Are these good backlinks?

[CalicoKitty2000]

I am trying to understand how to build good backlinks. I've read or been told that anchor text is bad (understood), websites with unrelated subjects is bad (understood), paid-for links are bad (?), "submitted" and article to get the link is bad (?), or it is a link/farm directory are bad (?).  This is actually really confusing to me!  Please bear with my silly questions, I am an engineer with an MBA, stay-at-home/homeschooling mom that helps run my husbands business.  My brain gets full fast!  Ha!

I thought maybe if I post some of the links we have built, someone could look at them and tell me if they are good or bad.  This way I can go forward understanding better.

Articles... I thought that writing articles was a GOOD thing!  Now I see that submitting articles isn't? So what about these two articles where my husband, as an expert in his field, wrote an article for a popular mag/blog.

http://coastalanglermag.com/red-snapper-season/ (they did the hyperlink wrong and I am trying to get the publisher to fix it)

http://www.bdoutdoors.com/article/shark-encounter-capt.-gregg-rapp/ (this is a pretty funny story if you read it)

Blog stories... what about when someone copies your blog post as a story on their website?  Or someone scrapes your content?

http://jeremyrymill.tumblr.com/

http://www.bdoutdoors.com/article/heart-pressure/

http://www.sportfishermen.com/board/showthread.php?t=2627767&p=3294972 (we post fishing reports and they get copied)

Un-related Directories...

http://www.mobileresources.net/mobi/Glowing_Deep_Sea_Fish/ (I didn't create this!!! I guess they just crawl and link?)

Related "farm" Directories

http://www.sportsmansresource.com/ffishtarpon.htm

Other directories/citations such as yellow pages, city search, etc. These are okay right?

Local hotels and what not... concierge's link to me, I don't even ask them to

http://laquintacocoabeach.com/things-to-do/index.cfm

Paid - I pay for MOZ Local!  Isn't that paying??? AND, I paid for a whois listing on enom... is that bad too?

NOW FOR THE BAD.... these are bad right?

http://darman.niniyoo.com/Sea-Leveler-Sport-Fishing-Charters-Inc-FL.html (I have no idea how this got there)

http://teensnow.comwww.whoisbusinesslistings.com/Other/10/23490/Sea-Leveler-Sport-Fishing-Charters.html (what the heck is this??? how can they even append a website on a website?)

http://forums.gq.com.au/member.php?u=1813973 (I think this was created on my behalf by my part-time SEO)

If you have read all the way down to here, my sincerest thanks!  Thank you for your time!

[Justian]

Hi  CalicoKitty2000

I don't know where you got all this information (where you read it or who told you) but IMO you have been mislead or only been told half of the story

Anchor text isn't bad.. its actually a good thing.. BUT if all the links pointing to you site have exact match anchor text, that might look pretty suspicious.

websites with unrelated subjects isn't a bad thing.. If the link is relevant in the context it has been written.

about submitted articles or guest blogging.. in general links that you influences/have control over in one way or another won't help you all that mush.. but the links that you have no control over will help you.. in other words; if someone refers to your site in some way that's a link that you have "no control" over - so to speak

Instead of thinking of building links, you should think of making outreach to people that might have an interest in your product or brand.

make content that people would want to link to or share.. that's a mush better approach.

[MattAntonino]

I have to agree with Justian. You seem to have a few things so confused that it may not make sense for us to try to unravel all of them in a short Q&A but start with this:

Not all anchor text is bad, just way spammy & overdone anchor text. If you check a tool like Ahrefs and you're over say 20%, you're in a danger zone. Over 50% you may as well forget it. THAT is bad anchor text.

Not all paid for links are bad - if you can get traffic off a link, pay for it. If you want to be super-SEO friendly, no follow the link.  But it's not bad to have the link if the traffic is good.

Unrelated directories - yes, I would stay away from non-niche pages. But "link directory" isn't bad if you're in the right ones. For instance, Trip Advisor at some level is a directory with links.  I'd still put every single travel client ever on there.

Writing articles can be a great source of links - just don't overdo any one tactic. I had a client who wrote maybe 100 guest blogs in 4 months.  THAT is bad. (Thanks for telling me, by the way! #disavow)

Anyways, just a few thoughts. Make sure you read http://pointblankseo.com/link-building-strategies and http://pointblankseo.com/prioritize-link-opportunities

And if you really want to learn more, Paddy Moogan's Link Building Book.

[MonicaOConnor]

The most important thing about a good link building strategy is making sure the links look natural and relevant. Keep your link building consistent and moderate. Find the best quality linking sources over the higher quantity link sources (like link farms). Build a strong social strategy and make sure you are sending valuable social signals. That means engaging your audience.

Link farms and other "paid for links" are the sources that do nothing but build quantities and quantities of link regardless of the root domains or the DA of the sources. This is bad because you don't know what or where these links will be. any kind of link building strategy that involves too much of one thing will look unnatural.

When you work on your strategy you have to make the decision of what kind of website you want Google to think of you as. Your link profile is the path that connects you to other sources and tells Google what kind of crowd you belong too. When you think of it like that, you can make the decision that points you to a better strategy. You don't want Google to think you are fast and loose, because then you aren't trustworthy. If you build high quality links, to related, reputable websites you will look like an authoritative member of your industry that can be trusted. Write good content that will make others want to link to you, send valuable social signals and strive for the best quality links, not the highest quantity of links.

[CalicoKitty2000]

Thank you, all!  Your answers are what I thought was okay to begin with.  When I started reading Penguin articles, it was seeming that many things I thought were okay were not and it was really confusing. I did read that Point Blank article several months back and made a strategy to employ many of the concepts in there.

I have around 14% anchor text that isn't just my company name and is some kind of keyword phrase.  Is that okay? The rest is some form of my website or company name.