The Truth about LinkWheels

[searchnology]

Rant starting......now.

I can't believe all of the hype around the whole linkwheel scenario. The idea of having your own backlink network is NOT new at all but if you slap a fancy name on it, people fall all over themselves to get it.

Kind of like when they introduced the term "link bait"....errr you mean providing "quality content" that people like and will naturally link to?

If that's the forumula for getting people's attention then I'm going to come up with something snazzy and repackage an existing strategy.

How about:

1. "LinkJuice Traps"
2. "PageRank Remote Control"
3. "SERP Sculpter"
4. "Ranktonite" (Similar to Kryptonite but better!)
4. "Brazilian Backlinks"(if you are watching late night TV infomercials you know what I am talking about)

Just funning around. Apologies if any of those are actual products.

[Steve Crooks]

Ranktonite.. I like that! Where can I buy the ebook?

Originally Posted by searchnology

Rant starting......now.

I can't believe all of the hype around the whole linkwheel scenario. The idea of having your own backlink network is NOT new at all but if you slap a fancy name on it, people fall all over themselves to get it.

Kind of like when they introduced the term "link bait"....errr you mean providing "quality content" that people like and will naturally link to?

If that's the forumula for getting people's attention then I'm going to come up with something snazzy and repackage an existing strategy.

How about:

1. "LinkJuice Traps"
2. "PageRank Remote Control"
3. "SERP Sculpter"
4. "Ranktonite" (Similar to Kryptonite but better!)
4. "Brazilian Backlinks"(if you are watching late night TV infomercials you know what I am talking about)

Just funning around. Apologies if any of those are actual products.

[XFactor]

Yep - all the same stuff that we were doing in 2005 (and others way
before that) - just different names.

- John

[jazbo]

Bearing in mind there are people out there that still think having a page of reciprocal links on their site is worth the time and effort, so are you surprised?

I saw somene advise people to not spend money but to just learn SEO etc from forums. IMO that is disasterous advice. Forums are the worst place for old, bad advice and myths to be perpetuated as fact.

[bigcat1967]

I saw somene advise people to not spend money but to just learn SEO etc from forums. IMO that is disasterous advice. Forums are the worst place for old, bad advice and myths to be perpetuated as fact.

I agree. I see it daily in every SEO forum. ppl sphewing so much misinformation that it's unbelievable.

[moneymoguls]

Link wheels do not do what they are claimed too. I learned from experience. I bought a $300 complex link wheel that was supposed to put my blog on the 1st page of Google. 6 months later = no change.

Lots of hype and money but no results.

I agree that most of the advise on forums is just promotion for some product or service. Nothing useful.

I learned the hard way = experience.

[searchnology]

I didn't mean to introduce the idea of non-credible information being out there. (though that is true as well)

Some tactics work, it's just the constant "repackaging" of the same things that is irritating.

For example, LinkWheels can work. They just don't need to be constructed as true "wheels" with sites linking to a hub site as well as to each other. I think someone closed the loop by connecting all of their backlinks one day and thought that is what caused their SERPs to improve...Eureka! So they started hawking this as a new strategy when in actuality the SERPs increase was probably more about the relevancy of the backlinks and the backlinks for those backlinks than a "wheel" structure.

[carlos123]

Originally Posted by moneymoguls

I agree that most of the advise on forums is just promotion for some product or service. Nothing useful.

Hmm...makes me wonder what we are all doing here LOL.

I like hanging out here for entertainment, for advice, and to take a break from things I am doing on the computer even though this too is a forum. But one that has less of what you talk about I think.

Carlos

[JaySchmidt]

With all the time some people spend building (good) link wheels, they could produce something of value that would accrue links naturally.

• With all the really bad articles on Wikipedia, anyone should be able to produce a page that serves people better than some Wiki article in your favorite niche.
• You can spend a few hours making a nice Excel spreadsheet or template to help folks in the weight loss or build muscle niches project their future losses or gains.
• You can package up a few public-domain ebooks and host them on your website. Instant link-bait for information-hungry web surfers.

Just because you ultimately want to attract buyers doesn't mean you can't use link bait to build your site's authority in the eyes of the search engines.

And once you have an authority site, you won't need to resort to link wheels to rank for medium competition keyphrases.

PS - I don't have a true authority site yet, but it's getting there and it amazes me how my 'buying' articles can ride on the coattails of my 'information' articles.

