It seems link building, as we previously knew it, is coming to an end. Brands and websites need to start thinking like a publisher, not a search algorithm robot, for SEO success in 2012. By Lucy Arthur.
When Google initiated its link building algorithm in the late 1990s, it was rightly seen as something of a revolution in terms of SEO. For the first time search engines had a unique method for identifying the most important web pages for different keywords and topics.
As anyone even slightly familiar with SEO will be able to tell you – the link building algorithm has been abused in recent years. There are numerous strategies out there being used to manipulate the link building process and some are worse than others.
For many SEOs it is currently all about links and link-building. But while many SEOs are concentrating heavily on generating links – Google and other search engines are changing the rules.
Links are no longer going to be as important and, as Eric Enge recently highlighted in Search Engine Watch, here’s why:
Links have been abused so much that they are no longer a valid marker for authority and trust. Before Google, links were added for relevancy – not link-juice – and they therefore were an obvious marker of good quality for search engines to identify. Can we honestly say that links are a sign of good authority anymore?
With social media results increasingly playing a part in search algorithms and search engines increasingly looking at areas such as content updates onsite and time on site, the days of simply buying up a load of links and seeing yourself go to the top of Google are numbered.
One of the most valuable methods to get your site noticed is to generate great content.
Good content will help generate social likes, inbound links and increase crucial website markers such as time onsite. Link building as SEO is destined to end – it has to: content marketing is the future. Why? If you create content people want to read and link to, there is no way that Google or any social/search engine is going to penalise you.
