HubShout | Online Marketing Solutions

Renee
4013
11/20/12
12:17 PM
456 posts

Jayson DeMers over at Search Engine Journal recently interviewed a former member of Google's webspam team to get some info on how Google looks at inbound links and how the SEO industry and webmasters can do their jobs within the context of the webmaster guidelines.

Search Engine Journal:
SEO Link Building Q&A with an Ex-Google Webspam Team Member

Nigel
4019
11/20/12
02:13 PM
36 posts

Hey Renee, thanks, this was a good one for me

Steve P
4029
11/20/12
05:31 PM
29 posts

Great article. Thanks for sharing!

One of the most important snippets to me was in question #8: "The relevance of your linking partner to the topic of your site is the key!"

Similar sentiment was expressed throughout the article. It draws into question the value of a link that is placed on a blog which has zero thematic focus. For example, one post may be on dog training, then one on window washing, then the next on car insurance...etc. Unfortunately that's the most common type of link acquired in most low-cost SEO plans.

Adam
4031
11/21/12
08:23 AM
949 posts

I COMPLETELY agree Steve! That's the exact line that jumped at me. And it made me feel very good given how much effort HubShout puts into finding relevant places to syndicate our high-quality content marketing.

The other part I really liked was the "focus on the end-user"... Again, I know that will lift spirits in our Content Research Department and with our Editor. They spend a great deal of time working on ways to make our work engaging. I know many people still don't care and are just looking to outsource link building, but I'm quite certain those attitudes are changing after the Google updates of 2012 and will move even faster in 2013 because Google has more updates in the pipeline.

Steve P
4032
11/21/12
09:52 AM
29 posts

Hi Adam!

I'm sure it feels good knowing that you're ahead of the game. Sometimes a little vision goes a long way ;-) It will be nice for all of us who sell SEO to some day not have to compete on the basis of number of links built, rather on the overall quality of them.

Thanks!

Nigel
4033
11/21/12
11:06 AM
36 posts

I hear what you say Adam, all these updates and the closing in of substandard user experience via spammy behavior, is already the new way of SEO life. According to Steve sticking to the guidelines effectively means you are ahead of the game.