-1990s (e.g. ugly) that has sat at the number one position for its highly valuable keywords for almost seven years! Now, if you believed everything you read on the forums and in blog comments, there's no way sites like this will remain ranked because 'Google knows all and sees all and their algorithms prevent those kinds of things.' Um, no, no and no.
Through all of the updates, the May Days, the Farmers, the Pandas and on and on, many of the sites I have built -- and other sites that I monitor -- continue to rank well for their keywords.
That's because, despite everything you may have heard, and everything Google would like you to think, ranking in Google is still all about the links.
I've always said, and continue to say, that ranking in Google is a simple two step formula:
Quality Content + Lots of Links = Good Rankings
And it's not that the quality of the content is really so important (as my cheesy little test site proves), but that quality content invites more links, and those links are what ultimately get you ranked.
Please post your thoughts and questions in a comment below.
Enjoy this article?
July 6th, 2011 - 08:17
I totally agree with you Tim, It’s all about the links and good content!
July 4th, 2011 - 13:41
Jon,
I have followed your 5 hour website from the start. It is interesting the $7500 number. With thousands of people building sites and never making their first $100 and you made 7500 with 5 hours, a little knowledge and 3 way links.
Pretty cool,
Rick
July 4th, 2011 - 09:56
It’s always going to be about links .. because that’s what the Internet is built upon. It’s links from other sites blogs, forums, pages, facebook, twitter, bookmarks, youtube. Non-Follow or Follow … they all matter.
Not all links are made equal, so you can save some time by spotting the better quality links and use this to attack the best links first.
July 4th, 2011 - 03:55
Unique content is a must. This is commonly overlooked by many bloggers.
July 3rd, 2011 - 11:46
so whats the best linkbuilder then
July 3rd, 2011 - 05:04
I completely agree.
I think a variety of links is best. 3WL should just be one facet of an overall strategy that includes links from as many different places as possible. I know you attempted a couple social media networks that didn’t pan out. Anything similar in the future?
July 3rd, 2011 - 05:01
Set your site up well, add decently written and unique content, then link build slowly and naturally over time – the best quality links you can get.
July 3rd, 2011 - 04:37
Jon, i do agree…but it’s combination of quality links that does the job…i am still trying hard to rank number one for most of my keywords….i am on page one but never in the top 3…just damn my luck…competition is tough…
July 2nd, 2011 - 17:17
I completely agree with you Jonathan.
I think doing proper linkbuilding, good quality and useful content , google will be happy.
July 2nd, 2011 - 14:07
I like the idea of the links going to sites with different IP addresses, and leaving no footprints, you have to be smarter with the linkbuilding now a days, I did purchase 3 way links and expect great things, but you need a walk through video to go through the process from beginning to end, most things were clear but some options weren’t real clear to me.
July 2nd, 2011 - 13:11
3 way links and buildmyrank does a good job to push all pages to top 10
July 2nd, 2011 - 13:10
I found so many interesting stuff in your blog especially its discussion. From the tons of comments on your articles, I guess I am not the only one having all the enjoyment here! keep up the good work.
July 2nd, 2011 - 04:16
Despite of all the deception that pervades the internet, I must say “Jonathon, that your one of the few that sustains an unprecedented level of integrity.
Your information is solid comprehension, with sincere value added.
thank, again
Dennis
July 2nd, 2011 - 01:29
As far as I can see, it is absolutely true.
I´m working in a small niche market, and even links on websites, in articles etc, which have nothing to do with the anchor texts of my links, helped to push my sites. This works as long as the content of the websites is good.
July 2nd, 2011 - 00:15
Ok, I am still thinking links do not command as much importance as before. Thanks for the confirmation. =)
July 1st, 2011 - 20:02
Thanks for providing solid advice to get through panda, now I also understand that how essential is link building in our SEO strategy.
July 1st, 2011 - 15:10
Then sometimes out of the blue you do nothing special and have a surprise and you site ranks like crazy…
July 1st, 2011 - 13:21
I put one of mu sites on 3 way links about 3 months ago (I have been trying to get on the first page for about a year) and the site has now landed at position 7 for a 10k per month (exact match) KW in the insurance niche!
The site has lot’s of unique content and no spam, however I believe that 3 way links has got it to the first page!
July 1st, 2011 - 12:50
Hi, I think the same as Steve the “dog traing” guru, because all the “gurus” tell us the “neverending story” about SEO. I´m a newby, but I´ve a site on page one of google for three keywords and think about all Books I´ve paid. Only one could live with google…the unique and true one!
Thanks from Austria…
July 1st, 2011 - 12:48
Hi Jonathan
I do not do what everyone else does when it comes to SEO. You may ask why and that is because ever since i learned Google changed their alogorithm over 600 TIMES last year, that was enough for me.
I use my very own, self taught methods and i never get hit by the next Google slap.
I use your Best Spinner to great effect for my method to work and i am loving the latest version, it looks much better and can do more, well done again!
John
July 1st, 2011 - 12:12
Hi Jonathan,
Really wise post.
I’m wondering about all those content farms whose link juice has been devalued, such as ezinearticles. Does it stil pay to submit articles to article directories?
What kinds of links are worthwhile to focus on?
Do you think forum profiles and blog posts will be severely devalued soon and are not worth buying now?
Thanks for this blog:)
July 1st, 2011 - 12:07
I would have to agree. Many competitors in my niche still spam with blog comments (even nofollow links) and still are getting high rankings.
