How to get links – and bad reverse-engineering.
I was reading an old post about getting links on Matt Cutts blog. In March (2008) he posted an article that he’d written in 2005 to show that some techniques are timeless and still work. The article is good, though I’m sure a lot of people won’t *get* it. The real gold was in this comment, posted by a reader… (note the part I highlighted.)
As long as the focus is getting links, you’ll fail miserably. It’s like Guy Kawasaki says: “If the focus of a startup is to make money, it will fail.”
The idea that getting links is the objective is the result of bad reverse-engineering. The common idea is: “All successful, high ranking, website have many backlinks,…. therefore if my website has many backlinks, It will be successful and rank high.”
That’s like thinking: “All rich people have lots of money,.. therefore if I have lots of money, I’ll be rich.” (if you don’t understand why this is not correct, you’ll never be rich.)
Money is the result of some form of success, it is never the cause of the success. The same applies to links. Links are the result of some form of success, they never are the cause of the success.
To most this feels like a chicken and the egg problem (what’s there first? The success or the links?) If you really want to know what was there first, the chicken or the egg, then you’ll study evolution and find that neither one was there first. They evolved!
The same applies to success and links. They evolve from something else, something more basic. Trying to take evolutionairy shorts cuts by link building just doesn’t work. It may help a bit, but it hardly ever works.
Links do come by them selves, first from your friends and family, then from colleagues, then from customers, then from some newspapers, then from communities, and eventually, if you´re really good, from already recognized authorities in your field.
Most sites however, hardly get passed the colleagues and customer links. There’s a reason for that,.. But it is also necessary to recognize that in many cases, that’s all people want. Success is a very relative concept.
Posted by Peter (IMC)
http://www.brane.com.br/
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46 Responses to “How to get links – and bad reverse-engineering.”
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Too bad i didnt come across this blog before. Great stuff you got here. Thanks.
Good information, thanks.
Apropos of nothing, I’ve been tagged by Book Calendar with a Meme. That apparently means I tag 6 blogs I like and it continues. So here is the link to my site which links to your site which links to my site and now I confused, bemused and somewhat entertained.
http://bookrevues.blogspot.com/2008/08/book-calendar-has-tagged-me-with-meme.html
that is a interesting way to look at things. I like it. Now to have something good that people want to link.
Sean
well said. i like what you wrote. for some time i tought that way as well. eventually i got aware of my mistake and started diging the internet to find things people where really interested in. I hope my site will teach something useful to my readers…the success will come eventually!
Nice article. Thanks.
Eugene
Nice post. Thank you for the info. Keep it up.
To get links you need content, to get quality content you must work hard!
Great article!
Congrats.
We are so prone to do mistakes and then we always suffer. We always ignore basic rules. Links are not always links in all scenarios. They can earn you a penalty or a full boost to first page of Google. I have experienced it personally and have lost 2 domains in the process. Now I know when and what to do with links and domains. Thanks for reminding me all that link stuff.
I agree with links come from friends, colleagues and clients. It also comes from content; if the content on your website is worth while you will gather a following and in turn will get links.
Very well described with the perfect example. That’s why Matt Cutts is so popular. Do you know guys he was in the security agency of USA government.
Thats interesting … isn’t ?
Great post, Peter.
Yes I agree it’s better to spend more time in the beginning to make sure we’re making the right moves..rather than doing all the time-consuming works only to later realise it’s not a profitable niche to go into. Exactly what happended to me at the beginning.
Henry
thanks for that post, is that useful for me, sorry about my english.
To get more backlinks, you need a good content to offer to your visitors.
With a unique and a good content you earn credibility and it brings more baklinks to your site. Think in writting for people, give them relevant information and more pages will link to yours!
Great article!
I´ve already subscribed your feeds.
Good, quality, unique content seems to be the key… anything else and eventually you will be in trouble.
I totally agree. One thing though, there are people (bloggers or website owners/administrators) who just wouldn’t link back to you although they may think that your site is worth it.
Every time i come here I am not dissapointed, nice post
I feel it’s a little more chicken an egg than this but Peter does make a good point.
couldn’t agree more the that statement. good post
good post..
good article
indicate to my friends
and back other time
cya!
The very good post
the congratulations of this blog .. I will return several times
to check the content!
No more success!
very helpful suggestions thank you for posting!
Good thoughts on backlinks. It’s true that good content will eventually get backlinks, but for a new site to get found online you need the backlinks to get good rankings.
good info..
great one.i like the beginning of the article.the information is very helpful.thanks for sharing the idea’s.keep it up.
Hi! I’m from the Philippines. Thank you very much for the interesting post!It’s very helpful and very informative.
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Thanks for the info, really appreciate it. Keep Blogging!
Thanks for a cracking article, hope to see more of this excellent blogs.
Muito interessante…
Muito Bancana!!!
Lindo, muito bacana e interessante.
Nossa… Isso deve ser incrivelmente interessante, uma vez que saiu em várias mídias inclusive por aí!
Exellent, nicely written article, will be keeping posted on your blog as it is really very good!
Thanks
Hi, Appreciate the post. Always looking to improve my SEO.
Thanks
Thanks for the article, this will prove like useful information for my class! Thanks
I should tell this to my linkbuilders. Haha.
That makes sense – not exactly a ‘chicken and egg’ situation but it comes close, and I am not sure what difference it makes knowing which comes first (links or success).
Howdy, Thanks for such a great blog, please keep posting for us to keep track on current events!! Thanks
Thanks for all your hard work! keep it up in 2010, loving your blog!
thanks for that post, is that useful for me, sorry about my english.
Lovely post here, really enjoyed what you are doing! Looking forward to reading your other posts on your excellent site!
Hello from Pakistan. Very nice helpful post. Thanks for sharing. Its very informative.
Regards,
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This is a really good discussion! It is interesting that it has spanned over a few years and is still relevant. Thanks for the viewpoints – Happy 2010!
Great post, the content is the fundamental
One of my favorite posts!
Thanks.
This is fantastic: helpful as well as fun. The combination of these two is really unusual in life.