Is my linking tactic affecting my rankings?
-
Hello All,
I'd like to think that my SEO style was both helpful and useful. But lately i've been thinking that I may be damaging my own SEO!
Let me explain, I love forums and technical gossip. Being a IT guy, I usually find an interesting question from websites like Yahoo, Microsoft, SOASE Forums etc etc and write a decent article on one of the questions going into real detail. I then post my basic answer (word limits) and a hyperlink incase anybody wants to read the rest of my article.
I used to think that this was great for SEO, because it was certainly great for making great connections. However, a backlink check on my website shows that I have a good 40 - 60 hyperlinks, 40/ 50 of which from just Forums I've posted on but only from 3 - 4 domains.
Would this affect my ratings? Looking at my own site from an SEO consultant perspective, having one source of links seems awfully suspicious to me!
-
Sounds like a smart tactic - and I'd continue to do it - but you most likely want to diversify your link profile.
Keep in mind that multiple links from the same domain typically don't help as much as links from multiple domains. But if the forum posting are generating you traffic and connections, I don't see much harm in continuing to post.
For instance, I have like a jillion links from SEOmoz, but I still continue to post here, and wouldn't stop for the world.
-
I would say yes! Having the majority of your link profile be forum links can't be good in terms of SEO.
Your technique is a great idea, but I would incorporate some other methods of link building into your strategy. if you're willing to write great content (it sounds like you are) i would suggest doing some guest blogging on high authority sites.
Google wants to see a natural looking link profile. Links from forums are a naturally occurring thing, so they aren't bad in and of themselves as long as they are a small part of a great overall link profile.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Does Adding Affiliate ID's to Link Affects it's Value
Hello, I have a question about adding Affiliate ID's to links. I receive a DoFollow link to my website with an affiliate ID in order to track the leads and the traffic that comes from each affiliate link/website. does this link (with the affiliate ID) pass Juice from the affiliate website? (I use canonical link element on my website pages)? how does Google deals with links with affiliate IDs ? is adding Affiliate ID to links reduces it's value?
Link Building | | JonsonSwartz0 -
Using sitewide links to improve link profile?
Hi Guys... When I look at my competitor's link profile, they often have thousands of backlinks. For example, one of our main competitor, he got 3,400 backlinks in total but only 80 referring domains. When I look at my link profile, I have around 50-60 referring domains, but hardly 80 backlinks. My question is, is it okay to get a few sitewide links (no-follow of course!) to get to the thousands backlinks? Or I will be able to achieve top rankings with my current link profile? Thanks!!
Link Building | | TheSEOGuy10 -
Why did my rank drop?
I was thrilled that my new blog catapulted up to spot # 5 on google last week for a great keyword. I worked hard on creating internal links to my category page as well as improving my content and getting a couple good external follow backlinks. But today, the report says I dropped off the top 50 list. How can I find some insight as to why this happened??
Link Building | | dealblogger0 -
Link removel
When removing links should I be worried about bad links from websites that have already been deindexd from Google or should I think that since it is not in these index any more it cant do harm?
Link Building | | Joseph-Green-SEO0 -
Sidebar Links
If I have x number of posts with sidebar having popular posts. Will each post acts as a link to popular posts? or will be penalized for site wide links? Thanks, Venkee
Link Building | | Venkee0 -
Links I am not Building?
Hi All, I check webmaster multiple times on a daily basis, and I noticed some links that I have not worked on and look a bit spammy, is it possible for people to purposely pont bad links in my direction? If that is the case is there a way for me to remove them myself? Also the number of total backlinks are very different in Webmaster and my Open Site Explorer, is this normal? Thanks again !
Link Building | | TP_Marketing0 -
Links from Real Estate Websites Link Page, Do or Don't?
It seems that real estate sites have at times been under heavier scrutiny from the search engines. But real estate agents get networking, which makes acquiring those links a little bit easier. Plus with localization of search, I think real estate sites may give off a good GEO scent. Should SEO's go for links from real estate websites? Does a reciprocal link devalue said links?
Link Building | | Thos0030 -
Reciprocal Links Or One Way Links?
After reading a recent blog post on guest blogging and ways to build relationships for link building purposes, I began to wonder about something. It is my understanding that one way backlinks are superior to reciprocal linkage, but reciprocal is better than no link at all. So is it still worthwhile to do reciprocal guest blogging, and will the value of the links be worth it when completed? Or should we just be of the opinion that: One Way Link > Reciprocal > No link
Link Building | | dignan990