The Race for Backlinks

[TakeshiYoung]

Don't be tempted to follow your competitor's lead and acquire lots of low quality links, because Matt Cutts recently announced that they will be releasing a major Penguin update later this year. Don't throw away longterm growth with short term tactics, unless you're willing to lose it all.

Here is a great list of link building strategies if you're short on ideas:

http://pointblankseo.com/link-building-strategies

[Debe]

Thanks, Karl!  I do agree and that has been my philosophy for years--and for a good number of them, I WAS ranking higher than the spammy sites.  Now, it seems that the tables have turned and I really don't understand how that could happen with the recent updates.  Backlinks seems to be where I am behind in the 'race' to be #1 but, I refuse to pay someone to link to my site who sells Viagra!  It's just a bit frustrating when you've tried for years to stay on the straight and narrow!

I do watch my stats and understand the long term nature of this challenge; it just seems like I should be ranking considerably higher than I am--especially when I personally review the competitors' sites and know the difference in quality is not comparable.

[KarlBantleman]

I know, it's frustrating and probably happened to all ethical SEO'ers at some point. Keep at it, you'll be rewarded! Good luck for the future

[gfiedel]

Thanks, for initiating this discussion, Debe. I sure can relate. AND! Most importantly, great job on the catchy question title. It worked!! When I saw it, I immediately made note to self: "catchy question titles - gotta get better at them to get attention from the big kids".

[Debe]

I do hope so, Karl!  Thanks again for your input as well!

[Debe]

That is great news, Takeshi, and I'm hopeful that my site will once again, rise to the top!  I'm biased, I know but, if I were moving to this area, I would want clear, concise, ACCURATE information on the area and not tidbits of 'junk' information that is on the sites that are ranking higher.  I feel for the consumer here more than myself.

[Debe]

Thanks, Gina!  I'm not always good with those catchy titles--perhaps I need to implement that more myself too (since it worked)!!  

[EGOL]

Let's say that you do have superior backlinks but your site bounces traffic because it has a busy format or people don't "get it" or the landing page does not provide what the visitor is expecting.

Could that be the case?

Could a design change result in a spectacular increase in user engagement and cause more people to use domain queries to arrive at your site - because they know that YOU have what they want.

[gfiedel]

Being the owner of a web design company, I Like that response, EGOL!

[EGOL]

Thanks.

If people don't see what they want immediately after landing then they will leave.  If they have to think they will leave.  And, I am pretty sure that will drop your rankings.

[Debe]

Egol, my bounce rate is very low so, I'm not worried at all about that but, I do miss out on even being 'seen' because backlinks are just not one of my strong suits.  I prefer to garner them organically and because my competitors don't mind going at that the organic way, I don't rank as high.  Once folks find my site, they do seem to stay!

[EGOL]

That's good.  Just tossing out a possibility.

[Debe]

Oh, and I do appreciate it!  I know that it will definitely help someone out there anyway!  I had a higher bounce rate and found out that speed was killing me so, once that was tweaked, our bounce rate continues to drop little by little!

Thanks again for your answer!