SEO & Linking

[Guard Dog]

I've been thinking about SEO and Linking recently....


I typically go the route of letting my sites get indexed via their own means and not doing much in the way of updating inbound links. I know there are many others, though, who go to extremes when linking their sites. Some pay lots of money for inbound links while others submit to tons of web directories.

So - what is the best path?

Here is what I have seen in the search engines: Individuals / Companies who have bought lots of inbound links are at the top of the list in Google. Even when that URL does not have the keywords they are ranking for. Looking at on-page optimization doesn't appear to account for the rise to the top.

With their massive inbound links, they completely outrank their competitors and most of those links are paid for (either in the past or more recently).

With the terms I saw rankings for, the sites would get MEGA-traffic. So - do I purchase tons of links now to TRY to compete? Probably not, I'd go bankrupt


Where is the 'fine line' here and how should I walk it?

 

[TheGamblingGuru]

What I would like to know is how onlinecasinosuite.com stays on the top of the search for "online casinos" all the time month after month??

Who are they anyway?

Do they actually pay for that spot or are they just that good at seo month after month?

I've looked at their source page over and over again but nothing jumps out at me as being anything special that you don't see on any other source page regarding the META data that is...???

Congrats to whoever it is though...:emoticon-0150-hands

Compete Rank: #123,234 with 12,936 U.S. visitors per month Unfreaking real...my hats off to you...

 

[Guard Dog]

The site you are talking about is a quality, aged site. It also has many, many inbound links that have been purchased.

So - does that mean the ranking is due to the inbound links?

 

[TheGamblingGuru]

The site you are talking about is a quality, aged site. It also has many, many inbound links that have been purchased.

So - does that mean the ranking is due to the inbound links?

Yep, you are right about that as I just ran a check on it and it returned these results...Inbound Links: 46,576

I'm not sure though if the inbound links alone will in themselves keep you at the top of the google listings on the 1st page for that particular search for "Online Casinos" as onlinecasinosuite.com has enjoyed month after month.

I may be mistaken here but will google not allow someone to just outright buy that position for a particular search?? I've either read that or heard it somewhere before.

 

[TheGamblingGuru]

Also my other question, does anyone here know who actually owns that site onlinecasinosuite.com ??

 

[Engineer]

That is one of Big Fish's sites. One of several in the Top 10.

Before Online Casino Suite, Online Casino Conditions held the #1 spot. The "Conditions" site disappeared one day (not exactly sure why), and then the "Suite" site eventually took its place.

 

[TheGamblingGuru]

That is one of Big Fish's sites. One of several in the Top 10.

Before Online Casino Suite, Online Casino Conditions held the #1 spot. The "Conditions" site disappeared one day (not exactly sure why), and then the "Suite" site eventually took its place.

So who is the "Big Fish" ?? Screen name, real name? Who ??

Is this top secret info or something...;D

 

[Engineer]

Sorry, I thought you would recognize the user name. "Big Fish" is his user name at GPWA and CAP. His first name is Ben.

xhttp://www.gpwa.org/members/member_details.asp?id=20772

 

[TheGamblingGuru]

Sorry, I thought you would recognize the user name. "Big Fish" is his user name at GPWA and CAP. His first name is Ben.

xhttp://www.gpwa.org/members/member_details.asp?id=20772

Thanks for the info man, I guess I had just never recognized the two to tie it together..:emoticon-0179-headb

 

[fruitmachineguy]

The guys who are buying lots of links are targeting on very "big" keywords like online casino or poker. Buying links is an effective seo-tactic, but to compete with these guys you need a budget wich you probably don't have. So be realistic and target on easier to target keywords; f.e. online casino gambling. If you're site is targeted to a phrase like this, also the guys with a smaller budget can compete...

 

[Nicolas-Johnson]

As you know Link purchasing is not the only way to get inbound links. There are many other ways;

1- Link bait
If you code a program, like the throw a shoe at bush one, you could allow webmasters to embed it as long as it includes a link to your site. Some top ranking case studies for large keywords have been done around this.

