6 Reasons Link Building is Harder in 2007 than in 2001

I would like to share with you top 6 reasons why I believe link building is harder in 2007 than in 2001

1. Some (not all) webmasters have abused link building through link exchange in high volume with junk sites. In my opinion, this is Google's fault because they revealed their Pagerank scoring system based in part on link popularity instead of keeping it hidden like so many of their other technologies. Google opened this proverbial pandoras box providing a means to game the Pagerank scoring system.
   
2. You all have received an irrelevant link exchange request. If you know how to read between the lines, you realize that irrelevant link exchange requests are part of today's Internet - and that there are still quality link opportunities out there through relevant link exchange. But not all webmasters think that way anymore.. many webmasters have become frustrated with irrelevant link requests and some have thrown up their hands and said "no more" which is putting the baby out with the bathwater in my humble opinion. These webmasters who have given up on link exchange are missing out on some quality linking opportunities (see my reason 4 below where I tangent on a way to cut down on requests via email).
   
3. 98% of what I read about link exchange on today's web is flat out false misinformation and/or webmaster paranoia. There is so much inaccurate information regarding link exchange on the web today, it confuses webmasters who don't know what to believe. Some simply say "I won't do it because Y blogger said X".
   
   In the past week, I have seen article and blog topics along the lines of "link exchange will get you banned in Google" and "Matt Cutts said don't link exchange". Both completely false statements. The truth is that link exchange in slow natural volume with quality sites related to your own builds traffic to your site both via the links themselves, and through search engines rankings based in part on link popularity. Matt Cutts has never stated "do not link exchange". I read the conference transcripts and I watch his blog. Matt has indeed stated "there is such a think as excessive link exchange". Matt has also stated "avoid irrelevant reciprocal links". Google knows webmasters acquire quality links through relevant link exchange. But most webmasters don't realize this.. if it's been blogged by Joe SEO Expert, many webmasters believe it. This spreads false information causing webmasters to abandon this classic link building method.
   
4. Link exchange is a mind numbing time consuming data management challenge. And although there are editor based software scripts and application services on the web that manage the tasks for you while allowing you to maintain editorial discretion, many webmasters are paranoid to use any software because they fear "it will get me banned by Google". Paranoia surrounding what Google thinks affects webmasters decisions to link exchange; "I won't link to you because you are using X software". When all the while, there is documentation in Google webmasters forums indicating that Google views link management software and scripts as CMS's.. it's HOW you use the software and not necessarily which software you use. However, unless the webmaster is reading these facts in an official forum maintained by a major search engine, webmasters are more inclined to believe the next paranoid blogger statement without questioning it's validity. "I read about it on the Internet so it must be true!"
   
   Many sites who do participate in relevant link exchange and use quality link management software publish "suggest link forms" to take the hassle out of fielding link exchange requests. Watch for those forms. Use them when the link exchange is deemed relevant. There is nothing wrong with them and you are more likely to get a response to one of those forms than a direct email which we all agree are time consuming to deal with.
   
   Here's a quickie tangent and tip and then back on topic: Suggest link forms are considered to be "low hanging fruit" for professional ethical link builders. Find them by searching keywords related to the site + link exchange such as "motorcycle parts suggest link" or "motorcycle parts add link" instead of sending email.
   
5. Some webmasters who have read way too much misinformation about link exchange are doing it for SEO when they should be conducting link exchange as a traffic building and branding function. Sure it's ok to benefit from the SEO benefits but folks who send email demanding a link from "PR 3 or higher" as Beren suggested above are wasting their time and linking for all the wrong reasons. Folks, if you can get a quality link from a site that will benefit the end users of both sites, GET THE LINK regardless of PR or other metrics.
   
6. As other marketing methods become successful, webmasters are more apt to try them, especially those that promise lots of links overnight without much effort by the webmaster. In this world of drive thru's, overnight shipping, and downloadable movies, webmasters want it now. However, it's the slow natural method of acquiring links that is exactly what the search engine Gods are always watching for. As other methods come under fire such as paid links, I think you will see webmasters return to their marketing roots and explore relevant link exchange.

Three most important things webmasters need to know about link exchange

Editorial discretion

Google's Search Engine 125 patent cites "gaining links from documents without editorial discretion on making links" as a primary indication of "attempts to spam a search engine." Translation: maintain editorial control when making links. That's easy. Avoid software or services which guarantee links. Maintain editorial discretion always and don't allow a full duplex link exchange software to publish links you have not approved. There are many editor based software and scripts out there. Avoid the full duplex products.