July 1st, 2011 - 11:49
I agree with Jonathan to a point. It depends on the competition level of a keyword and how well other sites have done their on and off page SEO. If you don’t have a lot of other competition lower quality links are fine. When you start getting into the shorter tail keywords you need more then just low quality links. You should not pass up the low quality links either because if all you have is PR 3,4,5 linking to your site I think Google will see it as trying to game the system in some way. A site being naturally linked to will have all different types of links and when you are going for higher competition keywords you need to have all different types of links.
July 1st, 2011 - 12:07
Sounds like we agree completely.
July 1st, 2011 - 11:48
Guess I’m going to take another look at you 3 way links network. With all this talk about great content and treat link sources, an automated solution made me nervous. Now I’m thinking this is really a Google wish list rather than anything they can actually enforce. They can count links, but quality is far more difficult to discern.
Thanks Jon
Robert
July 1st, 2011 - 11:32
Hi Jon,
Great article. I have heard different effects of the latest Google Panda update. My site for some reason was stuck and not showing any improvement in link counts, but after the panda update, my links are starting to come in and increasing. It just goes to show that Google works in very mysterious ways…
July 1st, 2011 - 11:23
Our main competitor spins an article 100 times and puts all 100 articles on his site, (read: NOT adding quality content).
We hand spin and only put 1 or 2 of these on our site, (read: quality content).
They’re at #3 and we’re at #11… the difference: they’re adding 1000+ links per week……..
July 1st, 2011 - 09:25
Great insights Jon. You answered a lot of SEO questions for me. I use backlinking as my main strategy and I didn’t see any negative results from Panda.
July 1st, 2011 - 09:13
Hi Jon you’re right I start building niche site about 10 months ago and I now have 7 sites. 5 of my site now rank on the first page of Google for my main keywords and all I uses is PLR articles (I spin the articles using TBS) and start building backlinks by doing article marketing. My sites only more to the first page of Google since their latest update.
July 1st, 2011 - 08:55
Jon
Thanks again for being an awesome contributor to the IM community. If you don’t start with this basic principle then you’ve got nothing. And if you start to listen to everyone about Google then you might as well pack it up and forget about IM.
My IM Mentors and I do not fear Google and we love it when they come out with a new “algorithm” because the basics still rule the day.
Jose
July 1st, 2011 - 08:35
Jon you are one of only 3 people who I bother to read every email I receive from them and as usual your post is bang on target, as our results confirm to me.
The thing I find is the most important is the correctly researched and targeted keywords with the corresponding level of link building.
Quality content is important for the user experience which impacts in the bounce rate and as you say attract other sites to link to you as well.
Ian
July 1st, 2011 - 08:08
So very true! My wife and I have always tried to add quality content to our many sites. As you can see from this new simple information site without backlinks google has given it first page listings for the keywords. I think with just a few good quality backlinks I can drive my keywords to the top spots. So did the world end with panda “NO” have they pushed out more of the “riff raft” it looks like they have. I think google has an impossible job trying to give high quality to the people in search of things. If there is a way to cheat the system people will find it time and time again.
Much success,
Dave
July 1st, 2011 - 08:01
Quality content + number of links still rule the game, in spite of what ever scary changes release by Google.
only difference 1 page sites need to be updated to 10-15 pages to carry on the good work.
July 1st, 2011 - 07:58
Got my curosity up about 3 way links for my websites. Just send you a email with questions first about that program.
Content is king and I am going to find out if linking is second.
July 1st, 2011 - 07:57
Johnathan …
Interesting piece of information u are sharing — now what u are saying is that getting links from a service such as yours can still get good ranking results …hummmm interesting since this is not what is being preached out there, that low quality links and masses of them make no difference any more but very little.
Ok…so what you are saying that low quality links still work and continue using them based on your own personal sites present and past performance.
Although, this would not be a sound business model to persue but one of a few to bring in some quick cash, as this can crumble in one bases all his marketing based on poor links as opposed to acquiring more quality links from related sites and from natural viral linking coming from others whom like the content and link back to it.
Either way, this information is critical in that you reveal that google scares us into thinking that lots of low quality links will not get us results any longer, the only way to find out is try it ourselves
July 1st, 2011 - 08:19
What makes you so sure Google sees links from networks as low quality? Clearly my site, and many others ranked by 3wl, show otherwise.
July 1st, 2011 - 07:34
Jon I can’t help but agree with your comments in the OP and also your replies to the questions and other comments posted. Your consistency and logical response continue to substantiate your opinion.
Panda has not bothered my sites, nor my clients sites and each of us have continued to see higher PR and movement onto page 1 (and in the top 4) for very competitive keywords. And frankly, myself nor my clients have only added a little fresh (but useful) content to the sites themselves. Therefore I kept help but believe my link building strategy for my self and my clients; continues to work. By the way none of my clients sites nor mine have ever been “sandboxed” over the last several years.
My clients and I will continue to use the “old school” strategy of getting as many varied back links to our sites as possible.
Ken
July 1st, 2011 - 07:32
Yes good content and lots of links are really all you need. I totally agree with Steve.
I read a lot of the other posts and you have some pretty great tips.
July 1st, 2011 - 06:54
Hi Jonathan.
