Link Building - Post Penguin

[ChrisHolgate]

Hi,

We have an eCommerce site that has recently been hit for some unnatural linking, resulting in a warning in our Google Webmaster Tools account.  We weren't doing anything particularly underhand (and indeed before Penguin there wasn't a cause for concern) but nevertheless Google has picked up and penalised us.

We've instantly removed the worst offending links and requested a resubmission.  If this doesn't result in positive action from Google we're planning on employing the services of an Oracle member on SEOmoz who was kind enough to give us some fantastic free advice in order to go through and remove any further links that may be seen as questionable.

Moving forward however I'm a little bit overwhelmed as to exactly what we should be doing in order to create a positive, natural link portfolio.  I understand the emphasis is on ‘natural’ linking but we’ve been online for 8 years and I think it’s fairly safe to say that the number of links we have now is probably representative of about our ‘lot’ when it comes to 100% natural links.  It would be nice to give our portfolio a nice gentle push in the right direction.

I’ve checked through SEOmoz and the most up to date link building article they have appears to be http://www.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-seo/growing-popularity-and-links - This guide however does seem to suggest some things that are potentially frowned upon now (for example, highly optimised anchor text I understand is now a no-no).

Obviously, in days gone by I could look at Open Site Explorer to try to emulate my competitors but, to be honest, most of them have what I would describe as a fairly poor link profile and if I'm going to invest real time in to this I want to make sure I'm heading off in the right direction.

Does anybody on here know of a really high quality post penguin link building guide, either on SEOmoz or elsewhere that I can use as some bedtime reading?  Our website is eCommerce in nature so an article tailored towards online selling would be ideal.

Thanks for reading!

Chris

[SEODinosaur]

The key is a natural linking portfolio. Now that you know how to determine a good site (authoritative) from a bad site (spammy or unnatural) you can start building quality links.

How to make it look natural?

Link to your URL and your brand rather than your exact keyword 70% of the time. 20% long tail linking and 10% Exact linking. This is a safe profile that will help your site look natural.

[ChrisHolgate]

Hi Donnie,

Thanks for getting back to me.

I think my desire to have some kind of all-encompassing guide (such as the one that SEOmoz produced prior to Penguin) was driven by hopefully being able to potentially avoid spending time pursuing a potentially flawed strategy.

For instance, I was speaking to one SEO who said that article writing was dead but it's my impression is that article writing is still good as long as the article is relevant, unique, well written, is only posted on a relevant site and contains only one link in the by-line of the article.  Would be nice to have something in black and write from a recognised source such as SEOmoz confirming exactly what I should, and should not, be doing  

I think being penalised is just making me a touch jumpy!

Thanks for your help again, it’s appreciated.

[SEODinosaur]

If you go thru the SEOmoz blog you will find that as long as your are giving value to users on the web you are doing the right thing.

However...

Build it it and they will come does not work. in order to win results you will need your content to reach relevant/interested/entertained people on the web. This is done via social networks. If you find some authoritative people in your niche ask them if they want to add a quote to your article, or maybe mention them and let them know that you are mentioning them. Get them involved and then after you  publish your article they are more likely to share it.

Here is a good read on how to reach people: http://www.seomoz.org/ugc/binbound-marketing-how-to-stop-your-outreach-getting-trashed

[ChrisHolgate]

That's great, many thanks for your help Donnie.  Have a good day