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Google Penguin - Which options do we have left?

by Goath
17 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Hi,

It's the first year I struggle with SEO. Google is making it hard for people to rank.

I have a couple of 50+ pages website slapped by Google, because of the fact that I bought a couple of forum links three months ago for them.

This made me think about future link building tactics I could use for my websites..

Which link building methods I consider dead?

  • Public blog networks like BuildMyRank
  • Directory submissions directly to your website with spinned content
  • Links from spammy, shady websites and forums
  • Forum links & footer links
Which link building tactis works (I think)?

  • Building a blog network on Squidoo, Blogspot and Wordpress
  • Then, build links to these blogs - even if they are a little bit spammy
  • And then put a link from your Squidoo, Blogspot and Wordpress blog to your website.
What do you think of this method? I think it's the only method to get quick rankings.


There are a lot of other serious and legitimate link building tactis like guest posting, manual forum link placing on relevant forums, post manual comments on relevant blogs with dofollow etc etc

But these are very time consuming, time I don't have, because I have to write new and fresh content for each blog/website.


Do you know other tactics that works really well?



Google limited the options I had.. I am desperately searching for new ones!


If you have suggestions, I would really appreciate it !
#google #igoogle #left #options #penguin
  • Profile picture of the author RevSEO
    Nothing you mentioned is "new", people have created similar Web 2.0 networks for ages.

    Google didn't "kill" linkbuilding methods, instead they killed lazy linkbuilding. Fiverr gigs with 10k+ forum links and one or two keyword options? Done. Crappy blog networks with spun content and heavily advertised/marketed. Done.

    The truth is, linkbuilding does still work. But you need to make it appear natural. The key isn't buying 500k links all pointed to a single URL with one keyword. You need to diversify the anchor texts you are using. You need to blend in "natural" anchor texts AND backlink every page on your domain. Don't simply backlink the homepage, that won't cut it anymore.

    Sure, you've got "money pages" and primary keywords that you are going after. We get that, and so does Google. Hitting those pages hard with links, all perfectly optimized, is a dead giveaway.

    Be smarter, think natural when SEO'ng.
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    • Profile picture of the author alphadude
      Originally Posted by RevSEO View Post

      Google didn't "kill" linkbuilding methods, instead they killed lazy linkbuilding.
      I don't think you can describe it as Google killing "lazy linkbuilding", they are killing cheap linkbuilding. The type of links you are recommending, I bet you don't sit there hours on end to get them (it is just not cost effective), you pay someone to get them for you.

      As for the Fiverr gigs, they are dead cheap, worked until very recently and made the market accessible for every Tom, Dick, and Harry.
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      • Profile picture of the author RevSEO
        Originally Posted by alphadude View Post

        I don't think you can describe it as Google killing "lazy linkbuilding", they are killing cheap linkbuilding. The type of links you are recommending, I bet you don't sit there hours on end to get them (it is just not cost effective), you pay someone to get them for you.

        As for the Fiverr gigs, they are dead cheap, worked until very recently and made the market accessible for every Tom, Dick, and Harry.
        Not true at all. They killed lazy linkbuilding.

        Like most SEO's, I test regularly, different methods both onsite and off. I have a few throwaway domains in which I did nothing but testing via Scrapebox and Xrumer.

        I built two linklists for both sites, the first only had 2 anchor texts all pointed to the homepage. The other I had 5-7 anchor texts for EACH page of my site. This took a very long time.

        I ran the same URLs with each list. Overall the topics were rather similar, all written by the same writer. Needless to say, the domain that only had 2 anchor texts to the homepage got destroyed post Penguin. The other domain, the one with 5-7 anchor texts for each page is KILLING it in the SERPs. Again, each used the same URLs and received links from generally the same domains at the same time, with the same link velocity.
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        • Profile picture of the author Red Eagle
          Yes, you have only one real option left. Stop Google's monopoly. They obviously view affiliates and all other businesses and corporations as competitors.

          Google wants to show their own products, coupons, maps and everything else they own above our products, services, etc.

          The only real option we have left is to try and restore competition to search. Otherwise, Google will eventually dominate all search results and profits therein. If Google had to compete with the other search engines like they used to they would never act the way they are now acting.

          Tell your local representative to bring competition back to search engines and eliminate Google's monopoly, or give up affiliate marketing, merchandizing, etc., if that is what you do, and get a day job.
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    • Profile picture of the author Amy marketing
      Originally Posted by RevSEO View Post

      You need to blend in "natural" anchor texts AND backlink every page on your domain. Don't simply backlink the homepage, that won't cut it anymore.
      Thanks, RevSEO:

      What does "natural" mean ? I have put diffident keywords for each webpage, do you mean I should add anchor text, like "more info" "click on it now"? Does these words which don't include keywords work better?
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  • Profile picture of the author Danny Cutts
    exactly

    they killed lazy SEO

    Danny
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  • Profile picture of the author The Oilman
    Danny -- are you related to Matt? If so we need to have a talk.
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  • Profile picture of the author Goath
    Nice insights RevSEO.
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  • Profile picture of the author flippingpaddies
    Penguin isn't the end of the world. Just revise your methods and keep going.
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  • Profile picture of the author sovereignn
    All of the old link building methods still work.

