Synnd.com and Related Sites

[deaddogdesign]

What is everyone thoughts on Synnd.com and other sites that try to manipulate the "social signals" aspect of SEO.  Am I right for thinking that it is waste of time because it is not related to your niche and all the accounts in the network are just spam accounts with lots of spammy looking links that add no value.

I just feel time spent getting a retweet about your site from related authority sites would do far more than a ton of crap ones.

[Matt-Williamson]

Hi Garen,

If I were you I would stay away from this type of practice and actually concentrate on building genuine relationships with social influencers/ authorities and getting genuine links from social impact.  A retweet by an authority in your niche will put your content/site in front of an audience that is actually interested in what you are doing, so you will gain so much more from this. I always work by the fact that if something is worth having then it is likely to take time and effort - I think this is so true in the case of links and social exposure. If it looks to good to be true it usually is, as they say. If you think it looks spammy then you shouldn't be comfortable exposing your self and your sites to it. Like we all know Google is cracking down all the time and I wouldn't take the risk myself.

[deaddogdesign]

Hey Matt,

I appreciate your feedback on this.  I do have to agree and it almost seems that these types of sites will be the new "private network" buzz.  I see Google just devaluing the links and eventually just shutting down the spam accounts.  Was considering trying these types of services but it just feels that my time and money could easily be spent elsewhere establishing relationships with people in my niches.

[Matt-Williamson]

No problem Garen - I would definitely always go with your gut instinct on this sort of thing - I have and it has always served me well. Establishing those relationships will pay off and best of all they are going to keep paying off - plus I think building relationships is more about time than money. The other advantage of building a relationship with authorities in your niche is that the relationship is often reciprocal and you can help and learn from each other as well as gaining retweets, links. etc.