Potential Devaluation of IG Links
There is a lot of chatter about the potential devaluation of IG links in the future. http://stonet.co/S7X67B Thoughts on this?
@SEObryan: BOGUS! It makes no sense to devalue the links. The main reason cutts gives is because some of them have inaccurate data.
@dan_patterson: yeah, and if that’s a main reason it’s not like they’re going to fact check everything.
@shuey03: If they are coming from off topic sites then yes, they should probably be devalued a bit.
@scott_dodge: I generally support the breaking of the “crappy infographic” trend, but it’s going to be a hard road for G to climb.
@BrettASnyder: As far as I can tell the reason for devaluing is that an IG link doesn’t necessarily indicate an endorsement of the site and that those embedding infographics aren’t consciously linking to the host site (since its embedded).
@dan_patterson: Honestly, I don’t understand that rationale. If you copy an embed code, you should know what you’re copying. Even posting something because you think it’s ‘cool’ is still an endorsement. Maybe not of the “site” but at least of that piece of content. There are lots of ‘sites’ I don’t like 100%, but I like a few things they do.
@BrettASnyder: Yea I don’t really agree but I think it’s prob harder for SEs to identify the actual value-add of IGs.
@shuey03: If you build solid content around the infographic embed, it should be easier for the SE’s to see if it is valuable. When we do infographic outreach, we provide a 300-400 word summary of the graphic so the SE’s have something to index.
@BrettASnyder: Def agree, but in my experience that wasn’t happening a majority of the time…a lot of people just posted the image.
@shuey03: Absolutely agree… I think that will be what helps some to not get devalued.
@tbrownseo: If they do it smart, it should be fine. If they looked at a paragraph of text that describes the IG on a relevant site, keep value.
@greinerseo: So the embed code link will probably get devalued, but a good quality one will still get good ol’ regular links.
@jenastelli: I’m tired of bad IGs but they CAN be valuable info. Maybe used to game linking, but devaluing all seems spiteful. Is it just the embed codes that are devalued? interesting.
@yankeerudy: this follows the trend of trying harder to gauge the actual value of the page info. text=easier, IG=not so much yet.
@ashbuckles: You can never devalue every link. It just changes. And why are IGs targeted as opposed to memes or charts?
@scott_dodge: Probably because SEOs have targeted them more than the others.
@SEObryan: Infographs are overused, but there are some great ones out there that deserve to be shared.
@dan_patterson: Any time a tactic is shown to have merit it gets overused.
@shuey03: This was a fantastic post by @justinrbriggs about minimizing infographic devaluation: http://bit.ly/NBlVY9
@davidmalmborg: Problem with IG links is that they go to 1 page. but with Panda I think Google has to be looking a site as a whole links included.
@dan_patterson: I still have the feeling this is another example of people taking something out of context or much more seriously than it was intended to be. If someone says “i could see in the future…..” that doesn’t necessarily mean anything.
@tannerpetroff: Maybe an algo update for anchor text heavy IG embed codes? Don’t like the idea of de-valuing links altogether, IGs are good.
@dan_patterson: And that would make sense, since they’re already targeting that kind of thing.
@joshbachynski: re: IGs, likely google will just devalue or image sort links directly to the image file -no biggie.
Different link building tactics are targeted & devalued regularly. How can you keep yourself from getting nailed?
@BrettASnyder: Same as always…maintain authenticity and legitimately ENGAGE with your community.
@SEObryan: Just like stocks, you need to diversify your links. Even if you get quality links, they need to come from different types of links. One algorithm change could destroy you otherwise.
@joshbachynski: Act natural. To be more precise, present natural signals, diversify, build in redundencies. Content marketing is a oft touted but ineffective method in many verticals.
@scott_dodge: Just buy adwords!
@SEObryan: I would strongly disagree with that adwords statement.
@dianekulseth: Focus on what the user wants to see. G is heading towards a more user-centric approach.
@yankeerudy: Resist the urge for single tactic approach. like @seobryan said, diversify your tactics.
@shuey03: Its all going to come down to doing legitimate content marketing and real social media marketing. Build content that people want to link to and share… not forcing links. And get away from this BS “one tweet per day” social media management garbage. Get out and build relationships… answer peoples questions, build video content around peoples questions. Take a webmaster/business owner out to lunch… buy him/her a drink… become friends… it works wonders.
@ashbuckles: Focus on relationships and content development.
@dan_patterson: If you focus too much or too heavily on one tactic, you’re in danger of a future slap.
@tannerpetroff: Obvious answer is creating content people care about and link to naturally. Also – diversify links.
@6unnar: You can still do all the gray hat stuff, just do it at a smaller scale, less automated and with a little more common sense.
@greinerseo: Linking schemes always get targeted, IGs and Widgets with their embed codes, but regular links are still a vote or worthy content.
@ashbuckles: Strategize for ip& domain diversity as well as content theme diversity.
How have your link building tactics changed post Panda/Penguin? What are you doing differently?
@davidmalmborg: I have been extremely limited in what my client will allow now. Not that I was doing anything “bad” before, but are more aware of the dangers of LB now. The client hasn’t nixed much, just need to become more involved in the process so link are more legit. i.e. Forum work.
@dan_patterson: I’m guessing that very few of you are using blog networks any more.
@shuey03: Way more branded anchor text to all pages across the site. Post penguin I’ve become way more selective of content placement… guest blogging on sites what can actually get me traffic/sales.
@Matt_Siltala: I think the main thing from what I have seen is the variety of anchor text and bigger focus on brand.
@joshbachynski: Not at all – still presenting natural signals, diversifying sources, and building in redundencies.
@shuey03: Has anyone eased up on EMAT when building internal links? I’m still seeing a ton of well respected SEOs hammering EMAT internally.