2- Link Exchanges
Self Explained

3- Link development on free sites. Social bookmarks, free blogs, etc are all available for free links.


I'm not saying this is enough to land you on page one for online casino, but these techniques can be a good boost.

 

[Guard Dog]

Good Post Nicolas!

Link Bait, Viral are great ways to do this... absolutely. A more recent way to do a campaign like this is create a template with the requirement that the footer link has to stay in the template. That gives the user a nice template to use free of charge and gives you a linkback (free of reciprocal).

This is being done more and more right now and you will see templates posted at GPWA, PAL, and other forums with this exact purpose.

Social Networks are good too, although you will want to search for the 'do follow' thread somewhere around here because most social networks are 'no follow' links. Still works for traffic, but doesn't help PR if that's what your end goal is.

 

[WCD Admin]

Buy advertising (get out of the habit of even using the word "links") buy only when you think you'll actually get some quality traffic. Buy advertising only on pages relevant to your site.

In short, advertise like a normal company, not like an SEO expert. That way

(a) you get a monetary benefit (hopefully sales)
(b) you will get the SEO benefit - if the site you are buying from is being "good"
(c) you won't annoy users, etc
(d) don't go for SEO'ed links and common text like "online casinos" etc, because as mentioned, it would likely break the bank / and or not work.

Disclaimer: These and any of my SEO advice is only my best guess, just like anyone else. It's all theory. Google wants us to act like humans not SEO'ptimizers.... however, money rules the world?

 

[shortow]

the more i read and experience about seo the more i come to realize that it's 5% on page and 95% off page. Time spent trying to perfect your code is better spent finding good links.

And as much as Google spins the 'link buying can bring penalties' message, the clear reality is that top spots form all the hollywood terms are occupied by sites that buy many links.

WCD agreed - look for quality on topic links that may bring traffic.

 

[dendrite]

Remember also that the AGE of a link is very important

In google's eyes, the longer a link has been up, the less likely it is that it was bought

 

[desogw]

As for me, I don't do link exchange that much. I've read somewhere that link exchange is quite risky nowadays, especially if the linking partner site is not relevant or not within the same niche as your site's. What I believe that's really effective for an SEO campaign is 60% relevant quality backlinks, 20% non-relevant High PR pages backlinks and 20% on page optimization including xml sitemap. and for link building strategies, I would really go for article submissions and microblogging that have quality content on it plus your keyword being an anchor text or included within the title that really works fast, since google indexes them faster than other link building methods

 

[Simmo!]

the more i read and experience about seo the more i come to realize that it's 5% on page and 95% off page.

That's certainly the case for big money terms, but you can get great longtail rankings without links.

 

[slotplayer]

What I would like to know is how onlinecasinosuite.com stays on the top of the search for "online casinos" all the time month after month??

Who are they anyway?

Do they actually pay for that spot or are they just that good at seo month after month?

I've looked at their source page over and over again but nothing jumps out at me as being anything special that you don't see on any other source page regarding the META data that is...???

Congrats to whoever it is though...:emoticon-0150-hands

Compete Rank: #123,234 with 12,936 U.S. visitors per month Unfreaking real...my hats off to you...

I see 2 meta description tags and the title tag doesn't display anything after the first : (colon) even though there are words after it.

 

[Jennylba123]

Link exchange Is the one which is good if you are doing exchange with the relevant and high seo value site. Three way Linking also getting popular and provide good results.

As for me, I don't do link exchange that much. I've read somewhere that link exchange is quite risky nowadays, especially if the linking partner site is not relevant or not within the same niche as your site's. What I believe that's really effective for an SEO campaign is 60% relevant quality backlinks, 20% non-relevant High PR pages backlinks and 20% on page optimization including xml sitemap. and for link building strategies, I would really go for article submissions and microblogging that have quality content on it plus your keyword being an anchor text or included within the title that really works fast, since google indexes them faster than other link building methods

 

[SlotMonster]

There is also good way to get links is just write an article and post it somewhere in trusted service. I used to do that, and got my PR updated to 2, and expecting to get PR3 in next Google update.