Relevancy

The Google patent states "A sudden growth in the number of apparently independent peers, incoming and/or outgoing, with a large number of links to individual documents may indicate a potentially synthetic web graph, which is an indicator of an attempt to spam ... this information can be used to demote the impact of such links." Translation: Don't link to sites irrelevant to your own. Who you link out to says a lot about your linking strategy.

Volume

You may read about "natural volume" but rarely does anyone translate that into English.. how many link exchanges is too much? Google's patent on the subject says "While a spiky rate of growth in the number of back links may be a factor used by search engine 125 to score documents, it may also signal an attempt to spam search engine 125. Accordingly, in this situation, search engine 125 may actually lower the score of a document(s) to reduce the effect of spamming." … it goes on to say "The dates that links appear can also be used to detect 'spam,' where owners of documents or their colleagues create links to their own document for the purpose of boosting the score assigned by a search engine. A typical, 'legitimate' document attracts back links slowly."

So how do you fly under that "excessive link exchange" guideline recently published by Google? Easy. Avoid software or services that make links for your site in high volume. That means avoid the service that offers 500 links for $50. Instead, obtain links one by one over long periods of time (this is exactly what ethical link exchange facilitates). Example: get 1 link today, no links for the next four days, 3 the next day, 1 the next day, none for the next five days, 1 the next day, none for two weeks, 5 the next day, and so on.. That is natural volume.

Hard disk space is very cheap these days. You can bank on the fact that all of the search engines are trending how often you obtain links! Every time a search engine crawls your site, your site is being forensically probed in manners you never dreamed possible. It's worse than a rectal exam. Don't give a search engine any reason to penalize you. That means slow natural volume when obtaining links through link exchange.

Hopefully, some of the information above will get some webmasters rethinking link exchange as a perfectly acceptable marketing method in 2007.

Keeping count of happy campers

When an employee wakes up in the morning, and looks forward to going to work — that is the simplest test of knowing that an employee is motivated. Many look at this the other way around, looking at who is willing to work late as a reflection of employee motivation. I look at it at the start of the day, not at the end of the day.

Everybody is well aware of the need for employees to be motivated. Well directed and motivated employees drive enterprise performance. The topic has been analysed extensively, and in many companies, the range of coffee types in a company cafeteria have been credited to help drive employee motivation! If a company has to rely on a coffee selection for motivation, then unfortunately the basics have gone missing. In my view, it’s relatively simple with three or four simple drivers.

Fifty per cent of motivation comes from compensation, and the right compensation mix between fixed and variable. It’s the variable that drives the individual to compete and perform. And that the review of compensation/performance is done fairly on an annual basis. This includes looking at compensation across the organisation and outside. I don’t think that employees expect the employer to be the best pay master, but at least competitive.

The next motivation driver is who you work for, and who you work with. If you respect your boss, and have a good working relationship, that’s another 30 per cent of credit on the motivation side. What makes a good working relationship is a topic in itself. However for today’s purpose, I would simply summarise it as follows — a good boss is one who leads from the front, is honest, hard working, willing to listen but still at the end of the day will lead and take the easy and tough decisions, who operates on the basis of fairness, who is not abusive, who is willing to empower and provide authority, and ultimately rewards and recognises success.

Depending upon the level within the organisation, medium to long term carrier opportunities contribute to another 10 per cent-20 per cent. To be honest, too much is made of this. Very few employees have the ability to appreciate the medium to long term career opportunities. I have stayed with the same employer for 22 years — very few have this kind of patience. The small group who do, are easily recognisable and they operate from a entrepreneurial mindset rather than employee. In any case for what gives them kicks is quite different from a regular employee.

And the final 10%, I would put to what we all call hygiene factors such as physical work environment, HR administration. This used to be important a few years ago, but this aspect is so well understood and fixable with small investments, most companies have taken care of this.
Just as I indicated at the start of the article, I had a very simple test of how one feels about work every morning as a good indication of motivation. There’s another simple one at the end of a year — even better than an employee satisfaction survey. If at the end of year, an employee looks at his CV and he/she believes that not only has value been added to the organisation, but to his/her own professional track record, then we are sure we have a motivated employee with us, another happy camper!