Comments on: Which Backlinks Count for SEO?

By: Helenee

Helenee — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 06:32:54 +0000

As a newcomer to Squidoo and on-the-verge-of creating my personal blog, I am really interested in SEO issues. Concerning your scruples about the usefulness of this blog, I have to say that I would be sorry to see it disappear, and I'll explain why.
It all depends on your point of view: You don't have to claim being an absolute expert on the subject, having all the right answers. But you are quite experienced and inquisitive, always testing and seeking what works best, willing to share your findings with fellow bloggers and Suidoo-ers. Being just that is service enough. And, I can tell you, I'm already learning enough from your work.
You can see this blog as a platform for dialogue, questioning and experimenting, also as a place for people leaving their input, their bits of wisdom, which you/we can test and experiment on; maybe contest some SEO "myths" that many so-called experts obstinately support. Applying and testing all this can further our knowledge, perhaps make us come up with some better answers - at any rate make us improve in what we're doing.
And, as a newbie, I can tell you that it absolutely poses several issues I haven't thought of (naturally!).
Then, after working on these thoughts and suggestions, you can offer even better and more weighed answers.
Questioning yourself is good - it's the road to wisdom. Maybe you're not an SEO goddess; you definitely are an SEO hero, boring your way to Olympus.

By: Greekgeek

Greekgeek — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 04:38:48 +0000

I am very suspicious about backlinks being the holy grail of SEO. How do we know? Is it just that everyone uses backlinks as their main strategy?

So many people claim backlinks are the most important factor, yet the only person I know who has done longterm, detailed, controlled tests of search engines year in year out -- testing each factor in isolation on test pages, to see which ones move a page up or down in search results -- has vigorously disputed backlinks as the most important factor.

They are one factor. They definitely should be part of SEO strategy. But maybe we need to be looking at other things more than we do.

By: Remote Control Mower

Remote Control Mower — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 07:39:00 +0000

The best backlinks you can have are from Yahoo Directory and DMOZ (yea right) Getting in DMOZ is a shot in the dark, but if you do, it helps a lot, or can but wont hurt. Google has changed its algorithm to lean more on the bounce rate (how long people stay on your page using a key phrase) than backlinks. A new site gets found easy when bsic SEO is applied to test the bounce rate of that word. A month later (if people dont stay) you dont rank good for that word. That is why it is important to add content (lots) to your site often. Make it quality to your readers! Never right to engines. Getting a do follow link from Ebay (where you can do it your self) could be useless now, maybe. It doesn't hurt. No way will I go around submitting to link directories EVER. Google knows when a backlink from a high ranked site puts your link on there. Article submissions are good, but dont do as many as you used to. Duplicate content allowances are stiffer now. Google wants you to be natural. Keyword density? No way. Once in the first, third and last sentence is all I do with as much content as possible to read comfortable ( This dont count...I am falling asleep here)

By: Greekgeek

Greekgeek — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 20:14:23 +0000

Thanks, Fluff. I'm starting to think I should abandon this blog... I don't know as much as you folks, and I shouldn't lead people astray with bad SEO advice!

By: thefluffanutta

thefluffanutta — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 21:53:52 +0000

There's an important thing to note about the link: operator - Google will not reveal all of the links it knows about, and the ones it does display are not necessarily the ones that count. This is to protect websites from being over-analysed by competitors, and to keep Google's algorithms secret. You can't draw any conclusions about which links are valuable by looking at these links. Looking at just to example lenses isn't representative either.