Can You Relate To This FRUSTRATION With Backlinks?

[robvegas626]

Over the past year I've employed people to build backlinks. I've supplied them with lists of high-PR sites that allow links, as well as SEO books that list hundreds of social media sites (Squidoo, Hubpages, etc.)

Some of the books/PDFs listing sites that allow links, I've received through Warrior Forum.

Hundreds (maybe thousands) of my articles and links have been placed on these various sites. And yet months later, VERY few of them have shown up when I check my number of backlinks. Only a handful.

In some cases, a profile was simply created and a link was placed in the profile. In other cases (like with Squidoo or Hubpages), it was a full, well-written article with links that was approved and published.

I'm frustrated because after all these months, my number of backlinks has barely improved. Can anyone tell me what i might be doing wrong?

I want to build back links. Lots of them. Not at an unreasonable rate that is going to raise red flags...I just want to know that if I'm spending all this time to place links, they WILL get counted eventually.

Any thoughts? Advice? I really appreciate it.

[dndoseller]

If your checking via link: search in Google you willse 1 percent of your links. Google shows 100 links to my site. Yahoo explorer shows all 4000 plus. However if you look at Googles results you will get a sesne of what kinds of links Google REALLY values. The one that show up for me are links in the body of other peoples blog posts - that I did not place myself. Google is very, very smart and is making things very clear to us here.

[robvegas626]

Good answer, thanks. Yeah, my links on Yahoo Site Explorer are growing...but slowwwwly. I've been working at building links every day for the past year. I'm just amazed and frustrated that more of them aren't showing up with Google. It almost makes me think that trying to build backlinks -- using many of the methods suggested on Warrior Forum -- don't matter much! I would love for someone to tell me otherwise...

[Eric Lorence]

In the future this probably belongs in the SEO forum ...

But it seems as though links have to be aged more then they used to, and rightly so since it's so easy to build thousands in days - many people do it.

The SE's may be aware of the link, but won't give it any credit till: A The site it's on has been evaluated, and B the age of the link.

[bgmacaw]

If this is for your site in your sig you're showing around 1400 links and a PR3. That's pretty good for a sales page in a niche that is in borderline adult territory. You've not only gotten a decent number of links but enough of those links have sufficient authority to get you a PR3.

As others mentioned, don't look at the links that Google shows. They keep this inaccurate to prevent people from figuring out their algorithm. Instead, look at the number of pages Google has indexed to get a better feel for how your site is doing there.

In fact, don't look at the links too much at all. Waiting for links to show up will drive you nuts. Instead, concentrate on getting more links and using promotional techniques that will encourage others to naturally link to your site.

[robvegas626]

Yes, my site is the one in my sig. Thanks for the reply. I feel more calm now

I was just venting a little bit. I've been outsourcing this link-building (which still requires me to manage things every day, online) and things hit a point recently where I thought, "are any of these links actually going to help me? I'm just not seeing any of my keywords moving anywhere." (And I've been patient. It's been at least six months since I started paying for this.)

Question: you mentioned my site is "borderline adult territory." I don't think it is, really...it's in the dating / "how to pick up girls" niche, which is nothing new for the IM crowd. Admittedly, my sales page is a bit more "risque" than some others in this niche. Do these types of pages get penalized in some way?

I've never heard of "adult" sites being penalized or ranked lower than other sites. (Not that mine really is, but still...) Can you clear this up for me?

Thanks again, your advice is much appreciated.

[bgmacaw]

Originally Posted by robvegas626

Question: you mentioned my site is "borderline adult territory." I don't think it is, really...it's in the dating / "how to pick up girls" niche, which is nothing new for the IM crowd. Admittedly, my sales page is a bit more "risque" than some others in this niche. Do these types of pages get penalized in some way?

There isn't a penalty from Google but the dating/pickup girls niche is a highly competitive one so you can expect to have tough legit competition and those who'll use cutthroat tactics to try and sabotage your site, such as reporting it to Google for various violations like buying links.

Also, risque pictures tend to make more straight laced webmasters delete your link because they think that your site is an adult oriented site.

Originally Posted by robvegas626

I've never heard of "adult" sites being penalized or ranked lower than other sites. (Not that mine really is, but still...) Can you clear this up for me?

They are filtered in Google to allow 'safe search' results in some cases but if someone is looking up a risque keyword they probably won't be filtered. That's why you don't want to mix adult and non-adult content on a domain although this probably wouldn't be a factor in your case.

Adult sites are often known for using questionable linking tactics that result in deindexing. This isn't from the content itself but from the techniques used. Since so many of these webmasters use these tactics Google does seem to give them extra scrutiny. Also, like I mentioned, the competition is cutthroat and sabotage is common plus non-adult webmasters will delete your links as soon as they're detected in most cases.