Backlinks are a waste of time.

[XLfeet]

I have found this to be my experience. My nich co has had traffic increasing slowly, and with rankings on 1st and 2nd page of google. I am now beginning to learn about baclinking, and feel like a foreign language learner in a calculus 4 class.

All I know is I am getting sales, and all have done with baclinking thus far is post my link in a few forums related to my niche.

I am just wondering if my time would be spent best tweaking my SEO or learning baclinks? Would the baclinks research even payoff?

[fastlancer]

I agree. so many man hours wasted on this PR scam that google divised back in the day.

[offshoredataentry]

hi,
I dont agree with you because i think backlinks are the key to attract traffic to your website.

[Justin Lewis]

Originally Posted by offshoredataentry

hi,
I dont agree with you because i think backlinks are the key to attract traffic to your website.

I was moreso trying to disconnect the word "backlink" and "traffic".

It's not that I think backlinks in general are completely worthless.

It's that I believe that people are building backlinks strictly for rankings and not even focusing on building traffic at the same time.

Imagine investing 500 man hours into building backlinks (that don't build traffic) to a site that ranks #1 for a year and then BAAM gone.

Then imagine investing 500 man hours into building traffic generating links (still considered backlinks, but different in my eyes), to a site thank ranks #1, then the site disappears from the rankings a year later (like the first). You still have traffic coming in from the other sources, so you aren't totally screwed.

Hope that explains the idea I'm trying to get across.

[onesan]

I think what OP is trying to say is that backlinks mean nothing unless you have traffic and spamming thousands of backlinks in the beginning is not the way to go.
Backlinks and traffic are not two different things. One is the result of other. Because you want traffic you start gathering backlinks (to help your SERP position).
You can also gather traffic by doing other things, not just from backlinking.
The reason you hear so much about backlinking is that, unlike other ways of driving traffic to your website, backlinking is all about long-run.
Sure, you could strap a cardboard with your site's name around your neck and jump naked in front of a speeding train, and post the video on youtube, this might get you a boost in traffic on a short term, but it's the long term we are after, and backlinking is a solid strategy.

[outwest]

Paid traffic with PPC Google, Yahoo/MSN, media buys and advertising on individual sites

thats a tough game, you think thats easier for newbies than backlinks? I beg to differ


Plus most newbies are strapped for cash

not a situation that is compatible with this method

[jnxaim1]

This post is very interesting. I think many people will agree and disagree with this. But for me, I agree with this. Let's like change our perception on how to do more traffics. But Backlinks are ones that cause traffic. As what you've shared let not focus on backlinks.

Thank you for sharing an informative post.

Best,

Jnxaim

[vok]

Originally Posted by Justin Lewis

I was moreso trying to disconnect the word "backlink" and "traffic".

It's not that I think backlinks in general are completely worthless.

It's that I believe that people are building backlinks strictly for rankings and not even focusing on building traffic at the same time.

Imagine investing 500 man hours into building backlinks (that don't build traffic) to a site that ranks #1 for a year and then BAAM gone.

Then imagine investing 500 man hours into building traffic generating links (still considered backlinks, but different in my eyes), to a site thank ranks #1, then the site disappears from the rankings a year later (like the first). You still have traffic coming in from the other sources, so you aren't totally screwed.

Hope that explains the idea I'm trying to get across.

I had a chat with Lewis a day or two ago and I thought it was mad, but I started to see the logic after a while. I'm now even thinking of ways I can start, building traffic links rather than just backlinks.

I'm not saying you should just do traffic links but, maybe do that as part of a hybrid method of traffic generation.

Making your websites viral is another good traffic method, you want to make your site a good resource so people share. I've shared a lot of other peoples links in the past because they're such a good resource of quality information that I believe can help people.

Maybe adding this if you're using WordPress would be plugins like Shareaholic, that makes it even easier for people to share your site.

I read in another post and also heard it on Skype too that things like Yahoo Answers, ehow, Forums Signatures are the way to go.

- Chris

[Shilpa]

Originally Posted by Justin Lewis

I think at least in the beginning, people need to stop worrying so much about backlinks, backlinks, backlinks.

Instead, put your focus on traffic.


P.S. Backlinks can be helpful in ranking websites, I just don't think they should be your primary focus.

Thanks for sharing a brilliant discussion first. And yes I had never thought about this I was busy in building backlinks for my website. But I will definitely give these points a try...

Thanks!

[pyrmontvillage]

Consistency in all things people.