[be strong]

one fellow warrior wso was using linkwheel method as part of his training course

I don't understand why he used link wheels in the past

what was I thinking back then.....noob mistake

I call them 'overrated links"

[Fraggler]

Originally Posted by jazbo

I saw somene advise people to not spend money but to just learn SEO etc from forums. IMO that is disasterous advice. Forums are the worst place for old, bad advice and myths to be perpetuated as fact.

I agree. It much better to spend money on a report or coaching and only follow the 1 person's SEO opinions rather than browsing a forum and seeing that these paid for reports and coaches are full of bad advice and myths.

Same with the backlink packages. People should pay for a list of URL's or Google Dorks rather than reading the forums and learning how to find the same list plus a whole lot more for free. It is silly!

If you are willing to read, learn and experiment, you will find all of what you need on a forum. Ask the right questions and will get the right answers.

Regardless, the reason so many subjects keep recycling through (with or without a name change) is usually from the sheep mentality. Someone posts success with a particular method. They create a group of loyal followers. The followers can't replicate the success, usually due to their own doing. The new fandangle method falls out of favour and is declared that it doesn't actually work. The method disappears until the next user posts his success.

The link wheel is a classic example. It can work, but it doesn't work as it use to. It can be used with great effect for short term gains. This is how the pharma crowd use it. They use parasite hosts built in a linkwheel to get short but good success in highly searched for terms. By the time the search engine finds the footprint the pharma marketer has moved onto the next linkwheel. They know the results aren't long term but they also know that while it works it works well.

White hat marketers catch onto the craze of the BH but don't understand it fully. This causes them to experience the same short term success but after telling their mates the site has fallen again. They also don't understand the other things going on in the background.

The Link Wheel is not being talked about as much as it was 8 - 10months ago. The odd post seems to come up but nothing like what it was. Give it another 12months and it will be back in full swing.

SEO does not change a lot. The structure of a website has stayed pretty constant over a long period of time. If you want to try and find new ways to game a search engine then I think looking for the latest and greatest method is pointless. Instead you should be educating yourself on how search engines actually function and the ways they measure authority and relevancy. At the moment, most engine base this on the way they read links in and out of a site. The way these links should be structured is a big key to success (another reason link wheels get talked about a lot).

[tjcocker]

Originally Posted by jazbo

I saw somene advise people to not spend money but to just learn SEO etc from forums. IMO that is disasterous advice. Forums are the worst place for old, bad advice and myths to be perpetuated as fact.

Hey, that was probably me! Thanks for reading and being a fan.

Well if it wasn't me specifically it sounds like something I would spout off. However, not just forums. You need to research a lot, and for that there's the "Google". Analyzing competitors websites and backlinks. Analyzing authority sites. Searching for free tools, advice, insights. I find some of the best ideas in the dumbest places.

I've "found" free videos that people pay a lot of money for. I won't name names, but basically all the big ones people talk about, and many smaller eBooks and videos. They're all full of basic information and I would be quite mad if I actually spent hard-earned money on any of them. 100% newbie-bait. Not one of the so-called advanced eBooks or videos or SEO experts shared any actionable insights. They make less money when people don't return to buy the next "update" dribbled out to them. All of it could be learned through massive research, which we'll all agree is what it takes to succeed anyway.

While I risk contradicting myself, I do see how it could be beneficial for these things to people who work for a company and need to quickly learn, or someone who has the money to burn and wants information fast. But they should all say outright at the start that anyone can learn through their own time and research.

[WealthWithin]

Originally Posted by searchnology

"Brazilian Backlinks"

I'll take 2. Thanks.

[Sylonious]

I wish I saw this thread earlier. IMO, Linkwheels work nicely when you combine them with other tactics like article marketing etc..

In big competition niches like Internet Marketing it's not going to do anything, but if you are selling foot fungus cures (for example) then those might be the best possible links you can get. If you do drive links to those linkwheel pages (article marketing) then they will increase in the rankings and your money page(s) can kind of piggyback on their success.

Of course, I do my own Linkwheels. I wouldn't pay anyone for it. You also have to understand that some popular "Linkwheel sites" are strictly Nofollow and really won't help your site's rankings. Hubpages and Wetpaint for example are Nofollow (for most people).

Writing Good Content OR Link Baiting

There isn't much you can do to get natural links in niche topics like Foot Fungus and Tinnitus. Even if you create this amazing link bait you probably won't get too many links back from relevant sites and you still have to find a general audience that will enjoy the content and decide to link to it.

[peepin2me]

I was skeptical about the benefits of getting a Link wheel created until I tried out a low cost link wheel service on one of my new websites. The results were pretty good for me.