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Is it worth getting links from .blogspot.com and .wordpress.com?
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Our niche ecommerce site has only one thing going for it: We have numerous opportunities on a weekly basis to get reviews from "mom bloggers". We need links - our domain authority is depressing. My concern is that these "mom bloggers" tend to have blogs that end with .blogspot.com or .wordpress.com. How do I screen for "reviewers" that are worth getting links from and how can I make the most of the community we have available to us?
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"So what I'm taking away is that the Root Domain DA of 95 is meaningless in this case and that I should look at Page and Sub Domain metrics such as Moz Rank, Moz Trust and Linking Domains."
Exactly!
"Assuming the latter metrics are superior to our site can I expect these links to pass "juice" and boost our organic search traffic?"
Links pass "juice" regardless if the site that's linking to you has superior metrics or not. You shouldn't pass on sites just because their metrics are lower than yours (but I understand if you'd want to prioritize those blogs with higher metrics/social impact).
Regarding the visibility and organic SEO efforts, you should aim for blogs with a high number of subscribers/followers first, and worry about the metrics later (plus, these blogs are the ones with the highest metrics most of the time).
I would even rather have a nofollow link from an influential blogger in my niche than a dofollow link from someone who hasn't written in 6 months. Reason is that, beyond the visibility and direct traffic, the first link might also generate more links in the long run from the blogger's followers and community, which would boost your organic SEO even more than in the other case.
Hope this makes sense, and have a great weekend!
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Yes, I would go for the link. Since this is a product review, getting a relevant anchor text link is totally appropriate, but be sure to mix things up when approaching other sites to avoid being hit by Penguin.
When evaluating a link, don't worry too much about domain authority. Having a high domain authority is nice, but just because you have high domain authority doesn't mean you'll rank for your desired keywords, and just because a site has a high domain authority doesn't mean the link is valuable.
Here are some of the factors Google looks at when determining the value of a link:
- PageRank (higher is better)
- Relevance of the site to your site (relevant sites are better)
- Relevance of the content on the page (relevant content is better)
- Total number of links on the page (fewer is better)
- Anchor text of the link (relevant is better)
If a site meets a number of the criteria above, it's generally a good site to get a link from.
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Thanks for your response. But I don't think your answer applies to our situation. These are small-time, socially active bloggers who are big fans of the company, not "link networks" (as you referred).
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Thank you sir.
Can I get your opinion? I'm looking at a blog hosted on blogspot that has PA of 34 MR 2.52 and MT of 4.83. Right in our niche and we can request any anchor text. This lady is a fan of the business.
Get the link, pass on the link or not sure based on the info provided - will this drive our organic search effort?
Much appreciate your insight.
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Thank you! That's seem's like a great tool.
I understand the value of visibility and direct traffic; however, I'm really interested in how these bloggers might drive our organic SEO efforts. These are bloggers with small but devoted and socially active audiences.
So what I'm taking away is that the Root Domain DA of 95 is meaningless in this case and that I should look at Page and Sub Domain metrics such as Moz Rank, Moz Trust and Linking Domains. Assuming the latter metrics are superior to our site can I expect these links to pass "juice" and boost our organic search traffic?
Appreciate your insight.
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The thing is Wilkerson, if the only thing the site has going for it is that it can get a mommy blogger network to link to it, then you're also saying that there's nothing worthwhile about the site, its products, or its content. Let me tell you, as soon as a whole bunch of links to your site from a bunch of profiles that are also creating links to a bunch of other sites who's only links are coming from the same mommy blogger network, you're going to be staring penguin square in the eyes. If you're thinking about jumping into a link wheel or link network, think long and hard. Ever wonder why all those "mommy bloggers" work off of free, expendable websites?
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PageRank and mozRank are good metrics to look at when evaluating a blog.
I'm not sure how wide a net you want to cast with your contest, but I wouldn't be too quick to ignore links from even relatively low PR sites. As long as the site is in the same niche, getting links from a bunch of relevant sites (especially with good anchor text) can do more for your pages' rankings than just increasing your domain authority.
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Hey Wilkerson,
Since these bloggers are hosted on blogspot/wordpress, you can't use the Moz DA metric to screen for quality blogs like you would a normal website.
Instead, try using the subdomain mozRank, mozTrust and Linking Root Domains (you can see them in the Mozbar popup under the Subdomain column). Check the image attached to see where these are.
Even better than using the above metrics, check how popular the blog is (this includes blog comments, twitter followers, etc)! Try to think more in terms of visibility and direct traffic and less in terms of how much will the actual link help you in the search results.
Hope this helps, cheers!
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