Have You Become Link Shy With The Latest Google Updates?
Link shy – the fear of linking to the wrong website or blog. It would appear the latest Google Panda update of about 2 weeks ago now affected sites with links to various types of websites. Anything that appears unnatural may have been hit.
What types of links should one be weary of?
The ones listed below may be obvious to some but to others they may not be.
- Broken links.
- Sites that haven’t updated in ages.
- Sites or pages that call themselves “links.”
- Sites or pages that may call themselves a “directory” – this one is a very hard one to call. Check relevancy.
- Paid links.
- Article submission websites.
- Affiliate links – must be NO-follow. A follow affiliate link is not good for SEO. A no-follow affiliate link is fine.
Of course you can watch Matt Cutts on this topic too as I have a few times now.
Matt sure does not make it crystal clear, does he? I have received emails from various websites that have asked for their links to be dropped from our sites. After I keep deleting links I thought, why not just get rid of these resource pages on the retail sites? No other retail sites coming up on the first pages in search had them anymore. I cut the cord. Ouch. I’ve become very link shy. Have you?
Is Blogging The Only Way To Get Link Juice Today?
It would seem in many cases blogging is the best way to get link juice. You must be blogging great content and link out to authoritative websites. The old days of link pages are gone. Although I still receive emails from companies wanting to link up. I guess they don’t watch any of Matt Cutts videos or read any information on the latest Google updates. They are not link shy at all! I once did an article with 40 ways to be found online. I’m referring to it today still for our new website.
Google and Facebook Are Not Your Only Source of Traffic 
Just remember don’t rely just on Google or any other search engine or website for your all your traffic. Diversify your links and your website so you can be found many ways. You may rely on a particular site or blog for your traffic and one day that site may go down or shut down. Never put all your eggs in one basket. The same goes for social media, some folks rely just on Facebook or Twitter. It’s good to have at least 3 networks you can go from if something at one changes. Why invest all your time in just one place? And that place changes or goes down what do you do? Being in 3 social networks you can easily switch to the other 2 and gradually add a new one. Of course if you are in 10 social networks it may be overhwelming and you may not be forming any relationships because you are in so many places. I’ve been invited to more new places the past few months and had to pass. I hate to say no but I can only be spread so thin. How about you?
I’d love to know other ways you are using to link up with other quality websites or if you have become link shy of late.