I am in total agreement with you. If you stick to the basics in SEO you will be doing the right things. Links are key…
July 1st, 2011 - 06:04
Google laid out its rules in its webmaster guide a long time ago, and obviously they want to keep the “information highway” as just that, on the face of it. But Google generates billions of dollars for advertisers so that kind of upsets their own rules, so there has to be a balance.
I am still sticking with the quality content and backlink theory. It just seems to me Google has to keep an air of mystery about what it does with these algo changes, or else everybody would be doing everything correctly and they would have to change their algorithms again. After all, if everyone scored 100% on a test, then the test would just have to get harder.
I am pretty new to all this, none of my sites are even old enough to rank. I figure all I can do is follow Google’s rules and hope for the best.
July 1st, 2011 - 05:42
Thanks for the article, find it really helpful as I’m a novice. I have a question though, as I am new to seo, how many links is lots? How many links is enough? Is a lot 30, 250 or a 1000? My website is in a fairly competitive market and there is a fair amount of competition for my keyworks. It would be really helpful if someone could tell me!
July 1st, 2011 - 08:16
Hello Sean, ‘lots’ of links unfortunately can’t be given a definite number as it is all dependant on how much competition pages there are and ALSO how many good backlinks those competitive pages have worked to get. If you have competitive keywords you would probably need a lot of good backlinks. That’s why people go to the ‘low hanging fruit’ keywords (least competitive) first and slowly build their site up going for progressively more competitive keywords. Software tools like Traffic Travis and Market Samurai do have sections where you can see the top 10 or 20 sites that compete for any given keyword you are researching, telling you things like how well the page is optimised (with your keyword in title and description, etc) how many backlinks the keyword page has, etc. so you can judge how likely it is for you to rank and how much work you would need to do to rank.
Hope that helps.
July 1st, 2011 - 05:40
Thanks John for this awesome Post! I am a newbie to all of this but loving this totally! I guess I need to start building links links links.. thanks
Bluesman signin’ off
July 1st, 2011 - 05:23
Always interesting posts by you Jon and most of the other contribitors,
I Personally do not get too worked up about the google algorythm or any other rythm for that matter, I build very simple niche sites that usually rank well with not a link in sight; I am not talking about blogs I use dynamic php with content.
I target local search results with some really awsome page one listings sometimes dominating with as many as Five listings for the same website.
However I am not about to tell all as to how this is done as I do charge local businesses for my services.
Kind Regards
Simon
July 1st, 2011 - 03:59
One of my e-commerce sites has recently gone from PR1 to PR2 on home page and PR1 to 3 on one of the main categories. Other categories range from PR0 to 2. It is odd but the home page was page 1 #3 on google in a very competitive niche and then vanished to be replaced by a content page from the same site. For about 3 months this happened and then one day the home page came back at #4. I do backlinking, some content but not a lot and some social media. The good thing is my site is fast on it’s own dedicated server, bounce rate is low about 30% and people look at a lot of products as they browse. In finishing I’ll say this you need to keep going and going and when you get hit now and again just stay calm and carry on and it’ll come back.
July 1st, 2011 - 03:46
Hi Jonathan,
What do you think about that Google gives a ‘Panda score’ by evaluating the amount (+ originality) of text, and the kind of links leaving the site.
Google hates duplicate content and can spot it easily.
Google does not appreciate short texts.
Google can see which links point to a site, and where are all the links from a site pointing to.
So sites with low quality outbound links pointing all to affiliate clickbank sites or Amazon get down graded.
July 1st, 2011 - 03:14
Bang on as always Jon, we have in fact proven this ourselves in the last 3 months with a brand new test site and 1waylinks – “panda schmanda.. “
July 1st, 2011 - 02:46
Google is making a living by providing her “customers” (searchers) with quality, useful information. So, she is working consistently to improve her algos to find the ‘best’ content for any query. That’s why quality content on your pages is mandatory – along with good on-page SEO so Google can find you.
July 1st, 2011 - 02:46
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! This article is so refreshing to me. I have learning a ton about SEO since February. I have seen lots of success, but never feel confident about my skills. I feel like I need to find out some “secret” or buy some expensive software. However, time and time again I see that what you said is true: Quality Content + Links = Good Rankings
Thanks!
July 1st, 2011 - 02:42
Jonathan
Is it all about links ? what about the +1 button ?
what do you make of the +1 button ?
My understanding is that it is there to do a Google “Like” which is going to be used in the Google algorithm, well so they say
but is it a scam – to use the Google “+1″ you need to have a Google account, and lets face it, I guess about 1% of current Google users have a Google account
so is it Google’s way to build up Google account users, and in an indirect way, build a social network
more to the point is +1 now a threat or opportunity for Jonathan Ledger ?
could Jonathan Ledger build a +1 network user base, and then have a process of +1 web sites, a bit like he set up with the bookmarking sites a few years back
the question is – will +1 significantly effect a web sites rankings in the search results ?
July 1st, 2011 - 03:06
There is no doubt that Google scores points for user ratings, but don’t get too worked up about +1 just yet. It hasn’t caught on with users, so it doesn’t have much of an impact yet. Even if it does catch on to some degree, I doubt that it will play a major role in search results. Already with Google Places, retailers are catching on that user ratings affects their placement in Google Maps, and some are gaming that system by simply asking their friends to write glowing reviews. By most estimates, Google only counts those ratings as 10-20% of the overall Maps score. I expect +1 to have similar impact in the long run…minor.
July 1st, 2011 - 02:36
Jonathan.
