The Case Against Link Building
By Anna Johnson on July 29th, 2009A recent Search Engine Watch article by Sage Lewis questions the task of ‘link building’ – whether getting interns to do it, hiring freelancers or contractors to do it, or doing it yourself.
Calling himself a ‘link building idealist’ Sage reckons link building should be done in relation to something worth linking to. (Of course, we all think our websites are worth linking to, don’t we?)
On the other hand, link building campaigns often work quite well. He says:
“As long as the links are mildly related to what you do, aren’t put across an entire Web site (site-wide links), and are one way — pointing to your site without you having to link to them — then they often help. They might not be the greatest links, but they seem to help get things rolling, especially for new sites.”
Sage’s conclusion seems to be that while link building can be useful, it needs to be focused on quality rather than quantity. That it needs to be done with rifle-precision and timing, rather than with shot-gun randomness.
So, for example, you’re better off seeking links when you’ve posted a news story on your website, rather than seek links for a site that isn’t saying or offering anything new.
In any case, ‘link building’ is, Sage suggests, an anachronistic practice and ultimately counterproductive for everyone.
Maybe… but as long as Internet marketers are seeking the results they want from whatever kind of link-building they’re doing (with a rifle or a shotgun) they’ll keep doing it.
And if it was so easy to use a rifle approach (including knowing who to target), more people would probably do so. Otherwise, they’ll opt for the shotgun…
Source: Sage Lewis, “Re-Thinking Link Building,” Search Engine Watch, July 16, 2009
