The Untold Secret of Linkbuilding

Top Secret

It’s out. There is no one way to build links. There is no holy grail in getting tons of high-quality, relevant links to your site. There is only the untold secret. And I’m about to uncover it now.

Remember the good old days?

When directories and blog comments worked like magic? Yeah. Then a black and white bird came and pecked away all the fairy dust. What if I told you that directories and blog comments got their magic back?

I know you wouldn’t believe that. It’s too… Easy.

So I’m not gonna tell you all that unbelievable, magical crap. But I’m going to tell you what I’ve noticed recently – some directories and blog comments are creating positive ranking effects again. Weird huh?

This is the first case.

Spending Power

Text Link ads and other forms of paid links have been axed off. And for good reasons. It was an awesome, completely artificial way to manipulate rankings through money. It was an entire industry of its own.

The thing is, more and more people got into the boat. Google noticed.

And just like any hot linkbuilding strategy, it saw its demise.

This is the second case.

Rumored to Have Died

Guest posting is dead. That’s what blog entries last year said. The truth is, it didn’t die. It just sneezed.

And since it got snot all over the place, Google had to shut its nose. Guest posting got stricter and stricter with webmasters and linkbuilders alike. And like all things scarce, it increased in value – albeit silently.

Guest post requests have died down since last year. But what you don’t know is that it still has the same link value as before.

This is the third case.

The Recovery

What did you notice about these three cases? They were very popular linkbuilding strategies.

They worked.

Then Google lifted its sword and staff and said “That’s enough!”

Linkbuilding Shall Not Pass

And down the drain it goes.

Here’s the million dollar question for you: “Did you ever try to go back a few steps and try them again?”

The Secret

I won’t keep it any longer. I know you’ve been itching to know what the untold secret is. So take a deep breath, collect yourself.

Ready?

Here it is.

“Go against the flow.”

WTH?!

You heard me right. Go against the flow. When a linkbuilding method is getting traction, don’t go with it. Chances are, it will bubble up and explode – getting snot all over the place.

From all the years I’ve been doing linkbuilding, here’s what I noticed: Google axes mainstream linkbuilding strategies.

Then when things have died down, they will put it back in their ranking algorithm.

Pretty cool huh?

They say that diversity is key to linkbuilding. I couldn’t agree more. But let me add to that if you would.

One key to linkbuilding?

Go against the flow.

Value Principle

Here’s my personal theory about linkbuilding that we teach at SEO School: “The linkbuilding methods that are not as popular hold the best value for effort at any given time.”

This is dictated by Google’s learning machine.

The best thing about this theory is that, since not a lot of people are practicing that linkbuilding strategy, then it’s not as hard to get into.

Tips for Keeps: What’s the most common linkbuilding strategy that’s being talked about today? Keep away from it – at least until it dies down.

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Sean Si

About Sean

is a Filipino motivational speaker and a Leadership Speaker in the Philippines. He is the head honcho and editor-in-chief of SEO Hacker. He does SEO Services for companies in the Philippines and Abroad. Connect with him at Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter. Check out his new project, Aquascape Philippines.