There has been a quite a bit of discussion lately around ethical SEO practices (or lack thereof). By default, this includes link building. While I don’t think we need a written set of rules for link building to make everyone play nice in the space, I’d like to propose a mantra that all link builders should link by: Be Smart.
Not be sneaky, be manipulative, be crafty, be deceptive. Not even be brilliant. Just Be Smart. Let me elaborate.
There are lots of ways to trick the engines and get ahead of the competition. Believe me, I know. I’ve seen the results via my clients’ competitors. And not just for those long tail keywords, but for big money keywords as well. There are lots of ways to try and circumvent the system. And Web pages are becoming disposable. Buy an aged domain with lots of links, buy some links and Voila! You have top 10 rankings for some big keywords. Sounds easy, right? And it has some serious short term (aka “flash in the pan”) results.
But that’s not how my team does it. We are interested in long term gains. We work for links that stand the test of time and add value to both users (being our primary focus) and search engines (secondary). Yes, we build links to build rankings, but more than that we want to give every user the best user experience possible.
When you’re creating a strategy, be smart. When you are choosing sites to request links from, be smart. When you reach out to that site and make the request, be smart. Don’t try and do something underhanded to get quick results. If you need quick results, try PPC. Above all else, use your head. You’ll be a better link builder for it.
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I agree. Link building is a long-term strategy. It’s better to spend more time and have fewer relevant links than just hundreds of meaningless submissions.
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