Thanks for the great content. I have been a loyal follower and subscriber for many years.
I am not sure what the big deal about the Google instant was all about. I think you echoed my sentiments Jonathan about it; optimizing for a partial keyword and then a letter seemed ridiculous to me.
As for the Google Panda update, well let’s just say it was good to me; I went from a PageRank of zero to a PR=2.
Sweet bonus for me. I guess the quality of my links outweighed my mediocre content (I have never considered sales websites quality content).
Ciao,
Daniel Tetreault
Sidney, BC
July 1st, 2011 - 02:00
Hi Jon
As usual, nice article and insights. Thanks for sharing. It’s always has been about the links, and I believe it’s not going to change anytime soon.
Thanks for creating tools like 3WL.
Best,
Welly
July 1st, 2011 - 01:35
I just wonder how much weight the bounce rate/time on the site carries (or will carry). I understand that Google doesn’t like the dreaded ‘thin affiliate sites’ or ‘gateway pages’, so it would seem logical that a high bounce rate would cause lower rankings, but it’s obviously not necessarily the case, yet. Hmmm
July 1st, 2011 - 02:28
@Jeff:
This was hardly a definitive test but I had a site with a load of links but a pretty high bounce rate.
I made some on page tweaks to encourage clicking on other content on the site and got the bounce rate down (from 80%+ to 60%-) then shot up the rankings.
As mentioned earlier there are so many factors at play it is hard to isolate any one but this was enough for me to think that bounce rate may be relevant.
I feel it would be a good rule of thumb to judged the quality of content on a site as would the time spent on the site by a user.
July 4th, 2011 - 06:52
Had a similar experience with my site. Lowering Bounce Rate by engaging the visitors more boosted my rankings and increased also my adsense earnings per click.
@Jonathan
thanks for this intersting post – Two questions I still have:
a) the site you refer to in your post, is it still in the 3WL network?
b) how fast (it any at all) did sites taken out of 3WL lost their ranking?
Your kind reply is much appreciated.
T.
July 1st, 2011 - 01:35
Nice one John – this is from someone who has invested heavily in TBS and SE Nuke, MLB and writers, video narrators to build properties and 1000s of links.
I did have doubts as to whether it was right to continue building 1000s of links but no matter what the algorithm I just cant see it being far off content, keywords and backlinks. I guess the algorithm will adjust to give more authority to some types of links….
July 1st, 2011 - 01:28
Thanks Jon for sharing your insights.
I use 3waylinks myself on some of my websites and yes I have experience improve rankings on some of my websites.
Those that rankings have dip slightly I just add more content and build more links.
I feel the key here is link diversity and building sticky links, links that are fairly stable and do not fall off the radar easily.
In addition, good on page SEO. Do the best that you can, if you provide quality content, your stuff will become viral from people sharing your stuff. If you haven’t notice quality stuff like this post will bring people to read it; there are equally lots of people looking for reviews and good content on a variety of topics.
July 1st, 2011 - 01:19
Well Jon, I have been following your posts for more than 4 years now and everything you posted about has always drawn my attention. After reading most of your posts, I too decided to do a few investigations.
At first I was alarmed when my site rankings dropped 3 or 4 days after the “Panda” update. I later discovered that this was not due to the update at all but to the simple fact that certain sites deleted my articles for fear of Google or any other search engines because the niche of my site was “tagged“.
The way I write can not be anything near the Pulitzer Award as you mentioned but now my sites are gaining back the positions they lost. My point is that my sites went down due to the links being deleted. I made a post about this on one of my blogs and wrote about my findings.
Sorry, this is not spamming but I just want to prove my point and to support your view. You may navigate to the post and read it before you approve or delete this comment.
July 1st, 2011 - 01:12
Good post, Jon. Yes, it still is about good content and link building over time. Just to refer to an earlier comment, unfortunately it isn’t just the owners of questionable sites who are freaking out as a result of the latest updates. Some sites that add real value with great, original content have been affected in the shuffle, even though nobody seems to know why. It can be extremely frustrating if you try to do everything right and with integrity and this happens.
July 1st, 2011 - 01:04
hi guys i dont want to sock you but it is all true what Jonathan is saying Quality links MATTERS the Most!!
from my experience anyway…
July 1st, 2011 - 00:52
Well said Jon. It’s what I’ve always taught my mentoring clients. Quality content serves the purpose of contributing to, rather than polluting, the internet as a whole AND has the added (read main) benefit of attracting backlinks.
I’d love to know what your opinion is on the speed of backlinking building. In your opinion is it a problem to build backlinks in large numbers too quickly?
I tend to believe that it is consistency of backlinking rather than the actual number of backlinks built at a time, (if you see what I mean)?
regards
Roy
July 1st, 2011 - 00:40
It’s obvious that the update of Google Algorithm is fear by web owners that have lack of quality content at their sites. I think Panda is good to provide us better content for SERP and best rewards for web owners that really provide good quality content at their sites. Thanks for the share Jon.
July 1st, 2011 - 00:21
Thank you so much for this informative article and all the comments. This has really cleared up some of the confusion about what has been happening with Google. Jonathan, your replies to some of the questions and comments may have been some of the best explanations about the recent update and really the basics for any internet marketing endeavor. Kind of put everything into perspective. Thanks alot.
July 1st, 2011 - 00:14
Nice posts Jon. The one factor that you didn’t mention was the age of these sites that have kept decent ranks. Do you think this may be a factor to keeping thiseranks even will low to mid quality links?