@SEObryan: I think internal EMAT is fine, the Penguin updates have focused solely on external EMAT.
@joshbachynski: EMAT internal – i have seen 3 penguin sites have this recently… correlation…? i wonder.
@Matt_Siltala: I think if you didn’t start doing that post PANDA you are way behind lol.
@shuey03: Seems like a lot of well respected SEOs are still very gungho about dropping EMAT whereever they can within their posts.
@dan_patterson: I think onsite EMAT is still very valuable. I’m also a big believer in mixing it up. Partial brand match, variations etc.
@yankeerudy: My biggest takeaway is to treat SEO as much more marketing than coding.
@dan_patterson: There is and always will be a HUGE coding aspect to SEO. Get that right first, then do MARKETING.
@yankeerudy: Difference is, you can always teach coders to code seo right, not so easy to train on marketing.
@dan_patterson: But if you can get that part right, then the SEO can just focus on the marketing and not be trumped by poor coding.
@dianekulseth: Forum engagement, more personal interactions etc. if you do SEO the right way, you shouldn’t be changing your approach too much.
@mldriggs: I’ve been using more “Google” synonyms lately and it seems to be having a nice affect.
@davidmalmborg: I think SEO is really dividing in to 2 segments. Coding and indexation (never ending on huge sites), and External Marketing.
@joshbachynski: Sacalbility vs sustainability – always the seo consultant’s trade off.
@SEObryan: If you don’t look on-site first, you wont be getting the full value of the links you acquire.
@davidmalmborg: On page should be top priority for sure. Second priority is teach your marketer Search centric tactics.
Have you done any “link pruning?” Has it been helpful for sites that got hit with Penguin?
@joshbachynski: penguin link pruning – my experiments say yes – i am trying to replicate the results now.
@gyitsakalakis: Sometimes, but not very efficiently.
@DanRichey: I am link pruning for a client as we speak. Waiting to see how the serps change because of it. No data to back anything yet.
With all the new changes to Bing Webmaster Tools, are you using it more? What are your favorite new features?
@dan_patterson: BTW, in case you missed it here’s the announcement of the Bing link disavow tool: http://binged.it/LLZuC6
@tbrownseo: Yes. The SEO reports make on-page SO easy. I think the disavow is useful for do-it-yourself ppl – someone who isn’t an expert and gets some bad tips so they build bad links.
@tbrownseo: Not sure how useful the “disavow links” feature will be, but it is a nice cushion to have. Very functional and easy to use. Love that you can disavow a page, subfolder, and domain in BWMT. It should make pruning/disavowing in Bing really simple.
@DanRichey: That is constantly on my mind guys, what are good links we can scale, but also what is sustainable.
SEObryan I think the devalue link tool just allows bad SEOs to build tons of poor links without as severe consequences. It DOES have it’s value, but I think it opens for the floor for people to abuse it.
@joshbachynski: I strongly doubt the disavow link tool will do anything other than train their algos. If so, then negative SEO w links is real.
@davidmalmborg: I think the Disavow concept is super lame. And is a cop out for crappy SEOs.
@kmullett: One thing I noticed in BING webmasters, not sure why it caught my eye, the multiple H1 warning. Google is less picky.
@joshbachynski: Got to have link tool to detect bad links – best is http://www.linkresearchtools.com/ – use this for 10% off – F35A738FA9
@greinerseo: I think it’s Bings way of crowdsourcing their webspam detection, since no SE seems to be able to do it effectively.
@tbrownseo: That could be good though getting help from users. Google does it.
@dan_patterson: One problem I have with Bing right now: not too hard to get snippets in Google. Harder in Bing, even when their tool shows it ok. So much for Schema being accepted across both… Honestly I need to dig into it more. Anyone else see this? Funny thing about Bing: I’ve been trying to check out their FB sidebar thing and it never seems to work. I see the same things no matter what I search for.
@SEObryan: Random vent: Is it just me or are local search results in Google showing up for EVERYTHING!?
@joshbachynski: That’s the venice update – big change in seo that went under the radar.
@Matt_Siltala: I am not sure it went under radar…@mikeramsey wrote a great post about it on Moz.
@joshbachynski: True, but not as much coverage as panda or penguin – no funny animal name i guess.
@Matt_Siltala: Yea i see that, but just as HUGE IMO (as to what you are referring I guess)
What are your favorite tools for doing audits? Why?
@shuey03: Majestic’s link index is way better than OSE… I just it exclusively now for link audits just for that reason alone. Majestic has way more data they are willing to share about a link profile.
@joshbachynski: Cemper Link tools, copyscape, my eyeballs – because they are better. Cemper’s link tools are better than OSE or majestic, copyscape batch search is adequete, goog analytics / WMT b/c i have no choice.
@dan_patterson: My favs: ScreamingFrog’s crawler, GWT, OSE, majestic, GA, Firebug. ScreamingFrog is awesome because it just gives so much amazing info. 100x better than Xenu IMO.
@tbrownseo: OSE, Majestic, Excel, SEO Tools for Excel, Google Docs. Forgot to mention both of the WMT’s – Bing & Google. Can’t leave those off. In most cases, they are the best and most scalable.
@scottkrager: OSE, GA, Screaming Frog, then http://serps.com of course for baseline rankings/testing/monitoring. One of the best value tools for the money I think. Finding broken links is such an easy win for most sites.
@dan_patterson: If you run into problems with mega sites in ScreamingFrog, use the settings to just crawl sections at a time.
@bhawk988: I would add SEMRush to that list as well.
@kmullett: Majestic, screaming frog, blekko, google operators, builtwith, internet archive, whitespark, blah, blah, blah. I like to first look at the site with no tools and rip it apart manually for the normal stuff before using tools. ui/ux/etc.
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