The Seven Deadly Sins of Link Building

The Seven Deadly Sins of Link Building Building links to your website is a key part of any SEO strategy, but if you go about it wrong your website could face eternal damnation in the fiery pits beyond the second page! Get acquainted with these deadly link building sins if you want to steer clear of the dark side of SEO. Lust {Latin: Luxuria} The intense desire for links Building up links at a freakishly fast speed? Unless you've embarked on multiple marketing campaigns at once, or have become a viral sen- sation, Google will detect that your website has an unnatural link growth rate. Remember, a massive links growth spurt won't make nearly as much difference as a few high quality links! Punishment: Unnatural link warning message in Webmaster Tools. In the worst case scenario, loss of rankings. Gluttony {Latin: Gula} The overindulgence of keywords in anchor text Exact match keywords in the anchor text of your site's backlinks used to boost rankings for that keyword. But online audiences want to read content that flows naturally, not content that's interrupted just so you can fit in a keyword. *****.**....... Punishment: Since Google Penguin kicked in early 2012, exact match keywords have reduced the positive impact on keyword rankings. Greed {Latin: Avaritia} The accumulation of excessive backlinks through dishonest means Links In the eyes of Google, buying links is a mortal sin. If you are thinking of buying links from other websites, be aware that the content on these sites could be completely unrelated to yours (thus devaluing the links). And most paid directory sites bring little to no SEO benefit post Panda/Penguin. Punishment: When caught, temporary damnation! Google even punished itself when it was caught out for illicit link buying. Can your business afford to not be found in the search results for 90 days? Sloth {Latin: Acedia} The laziness of passive defiance Receiving warnings in Webmaster Tools and not doing anything about it? Or even worse, not bothering to change your sinful link building ways even after you've been warned? Punishment: Your website is a ticking timebomb and will explode to destroy your search engine visibility, sooner rather than later. Wrath {Latin: Ira} The feelings of hatred and anger that lead one to seek link building revenge Fuming about your competitors who outrank you at every turn? You might even be considering running a negative SEO campaign on their websites that uses the Deadly Sins against them. Punishment: Everything leaves a footprint so if you get caught out with this deception, be prepared to face a PR backlash. Envy {Latin: Invidia} The insatiable desire to have the results of someone else's link building efforts Looking at your competitors' backlink profiles and attempting to source the same links? This can have some positive impact but you also need to think of innovative new ways to get links from unique sources. .............. Punishment: If you're always copying your competitors you can't expect to get ahead of them. Pride {Latin: Superbia} The excessive love of one's own website Do you have stacks of internal links throughout your website? Some internal linking is okay, but don't rely on it as your primary link building strategy. It doesn't provide any variety in the domains, authority, location or content of your link sources. Punishment: Coming across as self obsessed isn't necessarily a bad thing but it's not great either! twitter @ewebers facebook https://www.facebook.com/ewebmarketing E-WEB MARKETING Linked in http://www.linkedin.com/companyle-web-marketing POWERED by HSF wwW http://www.ewebmarketing.com.au Sources: http://searchengineland.com/google-chrome-page-will-have-pagerank-reduced-due-to-sponsored-posts-106551