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A Case Study for better Ranking and Link Building

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Ranking and Link Building

Recent updates from Google targeted link spam. Several campaigns, which were built around an anchor text, were pushed down. Bloggers picked up the topic and discussed it extensively.

Some predicted the need for change in anchor texts while others came up with percentages on various factors. In short, the discussion later boiled down on the fact that link profiles shouldn’t be focused on a specific anchor text. It should be generalized as if the links were built naturally.

In March, I started promoting my Forex site forex.zarrylyms.com. I wrote a specific post on ‘Forex Trading System’, which is used to sell a system. For promoting the post I used guest posting. Now, I am not a firm believer in Page Rank as the ultimate requirement for ranking. Hence, I opted for sites irrespective of whether it had a PR or not.

For three months, through guest posting, I promoted the particular post with the anchor text ‘Forex trading system’. This keyword is competitive and has a global search volume of around 22,000.

Surprisingly, while checking for rank positions in June, the post appeared sixth (first page) for the keyword ‘Forex trading system’. My happiness knew no bound. I was like ‘With 24 links I have ranked on the first page’. Unfortunately, the happiness was short lived.

After a week, it appeared on fifth page (somewhere around 55 rank). The next day it was gone. The post was unavailable within 100 rankings. Therefore, I used a ranking tool and found the post on 168 ranking for the keyword ‘Forex trading system’. This was expected. In fact, I was expecting Google to play its fair part long before. Now, since ranks were lost I decided to dilute those links. Of course, it was just 24 links. The strong part is that all of them were in content links and of high quality, (I would say).

The Dilution Part:

I am sort of a lazy bones. Therefore, for diluting the links I did not want to strain, as I was busy providing guest posting service. Anyhow, the links must be diluted else, the amount of time and work invested will turn futile.

It was in August that I thought about dilution. Later I came across a blog that provided a list of dofollow sites. Quickly sensing opportunity I started commenting and leaving links which were either naked URLs or with ‘Forex trading software system’ as anchor text.

Forex industry is considered by many as related to gambling. Hence, it did not surprise me that most comments were never approved. Fortunately some did. To say precisely there were around 5 approved comments.

I allowed a week so that Google can index them. Later while checking ranks the post was at 10th position for ‘Forex trading system’.

Okay, so here is the cool part. 24 links were responsible for visibility and then invisibility. Finally, with few links I was able to get back to previous rankings. Calculating the percentage, the link profile was approximately around 80% for the keyword Forex trading system (terms and conditions apply, lol).

This particular case isn’t the entire truth. It is what happened in my case. However, if any of you have tried diluting links (I know mine was on a very small scale) then please let me know the percentages.

P.S. Recently Google refreshed its algorithm and hence I lost the rankings again for ‘Forex trading system’. Fortunately, the post appears at 15th position for the keyword ‘forex trading software system’ (the keyword used for commenting and within the URL) which is not bad.

Image © Dmytro Titov – Fotolia.com

About

Richie Richardson loves to write about Social Media, SEO, SEM and Internet Marketing. Currently he writes over his blog Zarrylyms which provides tips on the above mentioned topics. You can reach him over his blog as well as follow him on Twitter @Zarrylyms.

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{ 25 Responses }

  1. Jon says:
    This is a really helpful post. I've noticed Google rankings bouncing around like crazy for many keywords. It's really unpredictable these days. That's the basis on which I proceed. Which means less emphasis (not no emphasis) on SEO. I do think, based on my limited guest posting experience, that the authority of a site on which you guest post makes a difference. More authoritative backlinks equals higher rankings. I haven't tracked to the level of detail that you have, but I've seen some good jumps in rankings from publishing one or two guest posts on highly authoritative websites. At the end of the day, a mix of links and anchor text is good. The best is building an audience who visits your site regardless of the search engines ... but this is a very long term strategy.
    • Richie Richardson says:
      Hey Jon, to tell the truth even I am considering to build audience rather than work on SEO. In future SEO will definitely be all about audience. Why not start right away? Although I am working on SEO presently I am working more on audience building. Thanks for dropping by and contributing your thoughts and ideas.
    • Christa says:
      Well said John, quality of the backlinks are the key deciding factors of your ranking. It is not the sole criterion of ranking but contributes alot in earning higher ranks and this is what Google keeps on announcing to webmasters.
  2. Nick Stamoulis says:
    When it comes to keyword anchor text you don't want to use the same anchor text over and over. It's important to link to a variety of keywords that are related and use full URL links and links to the brand. This keeps it natural.
    • Richie Richardson says:
      Truly said Nick. I just wanted to feel first hand experience of linking with same anchor text and hence the case study.
  3. Siddartha Thota says:
    appreciate your case study, but there are few more ways with which you can dilute your links. Rely on Social Media, Web 2.0 sites. Personally, I never bothered about diluting links, but yes, I accept the fact that diluting the links always diverts the focus on google from us. Since Google is playing smart these days, we cant decide with a single case study, but multiple case studies will always fetch the aspect and strengthens the foundation. All the best :)
    • Richie Richardson says:
      Hey Siddartha, Of course Social Media Links are useful in diluting them. However I focused on gaining dofollow links and I am ignorant about Social Medias which allow dofollow links. I am also working on other case studies and will soon publish them.
  4. Hamza Sheikh says:
    An amazing case study! I can say that Google is now become a social addict. The old-age SEO is completely changed now, Google is now focusing on the trust level for ranking better in the search engine. They are only focusing on the trust rank.
    • Richie Richardson says:
      True, Its not only Google but Bing too. Somehow Social Media links seem to more of a signal factor than others. But we can never be definite of anything.
  5. Joe Clark says:
    Hi Richie, Now that's really and interesting case study I have read in long time. SEO is changing it's form very quickly these days so this kind of case studies are helpful for others. keep sharing. Joe
    • Richie Richardson says:
      I am glad you found it useful Joe. I am studying more on Bing and will share it later!
  6. Dean Saliba says:
    What I am taking away from this is that we can not rest on our previous work, we have to keep churning out the posts and creating more and more links.
    • Richie Richardson says:
      Moreover, there is no guarantee that the tactic which works today will work tomorrow
  7. David says:
    Hi there. That's an interesting case study I must say. And this is somehow another confirmation that we shouldn't try to fool Google. As long as we create value (e.g. valuable and relevant comments), we aren't punished. There is the talk about sites which gain organic traffic without link building at all. I believe that now it's time to focus on CREATING value and using link building just where we add value. Greetings.
    • Richie Richardson says:
      Excellent comment David. SEO is not longer the primary element. We should start focussing on building reader base and community while using SEO as a support.
  8. Nishadha says:
    Thanks for sharing the information, I think Google is taking into consideration many signals now making it hard to rank for anything by back links alone. Although you might get to the top with back links to stay there you need to get social media shares, a good average time on site and much more.
    • Richie Richardson says:
      Yes, Google is considering more signals and it will be way complex in future. But link building remains the most important factor for ranking.
  9. Mr Ple says:
    I think the best way for seo now is writing compelling copy for the key pages of your site based on your chosen keyword phrases and your target markets needs, and make sure it is copy that the search engines can read.
    • Richie Richardson says:
      I agree. SEO is changing phase and content is becoming a vital part of it.
  10. Jeremy says:
    Interesting case study. I don't know if I'd attribute the jump completely to the dilution though. You also got new links that at the time were probably just 1 click from those blogs' homepages. Having 80% of your links going to one phrase is still way too much. You also diversified your link profile from all guest post links to including some comment links too. Google likes to see variety in types of links too. I'd also be concerned about the page exclusively having only dofollow links now.