I suppose a way to test is to do a similar thing post panda with a new site. Oh hang on I am
. I’ve been considering which link types to use.
Do you manually submit to he article directories you mention?
July 1st, 2011 - 00:02
I’m finding the whole thing frustrating. I have a site with at least 100 built-out pages of original, hand-written, quality content. I’ve built it up over several years. I have a PR of 4 and a decent amount of links. However, for my two main keywords that are the most targeted (I rank pretty well for a wide variety of terms, but not all are searched as much), my competition ranks above me with fewer links and a lower PR.
That, and I don’t seem to get nearly as many backlinks. In the last six months, I’ve done a ton of bookmarking, I have a bunch of blogs pointing to my sites, I am really good at spinning articles and submit each one several hundred times and yet, I can’t seem to move from #7. Well, I did move to #8 and briefly to #9, but now seem to be sitting squarely at 7. I used to be at 4 or 5.
I did just add a bunch of video. I tweet and FB and do all that other stuff and I do regular mailings and build my lists consistently, but it feels like nothing makes any difference.
Why is there no movement?
July 1st, 2011 - 03:09
The sad fact is that, while high quality links are definitely good, Google and the other search engines still give credit for low quality links. There are sites I’ve seen with just one page on the site and no credited backlinks listed in the top 5 for competitive keywords. They do it by spamming the h*** out of the forums, blogs etc. with spammy, automated comments.
That’s the bad news. The good news is that it’s still all about the links, even when the quality of those links is bad, and good quality links do get more “score” than bad quality links.
My suggestion to you…keep building high quality content and back links.
July 1st, 2011 - 00:01
I was just reading on BTF forum by a hardcore SEO person that the age of the site seems to mean A LOT to Google now, more so then ever I take it. In fact, he suggested buying aged domains over EMD’s for easier ranking and quicker authority. Great article Jon, thanks.
June 30th, 2011 - 23:57
Hi John, How do you know that good regularly updated content automatically create link in fast way?. i think it create link but slowly. google will give more value for regularly updated site, isn’t it?
br//
SAKURA
June 30th, 2011 - 23:31
Jonathan: I’ve been a follower of yours with TBS and 2 other article writing tools. Now I’m intrigued about your 3WayLinks and 1WayLinks programs as well. 3WayLinks seems to be a virtual set and forget system, with a limit cap on how many links we will eventually get. Is that correct?
And 1WayLInks seems to be a system which is not set and forget, but rather write an article (spin), post and get as many backlinks as you decide to post (so its beneficial to spin well and post a lot). Unlimited backlinks. Is this correct?
Both are appealing to me, but 3WayLinks is more appealing right now due to the set and forget approach.
Of course, a person could say that your article is self-serving in that you promote your own service (in a roundabout way). But you don’t have to convince me that decent quality articles plus backlinks is the real key to success. I’ve seen it myself on several sites. I’ve also seen link volume to be a problem as well.
Can you expand upon how you use 3WayLinks versus 1WayLinks? Obviously each has a different use, or why would you have created both of these services?
June 30th, 2011 - 23:28
Hi Johnatan’ I have one question for you tell me how much effect in linkbuilding has links from social network (web 2.0 properties) is links from web 2.0 properties still valuable after panda update or no ?
Thanks in advance
June 30th, 2011 - 23:27
Hey, Jonathon, well said, well said indeed. When Google goes through each and every website and reads the sites word for word with human eyes, then we will definitely be saying the sky is falling, the sky is falling. Until then, it’s backlink, backlink, and more backlinks. Thanks for post.
June 30th, 2011 - 23:11
Jon,
I have never put much stock into what all of the naysayers say about Google and this just proves it…
Thanks!
June 30th, 2011 - 23:06
For me what has been working for my pages and post to rank well. Is these three things in combination with one another.
1. Unique keyword targeted Content on my sites.
2. A variety of incoming links as well as a few related outgoing links.
3. On site activity; Meaning comments, traffic, rss and social linking (Facebook, Digg, Videos, Twitter etc.)
That social activity has helped with improving the bounce rates on my sites. Inter linking these social media sites and videos to my sites has made the difference for me personally.
June 30th, 2011 - 23:00
Links matter more than content. I’ve also seen some sites with nothing but gibberish and yet in the first page of a keyword I was targeting. Could it be that the web is still too big (and getting bigger by the nanosecond) for Google to effectively cover?
June 30th, 2011 - 22:58
Hello Jonathan. Although I agree with you (partially) because I own several sites that still rank high without me needing to do anything about them, I think that premise of “Quality Content + Lots of Links = Good Rankings” is too simplistic. I think there are other beasts we should start taking into consideration, such as Social Media integration, Page Speed, and especially the QUALITY of the links we get, instead of the quantity. However, results speak better than words, so we will see how it goes in the future!
June 30th, 2011 - 22:53
Agreed….
99% of the time GREAT content with few backlinks means poor rankings….POOR content with MANY backlinks can result in great rankings. ….maybe sad, but true.
June 30th, 2011 - 22:50
Well, one of these days, Google will figure out how to get rid of the sites whose inbound links are nothing more than the site author going to other sites and voting for himself!
The very first comment here is a perfect example. There’s a keyword-anchored link to a kids’ costume site. Now what in the world does that have to do with your Internet marketing products blog here? If I’m not mistaken, Google is looking for links that reflect an unbiased third-party recommendation. A site specializing in Internet marketing tools is endorsing a Transformers Bumblebee costume? Really?
