Looking for (link)Love in all the wrong places…

Warning PG -rated post ahead! (grin)

Living in Southern Indiana, it is only natural to make fun of people from Kentucky (grin–they make fun of us, too.) and a classic country tune seemed to be a GREAT way to do it! When you are building links, we like in the SEO world to talk about building a DIVERSE link portfolio. This means that it comes from a VARIETY of sources that are all relevant to the subject matter of the site.

There are a couple of things that you can do to link that “just ain’t natural” in linking to other sites and not so coincidentally they correspond with what “ain’t natural” in the human side of things as well! Wanna see some?? Great I am going to take you on a tour of some typical scenarios lookin’ for link love in all the wrong places, Kentucky style (in my opinion, of course). Here it comes!

Paying for it ain’t cool (but it is widely done–wow, much like real life!). -An example of someone paying for a sitewide link to their site. They are buying sitewide links on this blog that has absolutely ZERO relation to them whatsoever. All of the anchor text on these sitewide links is the same.

AIN’T NATURAL.

Why do some SEO firms do it. Same reason people do–because it is EASIER, FASTER, and besides…everyone else is, right??

Getting your sister (site) to pay for it ain’t cool either. Here is the scenario. You don’t want to get caught paying for links, so you build a sister site to yours and pay for TONS links to them and then use that site to “launder” the links to you. You still are paying for it and it still…

AIN”T NATURAL..

And the most common Kentucky issue…INBREEDING! (Ok, stop throwing things at me…I am having fun here!) You don’t think it happens down here? Check this little number out. Search Google for Kentucky Horse Farms for sale. Notice that 5 or so of the top 10 sites all look kinda alike, and are all interlinked? Without naming any names here. That ain’t natural! (hehe).

No one like to have these dirty little relationships come to light! (Ok, NOW you can throw things!) Sooner or later, they ALWAYS seem to! It is the nature of the web!

Take a closer look. Their interlinking is so complete that there aren’t any branches in that family tree for a generation or two! Why, you ask, am I pointing to someone who is ranking in the top 10 as an example of what NOT to do? It is because many times the person who owns the site is TOTALLY unaware of the tactics that their SEO firm is using and may be entirely unaware of the consequences of those tactics….They may well be bumping along, thinking that things are OK. If they get banned from Google..it will be their assets that are worthless, NOT the SEO company’s. They often are risking your ASSet due to their incompetence or laziness. Then, when the penalties happen…OOPS…they are conveniently not around.

I am not sure of which is the case in this case, it was simply (IMO) one of the more blatant examples that fit my requirements (AND came from Kentucky!), so I thought I’d point it out. Unnatural linking CAN be effective (short term), but over the long haul you will see unintended consequences (like web feet, overly large head, looking like the cast of Deliverance…oh yeah and getting penalized and banned from Search engines !).

Don’t think that Google knows or can see this? let me ask you something…if Google can spot reciprocal links, 3 way links (more unnatural stuff!! grin)…why can’t they spot a group of 20 sites ALL from the same real estate office interlinking each other like it is ummmm…Kentucky? Please…

I could go on and on with the examples of things like this….but rather than do that…can we all just agree that there are some things when trying to SEO a site (in Kentucky or not–GRIN) that should not be done? I hope so. Work hard. Build online authority. Heck, build dominance! But build it diverse and build it DEFENSIBLE.

If Google asked you today why each person who was linking to you and why you built links the way you did, could you answer them honestly? Food for thought.

BTW-If you decide to comment on this post, PLEASE do not add further examples of sites that you think engage in risky linking behaviors. I am not trying to impune anyone here. I am simply pointing out some examples in my opinion only of risky SEO tactics being applied to (ostensibly) unwitting customers. I hate to see anyone hurt who was not aware of the risks of their behavior.