Is RU white hat link building possible?

[theLotter]

According to my RU content/SEO person all the major websites/blogs in RU asked for payment to post an article... and there is no advice in RU/Yandex for implementing white hat methods.

I work for a gaming company, so trying white hat is difficult in any country.... but still seems worth trying.

Does anyone have experience or advice about RU link building?

[GPainter]

Didn't Yandex drop links in its algorithm? I wouldn't even know how to "link build" with out links!

[theLotter]

Only in certain verticals, it seems to still be a ranking factor for gaming sites.

[Andy.Drinkwater]

White-hat link building is the same the world over. There needs to be a reason for the link to exist.

Yandex did drop links from the search algorithm, which did change the way they now rank websites - just don't be drawn into buying links as this will do you no favours.

That said, links still do play a part - just not in the same way as they used to.

Rather than quote verbatim, have a read of this post, as it is very informative.

-Andy

[MarieHaynes]

Not sure about Yandex, but if you're trying to rank in Google, almost all building of links is against the quality guidelines.  The only links they want to count are ones that are actually earned.  If you made the link then it's unnatural.

Matt Cutts recently did a video where he talks about how Google ranks sites in some industries different.  He commented that people don't tend to link to porn and gambling sites so they have other metrics they use:

http://searchengineland.com/googles-matt-cutts-can-improve-algorithms-authorities-topics-188277

I can't believe I just did a search for "Youtube Matt Cutts porn" in order to get that video.

[theLotter]

Thanks for the video and porn search

Based on my experience, links are still very much part of the ranking algorithim for gaming. I understand the importance of white hat methods, but my question was more of a logistical one.... if all websites in RU have a section where they write about advertorials they will never publish an article for free no matter how amazing the outreach, content, relationship building etc....

So, given that seems to be the reality of the RU Market (according to my RU SEO/Content person) I was asking if someone has advice for white hat link building in RU and/or if they have different experiences than we have found.

[MarieHaynes]

Anyone who can answer this question is going to be a very rich person!

At this point, IMO, trying to do "white hat link building" in a super competitive niche where people do not tend to link naturally is going to be extremely hard.  You're right...links still count.  But the sites that are killing it in this type of niche are not the ones who are gaining links naturally but the ones that are still able to find ways to trick Google.  I think that there are some areas where it is extremely difficult to rank using just white hat methods.

I don't have an answer for you unfortunately.