It’s all the same thing, as you’ve mentioned – but author comment link-building, automated link building, paid link building are all contrary to Google’s wishes. And we all know what eventually happens when Google is crossed.
I can’t imagine how loud the crash will be worldwide when all those sites propped up by unnatural links (read ‘created solely by link-building’) come down! There are very clear tracks and patterns left by these techniques although it will take a bit of effort to work them into another algorithm. But Google is especially adept at that!
June 30th, 2011 - 23:02
But Ed, Google has said these same things for years and years, and yet the sites still rank. You have way too much faith in the ability of a bunch of engineers, my friend.
Let me throw this at you: just because a doctor recommends his mechanic to a patient, does that make it a bad recommendation? I mean, he’s a doctor, not a mechanic, right? Wrong, for the obvious reasons. So just because a website is not related to the site to which it links does not mean that link has no value. That’s Google’s big delimma. If they try to prevent “cheating” by lowering the value of certain kinds of links, the collateral damage to innocent web masters would be HUGE.
Besides, how do you define a “proper” link? If I pay a great writer to create great content for my site, and that content results in links to my site that get me ranked, did I not BUY my ranking — which is considered “black hat”? The lines are far too blurry for such cut and dry ideals as you postulate in your comment.
Bottom line: quality content + lots of links = good rankings. That’s how it’s been, and I’ve no doubt that’s how it will remain for some time to come.
June 30th, 2011 - 23:28
Jon, that is the best explanation I have read/heard. I have sites that have links pointing to them that have nothing to do with the related niche, yet Google appear to give them priority over many other links that are related to the same topic.
Plus, your post certainly should soothe the nerves of many marketers worried about their drop in PR etc etc…if they read and learn from people like yourself, instead of protesting.
You certainly keep me level-headed, so thank you!
June 30th, 2011 - 23:28
You also need to remember this, Google makes money from these cheesy little sites with links from wherever. It would be in there best interest as a business to leave these sites alone. Imagine if Google slapped all these horrid sites with links from wherever, what would that do for there adsense revenue?
Sure 7k over 3 years isn’t to much to big Google but multiply that by a million sites, 10 million sites, hello maybe even a hundred million. That could be billions in revenue and at least hundreds of millions.
Google is looking out for themselves just like any business, remember that…
JJ
July 1st, 2011 - 03:32
I agree with JJ,
I had some of my sites ranking poorly, with very little traffic. They were Amazon products affiliate sites.
Then one day I decided to add Adsense to each of them.. and guess what happened the next day.. they all started receiving traffic!! From 10-15 visitors daily they are not at 150-200 visitors daily.
I cannot find another explanation.
Panda took most of the ranking and visitors, Adsense brought them back.
June 30th, 2011 - 22:49
Yep i agree with you jon, but still confused, are we need link from the same niche for better result??
June 30th, 2011 - 22:45
Yes, still very true. Good content and proper linking is the key, as Jon has pointed out along with the data to back it up. Thanks Jon.
June 30th, 2011 - 22:38
Awesome post Jon…though the links are important but i have observed after the Panda update that if your links are coming from a certain network of sites then if the overall value of the network is down then your sites rankings will be affected. I have seen this with a site of mine which was purely based on article marketing robot blasts…it was ranking quite well, but after the panda update, I think a lot of the auto-accept wordpress based article directories were reduced in value and hence the links had lesses authority,which in-turn affected the rankings of this particular site.
Links are important…but what is more important is the variety of it…
June 30th, 2011 - 22:38
Funny that you should send this out right after I get done watching a video from SeoMoz that completely contradicts everything that you just said in this article.
I think that you will find that the sites that have done their keyword research, provided their visitors with solid and insightful content and have been building links will still continue to rank well through all but the most dramatic algorithm changes.
The people who are freaking out are the people who have questionable sites that provide little to no value to the user experience.
June 30th, 2011 - 22:41
“The people who are freaking out are the people who have questionable sites that provide little to no value to the user experience.”
Well said Wade.
June 30th, 2011 - 22:30
Jon, Greetings from a dedicated IAW and TBS subscriber! This 3waylinks.net has sparked my interest. Do you know how I could get this php file set up on a Yahoo Store e-commerce site?
June 30th, 2011 - 22:39
I don’t believe you can upload php files to Yahoo Store, so it wouldn’t work.
July 1st, 2011 - 05:38
Yahoo allows me to ftp to a backend at http://site.mydomain.com…they do not allow direct ftp into http://www.mydomain.com because, of course, the www side is where the RTML templates write the html code and they don’t want anyone screwing that up. The “site” side is where, for example, WordPress is installed. You don’t think that I could upload (ftp) the php file to the “site” side then link to it from the home page? Would you be willing to let me test it, and, if so, is there any way we can validate that it’s actually working correctly?
June 30th, 2011 - 22:30
So the conclusion is 3WayLinks still works? I’m using BuildMyRank.com for links but am getting rid of it after 4 months.
Is 250 links to my sites doing to give it much of a boost? I have 2 seasoned real e-commerce sites.
I’m also using SeNukeX to get back links but so far have not had success with that either.
June 30th, 2011 - 22:39
The success of any link network hinges very much on the research you’ve done in advance when choosing the keywords you want to rank for. For more information on how to properly choose your keywords, go to GeekFreeSEO.com and read my free report.
