Moz came out with the results of The New Link Building Survey 2014, so of course it's interesting because it's the feedback from 315 people who are actively involved in link building as part of their job. Link building is going through some changes since Google has made it clear the "wrong" kind will get you penalized. The trick is figuring out what the "right" kind is, and that is indeed tricky, but it isn't impossible.
Here are a few highlights from the survey:
- more businesses are spending $10 to $50k a month on link building (including content projects) - 37% instead of 2013′s 11%
- overall, 81% have increased their spending on link building
- increased costs are related to moving away from old style link building and production/creativity
- content and outreach is utilized most often and considered most effective
- article directories are considered least effective
- paid links and article directories tied in most votes for harmful tactics
As always, the comments section is the place that gives the most insights. This is because people agree or disagree and say exactly why they have that opinion.
The Right Kind of Link Building
You know your business and your customer, and the links you have built into your site should be links that are useful to that customer. I think (and I'm not the only one who thinks this) that there's limited value in building links for SEO purposes if that's the only reason the link is there. In fact, those types of links are how Google finds spammy content and the reason this debate is alive.
The right kind of link building is creating content and connections to content that are valuable to the reader. Some folks suggest that you build links as if Google didn't exist - because good links will be used by your readers anyway and that word-of-mouth effect starts happening. Links are still an essential part of your internet marketing strategy, but those links have to be worth building.
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