Posted Thursday, October 11th, 2007. Filed under Link Building.
Sometimes I ask myself, "Shouldn't I just stop blogging about link building, and just go as far under the radar as I can?"
People can debate all day long over what works and what doesn't when it comes to search engine rankings, what is white hat and what is black hat, and what filters and penalties might be applied and why. Should I be trying to convince or inform, or even state what I think when it comes to these matters? Why bother? I've already written my views.
I've been blogging since September of 2005, and I can say this: I still believe, and act upon, almost everything I've ever said as far as link building. Even that stuff I wrote back in 2005, I still feel is relevant in today's ever changing world.
In September of 2005 I laid out the ground work for how I envision search engines rank sites. In October of 2005 I wrote about Changes and Paranoia in the SEO World, advice that's still useful today. In November of 2005 I spoke of the difference between what a link ninja does vs a link monkey (before Stuntdubl helped us coin "link ninja"). At that time we had about 12 employees including 4 link ninjas; today we have 28 employees including 17 link ninjas.
I wrote about how I liked old websites, and to this day we very rarely work with sites newer than 2 years online. I also wrote about screwing the sandbox and buying old websites, a post that still generates emails to this day. And I wrote about how link pages are dead, and about buying links under the radar.
SEO hasn't changed much since 2005, really. There's always been fear, uncertainty and doubt. Links still work just as good as they ever did. The whole game is to stay under the radar, and don't piss off Google.
Maybe I'll just take a year off from blogging, or maybe I just won't blog about link building anymore, who knows. I don't know, what do you think?
Burgo: Certainly agree with the heart of this post. There are phases where you have to ask yourself, how often can the same old thing be rehashed and restated?
Michael: Jim I certainly hope you'll continue blogging. I've found your blog posts really helpful. There are many SEO bloggers out there, but not many know what they talk about, or want to share as genuinely as you had.
Hobo: I think you blog too little as it is.
Scott Hendison: Don't stop blogging Jim, love your insights. Instead, tell us about your selective use of nofollow on commenter names.
Jim's Response: It's a plugin, the way it works is links are no-followed for 48 hours, that way I've got time to humanly review suspected spam and remove it before the no-follow is dropped.
Betty: Linking is paramount I'm sure, but a constant flow of really good content means so much. A fresh, well written blog post on a blog that's fully configured to spread its seed is like crack cocaine for the spiders.
Dave: A blog is a place to put your own ideas, thoughts and whatever else you want. It should be an enjoyable experience and should be continued only if it remains enjoyable for you.
Vicki Flaugher: For those of us in SEO and internet marketing, the industry is finally starting to feel like there are standards that consistently work. Fly under the radar if you feel you must, but I'd love for you to keep blogging.