June 30th, 2011 - 22:23
Great post. Sometimes, you get taken in by all the chatter & noise that links are no longer as important at Google. However, the results as you’ve shown seem to prove otherwise.
Jonathan, what about your thoughts about ranking at Bing? Is Bing as focused as Google on links? If not, what does Bing care about?
Cheers!
June 30th, 2011 - 22:22
My SEO works Jonathan and it is not like the SEO that everyone is pushing. I didn’t get caught in the latest Google slap. Why? I never did what everyone else was doing. It was obvious that google was going to slap those stupid methods or article posting to these article sites.
Now, with that said. I love TBS, but what I do with my spun content is different.
cya
.
June 30th, 2011 - 22:16
Hi Jonathan,
I’ve included 3waylinks.net in my plan. My mentor recommended it to me. I think that is so great, because my mentor’s website is always showing up in the google first page. I always get stuck when it comes to link building.
Your post is really good, I totally agree with you. Backlinks is the most important factor to get google first page.
Yudhistira
June 30th, 2011 - 22:13
I couldn’t agree more.
June 30th, 2011 - 22:12
Good Post Jonathan, as Steve mentions I think the SEO Gurus are jumping all over this update to try and increase business. I have noticed in the last couple of weeks some guys setting up sites selling “quality backlinking” services. My sites have stayed fairly stable. I think that sticking to the old tried and tested methods is the way to go.
Rick
June 30th, 2011 - 22:10
This is indeed very good information, you are right high quality content + lots of backlinks still able to work. A link is still a link. Thanks for the tips. Cheers!
June 30th, 2011 - 22:09
I guess the big question then is how are you link building? Since that seems to be the holy grail…. are you primarily white hat?
June 30th, 2011 - 22:16
I think the whole white / gray / black hat notion is rather silly when it comes to link building. Whether you pay somebody to write an awesome “link-bait” article, or whether you pay a network to trade links to your site, you’re still, in effect, buying your ranking — you’re just taking different approaches. So the idea of “pure, white hat” link building is a farce — you’re still paying for your ranking one way or another.
I typically use my link networks (3WayLinks.net, 1WayLinks.net, MyWayLinks.net) plus, for my products, affiliate programs that build links from the affiliates. For non-product sites I have articles written and spread to a large number of heavily-crawled article directories.
July 1st, 2011 - 05:25
I tend to agree on your viewpoint about “white hat” and “black hat” notion. What one should concentrate their efforts on instead is how spammy the link building will look. That component is far more important for rankings in my opinion.
June 30th, 2011 - 22:07
Interesting to read this but our experience is the exact opposite. In last months Google dance all of our clients increased in PR – most going to a PR4 including four that came out of the sandpit for the first time and link building is not a strategy we have pursued with any of them.
Our finding is that good quality, regularly changing content is what is important and we will continue to pursue that strategy as opposed to chasing links.
June 30th, 2011 - 22:11
I’m not talking about link chasing. I’m talking about link building. No doubt your quality content is resulting in links to your site, and its the links that are improving the rankings. This is evidenced by the increase in PageRank you are seeing. PageRank is a measure of the link volume coming into a site, so clearly you’re getting more links, which is resulting in better rankings.
Whether you choose to grow links through building quality content that attracts links, or whether you build links through networks, article writing, social bookmarking, or whatever, it’s still the links that result in the rankings.
June 30th, 2011 - 22:05
There’s always going to be those people who will tell you the world is ending but will try and sell you their magic push button system that will save the day.
The truth is, build a site with good content and links from many different sources that are relevant. Provide value on your site and and it will attract more visitors and links.
June 30th, 2011 - 22:05
that’s right man , and I know for sure 3waylinks.net is the most consistent for great result for link building but it’s need a little bit of passion and smart action.
well done master.. !!
June 30th, 2011 - 22:03
What I understood is that low quality links are less important and more emphasis is placed on higher quality links that are spread over a variety of sources. I have seen a site with a few high quality links outrank sites with tons of links.
June 30th, 2011 - 22:05
While low-quality links are less important, I haven’t experienced them being any less important than they were before Panda. Many of my sites use a variety of low to mid-quality links to rank, and their rankings have not changed (some have improved).
June 30th, 2011 - 22:03
Interesting read thanks Jon. What I don’t understand is why other websites fall from grace with the latest updates. Is it because they don’t have backlinks or that their backlinks are from dubious sources? I really don’t know. I do know that since the latest Panda, a couple of my sites have jumped to the first page of Google and I haven’t even been aggressively backlinking to them. There just seems to be too many variables to accurately gauge ones efforts; other than seeing your website crawl up through the ranks.
June 30th, 2011 - 22:02
I always wonder about that two: contents and links things. But hearing it from real experience has convinced me. Pulitzer contents are there to draw links. Now it all makes sense: the end point is the links.
Thanks for sharing this great experience of yours. I’ll give it a try.
Regards,
Brian
June 30th, 2011 - 21:58
Yes I agree, Content, Links, = Traffic.
We are brain washed from an early age to read and listen to the latest news and form an opinion on it then pass that news on (twisted) to who ever wants to listen.
Then lots of folks take on board why things will not work, then they wont have to do anything about making it work, just complain that nothing is working for them.
Cheers Bruce.
