Very Frustrated SEO
-
Hi Guys,
I wake up this morning one very frustrated, tired and fed up SEO.
I have always used very traditional link building methods upto last year directory submissions, social bookmarks, article submissions and maybe a few profie links but I always up front and honest with my clients what they were getting for their buck!. and sent them reports showing all links done.
Obviously with the recent algorithm changes, I have switched my focus to content marketing (i hear you all cheering lol), however, I am stumped!. I have read everything I can get hold of to do with content marketing, registered with buzzstream for outreach opportunities and joined myblogguest just so I could understand the process a little bit more.
I have watched the whiteboard Fridays and actually have a great opportunity to get in with a site using "guest post + niche". I love writing content which is a bonus.
Okay here's my moan. Coming from a traditional SEO background and coming to content marketing late, do I ditch everything else. Is content marketing all I should be doing? or can I still do the some directory submissions (good PR moz rank only), social bookmarking (only for content marketing articles), profile linking (maybe I need to drop altogether).
Is content marketing enough to rank a client?. I look at some clients competitors links and they have 100's of links to stuff that looks unnatural.
Kind Regards
Neil
-
Hi Neil,
Glad my response gave you some encouragement!
Whenever something changes in SEO there is always a massive over exaggeration that something is dead or no longer works but the truth normally is we have to tweak the way we work rather than revolutionise.
-
thank you so much this is exactly what I was thinking. I mean content marketing is the way to go no doubt about it, but hey you can't write 15-20 quality blog articles, using outreach every month on say "fencing". So I am thinking:-
- PR verified Directories
- Reddit, Digg etc (for content marketing promotion too)
- 2-3 Guest Blog posts (outreach)
- My Blog Guest - Easy way to get guest blog posts but not as Good quality
Obviously volumes will depend upon the competition.
You have made my day!!!. I was seriously considering packing all this in but now I will dig my heels in instead.
Kind Regards
Neil
-
Don't fully write off your 'traditional' methods yet, yes invest more time into content marketing but find a balance between the two.
The directory, social, article, commenting all still 'work' but you just need to be a bit more strict with the websites you chose to do this with (make sure they are 'good' quality sites) and if you are commenting or submitting a piece to them make sure it is of good value to their audience, isn't nonsensical and non duplicated.
That's my opinion anyway and no-one yet has convinced me that doing the 'traditional' methods of link building don't have any benefit any more or will penalise you if you take a professional and common sense approach.
-
I found doing the old tactics in a really quality way mixed with content marketing works well. So instead of blog commenting on any site saying great post we now comment as the client offering value based on the post on very related sites etc. -
I feel your pain hope this helps
-
After a steady drop in rankings (which I suspect to have been because of the link building company I used for 3 months - Feb/Mar/Apr - then sacked them off) I poked around for bloggers that are semi-related to my industry. In the last month, I've been using about 5/6 different ones, probably getting 10-15 links in the process. PR for these are 1-3 (but hey, who believes in PR, right?), and the domains are in 3/4 different countries I think so I'm getting spread around too.
Perhaps it's a mix of ceasing the use of the crappy link building company and then using these new blogs, it's impossible to tell. Pretty sure that the directories, article submission and 'social bookmarking' (*laughs) were bad for me because it's when that stuff starting going up that I had that horrible feeling when checking my poor rankings on Monday mornings.
And yeah, I'm still targeting the same keywords - in fact, highly-competitive ones, and seeing some encouraging results for which.
-
Just out of interest how many much content (i.e links) are you getting back each month? Are you targeting keywords still?
-
I feel your pain, Neil.
My niche is quite a hard field to work with in terms of getting backlinks - our competitors have bigger budgets and have dominated almost every site out there we could possibly work with. When I do approach sites we can't compete in terms of offering the same incentives to feature our blog fodder as our competitors can.
In a bid to help with rankings, I hired a third party company to help with 'manuel' link building with the intention of using them for a few months. They got us on some terrible directories, distributed terrible press releases to equally terrible PR/Article/Whatever sites, and after a month or two I'm pretty sure their crappy methods dented our decent rankings.
