As I was speaking with a client recently about how much Google’s algorithms have changed recently, I came to the conclusion that there’s a common denominator when it comes to good backlinks.

Humans.

Yep, simple as that. If humans are involved at both ends (the link builder and the link publisher) they are often going to turn out to be good, smart links. Let me share an example to explain.

Okay, it’s no secret that I’m a big fan of guest blog posts and content marketing. I think it’s awesome when you can get your original content published on someone’s website. It’s good for traffic, increasing audience, and the backlink is usually quite valuable from an SEO viewpoint. I’ve even allowed some guest authors to post here on my site when they offered great content that I felt my readers would find interesting.

So yesterday, when I was approached about a guest post, I was open to at least considering it. But here’s the thing, the author wanted me to post an article about trade shows and trade show booths. What the heck does that have to do with Internet Marketing, SEO, social media or any of the other topics we discuss here at “Let’s Translate”? So I had to turn him down. If he’s smart, he’ll go find websites about trade shows and maybe even business networking or something that is relevant to his topic.

Heck, even if I had allowed his article and the subsequent backlink, I’m not sure Google would have been terribly impressed with the link, since there is no other content on my site about trade shows.

As a human, I was able to determine that the link wasn’t relevant and had no value and thus turned it down. Most article sites, press release sites and directories don’t make that distinction. They let anyone post, and that’s why I feel those kinds of links are being devalued.

Don’t even get me started on all the ‘bot created sites. If you’re silly enough to buy 1000 forum links then you deserve to be penalized. Google is definitely smart enough to know the difference between a ‘bot link and a human link. That doesn’t mean that forum links and blog comment links aren’t good. You find the right forum or blog that has a human moderator who keeps the spam out, and that forum or blog is relevant to your topic, that’s probably a good link to have.

Rule of thumb – If the link makes sense to drive real prospects to your site, it probably makes sense for SEO. If you’re an internet marketer, you should comment here and get a backlink. If you’re trying to sell Phoenix Suns jerseys, don’t bother – unless you have a comment or question about how to optimize your Phoenix Suns accessories website.

This begs the question – how do you find the time to build these links? A content marketing link involves several time-consuming steps.

  • Find relevant websites that allow guest content.
  • Contact these sites and let them know you want to guest post.
  • Persuade them to post your content and include a backlink.
  • Determine what you can write that will fit their site and make sense for your backlink.
  • Write great original content.
  • Submit it to the publisher and wait.
  • Proof the content to be sure it hasn’t been changed and that the link appears in the article.

Dang! That’s a lot of work – certainly a lot more work that just buying some links or posting to a directory. Luckily Google’s latest algorithm seems to favor quality over quantity of links. So it probably makes sense that 5 of these kinds of links are worth more than 500 of the old links you may have built in the past.

Human involvement means that it’s harder than ever to scale your link building efforts. SEO and link building are not dead. They’ve just gotten more complex, more human if you will.

Thanks for reading

David McBee