SeaWaves Blog

SEOMoz has a great video called Link Wars. It’s about the conflict between webmasters and Google. Webmasters try to manipulate Google’s algorithm through link building while Google tries to discount the webmasters’ manipulative links.

Check out the video (it’s only 6 minutes) and then read my comments.

I’ll review and elaborate on Rand’s points while giving relevant links.

First, Rand talks about how in the past links were actually a great way to determine search engine rankings. Links weren’t manipulated like they were today. Sure, the pre-Google search engines used links in their algorithms. However, it wasn’t until Sergey Brin and Lawrence Page, the Google founders, wrote The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine that links took center stage in many webmasters’ minds.

In this ground-breaking article, webmasters learned about PageRank and links. Webmasters got a look into the mind of a Google search engineer. They realized the huge importance Google was placing on links. And ever since then, Google and webmasters have had a conflicted relationship.

Four Examples of the Link War between Webmasters and Google

1. Webmasters tried reciprocal links because that was an easy way to get links. That method actually worked well for awhile. However, in 2005 a new Google algorithm was rolled out. This new algo wrecked many sites who relied too much on trading links.

And while Google didn’t catch all the sites that had reciprocal links, they’re continue to penalize more and more sites. For example, Google just recently penalized a lot of reputable real estate websites because of their reciprocal links.

2. Directories used to be a good way to get links. However, just recently there’s been evidence that Google is penalizing directories including high traffic and high profile ones like AvivaDirectory.com and AliveDirectory.com.

3. Google has taken more steps to combat paid links. This year they allowed webmasters to report them.

4. Google is a registrar. In this article, a Google spokesperson released a statement saying, “Google has become a domain name registrar to learn more about the Internet’s domain name system.” Of course, Google will use their domain information to make their algorithm better. So, if you plan on linking between your own sites, make sure to buy private registration.

Principles On Building Links That Will Count In The Future

So, what are can we learn from the information on this post? How can we use it to build links that Google will count – in the present and also in the future? Here are some principles that can guide us.

First, give more credit to Google. Over the years, they have done a better job at detecting manipulative links. I know of a search marketer who’s made a lot of money from auto-generated, black hat sites. However, in the last couple of months, his income from those sites have sharply declined. So don’t underestimate Google. If they’re catching black hats, they’ll be able to find your manipulative links. Also, by giving Google proper credit, you’ll work harder at building trusted links.

Second, if you’re buying links, do it under-the-radar. Don’t go through link brokers that put their link inventory out in the public. In fact, some of the best links can be found by contacting webmasters directly.

Third, Aaron Wall says more established sites (older, a lot of content-based links from quality sites, large quantity of links) can get away with more manipulative links. You can have some manipulative links. Just make sure it’s a small percentage compared to your total inbound links.

Finally, I like how Rand closes the video. He says the links that will not be discounted in the future are those links which would exist even if Google wasn’t around. The key word here is intention. If the Google spam police looked at your links, would they think you were trying to manipulate their search engine? Or would they think those links were naturally given?

In my next post, I’ll give specific tips on how to build links that look natural, so feel free to subscribe to our feed.

Since Google’s algorithm is mostly based on links, it makes sense to watch your link profile. Your link profile is based on the domains and pages where your links are at, which pages your links point to, and the anchor text of your links.

Search experts say that sites receiving a lot of search traffic are more likely to have balanced link profiles than unbalanced ones. So, what makes a link profile balanced? To answer this question, here are examples of a balanced link profile as well as an unbalanced one.

Balanced Link Profile

• Your links come from a large number of domains.
• Your links come from a variety of sites (blogs, forums, social media sites, static websites, etc.).
• Your links point to a wide variety of pages on your site (not just the homepage).
• Your link have a wide variety of anchor texts including non-keyword anchor texts.

Unbalanced Link Profile

• Your links come from a few domains.
• Most of your links come from one type of site.
• Most of your links point to your homepage.
• Most of your links have the same anchor text.

Google’s Changing Algorithm

Build a balanced link profile because Google is constantly changing their algorithm.

For example, I recently got an email from a friend saying that static websites are the highest value links. I don’t think this used to be the case. In the past, blog links seemed to be weighted more than links from static websites. However, with the advent of sites like Pay Per Post and Review Me, Google has realized it’s become much easier to buy links from blogs. Also, I’ve heard there are now penalties for having a large percentage of your links coming from blogs.

Here’s another example. While anchor text is still important, there is evidence that getting non-keyword anchor text will cause your whole site to rank much better. In other words, non-keyword anchor text will greatly increase your domain authority. In the past, Google did not give so much weight to domain authority.  And going back to anchor text, wouldn’t it be easy for Google to implement an anchor text spam filter?

As you can see, you’ll have a greater chance of surviving Google’s new algorithms by building a balanced link profile.

So, why does Google like balanced link profiles? Well, in a search engineers’ mind, a site with a balanced link profile has less paid links, more natural links, and hence, probably higher quality. Also, spam sites are known for their unbalanced link profiles. Whether or not you agree with Google’s search engineers, the reality is we have to play by Google’s rules.