Link Development 2.0 (AKA Traffic Development)
In my opinion, link development is the most important (and the toughest) element of search engine optimization. Since Google started using links as a way to rank Web pages, people have been trying to find the most effective and efficient way to build inbound links.
This desire to build links has also led to many of the big "no-nos" of link development. Things like link farms, blog spam, and heavy reciprocal linking. Those were all effective strategies at one time, but now depreciated—if not dangerous—for site rankings.
So what is an optimizer to do? How do you get those quality links without breaking the rules?
Well, how about you earn them?
This is the point Sugarrae tries to make in a great post over at the Webmaster World forums. Sugarrae suggests a new way of developing links to your Web site known as traffic development.
The post is full of helpful suggestions that are aimed at helping you develop links based on merit, rather than linking schemes or purchased links. In short, you focus on building links that will directly bring you traffic, not ones that Google might like because, in the end, Google will reward you for those types of links anyway (as soon as they figure out how to discount all of the "unearned" links out there).
Yeah, it will take a while for Google to do this—and things will never be perfect. But if you are into SEO, head over and check the post.
If anything, it might make you think about new ways of getting some traffic.
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Comments
Glad you liked my post. Thanks for recommending it. I've been testing traffic development link acquisition on several newer sites with great results. :-)
Posted by: Rae | March 23, 2006 10:40 AM
I am glad to hear you have been getting results. I hope more and more marketers challenge themselves to create quality content that draws links.
Really cool blog you've got there by the way!
Posted by: James Omdahl | March 23, 2006 11:12 AM