White Hat - Black Hat, Really confused?

[jtay123]

I am I really new when it comes to SEO and especially link building. I have been hooked into websites ever since I did my first just writing content on what I loved. Then came the number one ranking and enquiries!

Since that time I have created many websites and have always relied on good on page optimisation and have got great results in low competition keywords.

Now I am trying to make a living out of this business with multiple websites retailing products I am hitting more moderate competition on keywords and have found myself on a 30 trial with SEOmoz.

This has been a huge eye opener for a beginner and I have not had much sleep since analysing all the data that the tools can give. (My wife thinks I have an online mistress).

What has really got me stuck is the link analysis on competitors open site explorer!

As I am becoming a real SEO research geek and creating spreadsheets on my competitors links I am finding many are paid directory links! (one off 30 dollars’) .

From what I understand from Google is that paid links are against their guidelines? These links are from sites that are ranking above me?

What I am asking is should I follow suit in a fine balanced mix or stay clear of paid links completely?

Where I always write unique content  on experience for my content category pages the real chance of organic linking is slim.

Is the only way forward to buy the odd cheeky link?

[YNWA]

I am in the same boat. Few competitors have had years refining their sites before us, yet when looking some of the top rankers are so black hat its untrue.

See here: Look at that page, linked up to death.  At the bottom almost loads of links to the brands again. Check the title tags on each page. I thought mine at 70-120 characters was bad, they must be touching 200-300.

People say, yes well that site could drop off the face of earth if there caught, but come on, how do you compete with that if they are not being penalised for it?

[RyanKent]

**What I am asking is should I follow suit in a fine balanced mix or stay clear of paid links completely?  **

You should stay clear of paid links completely.

There are a few legitimate directory sites which require a fee to join. Some examples are Yahoo, Business.com, BOTW. There aren't too many others. The overwhelming major of directories violate Google's guidelines. In all likelihood, the links you are seeing to your competitor's site offer no value at all. If a site has too many inorganic links, the site can incur a manual penalty in which case it will disappear from SERPs.

Link building is often a premature focus for site owners. I recommend focusing 100% on the items within your immediate control: a solid website architecture and quality content. Only after you have nailed these two steps would you look at promoting your site and its content. Far too many site owners try to promote sites which are poorly designed and whose content is simply not good enough. For these reasons, their efforts to earn links fail.

Where I always write unique content  on experience for my content category pages the real chance of organic linking is slim.

This should be an indicator your content may not be good enough. What is the keyword your content is targeting? Perform a Google search and examine the top 5+ articles for the keyword involved. Take the good parts of those articles (images, videos, authoritative quotes, examples, etc) and work them in to your content. I am not suggesting you steal any content, but rather look to see what ideas are causing these articles to perform so well.

Either way, avoid anything related to paid links. I would also recommend not submitting your site to any free directories who's clear purpose is to manipulate search engine ranking. If the directory sincerely offers a legitimate value, go for it. Otherwise, avoid it.

[ShaMenz]

Hi John,

Excellent response here from Ryan as always, so not much more for me to say except that there are some other excellent resources here at SEOmoz which can help you to focus on the broad range of things that might be influencing your site visibility in the Search Engines.

Essentially, as Ryan indicated, it is about taking a "future proofing" approach to your site. If you haven't already found the Pro Webinars section of the site, there is an excellent Webinar from Doctor Pete on Future Proofing Your SEO: 2012 Edition. One extra thing to note here is that all SEOmoz Pro Webinars uploaded include the presenter's Powerpoint Slide Deck. Since SEOmoz presenters make a point of including links to useful resources etc in their decks, this is a huge extra help, so don't forget to grab it.

Also, one of my favorite tools for seeing exactly what is contributing to the top 10 Rankings in a niche is the Keyword Difficulty SERP Analysis Tool where you can run Advanced Reports to see how each of the Top 10 Ranked sites for a particular keyword term are doing against a whole range of key metrics. The bonus is that even if your site isn't in the Top 10, you can enter the URL to have it included in the comparison 8D.

Rand also provided a great post that explains how to use the tool: The Best Kept Secret in the SEOmoz Toolset.

Hope that helps,

Sha

[jtay123]

Hi Ryan

I feel a little star struck getting a reply from you! Read so many of your posts and replies, the sound advice from you others on here are why I have signed up to SEOmoz.

Really appreciate you’re advice and will stay clear of paid directories and free ones!

As you asked what the keyword we going for it is “lawn grass seed” and the site is www.lawngrassseed.co.uk

Thanks again.

[jtay123]

Thanks Sha!

Will get into all of this tonight. Can’t wait!  I have only been signed up to SEOmoz for a few days but feel I have learned more these past few days then I have over the past year!

Thanks for the info and no sleep for me tonight!