Can you predict what the future holds for your inbound links?

Almost five years ago I wrote an article about predicting a site’s future and using your expectation to decide whether you should pursue links on that site today. Much has changed in the search engine optimization (SEO) landscape since then so I decided to expand and update my original article.

Sometimes, what’s old is old

It’s interesting to run into sites we’ve worked with in the past and compare their previous and current metrics. Lots of things pop up like:

  • Old links are still live but the host page is full of new links whereas it wasn’t before.
  • Pages that once ranked well no longer do so.
  • Articles with links that were not originally there have been added.
  • And sometimes everything is the same, though, if not better!

A look into the past

It’s easy to determine what a site looked like in the past and compare it to the current site by using Archive.org.

You may notice a lot of changes such as good and bad redesigns, deleted links and entire articles removed. Occasionally you may notice whole sites deindexed in Google:

Due diligence

When starting a link campaign, it is important to go through a number of steps or perform “due diligence” using checklists and guidelines you’ve established.

It may be impossible to check every page but try to do as much as possible so nothing is overlooked. Here are some issues to check for:

  • Is the site indexed in Google?
  • Are there any spammy hacks on the site that haven’t been fixed?
  • Is there contact info on the site?
  • Does the site rank for its brand and major keywords?
  • If you’re placing a link in an existing piece of content, does that page rank for its title?
  • Is the site free from links and ads for gambling, payday loans, drugs, and porn?
  • Have you checked to make sure the content is original and not scraped or duplicated?
  • And always, always…does it look like your link would be a natural fit and get clicked on here?

There’s more depending on the industry and individual website but notice it’s pretty uncomplicated common sense stuff.

So how in the world can you predict what’s going to happen after you finish working on the site?

How do you know the webmaster won’t fill the site up with spam, sell the domain, let it expire or sell the site to a private blog network?

There tend to be signs, both good and bad.  Let’s start with the bad signs.

Bad signs

Here are a few red flags to look for when negotiating for link placement:

  • The webmaster gives you a list of 50 other “great” sites he has.  While some people just own a lot of sites, it is doubtful the other 50 will be as good as the one you sought out.  Look carefully.
  • The webmaster asks if you mind if he gives your information to “friends” who own similar websites. Watch for heavy interlinking with the friend sites — they may possibly even be owned by the same person who’s just using aliases.
  • Traffic on a site has dipped dramatically in the past, even if it’s good now. If the dip was five years ago and everything has been good since then it should be OK but if you see lots of dips, especially in the past few years, that may be a sign a new drop will happen soon.
  • They openly advertise that they sell text links.  Big red flag here; you do not want to work with a site that is basically asking for a Google penalty.

Good signs

Now let’s look at a couple factors that distinguish sites where links live for years and everything is still looking great.

  • Traffic is fairly steady (or continues to increase) through the years with no major dips.
  • Articles are well-written, guest or sponsored posts are identified as such and don’t appear to be full of someone else’s links.

Notice the good list is shorter than the bad list. That’s because you never know what will happen. Is everyone going to eventually get hit in some way since the algorithm changes constantly? Maybe.

Disavow madness

Don’t forget some people disavow like crazy, and they don’t just disavow single webpages — they disavow entire domains, because it’s easier.

I know of sites who want to disavow upwards of 75% of their links when they don’t even have a penalty or they haven’t been negatively impacted by an algorithmic change!

Honestly, when it comes to links, anything can happen. You never know when a site will be penalized, and it’s possible for them to get caught in a wide net and not deserve it. I’ve seen unfair penalties many times and seen sites suddenly drop in rankings and never get back to where they once were, even if they did nothing wrong.

You can’t predict what will happen in link building or SEO. You can make some very educated guesses but change is the only thing you can really guarantee.

The post Can you predict what the future holds for your inbound links? appeared first on Search Engine Land.


from Tumblr http://ift.tt/2FAA1d1

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to Use Content Scrapers to Automate these 7 SEO Hacks

Image
Everyone is looking to get ahead when it comes to SEO. But that can be hard when your competitors are putting out content that ranks better than yours. There are a lot of reasons why their content ranks, of course. Maybe they have better domain authority  than you do, or maybe they have a larger built-in audience. That shouldn’t get you down, though. There are ways that you can use their content to your advantage. One of those ways is to use a content scraper (also known as a web scraper ) to gain insights into what they’re doing so you can do it, too. The only caveat is that you have to know how to use them correctly. Otherwise, you could be stuck with the wrong data. Here’s what to know. What is content scraping? Content scrapers are automated programs that pull data from multiple websites. Let’s say for a moment that you wanted to see what sort of titles your competitors were using on their blog posts to get the most clicks. You could visit each website individually...
Read more

What 759 Content Marketing Campaigns Can Teach You About Link Building And Organic Traffic

Image
If you want to generate more organic traffic or build links, your campaigns have to perform well. There isn’t any cut-and-dry formula for crafting successful posts or running effective marketing campaigns. There are tons of suggested formulas, tips, and tricks out there. But not all of them are worth your time or energy. And it can be hard to find formulas and elements of a campaign that are actually proven to work, based on data. Luckily, the folks at Fractl examined 759 different content marketing campaigns from 2013 to 2017 that can teach us a lot about what successful campaigns usually look like. Here’s what these 759 campaigns can teach you about link building and organic traffic. An overview of the data Fractl’s Director of Marketing, Kerry Jones , decided to gather data from 345 marketing campaigns  and share it to help marketers improve the quality and effectiveness of their content. A few years later, she tried the same tactic with data from a sample of 759 campa...
Read more

Hack Your Way to 50,000 Google Visitors with these 9 Tips

Image
There’s no single hack for getting huge traffic numbers from Google. Sorry. I wish I could tell you that if you added a very specific keyword to your site or if you optimized your images in just the right way you could net 50,000 unique views. But it just doesn’t happen that way. The reality is that you can’t rely on one technique to bring in unique visitors. You have to approach it using a combination of different strategies. Depending on your budget, some of those strategies might be out of your reach right now. That’s okay. Because over time (and yes, it does take time) anyone can hack their way to large traffic numbers. What does it take to get 50,000 new visitors? The key to getting 50,000 (or 100,000, or a million) new site visitors is to play it safe. I know what you’re thinking. Safe? It’s not something that entrepreneurs or marketers want to hear. Safe means slow. But a slow, steady, multifaceted approach to growth will always win over the quick tricks. Take a ...
Read more