[digitalmarketing]

ranking , traffic , business , and many more depend on back link

[AtaArticles]

From experience, a link from a PR7 or 8 page should give you a traffic boost.

[logoonlinepros1]

Well. I think if you don't have quality back links it means you don't have great traffic. These are directly propositional. Sorry to say i do not agree with you. Back links are really very important.

[Matt Baker]

I still believe that backlinks can generate traffic. I only link back to a website that is related to mine I'm sure I will get traffic.

[Justin Lewis]

Originally Posted by Shilpa

Thanks for sharing a brilliant discussion first. And yes I had never thought about this I was busy in building backlinks for my website. But I will definitely give these points a try...

Thanks!

It's worked for me

I wasn't trying to start an argument with others, but it's just a way to open up on your eyes on what you are doing.

Many marketers tend to spam the internet with junk backlinks. I'm not saying backlinks are completely wasted, I'm saying that backlinks that do nothing but link to your site shouldn't be your primary focus.

You should focus on backlinks to your site that build traffic in the process.

I'll get a lot of people who disagree, but these are my views and they are more white hat dedicated. I'm not a fan of spamming the internet with useless links or content unless it's helping someone else find a solution to a problem

[discustipated]

This is about as useful as one of those wso's lol should you ever package this up ill become your first affiliate.

Originally Posted by Justin Lewis

Okay, now I know a lot of warriors will be controversial with this statement, but it's my viewpoint and I'm sticking to it.

I think at least in the beginning, people need to stop worrying so much about backlinks, backlinks, backlinks.

Instead, put your focus on traffic.

Why?

Because if you don't have traffic, you can't succeed, end of discussion. No matter what it is, you just won't succeed without some type of traffic (when it comes to making money anyways).

Let's say you own a pizza shop, you open up the pizza shop in the middle of nowhere and get all of your "pizza" pals to send a letter to the government (google), saying how amazing your pizza is (backlinks). Doing so probably won't get you anywhere. Even if it does, it might not have a longterm effect either.

But let's say you own a pizza shop, open it up in the middle of nowhere, but begin to market that pizza shop and get the word out that it exists. At first, you probably won't have much success, but let's just say a customer comes to your pizza shop and then tells their friend about it. So you have 2 customers. Then you market more and more everyday, simply by building traffic.

Suddenly people start to notice you exist, maybe not a ton of people, but enough to make your living worth while. You never talk to the "big guys" (google) or even worry about them, but then, because you have so much attention, the "big guys" begin to notice you exist as well.

This example might be a little weird, but it's pretty simple. Focus on traffic first, worry about backlinks later. Yes you can receive traffic from ranking in the search engines, but if you aren't building traffic, who's to say that you won't be slapped by the Google Dance?

So to keep yourself save, focus on multiple streams of traffic.

Here are a few good methods.

1. Join forums and communicate with others.
2. Answers questions on Yahoo Answers
3. Depending on your niche, use classifieds like Craigslist
4. Write short articles, leading people to your website/business
5. Create a Facebook fanpage and stay active
6. Work on creating a list by giving away things for free

There are MANY more options out there. In fact there are probably hundreds.

So get out there and build traffic to whatever it is you have to offer, whether thats a niche website, business, product, service, or whatever.

Take Nike into consideration and "Just Do It."

P.S. Backlinks can be helpful in ranking websites, I just don't think they should be your primary focus. So for those that actually read this entire post, share your thoughts on how to build traffic other than search engines

[Justin Lewis]

Originally Posted by discustipated

This is about as useful as one of those wso's lol should you ever package this up ill become your first affiliate.

Lol. I don't know if you were joking or being serious. But I have no intention of creating an ebook or anything to sell relating to this.

If anything, I'll just add my theories into my daily routines and share my experiences.

[deepsand]

If backlinks are a waste of time then why does Google have millions of them? Relating to Pizza shop is like comparing apples and oranges. If you have branding you probable do not need to worry about backlinks per se, but in reference to driving traffic to your site, backlinks increase your serps, and if you are on the first page of Google for "backlinks" then you are going to get a huge amount of traffic!