    Just vary the type of link

    Vary the anchor text

    Build links smartly
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  • Profile picture of the author Goath
    @ Red Eagle

    We all have a hate-love relation with Google. If Google makes us money, we are happy. If not, we are not.

    The same will happen with other search engines. There are always haters and lovers around - and we all can change from hater to winner, and from winner to hater.

    Stopping Google's monopoly isn't an option.

    It's ipmortant to know what Google finds important, because every change brings opportunities.

    I am trying to find new opportunities and RevSEO gave me very insightful information.

    It's about diversifying anchor texts and doing link building for each page on a website.
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  • Profile picture of the author Goath
    @ RevSEO

    The method you describe could also be utilized by a private blog network or a link wheel. I mean:

    You can write some unique posts on them and put a contextual link to each and every page on your website (or some of them if you website is really large)..

    And each posts will have different anchor text links..

    How do you think of this strategy
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    • Profile picture of the author Red Eagle
      @ Goath

      You say, "Stopping Google's monopoly isn't an option." Really? Tell that to the our Government's committee investigating them, and tell that to the numerous law suits piling up against them for fair trade abuse, etc. Perhaps you can name some monopolies which have remained in existence for decades lately without being regulated?

      Competition is good until one company becomes a monopoly, a racket, and nefarious, which is what Google has become, I believe.

      After reading the posts of people on this forum and other forums contemplating suicide and who may very well have committed suicide because of Google's killer penguin update, it is clear to me, at least, Google not only attacked what they consider offending sites, Google attacked people and all their sites, regardless, without empathy or mercy, effectively destroying family businesses and lives.

      If anyone has knowledge or evidence of someone actually carrying through with their threat to commit suicide because of what Google has done, the media should be made aware and it should be made public so Google will be held accountable.

      You say, "It's ipmortant to know what Google finds important, because every change brings opportunities." What you and others are attempting to master sounds like what Bruce Lee said in his movie, Enter The Dragon. When asked what his fighting style was, he said, "The art of fighting without fighting." I must say I am impressed with the thoughts and advice you, RevSEO, and other Warriors willingly share, selflessly. I wish you well on your quest to please Google, and master, "The Art Of SEO Without SEO," Red Eagle.
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  • Profile picture of the author eurekapsycrille
    People are too much focused on making their site ranked in Google (which is not bad actually). But the essence of why they want their site to be on top is getting forgotten that mostly leads to bad SEO practices.

    5 Reasons Why Rankings Are A Poor Measure Of Success

    One option is still left out for us: Webmaster Guidelines - Webmaster Tools Help

    Google webmaster quoted

    "Make pages primarily for users, not for search engines. "

    See the point? people are too much focused in making a "Search Engine" friendly website that sometimes they forget the "USERS" of search engines.

    Penguin has killed those sites with over optimized pages because those are not the right place for searchers to be in. So to conclude, users or searchers will define the quality of your site based on how you can provide what they want and need.

    Now, how about rankings? That's where the power of viral sharing takes place. It always feels good to see your contents spreading all over the internet because users are very interested to it. And the more they share it, the more backlinks you get. Naturally.

    And there are still lots of options for us, all we have to do is to explore them. Remember, penguin has just launched recently. Meaning, we can still find some ways to get things right if you got hit.
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  • Profile picture of the author OmarNegron
    If you want to play the SEO game then you have to be ready and prepared to deal with the algo changes. It will be very important to understand that the most important thing to master is building the right type of links.

    What are the right type of links?

    To put it simple and without fluff, high PR blog/sites linking to your site will be the ultimate type of links to get. These are best known as PRIVATE blog networks. It is the same concept as BMR and those type of services but these are not open to everyone making them more valuable.

    - Will
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  • Profile picture of the author mcatt
    This is what I was taught as well. To vary the anchor text, work on different keywords, write blogs post, add content related to keyword within your blog post on your site.
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  • Profile picture of the author Goath
    @ Amy Marketing

    That's exactly what he is trying to tell you. Also, by various anchor texts you can think of like this:

    Subject of your website: Link Building Tactics

    Anchor text 1: link building
    text 2: how to get links
    text 3: contextual links
    text 4: buying links

    all these anchor texts are a bit different.
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