I have been looking into taking a shortcut to getting on the first page of google for the keyword "Chill out music" and my website http://www.ganga.dk
I get tons of seo proposals from strangers who tells me there is not even one backlink to my website (www.ganga.dk) and
that they can put me infront of all the traffic. Its really hard to figure out who to trust with this. I am in a position where I have some other exposure and thinking about investing some cash in a nice google ranking - if possible.
And so I went to Fiverr.com and found this nr. 1 guy for SEO who says he will do this this for 100 $: "
The link wheel available for purchase in the "Gig Extras" section consists of the following links: 65+ High quality web 2.0-properties, with random interIinking between them, creating an untraceable footprint. Huge wiki blast to those Iinks, further increasing the effect. All links will be submitted to Linklicious.me for faster Google indexing.".
Here is the link to his page:
http://fiverr.com/marcusmiller.....-it-to-you
Is there anyone here who has tried any of these more expensive gigs?
I am thinking also about the Amazon traffic tip. Only thing is Amazon is not really ranking for this keyword as far as I can see.
Hey Christian,
A couple of thoughts...
1. Fiverr is a decent source of links for throw away sites and sites that you don't own. Youtube, Amazon, etc. Things that you can take some risks with. But I would avoid fiverr links with something you cared about. For something like your own site I would probably build links using manual blog comments and perhaps a press release or two. I would just initially build links with naked URLs and some brand related anchor texts. In other words: ganga.dk, http://ganga.dk, and Ganga, click here, etc. Then I would buy one or two high PR links and use your targeted keywords as the anchor text (chill out music). The idea here is that all the links look very natural and you are hiding the actual powerful links in the mix. You can see why a mini site with the url chilloutmusicblog.com (or whatever) can really help you build targeted but natural links.
If you don't want to pay for the high PR links you can try and get a few guest blog posts published using a site like myblogguest.com. If you don't want to pay for a press release you can use a free service or a cheap fiverr option and then throw in some web 2.0 links that you can build yourself. Youtube, Tumblr, Pinterest, Squidoo, Huib Pages, etc.
If you want to buy quality links I would browse http://trafficplanet.com/forum.....ified-ads/
If you want to buy a decent link wheel I would try something like http://www.thehoth.com/
Just remember that there are risks associated with more aggressive backlinking. Namely, that your site could get penalized just as easily as it could get boosted. With a non commercial keyword like that I don't suspect you'd have too hard of a time ranking for something like that without too much work. But you might need a targeted domain.
I'd stay away from those SEO people that email you and the expensive fiverr gigs.
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Hi John,
Thanks for your answer.
Reg. linkbuilding for they keyword "chill out music", I actually made this site: http://www.squidoo.com/worksho.....lloutmusic
for the same reason, and then forgot to publish it a few months back.
This minisite has, all the way down in the bottom, this link "Free Chill Out Music from Ganga" linking to my mainsite ganga.dk
Is this good enough for linking back to ganga.dk? Or does the actual "text" have to say: http://www.ganga.dk (is this what you call a naked url?)
Would it make sense to buy a quality link from trafficplanet or is it better with a link-wheel from thehoth?
A single link like that is fine. But what you don't want is to have an overwhelming amount of anchor text that is keyword optimized, unless your domain is a keyword itself. Google has decided that it's not natural and therefore sites with "over optimized" anchor text ratios are sometimes getting penalized. So the idea is to lay a groundwork of 75% (or more), natural looking backlinks (naked urls like your example, brand keywords, site title, click here, images, etc) and then sneak in a few high page rank links.
As for what is better... A few links would be cheaper and easier to hide. But the Hoth MIGHT be more effective. That said, the Hoth would be more likely to trigger one of Google's filters and get you in trouble. You might watch the "post penguin SEO" module.
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I'm going to jump into this conversation with a bit of a different take. I don't think you should focus on 'building links', but you should focus on creating relevant content that is going to drive your audience to your site.
Without content - links these days are meaningless. It's more about quality than quantity - if you have 1,000 links pointing to your site that nobody clicks, Google will ignore them completely and your rank will suffer.
Here's how I'd approach your situation:
1) Free Chill Out Music - is this a good keyword for me? Are people actively searching for this term and will ranking for this term actually result in a) traffic b) subscribers c) sales/downloads?
2) Assuming the answer to the above is "Yes" to a, b and c - what are people looking for when they search Free Chill Out Music? What landing page am I sending them to? What's the bounce rate? Conversion rate? Do I need to test different offers?
3) What type of content can I create about Free Chill Out Music that is relevant and helpful for my intended audience so that I can casually position my own "Chill Out Music" indirectly via a call to action in the sidebar, a pop up or at the end of a blog post to get subscribers and buyers.
4) Who is the person that is looking for "Chill Out Music"? Where do they hang out? How can I get in front of them (in an honest, ethical and affordable way). Where do they live? What professions do they belong to? What other bands do they like? What blogs, forums, Facebook groups do they frequent? How can I get some of my helpful content on chill out music in front of them in an indirect way?
If I may use a fishing analogy - at the end of the day you want to catch fish. Yes, you need to get worms to catch a fish - but you can have 10,000 worms and still not have any fish to show for it.
So too it is with links. Focus on the people/audience/lifestyle that you want to target, create content that will interest, entertain, educate them and get in front of them where they hang out - and the links will take care of themselves.
Don't focus on links - that's my two cents.
Having said that, everything that John said I agree with 100%. I just think the best approach is not to take a "links first" approach.
I hope this helps.
