Most of the link building techniques that used to work perfectly in the past no longer do the job. In this article, we will go over some of the most common mistakes in link building tactics.
The main mistakes in link building mostly revolve around a lack of natural text or “naturalness,” which is a problem faced by Google Penguin, who punishes all projects with these mistakes. A penalty by Google Penguin is in fact one of the toughest that one can receive, if not the worst. It is possible to rapidly fix a penalty due to content (according to the volume we have, of course), but the case of a penalty for link building is different. Even though we fix the problem, these penalties always leave some trace, some digital footprint of our previous link building.
So, let’s get into some of the most common link building mistakes. First of all, the article directories have completely lost the efficiency they once had. Now, only those that have followed certain minimum quality criteria still work. For example, those which review the content before publishing them, censoring all sites of questionable morality (casinos, sexual topics, etc.). Those tools that allow us to create thousands of links in just a matter of hours don’t work either. Always remember that quality now reigns over quantity when it comes to link building tactics.
Another common link building mistake is related to blogs networks. We’re talking about lots of pages, with the purpose of trying to get authority, and ally with others exchanging links in specific areas of the page, such as the footer or the side bar. Apart from this strategy being unnatural (hundreds of links are created from a single domain pointing towards a single page with identical anchor text), Google detects these kinds of blog networks more easily every day.
Spam in the comments sections of blogs is also a common mistake that is seen pretty often. There is absolutely nothing wrong about commenting on another platform while adding value and linking to your site, but the problem is when thousands of comments are automated with the same spam texts.
Another main link building mistake is posting in low-grade mediums. It is a basic mistake that, fortunately, is being made less and less every day. It is true that before Google Penguin, link building was more about quantity than quality, but with the appearance of the aforementioned update, and even more so with each sub-update, the quality is much more important than the quantity. Regarding the low-quality sites, we can see which are trustworthy mediums for Google with SEMrush, by looking at the organic traffic graphic. It helps us separate the main and leader websites of each sectors from all the rest. Mostly, this analysis works for eliminating those online sites that may be penalized by Google and on which we definitely don’t want to appear on. One factor that is worth analyzing when selecting sites in which to appear is the engagement of their social community. But be careful! We are not talking about the number of followers, because that factor can easily be manipulated, as it can be adjusted by the direct or through a medium purchase of Social ADS. We are referring to the engagement itself, which is an element that is harder to manipulate, and that gives us clues about the value of a brand inside one particular sector.
Finally, another very common mistake that occurs even in many SEO agencies is to focus all the link building work for one sole company over a very short amount of time. That is, for example, every month during the third week, or the fourth week of every month. This is a mistake, because the idea is to naturalize posts. The best approach would be to randomly post during any given month.
So, do you think you are making any of these common link building mistakes? Don’t worry, you’re not the only one! If would you like some more detailed information about how to design a good building tactic and what makes a great link, we encourage you to see this post where you can find a complete and detailed guide.