June 30th, 2011 - 21:58
Totally agree with the two step formula. I think where the “confuse” with Google speak is that quality content is anything decent, not mashed/spun/copied so the bar is lower/higher. depending on your perspective than is commonly thought.
June 30th, 2011 - 21:58
I am basically doing the same thing but I do not have a “cheesy website”… at least not in my and my subscribers mind.
BTW…my rank went up since the last panda update. My heart skipped a beat when I saw the jump.
Paul
June 30th, 2011 - 21:58
Awesome info, Jonathan!
What kind of links is that? And where can I get this 3-way link building plugin?
Thanks.
Regards
June 30th, 2011 - 21:59
Just go to 3WayLinks.net.
June 30th, 2011 - 21:58
Thanks for the post. Lots of good insight from real world results and not just opinions. I still am trying to figure out how to make money with Adsense. All my attempts so far produce maybe $1-$2 per month. Wish I knew the secret! Maybe not enough traffic to the site.
June 30th, 2011 - 21:57
Absolutely agree on that Jonathan.
June 30th, 2011 - 21:55
Thanks Jonathan. I believe links is the best for SEO but must be natural. I got news about co.cc got banned. I think that’s because of Panda algorithm.
June 30th, 2011 - 21:55
That last point in your post was something I hadn’t considered. Quality content for the sake of bringing more links. We hear about the importance of quality content as an end in itself, but you’re suggesting it is only a means to an end, the end being more links? Something I had not considered before, but it does make sense.
Enjoyed the read!
June 30th, 2011 - 21:58
I don’t mean to imply that quality content isn’t an end in itself. It is. I think your sites should have quality content just because it makes the web a better place. However, that is not what’s going to cause your rankings to improve in Google. For that, you need links, and quality content will help you get more of those.
June 30th, 2011 - 22:09
Ok. So you are saying then that quality content is a non-factor in ranking? We always hear that “content is king” when it comes to SEO, but seems like you’d say quality content is a means to more links, and links are king (putting aside the fact that quality content is important to provide positive visitor experience and make the Internet a better place like you said).
June 30th, 2011 - 22:13
It’s not a non-factor, no. Google seems to dislike very “thin” sites (sites with very little original content).
From what I’m reading about Panda a lot of affiliate sites got hit if all they had on the sites was the content swiped directly from the vendors. I’m also reading that sites which have a lot of “stub” pages, pages that have very little content at all but are just placeholders for keywords, are also getting hit hard. I don’t build those kinds of sites, so I can’t speak from personal experience, but that’s what I’m being told.
So you want solid content. But does it have to be award-winning? My experience is no.
June 30th, 2011 - 22:24
Totally disagree with this self-serving analysis of how Panda is grading sites. I have already posted a stand-alone response before seeing this.
From sandpit to PR4 for four sites that actively pursues no links and more than a dozen other sites all increasing in PR during the dance last month indicates to us that link farming, article farms and the like have become increasingly irrelevant and that the wheel has turned back to the days when high (not good, high) quality content that is frequently updated is where it is at now.
None of the sites that we manage pursues even a moderate link-building strategy, instead focusing on high quality (not Indian written) on-site content – including some high quality manually edited spun text using TBS – that is updated regularly.
Some of these sites have sat at PR3 for lengthy periods of time. It’s about the content and user experience. To that end we run follow backlinks from all of the sites, but all comments are moderated and spammy comments deleted.
June 30th, 2011 - 22:27
Don’t you realize that PageRank is a measure of the link volume to a site? If your sites have a PR4, that means they have a significant volume of links aimed at them. It’s those links that are responsible for your sites’ rankings, not the content alone.
Now, you might build links by creating quality content that attracts other people’s linking to it — but you’re still building links to improve your ranking.
June 30th, 2011 - 23:50
And not only that, Google has no idea if his content is high quality anyway, so this fantasy that Google rewards sites for having “quality” content is just that….a fantasy.
July 1st, 2011 - 00:01
How many unique domain backlinks point at your clients sites both before Panda and post?
June 30th, 2011 - 21:54
Haha!!! I love it. This was great. You are one of the very few that is not a member of the sky-is-falling clique.
To be honest with you, I am LMAO about this. Great post. Good looking out Jon.
June 30th, 2011 - 21:52
I have found even with all the updates, just keep the links coming. My site has not moved a lot even with the changes. It just keeps moving up slowly.
June 30th, 2011 - 21:48
Great post Jonathan, I think this is the first post I read from you. I really like your writing style and how you let everyone know hey this is how it worked years ago and what do you know it is still working just fine now. Thanks again
June 30th, 2011 - 21:47
Interesting … I was starting to think that backlinks were getting less important with the recent Google updates seeming to focus so much more on website content. I guess the only real solution is to keep getting quality backlinks while spending more time on making large, informative sites.
June 30th, 2011 - 21:47
Jonathan, couldn’t agree with you more. I personally think that the SEO gurus are screaming the loudest because they want us to give up and employ them to do the work for you. Apart from a small shake my rankings are pretty much the same. But the only ones who need to fear the Panda update are the ones that we don’t want around anyway.
Steve
June 30th, 2011 - 21:56
Someone hit the nail right on the head. I wonder if the shiny-object peddlers practice what they try to sell us, or… if they are secretly doing what Jon has been doing all along.
June 30th, 2011 - 21:43
Very true, we’ve had similar sites that are still to this day ranking and making money each month. It’s all about the links and good content.
Cheers
Tim