Mike Ippersiel said
I'm going to jump into this conversation with a bit of a different take. I don't think you should focus on 'building links', but you should focus on creating relevant content that is going to drive your audience to your site.Without content - links these days are meaningless. It's more about quality than quantity - if you have 1,000 links pointing to your site that nobody clicks, Google will ignore them completely and your rank will suffer.
I completely support the idea of quality over quantity and everything you laid out is a good approach for those who want to play it safe with Google. But I respectfully disagree that Google is not counting links that nobody is clicking. It's just not the case at the moment. I just spoke with a friend of mine yesterday who is an SEO expert and he was just telling me that grey hat backlinking (low quality links) are working very well at the moment. However, there is a much higher risk that the content supported by these kinds of links will eventually get penalized. But even the basic link pyramids are still doing well for long tail rankings, and those are just a few decent quality links supported by hundreds of garbage links. Not trying to argue anyones perspective, but ranking still does involve some degree of quantity. I felt it was important to reemphasize that point.
That said, as long as you are building links, Mike's suggestions of focusing on quality, are certainly sound. Especially for those trying to leave a nice white hat footprint.
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Hey John, - definitely some great discussion going on in this thread!
I know that grayhat and blackhat tactics still work, and the last thing I'm going to do is argue with someone who's getting results.
I've admittedly become a lot more whitehat since I've been working on other people's websites in recent years for their legitimate brick and mortar businesses.
I've listened to the 'churn and burn' approach and while I know people can execute it and make a killing, but I know for a fact that I'd rather build something I care about and that I can feel good about then build.
So that's where I'm coming from when I add my two cents. Anyone looking for grayhat or more aggressive techniques can safely disregard anything that I have to say.
No matter what "hat" you lean towards, just be smart about which links point squarely at your site as John mentioned previously.
Totally. My concern was just that by taking the emphasis off of link building completely, some people might freeze up and do nothing. I think it's better to create a few sites and take some risk with intentional backlinking, as apposed to doing nothing aside from the occasional blog post just to stay safe. But yeah, I think the best strategy right now is to create content for traffic, knowing full well that you will be getting link juice as a result.
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John - I think we scared Christian away with all this SEO talk....
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Dear John and Mike - I feel terrible having left this conversation - havent been in here for months and didnt see the thread. I have to thank you guys for sharing your perspective on these matters.
I realise its been a while, so therefore I am thinking that the situation with links and penalization by Google could be different now?
I am actually crawling up in the searchengines while not doing much right now - other than just updating my site - ganga.dk - even though I found out that the links I have pointing to my site are so low quality that Google doesnt recognize them (hence my google search: site:ganga.dk)
I am getting approached by companies that tell me they can fix my website for bad links and other stuff that makes Google not like the site and feel tempted to go with one of them to see if they can make a difference.
Would any of you have experiences a trustfull SEO company ? - I seem to have little luck with my own attempts to create links and so on.
Thanx again for your input guys
Hi Christian,
Thanks for coming back! I thought John and I scared you off.
Has anything changed in the ensuing months? I can't speak for John but I still stand by what I said above. I personally could never stomach full-on link building schemes and now that they carry the treat of eventually hurting you (once Google finds out) to me it's just not worth the risk. Perhaps if I was in the situation where I could afford to pay someone else to do it and I had a very short-lived project I might entertain the notion...
Since that's not the case, I still recommend you focus more on providing value to your audience first. Get consist with your output and grow something that will hopefully endure while diversifying your traffic sources so you're not just relying on Google.
I'd avoid buying links and I can't recommend any SEO company. All I can say to you is that if you're going to hire a company, make sure they tell you exactly what they're going to do before you pay them. Make sure there's some sort of quality guarantee that you can fall back on should the worst happen...and if I were you, I'd have them start with a secondary site of some kind before I had them point any links to my main domain. That way if the secondary site get's penalized, at least your primary site can live to fight another day.
Good luck!
Hey Christian and Mike.
Couple things...
1. Go into your account settings and make sure you have notifications turned on so that you get emails whenever someone replies.
2. Re: Links being so low quality that google doesn't recognize them... That is not the case. Google will almost never show you the links they have indexed. They will just show you a very small percentage. They have always been like that, and it's more a function of protecting the backlink profiles of sites then it is an indicator of what they have indexed.
3. I'd personally stay away from any SEO company soliciting you. They are way to risky and usually garbage. If you ever want to use one, do the research and approach one yourself. As for recommendations, I don't have one at the moment, but may, in a few months time. Talking with someone now, but need to do a lot of testing.
4. Re: changes... I still think using the content marketing strategy is the way to go. Create authentic, quality content, and distribute it. Point it back to your site. View it as a traffic strategy, but with link building as the side benefit. It doesn't take much for low competition terms. What the big guys are doing right now is really a burn and turn strategy. They build a network of small sites and blast the crap out of them with links. They rank quickly and for a short period of time. They drop, and then new ones take their place.
5. Keep in mind, your site may be rising because the links you built in the past are starting to get discovered and lead to traction. There is often a delay.
Long story short, I wouldn't do anything aggressive with a site you cared about. Slow, steady, and authentic. But I wouldn't be afraid to build some smaller, keyword targeted sites and throw some links to them to see if you can't snag a quick ranking.
Having trouble with your marketing? Wish you could have an experienced direct-to-fan marketing expert look over your actual campaigns, music, or content and offer feedback? Or perhaps you’re just looking for a little one-on-one assistance so you can ask questions that pertain to your specific goals and get a second, more experienced, perspective? Click here to book a session with me now.