Link-building should only be done with relevant websites
Recent many of our nd.edu websites have been contacted by outside entities and people asking if they will review their “resource” and put a link on their website to the “resource”.
They may have included some text like the below in an email to you:
Dear Website Owner,
I was actually hoping to collaborate with you to find a way to incorporate my project as a resource link on your site. The resource that I’ve written EDUCATIONAL RESOURCE ARTICLE, was created to address the growing concern of BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, especially as more companies start to rely on outsourcing their work. The piece attempts to weave a narrative to suggest that no information is truly safe over the Internet, and it goes on to list hand-picked educational case studies, reports, and other academic reading on security systems management and innovations in this space today.
I think this is a resource that could be of some interest to you and to people who visit your site — I’m really curious to hear what you think. If you’re interested and find it valuable, it would be great to see it listed as a resource for others to learn from and to ponder over time. What do you think?
I look forward to hearing from you.
FRIENDLY SOUNDING NAME like Don or Jennifer
What they’re actually looking for is just a link.
This is a form of SEO or search engine optimization called link-building.
.edu sites are very good sites for link building because search engines trust them and if you put them on your website, you are passing along that trust.
Please do not link to these websites or link to anyone that you don’t know or isn’t associated with the university in a relevant way. Especially don’t get paid to do it.
Most likely these websites are not trusted and that’s why they are approaching you in this way. This made news in a big way last year as a major retailer got caught doing it.
Have you been reached out to recently? If so just send the e-mail my way and I will take care of it.
It’s true. SEO companies want links from .edu sites (how do I know? Because I own an SEO company.) There are a lot of spammy sites out there, and not just ones that are doing SEO. Spam is all over the place. In reality though, saying to never link to a site that you don’t know personally, is like saying “don’t ever sit in on a class if you never know the professor.” Yeah, how long would that hold up?
Just like everything else, don’t put crap on your website. It doesn’t really matter who asks you to publish low-quality content, don’t publish it. Now, on the other hand, there is a whole world of educated writers, and sometimes you will find valuable content that you didn’t write. It’s ok to mention, re-post, and even link to it. If someone (SEO company, or not) offers something valuable, and you want to promote it, then promote it. I think it’s too easy to jump on the band-wagon of “links are bad” so stay away from them.
Well. that is just my opinion.
@Bryant, you are correct about linking to good stuff. I’m completely ok with that. I’m not cool with our people being emailed by link-building people who are blindly spamming them. That’s not ok to me and I know you completely understand that. Love the “don’t put crap on your website” – I may use that for a blog post title. If you don’t mind me stealing it.
Spammers are criminals whether they are link builder or anything else! I think the point Bryant has made was to link the content that might be useful or add value to .edu site which personally I agree.
Thank you very much for sharing this one. This only shows that i have to learn more about this kind of stuffs since i am just starting my life as a blogger. Am afraid there’s so much more that i have to learn and understand in order for me to rank properly my website.
Bryant, i agree with everything you say. I get numerous emails from people with similar requests, and my site is very new. I am doing my best to build some quality content on the site, so peope will link to it. My site has only been live a few weeks and i have already had one person link to one of my articles. I know its not much but its a start.
Yes, Google used to place a lot more value on .edu and .gov backlinks for search engine rankings because only educational institutions and the government could own those types of domains. However, Google’s algorithm is continually being improved and updated as SEOs are becoming craftier in how they exploit these opportunities.
I mean, trying to get links doesn’t mean you are the devil, but you have to work very hard to provide real value in order to earn a link of such distinguished quality. In other words, your first priority should be to provide value to your audience whether you are going to get a link or not. If you are lucky, the webmaster will link back to your content. If not, you are still establishing yourself or your company as an authority on that subject matter, and Google’s algorithm can pick up your person’s name or company name whether you have an active/clickable hyperlink or not. That is why it is very important to stand behind what you offer with your real name – not hide behind some pseudonym.
Google has recently introduced the new Authorship program in GooglePlus. This allows you to link your GooglePlus profile to any content you publish. This means you will get a neat little profile picture next to your website (if you set it up properly). Google sees you stand behind your content and thus will help with rank, but also, real people see that you stand behind your content when they see your picture, and you will have a higher click-through rate when in the SERPs (even when you don’t rank in the top 3).