[phans]

to say that backlinks are a waste of time is a bit hard
it depends on your goal and i agree that the traffic generating methods you talk about are good but for most of them to get steady traffic you have to be working quite active

for many people atleast for me passive income is the key and imo by building backlinks and content to rank high in search engines is the best IM way (atleast for beginners, obv creating a products which other sell for you can me more passive... but we are talkin about generating traffic) to aim for passive income

but that are just my 2 cent
imo you should be doing all of the above also remember that by doing the stuff on your list you will also generate backlinks in the longrun if your content is good

regards

[Justin Lewis]

Originally Posted by deepsand

If backlinks are a waste of time then why does Google have millions of them? Relating to Pizza shop is like comparing apples and oranges. If you have branding you probable do not need to worry about backlinks per se, but in reference to driving traffic to your site, backlinks increase your serps, and if you are on the first page of Google for "backlinks" then you are going to get a huge amount of traffic!

I've addressed this question previously I'm not against backlinks as a whole, just against backlinks that are dedicated only to search engine rankings.

As for apples to oranges, I'm not going to go hardcore into it, but they aren't crazy different.

I read an article a while back about the meaning and think you should read it Comparing Apples and Oranges | Surprising Science



They aren't so different after all eh? Similar to what I'm talking about.

[TheFBGuy]

OP you keep ignoring 1 important point that has already been mentioned and that is niche selection. It all comes down to what niche you are in. Certain niches you can branch out and add other traffic sources, but other certain obscure niches, the only traffic source are the search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing.

Niche 1 you can go crazy and get a ton of traffic from all over the place.

Examples

Cooking Recipes

E.g: If my website was about how to provide various recipes... for sure, absolutely. I would diversify and add multiple sources of traffic such creating documents and submitting them to document sharing sites, video sites, social media sites, and so forth.

Hernia Repair Surgery

Umm.. almost all of this traffic will come from the Search Engines, thus making backlinks crucial!

So it really depends on your niche, but I do understand your point.

[CarmenDA]

I like to think of it as I am a salesman at a store (site) and I do my research and I talk to people and find out what they want and what they need and then I convince them to buy it over at my store (site) where I have what they are looking for (content) I also make business cards (backlinks ) to leave my stamp.

I always keep business cards. So does google.

[offshoredataentry]

High reputation is a good thing and you are satisfied with better website rankings that result in more traffic in sales. The effectiveness of back linking arises through the quantity and quality of the back links.

[livemott]

Partial right, but you know traffic is generally come from backlinks, isn't it?

[felborfm88]

I think there is nothing wrong with traditional backlinks...just one tool in the toolbox to help us with our online business.

[christopherchan]

I think that you should put your effort on search engine traffic(organic traffic), it is rather easy than other methods out there.

Backlink is absolutely play a role on that.

As you can see when one visitor want to know/find something, the first step is go search engine. (no matter which is google, yahoo, bing or anything)

search engine traffic is the most reliable and Backlinks is the blood of search engine traffic.

Thank you!

Christopher Chan

[TammieJJ]

Just wanted to say thank you for giving an intelligent alternative to the mindset that it's all about backlinks. I believe that even Google's algorithm discounts spammy backlinks, and will be fine tuned to do so even more in the future. Google itself is actually more interested in the natural backlinking method that results from the focus on building traffic that you have put forth in your post, and frankly, I highly expect that the emphasis on backlinks will be devalued in a future algorithm update. What people want when they search the internet is the best place to get the information they seek...they don't care how many forum comments the webmaster has made nor do they care how many sites are linking to the content they are reading. That's what Google is focusing on, and that is what I prefer to focus on these days, too.

[Justin Lewis]

Originally Posted by TammieJJ

Just wanted to say thank you for giving an intelligent alternative to the mindset that it's all about backlinks. I believe that even Google's algorithm discounts spammy backlinks, and will be fine tuned to do so even more in the future. Google itself is actually more interested in the natural backlinking method that results from the focus on building traffic that you have put forth in your post, and frankly, I highly expect that the emphasis on backlinks will be devalued in a future algorithm update. What people want when they search the internet is the best place to get the information they seek...they don't care how many forum comments the webmaster has made nor do they care how many sites are linking to the content they are reading. That's what Google is focusing on, and that is what I prefer to focus on these days, too.

Glad to assist Tammie

I think people take this a little too seriously, the point is exactly as you stated, to give people a different way of thinking.

For those confused, I'm talking about getting rid of the spammy automatic tools. Start doing things the legit way and you'll learn more about what you're doing.

[Quenta]

Backlinks were indeed time consuming and you're right...it really wasted our precious time. We do know that backlinks are the reason why we increased traffic and Google rankings, so it's better to outsource your backlinks to top notch service providers here on Warrior, Fiverr and DP.