Then I started offering one-off content to better blogs and things seem to be on the up.
A huge frustration is looking at one of my competitors, who rank pretty well, and seeing that they have links from the worst 'blogs'. Clearly, some dude has bought an expired domain that has a bit of historical weight and now publishes half-arsed nonsense posts (including rubbish for my competitors) and now the competition is winning off this highly-questionable technique that Google isn't picking up on. What can I do? Slightly heart-breaking, but then again, another competitor has been doing this kind of thing - they're pretty big in the industry - and they've been nailed so, so hard. I'd hate to have been their SEO for the last few months.
Yup, I feel your pain, brother.
My advice, find some better blogs related to your field, get some rapport going with the blog owner, and get regular blogs off of that iff possible. It's seems to be working for me a bit - I supply them with the content, they publish it with a link or two, everyone wins. Steer clear of shitty directories, social bookmarking (whatever that is), and horrible Article sites.
Relevancy seems to be core - so find bloggers who're related to you and make some new friends.
Other than that, start saving and open a burger joint.
Dave
-
Here is my trick for helping you get the balance right of "should I go for that link"? 1. Go to Google image search and search "Matt Cutts". Find a resulting image and print it out 2. Do an image search for "Rand Fishkin", print one of those out too 3. Pin both image up on the wall behind you - one looking over each shoulder 4. Continue to build links knowing they are watching you Deep down we all know what is a good link and a bad one. Beyond that we are balancing risk v reward. Your new over the shoulder friends will help you stay on the safer/cleaner side of the road if that is your intention.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Negative SEO & How long does it take for Google to disavow
Following on from a previous problem of this sweetandsavorymeals completely dropping from index, we have discovered that 150+ spam, porn domains have been directed at our pages (sometime in the last 3-4 months, don't have an exact date). Does anyone have exerpeince on how long it may take Google to take noticed of a new disavow list? Any estimates would be very helpful in determining our next course of action.
Link Building | | sathoiue80 -
Pointblank SEO
Has anyone paid for the Pointblank SEO link building course by Jon Cooper?
Link Building | | BridalHotspot
Just trying to find out if it is worth spending money on.0 -
Is it possible to do local SEO for 2 different business locations in same state?
Since you have to be consistent in all your review website information (business name, street, etc.) is it possible to have a website rank for both of their business locations which are about 50 miles from one another in the same state or do they have to pick just one location to promote offsite?
Link Building | | cakelady0 -
Do article submissions work for SEO?
Im wondering if article submissions with backlink work for seo? How google handle with these submissons? Thanks
Link Building | | joeko0 -
Should I become a regular contributor to help my SEO link building?
I've been offered the opportunity to contribute to a blog as often as I want and have a link included at the bottom of each post. Will this be much help to me in my link building SEO campaign? As I understand it more links from different root domains are what really count? So 20 links each from a different site is more valuable that 20 links from one site? Should I take up this opportunity or are my efforts best spent elsewhere?
Link Building | | SamCUK0 -
Best SEO Link Building Company (textlinkbrokers.com or thinkbigsites.com) ?
We are looking into outsourcing the bulk of our link building. And, so far, I am looking at two different SEO Agencies. textlinkbrokers.com and thinkbigsites.com Has anyone had any experience in working with either of these companies? Has anyone had any great results with a different SEO Link Building Company? Thanks!
Link Building | | FSS0 -
What are the best SEO agencies for link building?
I am not looking for a full service SEO agency. I just want link building. Not paid links, not link networks, not blog comments, not bookmarks...real, legit, decent links. Does anyone have any experience working with an SEO agency that helped them develop their link profile positively and at a reasonable price? I'm willing to pay for the service, I just want to work with someone who won't buy links or send a bunch of spam our way. If anyone has worked with such an agency, please let me know so I can contact them for more info. Thanks!
Link Building | | DanDeceuster0 -
SEO Value of Press Releases
Is there still any SEO value of paid press releases services, such as PRWEB which let you embed keyword text links? Or would the associated cost be better spent elsewhere? Thanks
Link Building | | WCR0