Being in high school, I am no stranger to the evil called acne. In every hallway of every high school, students pass by with it, some with severe cases and some with mild. Some students completely ignore it while others can’t stop looking at it.
I had a friend who was crazy about ditching his acne. Instead of washing his face twice a day, he washed it constantly. Every instance he was in the bathroom washing occurred. However, his acne didn’t diminish, it grew. Then he washed even more, making it even worse. He switched to an acne prevention product and used it way too often. His face ended up dried out with the acne remaining.
I think that all webmasters can learn from my friend. Constant Link building way too often will just make your search engine position worse, and your reputation with Google will be dried out. Increasing your link building will just continue to make your rankings worse even if you get higher quality links.
Five new links a day is fine, but hundreds is not so good. Google will be able to tell if you are obsessing over link building. Also, the quality of the links matter. Soap doesn’t work very well when clearing up acne, and neither does submitting your sites to hundreds of low quality directories.
As for my friend, he didn’t give up but began to actually follow the directions on the usage of the acne product. With times of applying it correctly (twice daily) his acne got better. And when it got better, he knew that all the work he did was worth it.
When link building it is important to follow search engines directions.They can figure out if you are spamming sites to get links. If you do a small amount of decently high quality links (even if they’re Nofollow) every day, you will be successful.
What will you do? Will you make your search engine results rankings worse by doing more work? Or better by doing less and sticking to it?
Oh, and as for my friend, the ladies are all over him now.
Learning to not obsess with link building, is an important step in your Web Journey. With a proper link building routine (along with natural links and proper SEO, your website or blog will slowly rise in the SERPs (search engine ranking positions)I guarantee that slowly rising is much better than quickly dropping.
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{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
Love the analogy between acne and link-building. For somebody starting out, this is quite informative. Looking forward to reading more of your articles. Thanks!
.-= Eli Gibson@Acne Removal´s last blog ..Laser Light Acne Treatment – How it Works Laser Technology for Acne =-.
Hi,
Relating link building with acne is a nice way of warning internet marketer no to spoil reputation with google. Not to obsess with link building is a good advice.
Lol thats a really nasty comparison.
.-= Ben Lang´s last blog ..Contest – Win 5 Great Prizes! =-.
Not sure I like the analogy (brings back bad memories) but I do think you have it nailed. I think the key is to think long term. I’m stil making money on content I created years ago. 5 good links a day is more than enough to get you were you want to go and over time that will really add up!
.-= lisa@Woodbury Commons´s last blog ..Blogging About Woodbury Commons – 1/19/2009 – 1/25/2009 =-.
This has been one of the most entertaining blog posts in a while, and had a great connection with your blogs theme. Keep up the great work, I love it!
I was always wondering why my google rankings weren’t that high for my targeted keywords. But I think I am slowly but surely getting the idea behind link building. I guess it will take some time before I am a pro like you guys. But your article definitely helped me get a better idea of what to do and what not to do (anymore). Thanks!
Wow…you really used a nice example to explain excessive link building…
.-= Compute Live´s last blog ..How to Jailbreak iPhone 3GS OS 3.1 on Windows =-.
LOL I like your comparison between acne and link building. One more thing, don’t be deceived by untrue promises of others/products. A manufacture always assures you that their product would be the best solution for your acne problem, but in the end, you won’t see any improvement. The sad part is, it’s now worse than ever! Same with link building, a link is very beneficial to all webmasters. However, too much linking might be detected by Google. Then might result to a punishment. Remember, your greatest dream to be successful can be your unexpected nightmare if you’re heading in the wrong track.
.-= Anne Fox´s last blog ..How to Treat Angular Cheilitis =-.
You have a good point there, treating acne and link building are somehow related.
Link building should be done the right way by choosing only related sites, Quality over Quantity.
.-= Bryan´s last blog ..Is Blog Commenting a Good Strategy to Earn Traffic? =-.
First of all, I like the picture mentioned here !
And thanks for this link building article.. because my forthcoming article is somewhat related to it !
Thanks Jake !
.-= S.Pradeep Kumar´s last blog ..The What, Why And Whodunit – September 2009 =-.
What a great analogy! Yes, you can easily overdo the link building, particularly with directories. (They shouldn’t be dismissed entirely, though. They do work in moderation.)
As well as a gradual approach, variety is important also. If the only links you ever got were from directories, for instance, you might get penalized by the search engines. If you do some directories one day, then comment on some blogs another day, then submit an article or two the next then that’s a good approach. I think it’s better for SEO and it also makes the process more interesting.
I agree with you on this Jake. To tell you the truth I don’t buy into any services promising huge traffic because I doubt the quality of those traffic. I believe in high quality link and that’s what I’ve been doing. Very nice insights you have shared here.
.-= Walter´s last blog ..Finding myself beyond my identity =-.
I never thought of link building as acne, sounded funny, but is true in a sense. I used to do a lot of link building, but slowed down and concentrated on content and layout instead.
.-= George Serradinho´s last blog ..Newest WordPress Plugins 24/09 =-.
Jake,
Just like treating acne, link building requires patience. Sounds like your friend finally got to the point where he has to step back and be patient – let the treatment do its work. It’s the same thing in link building…
Most people go nuts building links because they are not patient and have nothing better to do. Hey, “More is always better” always seems to rear its ugly head in these situations.
Thanks for a good post; I enjoyed how you related it to the other problems that you & your friend are dealing with.
This article raised many alarming questions in my head. I am involve in massive link building practice which is artificial and not constant. Google has decreased my position in search engine with the targeted keyword as well. Now, I know what went wrong.
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