A lot has recently been said about the Penguin update that took place a few months ago. It impacted a lot of companies and many links were penalized for bad SEO practices. In turn a lot have people have been screaming foul at any SEO attempts for fear of a big Google backlash on their site. They have also been preaching a lot about the importance of content, and they’re right on that end. The fact is that SEO is not all of a sudden some dirty term we need to shy from. In fact it still plays a big role in a lot of company’s efforts, but there does need to be a balance. Finding a balance in great content generation matched with SEO efforts can still yield good results. More importantly results that Google won’t penalize.
Solid Content Creation
This is really what it all comes down to. If you want to still have link building campaigns, you’re not out of luck now because of the recent update.
What was being penalized was poor practices and trash content that stood out like a sore thumb. But those who did, and continue to, link to their sites from solid content creation didn’t get penalized. That’s because they weren’t generating bad content and dropping in links out of context. Those who did are now suffering the consequences of a more advanced algorithm.
The fact is, however, people are still thriving with link building campaigns, and it has to do with the fact that they produce quality content. Getting backlinks to a website isn’t a shady practice, and it’s the reason so many trusted sites do so well in Google; they are being linked to from other sites. So say a satellite television company wants to get some link love. Them posting on entertainment sites with related television news or programming wouldn’t at all be out of place. Yet if they went onto a “mom blog” and kept keyword targeting words like “Dish TV,” then yeah, there might be some problems. Overall the stigma behind SEO has gotten a little out of control in the last few months, and anyone writing with purpose should have nothing to worry about. That goes for writers and blog owners.
What You Should Avoid
This was touched on a little bit, but yes, there are some bad SEO practices that you should avoid, knowingly or unknowingly, as to not hurt your link building efforts. For one, keyword stuffing. I know this is completely outdated, but you would be surprised how many people still try to do this. Google knows you’re doing this, and it is hurting you. On the other hand, sometimes keyword stuffing happens accidentally. There are some terms and topics that are just hard to rephrase, and might be the main focus of an article. If this is the case, try your best to work around it. The best tool for content writers online is a thesaurus. Get one, use one, and you’re good.
Also, while linking from good content is perfectly acceptable, don’t link to your website over and over again. Overly linking to the same page is a huge red flag. It is possible to relevantly link to your site more than once, but they have to serve a purpose, and should also be a deeper, different page. Use natural phrases, not targeted terms, and go to a page that is relevant.
Overall, the concept is simple. Content is king, and always will be. On the other hand, that doesn’t mean that SEO is dead. The two work together very well, and has been the key to success for a lot of web blogs. Your content is what gets you noticed, and your SEO efforts in the payoff. On the other hand, if your content is lacking and no one cares about what you have to say, no amount of SEO tactics in the world will help you.
About the Author: Jordan Mendys is a social media and SEO blogger. He often focuses on the importance content creation plays into the digital marketing world.