Have SEOmoz members ever considered joining forces with link-building?

[UnderRugSwept]

I really hope this isn't interpreted as gray hat or spammy, so please let me know if it is! I'm just always racking my brain to try to come up with creative link-building strategies.

Since we're all SEOs who are presumably doing some form of link-building, what if we got together and examined one anothers' sites, to find opportunities for links? I'm sure that still doesn't make sense, so I'll try to clarify.

OK, I've been seeing an in-house guy around here that works for a place that sells coat hangers. What if I had an existing blog post that mentioned coat hangers, allowing me to make that phrase a link to this site?

LET IT BE KNOWN THAT I'M NOT SUGGESTING A FREE-FOR-ALL OF POINTLESS LINKS! I'm only suggesting this to be done in instances where it makes sense and makes copy more informative!

I know a lot of kinks would have to be worked out (like making sure people are giving and not just taking) but I wanted to throw the general idea out there first to see if it's even a good idea.

[Dr-Pete]

Honestly, I think this kind of thing happens fairly often. The one paid link Google will never catch is the one that we agree to at the bar at the end of the day at SES/SMX/Pubcon/Mozcon/etc. On a less manipulative level than paid links, the best exchanged links come from relationship-building. If there's a site that's relevant to your site and where a link would benefit the users, reaching out to that site is just good, white-hat link-building, IMO.

I guess the problem comes in when you try to systematize it. Practically speaking, you end up with a lot of people looking for low-hanging fruit and submitting junk. Plus, as soon as you build a link network (no matter how good your intentions), you have to market it - once you market it, it's bound to get on Google's radar.

I think there are sites that skirt the edge of this, but it's tough. MyBlogGuest is a great example - it's a marketplace for guest bloggers, and often people guest blog for traffic/links. The site is just setting up that exchange and relationship, though - it's not directly driving link purchases or exchanges.

[UnderRugSwept]

Yeah, you may be right. I guess there's not really a way to do it that doesn't make it like an indirect link network, huh?

[Highland]

I have a coworker who branded our reciprocal pages as "unethical" because we were "cheating" Google somehow.

That having been said...

The problem with this is that its a TON of work to run a link network. Even if we were all above board, what would the end value be? And what happens when Google's insert cute animal here update hits and knocks it all down? I honestly don't see any way for this to work in a long term because, as Mark noted, Google is trying to knock these sorts of things down.

[UnderRugSwept]

Yeah, I agree that it could get out of hand and I see how it could be interpreted as creating the largest link network the world has ever seen, which is certainly not my intent. Like I said, it would only be in places where it actually made sense. But I also see how it's a dumb idea. I'm just looking for opinions at this point or suggestions on how to make it actually work in a legit way. I value the input you gave, and appreciate your not jumping all over it and accusing me of being a black-hat spammer.

[Mark_Ginsberg]

Hi Marisa,

It sounds like you're advocating for all of us members to get organized and create the largest link network the world has ever seen (mwahahaha). While there is some logic to it, I really think this is exactly the type of stuff that Google is going after. In the end, what it would come down to is the user. By your linking from your site to the coat hanger site, are you benefiting your user? Is the link in context and does it make sense? If someone was genuinely interested in reading your article, would following your link help them? If so, by all means do it. I don't think Google will penalize people for naturally linking to friends, business partners, associates, local businesses, etc. But what happens when this becomes organized, and your DIY furniture blog starts linking to forex sites and cheap online prescriptions? While that is clearly an exaggeration, I see it as only a matter of time before things would deteriorate. While you should by all means be building relationships and establishing connections and then leveraging those connections for all purposes, including link equity, you need to keep your user in mind in the end and be focused on them.

That being said, I'm all for contextual outbound links to relevant sites - let's all spread the link love a bit more!