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Every year, Rae Hoffman-Dolan posts here Link Expert Interview and she did the same, this time at a new company.
Every year the answers tend to be on the same wave length from year to year but this year, I feel the tune on links have changed. I recommend you read the full interview which features Aaron Wall, Dave Snyder, Debra Mastaler, Eric Ward, Julie Joyce, Justilien Gaspard, Michael Gray, Rae Hoffman-Dolan, Rand Fishkin, Roger Montti, and Todd Malicoat.
I pulled out the key points I felt the group was making, although there was not 100% agreement on all these points, the majority did agree:
- More Hostility Between Google & Webmasters Than Ever Before
- Importance Of Links To Lessen Over Time
- 'Outing' Is Frowned Upon
- Easily Link Building Doesn't Work
- Most Not Worried About Bad Links
Again, I recommend you read the full Link Expert Interview.
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
Image credit to ShutterStock for computer tune up
Comments:
Anti-SEO
06/20/2012 01:59 pm
"Link building with experts" .... LOL ) And then you ask why Google doesn't like SEOs anymore ...
Scott Boyd
06/20/2012 04:08 pm
So nothing on 2011/12's Panda and Penguin fun from the experts? But at least the SEO outing issue was covered in great detail. ;) Hard hitting stuff! I kid, of course! It's great that the expert panel was supplemented with old timers that don't really do SEO anymore. Keeps them off the streets. And as an added bonus, all of the generic business advice could be repurposed as novelty merchanidise. Beer mats or post-it notes for example? Off to use my Google branded "Create Good Content" rubber stamp to write my marketing strategy now. :)
Jamison
06/20/2012 04:24 pm
Yea, most of the 'experts' do a lot of talking these days. I can't blame them though, if I had the opportunity to make money talking vs actually doing work I'd be in favor too! It always gets me when I see a post titled "5 Great Local Link Building Techniques" and they are: sponsor a bowling league, create an award for businesses in your city, do something socially good! Have you ever tried those or are you just writing an article for pageviews and social shares?
Scott Boyd
06/20/2012 04:33 pm
Change the article title from "link building techniques" to "link building ideas" = problem solved! ;) To be fair, I'm not questioning people's career choices in that respect - a person has to do whatever makes them happy in life, there's no two ways about that. But the article as a whole was really slanted towards what I presume is the interviewer's personal axe to grind with "outing". That kind of detracts from some pretty decent points made by a few of the interviewees responding to the other questions.
Jamison
06/20/2012 08:55 pm
I totally agree. I guess my bone of contention is 'how many of these link building (or even SEO) experts actually do what they talk about?' of course it's easy for SEOMoz to get lots of links, they have a large audience. How about real world examples?
John Britsios
06/20/2012 10:56 pm
The ones who do not worry about bad links must be kidding. Or do they only pretend that they do not worry? I really hope so.
John Britsios
06/20/2012 11:00 pm
I am wondering how some one qualifies to get the title "Link Building Expert" and to be invited in an experts interview. If all of them there are "Link Building Experts", I would like to know how many of their customers have been affected by Googles major changes in 2012. Not at all?
Megan
06/21/2012 06:07 am
don't know where is seo headed?
Jacob Puhl
06/21/2012 02:37 pm
Agree! Even if you get a link from a 'bowling league', the results are negligible. Now, get me 3 PR3-ish guest blog post links, and then you'll see some results.
Faisal Qureshi
06/21/2012 04:48 pm
I really admire the opinions of the SEO experts and due to your opinions, i really refined my SEO skills in terms of making websites safe from the search engine penalties. I am also implementing the same strategy right now, i.e creating fresh content daily and spreading it via RSS and social media. This strategy is showing me significant results but still struggling to be on the first page of Google. Hope to achieve my goals soon. Thanks :)
Sigh
06/21/2012 05:51 pm
i agree that most of the responses by the "Experts" showed that they are no longer in the trenches. I think Aaron tries to put himself in the shoes of a day-to-day SEO, but Rand is clearly no longer in the group. It is just easier for him to advocate for Google and build his brand. The call to negative SEO his site is laughable. We all know that sites with strong branding and authority are in a better position. What about the hundreds of thousands of small businesses that are vulnerable? Let's see rand throw up a new site related to a specific industry and let us have at it. I did appreciate Todd's responses. You can tell that he has interaction with people and clients on the front lines.
Jared Guyde
07/08/2012 03:26 am
It seems odd to me that google would frown on outing people. Its like the cop who doesnt arrest a criminal, you bring it to his attention and he arrests you for telling him how to do his job. I mean, I am not a fan out calling out other sites, but it would seem google would appreciate the help. Not anymore, user feedback is garbage these days.