Backlinking dead???

by 22 replies
25
Just wanted an experience point of view about something I saw posted in the offline marketing forums. This is what I found under a recent thread about profile links:


"As of 11/20/10 Backlinks lost almost all value due to SPAM. Links in blog comments and forum profiles are ignored, even navigational links are not counted anymore. All those "powered by" links are considered gutter links along with the footer and anything else below the footer - all ignored.

Paid links are out except for privately negotiated contextual links between site owners or webmasters - and you only need about 50 good ones within the content and either on the home page or directly linked to it. Any pages with duplicate page titles, descriptions, meta tags and keywords are ignored and so are the links on them.

The only thing Google recognizes now is natural, human created and edited work. Automation, even with footprints, is okay for helping, not replacing human input. Google knows the difference more and more every week.

If you want to get SMART instead of staying in denial with the rest of the now defunct link teams, go to the mall or wherever there are computers and visit every desk owner you can find. Smile and ask for a favor. You need a quick review done or some mention of you and your site in Merchants Circle or Yelp or Amazon, DIGG or anywhere else that counts like a review. If you have products, list them in Amazon for free and then get reviews on them. If you don't have any products, get some. Link Building is now LIKE Building.

The more "homemade" your website is, the higher it's going to rank when all those sites get re-indexed and start dropping like flies - yours won't unless you don't like being alone at the top. Bring a coat and light a fire while you wait. They'll catch up sooner or later!! Have fun. "





Needless to say, if this is true, it's pretty discouraging.

Anyone else hear anything about this??
#search engine optimization #backlinking #dead
  • I don't really buy into the "this is dead" stuff. The critics have been saying that the internet will remove the need for direct mail for years. Well, a direct mail sales letter ALWAYS out performs an email sales letter. Always has. Always will.

    As far as your back linking question. Well, one quality back link is better and has more weight than 100 crappy back links.

    So if you are going to use back linking as your strategy, then only link to PR 5 and above. The rest pretty much suck.

    Of course that's just my opinion and what the hell do I know?

    Later,

    Shane
  • Google knows sh***.

    Otherwise sites using such obvious spammy backlink techniques wouldn't rank number 1 in so many markets.

    But don't take my words for granted and head over to Google Webmasters Forum and see for yourself how many people share URL's of spammy sites ranking high for ages, and how Google employees just say "this is not a report form"...

    !!!!!!
  • Who wrote this junk? Backlinks DO work. Look on Flippa. Junk with backlinks makes $$$$.
  • I think the OP's original post is partially true. Creating backlinks for higher rankings is basically an attempt to fool the system. Google knows this is going on and will eventually have to undergo a complete algorithmic revamp. How and what they are going to change, I don't know. What I do know, is that things can't continue the way they are.
    This whole backlinking stuff is getting a bit ridiculous in my opinion.
    • [1] reply
    • I doubt that there is ANY truth to the arbitrary date given in the OP - I love it when people come out with these pronouncements like they are gospel. Google keeps its cards very close to its chest, and these kinds of change get rolled out gradually.

      However, I also agree with the general premise that Google is probably studying the trends in backlinking on an ongoing basis. I mean, do we really think they don't read forums like this and others to see what people are up to?! However, I am pretty sure comment spam IS still an effective way to get sites to rank - there are plenty of sites on page one solely on that basis. But look on the other side, I am pretty sure that the volume of legitimate, spontaneous backlinks around the web still massively outweighs the spam and will continue to be a ranking factor for the foreseeable future.
  • Link building will never be dead, but it will change. Always has, always will. The forum profile and blog commenting crazyness will end soon, and not because google will do something, but because people with xrumer and scrapebox are posting an immense quantity of spam links everyday on practically the same places. May be thousands, tens of thousands of places, but still the same. So the weight of these links is decreasing daily.
    • [1] reply
    • Yip, no way this is true. How else will Google determine a sites popularity?
  • Sure go ahead and stop backlinking! Hopefully you are one of my competitors!
  • if you are going to use back linking as your strategy, then only link to PR 4 and above
  • That's interesting because in the last few months I have had lots of people approach me with offers to buy in-content links on my various websites. Maybe this is going to be the way forward.
  • backlinks can never be dead. they do work. its not possible to be successful without back links.
  • Google's whole algorithm is based on backlinks, how could they be dead?

    But the op has a point. Google can identify the types of backlinks. If you're building super spammy ones, you won't get very far.
    • [1] reply
    • Forum links are already devalued quite a lot, but not without value imo. I'm just speaking from personal experience here. A good article blast has given me better results lately than 1000's of forum links.

      In content links on aged websites have always been the best, not least because it costs significantly more to buy an old aged domain than spam some forums.

      I welcome a change away from forum links and blog comments. I could quit spending hundreds of dollars a month and focus on building links in less of a cookie cutter style.
  • I just wanna answer headline.

    I think backlink would never ever be dead.

    why?

    Well, why someone on this forum or most of us or many of us has a baclink to their site below the signature line?

    hmmmm..

    Objective reality...
  • I don't believe that backlinks is dead, but we must focus more on building quality links that are related to our site.
    • [1] reply
    • Hey!

      Thanks for the support.

      Take care God bless!


  • Don't know about the future but currently backlinking is working and spreading like wild fire.Everyone should know- "it is because of this backlink that google started showing relevant results in their searches or they are not going to ignore this so easily".

    The human brain is intelligent than the bots...the SEO's would continue to survive even though the backlinks begins to devalue in the lot.
  • Backlinking's not dead yet. That will happen on 1/20/2011. Hahaha, jk. But Google has been heavily scrutinized as of late (and over the last few years) for the quality of their search results. I do believe that Google is working on something to help combat the spam; I recently read somewhere that they are going to get rid of PageRank, but who knows if that's really true.

    Google already knows its search sucks (and is working to fix it) | VentureBeat
    • [1] reply
    • Backlinking will always be a keyword for ranking well in google.

      The "this is dead" **** is nothing to listen at. Build as many backlinks to your site and you'll be rewarded with awesome rankings and high pagerank in google. That's for true.
  • For the people that say only post on pr4 and above... well how do you explain the majority of sites ranking with maybe only one or 2 links that are on a pr4 site.
  • This is actually nothing new - i never believed that zillions of spammy comments on spammy pages with already zillions of Viagra links would have a lot of value.

    This is the reason you build quality links from theme relevant, high PR sites, related to your site. Every SEO would tell you that.

    Otherwise people would just run scrapebox all day long...and in a month get #1 for whatever keyword because all those spammed blogs with low PR. That there is MORE to SEO than that is really no secret.

    A good link is a link on a high PR page, with few OBL (outbound links)...theme relevant. The less PR, the more OBL..the less "strength" the link has...also an old SEO wisdom.
  • The answer is diversification. Spread out and you will always succeed. If you have many horses in the game, it doesn't matter if one gets shot down, or two get shot down. You'll always have the others. Google can continually change all they want. If you're diversified, they can never bring you down.
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    Backlinking dead???

    Just wanted an experience point of view about something I saw posted in the offline marketing forums. This is what I found under a recent thread about profile links: