Can't believe I'm saying this - but my sites got freaking hammered

by rjames
12 replies
  • SEO
  • |
yep, all my sites took a nose dive - Im ruined

Just joking! Not a single one dropped actually and believe me, I use what some call 'black hat' tactics, because I build links and have high PR networks.

Sorry for this mini rant I'm about to go on, but its extremely sad to see people getting their asses kicked with these updates. It's just shouldn't be happening!!

Before I get started, let me preface this with saying I'm speaking in broad strokes here, so I'm perfectly aware there are tons of small little details and other areas that are important. I just want to get people straightened out from a 30,000 ft view.

PLEASE chime in with what you guys think is important as well!

It's really simple guys. If you want to avoid ranking drops with every update, just don't be stupid about what you are doing!

-Write content (or do videos, photos, whatever) that people like and want to stick around on your site to explore. Google won't penalize a site people like (sure there are some that slip through the cracks undeserving), and nothing tells Google (on-page wise) what people like more than low bounce rates and return visitors.

-Don't over optimize your anchor text! This is a biggie and should go without saying. If you are going to build links (which I do all the time) be smart! Use your high PR links as your main anchor text and use everything else to deoptimize it (with web 2.0s, wikis, PDFs, social BM, etc). Pretty simple. Use a tool to do that...or do it manually if you have time to spend doing it, but you NEED to do it. Do whatever you want to do, but DON'T over optimize!

-Get high PR links however you can. Build a network (my preference). Buy links. "Earn" links. Whatever! Just get the right amount of solid and RELEVANT high PR links coming to your site and you will be camped out on the first page for your search. (lots of details go into this, but this is by far the safest/most effective way to see results and keep them)

-Avoid bad link neighborhoods! Sites with 'dirty' links are bad for your site. Dont use them. A good rule of thumb, if the parent domain (wordpress.com for example) is a PR0, then the likelihood of it being a bad link neighborhood goes up significantly. You should also inspect the links neighborhood manually.

-Don't be stupid with your on-page. You don't have to bold your KW text, italicize it, underline, get your KW on the page a bazillion times, in the title 7 times, in the description 5 times, etc. That stuff wont work. Contrary to popular belief, there is no magic formula for the right ratio of KW density. All you have to do is make sure Google knows what your page is about. Get your KW in the title of the article and in the body a couple times. That's all! Dont think...just write. Don't over complicate it.

These are some of the big ones for me...what else???
#freaking #hammered #sites
  • Profile picture of the author jimkirk1943
    Thats a nice write up !
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  • Profile picture of the author webby0031
    Originally Posted by rjames View Post

    yep, all my sites took a nose dive - Im ruined

    These are some of the big ones for me...what else???
    Good advice mate.

    To me it all boils down to one thing, the more money you have the more money you can make.

    The more High PR sites I buy and the higher I go up the serp.

    I know people who have been writing content on their sites for years, they dont rank well. Somone can come over the top of them with purchased PR power and dominate them after a few months.

    Its all down to the same old thing money, unfortunately thats the same in most aspects of life
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  • Profile picture of the author Backlinko
    Originally Posted by rjames View Post


    -Write content (or do videos, photos, whatever) that people like and want to stick around on your site to explore. Google won't penalize a site people like (sure there are some that slip through the cracks undeserving), and nothing tells Google (on-page wise) what people like more than low bounce rates and return visitors.

    -Build a network (my preference). Buy links. "Earn" links. Whatever! Just get the right amount of solid and RELEVANT high PR links coming to your site and you will be camped out on the first page for your search.

    I'd say these are the two things that people on WF ignore most.

    Google DEFINITELY pays attention to things like bounce rate, dwell time, time on site, repeat visitors etc. It's not even worth THINKING about gaming these user-interaction signals.

    So you're 110% right: a great site is the foundation of a killer SEO campaign.

    And you're also right on with the whole relevancy thing: with all the talk about PR people forget how much more powerful relevant links are.
    Signature
    Find Awesome Keywords...Without ANY Tools
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  • Profile picture of the author Kevin Maguire
    Originally Posted by rjames View Post

    -Don't be stupid with your on-page. You don't have to bold your KW text, italicize it, underline
    Guilty
    Nice post though fella. I had a feeling the title was misleading when I saw the profile name.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kevin Maguire
    Very Important pointer to add. And probably the most important of all.
    1. Good keyword and market research, before you even buy your domain.

    I get too many people in my door with sites that rank for terms that are almost impossible to monetize other than low cpc adsense.
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    • Profile picture of the author rjames
      Originally Posted by Kevin Maguire View Post

      Very Important pointer to add. And probably the most important of all.
      1. Good keyword and market research, before you even buy your domain.

      I get too many people in my door with sites that rank for terms that are almost impossible to monetize other than low cpc adsense.
      Absolutely...I go back even a step further. Find a product you already know converts, THEN do your KW research to fit it (and not the product name for the KW...something broad that will fit more products in the future)
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  • Profile picture of the author heintje
    Originally Posted by rjames View Post

    yep, all my sites took a nose dive - Im ruined



    -Get high PR links however you can. Build a network (my preference). Buy links. "Earn" links. Whatever! Just get the right amount of solid and RELEVANT high PR links coming to your site and you will be camped out on the first page for your search. (lots of details go into this, but this is by far the safest/most effective way to see results and keep them)


    These are some of the big ones for me...what else???
    Do you worry about your link profile? Out of 100 backlinks, how many do you have on really high PR sites (pr5 and higher)
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    • Profile picture of the author rjames
      Originally Posted by heintje View Post

      Do you worry about your link profile? Out of 100 backlinks, how many do you have on really high PR sites (pr5 and higher)
      sure...your question could mean a lot of things though...can you clarify exactly what you mean by the first part?

      In terms of the number, it depends on the competition. The tougher the competition, the more high PR links I need to rank it. On average, it takes about 3 PR5 links to get the job done for the searches I go after. When I say 3 links, I really mean 3 domains. I do a couple of links from an article on each one of the 3 PR domains
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  • Profile picture of the author bryguy
    Good writeup, rjames.
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  • Profile picture of the author bradudan
    I have not got any damage also. I have my own private network .

    Some of my clients has jumped over 100 positions in Serp so i mightsay thanks to Big G for the latest update....
    It is true also that i have worked only with 100 % unique articles user focused with lots of social signals on them
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  • Profile picture of the author nik0
    Banned
    Bounce rate and links only from relevant sites is highly over rated.

    For the rest I do agree, it's really not that hard at all to survive updates, I saw it myself with some real poor executed affiliate sites that I build.

    There are only 3 things that I did right:

    - Solid site structuring where you keep everything highly relevant to each other
    - Solid high PR back links
    - Very wide anchor variety

    That's it, the 3 golden rules, the rest what OP said is just an extra plus but definitely not necessary.
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    • Profile picture of the author sarged2
      Originally Posted by nik0 View Post

      - Solid site structuring where you keep everything highly relevant to each other
      - Solid high PR back links
      - Very wide anchor variety
      In that case maybe we should really build some more anchor variety for my site next time. As I was actually getting strong links with all the same keyword for the last 3 months... Could this have an effect - or was this the reason of some spun articles pointing to my site? (Otherwise, my link profile was just normal). The others got away with far more crappy links I must say.
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