Links to Rankings – A Test Of Wills

One of the biggest changes in the seo world in the last few years is the time it can take to rank a website, particularly in Google.  A bit back Rand noted that even established "trusted" domains were taking 10+ weeks to see some traction in terms of higher rankings after building links to these pages.  The amount of patience needed to see results is even greater when talking about new domains.

Our own LinkBuildingBlog.com has not earned top rankings in Google until just the last few weeks when we have spotted our blog jump from out of the 100’s for "link building" all the way to the top 10 on most data centers.  We registered the domain May 12, 2005 and our first post was May 16, 2005.  Our blog was a site that seemed to receive all the right links since the first day Andy and I started posting.  A quick search on Yahoo shows over 20,000 links into our domain!  Even with this nice linkage from many quality sites it seemed we had to wait for our domain to age past that magic one year mark before we saw what we thought made sense for our blog… a top 10 ranking.

The good news for new sites is I have personally seen three unique sites (12 to 14 months old) that I track recently break out of no where into the top 15 on Google with their latest index tweaks.  Andy is also reporting some sites that were created much more recently showing signs of ranking in Google much faster than what we have seen in the last year.  Now we all know results can be seen in MSN and Yahoo much faster but the holy grail is top Google rankings for most sites.  As a very general rule for link building (always exceptions of course)…

Established Domains (domains that are over 1+ year old or are already ranking for many terms)   
*build links -> 10-12 weeks later see results.

New Domains (domains under 1 year old and are showing no strong ranking results) *build links -> 12 weeks to 16 months later see results. 

There you have it, I have oversimplified a very complicated issue.  Readers, what are you seeing in terms of time it is taking you to see traction in search rankings after building new links?

What do you want from Text Link Ads?

Readers, this is a feedback post.  Curious to hear what you want to see in terms of features, concepts, tools, etc from Text Link Ads.  We have been working hard to create the best marketplace for both buyers and publishers and we are constantly improving the system.

From a buyers standpoint our main focus is to build a large marketplace that caters to every niche imaginable.  By continuing to expand our list of independent publishers we have a better chance of you finding relevant sites to purchase ads that will send targeted traffic while improving relevant link popularity.

For publishers we added the option for full editorial review on all links sold before they are published to your website.  We continue to add instructions so that every programming language possible is covered by our automated service. 

Please let me know where we can improve and what you would like to see from Text Link Ads.  Thanks again!

Best… SEO Advice… Ever.

Let’s get one thing straight — I disagree with a lot of what Michael Martinez posts on SEOmoz. But I have to credit where credit’s due and I think his comment on an SEOmoz post should get an award for ‘best SEO advice of 2006′.

When what you’re doing doesn’t work, do something different.

I know, I know, duh, it’s so simple, etc. But when a recent site launch has been mediocre or even subpar, how often do you really step back, overhaul your strategy and tactics arsenel, and then implement the new one without falling back to those same old tricks?

I have to confess I’m guilty of this a lot, especially with churn and burn (not autogen, but thin-ish) affiliate sites. I use mostly the same methodology I used in ‘04 (then, targeting Google… now, targeting MSN/Yahoo!). The system is efficient and profitable. Why mess with a good thing?

(For the record, I can still get a site to rank in G. It’s just for many sites I get faster & higher ROI by going for the other 2.)

But anyway back to the subject at hand. For a ‘real’ site for a ‘real’ business, you need to rank in Google. And every one of us — from me, Todd, and Aaron to your local neighborhood amateur SEO — has launched a site this year that’s not performing as well as it should in Google. You readers who do client work, or have several sites- my guess is that you’re in the same camp.

Ask yourself this: "Am I actively using new and different tactics?"

Maybe the extra push you need is something you’ve written off years ago (personalized link requests), or something you think isn’t applicable to your theme (a niche real estate page getting on the Digg homepage?), or maybe even what’s old is new again (need trusted links? Submit to directories).

The bottom line is, if it’s been 9 months and you’re still sandboxed, it’s time to:

• First, admit that the tactics you used were insufficient, and that something needs to change.
• Second, concretely plan some new tactics you will use to to defeat the sandbox.
• Finally, implement those tactics (the perennially underrated step).

OK…go!!!!!!

DP Members SEO Meet in New Delhi

Pankaj "Punks" Gupta, DigitalPoint fan favorite and link builder, is organizing an SEO meetup in New Delhi on June 17, 2006.

More details:

• The meeting will be held at the Shalom Lounge Bar in Greater Kailash (see directions).
• To sign up to attend, first contact DP member westhaven, and then confirm on the DP thread.

For more information or to see the latest ‘guest list’, check out the DP thread (need to sign in) or the official Web site. Sounds like fun guys, wish I lived less than 7620 miles away!

On With Shoemoney Tonight

LBB’ers, I am a guest co host for Shoemoney’s new "Net Revenue" show tonight at 6pm EST.  I will be giving out four $250 coupons for Text Link Ads during the show too.  The show can be accessed here and you can hit the chat room here.  Jeremy (Shoemoney) is a very smart and talented internet marketer, should be fun!