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Link Building Questions

Q- "Why does Google not show any back links while yahoo and others do? Secondly, I have news releases, YouTube videos and quality articles with reputable ezine distributors and Google has not picked up any of those links either? The site is relatively new and it got hacked last month and was off line for about a week so there might be done issues there."

A- Google only ever shows a "random sample" of incoming links to individual websites.

They did used to show all links but back in about 2004/05 they stopped doing this because it was too transparent to webmasters vying for the same rankings.

Anyone could see exactly what they would need to replicate in their own link building campaigns, in order to achieve similar search engine rankings as the existing top ranked website/s for the respective keyword terms they were targeting.

All other factors remaining equal (a similarly well "on-site" optimized website) a competitor could simply get the exact same linking structure completed and stand a very good chance of ranking in the same (or very close) position of the website whose link campaign they were "reverse engineering".

Obviously this was not in the interest of Google as it allows webmasters to manipulate their search engine results - so they stopped doing this and went the "random sample" way.

So now if you use the...

link:yourdomainhere.com

...search command in Google you're only ever going to see a very random sample.

If you're not seeing any links showing in the results, it doesn't mean Google doesn't know about them (and isn't taking them into account when determining where your website ultimately ranks in the index), it just means it's not showing them to you.

As to how they determine this "random sample" I'm not 100% sure.

Generally they tend to show slightly more of the links from "authority websites" (but not all), mixed in with other random links you've managed to secure.

What I do know is if you know you have several thousand unique incoming links to a website, Google is only going to show a few hundred of those.

Another way to get a better idea as to what Google knows about is to use the search command of your own domain name (without the www. prefix). This will not show backlinks as such, but every reference to your website. For example; someone might have written your domain name on their page but it might not actually be a hyperlink.

In doing this now on a website I operate (that I know as fact has more than 5,000 unique incoming links pointing to it - the majority from unique 3rd party websites), when using the link: search command, Google is telling me there are "about 213" incoming links.

When I simply search on the domain name itself (without the www. prefix) it shows there are "about 143,000" individual references to that domain within Google's index. Again not all of those are going to be links - but it gives you a better idea as to how deeply referenced your website actually is within Google.

Obviously you cannot use either of those search commands to get benchmark statistics of competitor's websites anymore – it's become hard to reverse engineer other link building campaigns simply using Google's standard search capabilities. It used to be nice to be able to see that a website holding a top ranking for a specific term had 1,000 incoming links pointing to it because it gave you an estimate to work towards.

MSN.com (the new bing.com) stopped showing backlinks altogether (not even showing a random sample) back in 2007. Their public reasoning was that there was no need to use extra resources to deliver the results of such search queries because it was not the "general internet population" searching on them. Of course "privately" this was due to the same reason Google stopped showing all incoming link results as well (webmasters doing competitive SEO analysis).

Yahoo.com has always been more accurate in doing this and generally showed all incoming links making it the best benchmark for comparisons. However just a few weeks ago they announced they would be using the new Bing.com (old MSN) search results in a partnership deal. Only time will tell if this means they will no longer show backlinks and simply serve up an exact replica of bing.com results and functionality.

So all in all, if you're not seeing any backlinks in Google, but you know you have incoming links pointing to your website, don't worry too much about it. Just get out there and focus on building more incoming links to improve search engine rankings.

As to your website being offline for a week – that's never a good thing but wouldn't be the likely cause – and your incoming links from other sources not showing, well that's explained above.

Chances are you just don't have enough volume at present.

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Article provided by Duncan Carver of Online Marketing Today, an Internet Marketing Newsletter

What Is Web 2.0?

Web 2.0 may be a buzzword that has existed for a few years already, but it's still creating a lot of buzz...and disagreement. Experts are still debating about the exact definition of Web 2.0. If you're still feeling confused about it, the following explanations might hopefully make things clear for you.

Essential Characteristics of Web 2.0

Instead of looking for the exact statement that would explain what Web 2.0 is, let's just focus on what makes a website Web 2.0 instead of just Web 1.0.

To begin with, let's focus on the common examples provided by most experts. What makes Netscape (Web 1.0) different from Firefox (Web 2.0)? Hotmail from Yahoo Mail? Geocities from Blogger? MP3.com from iTunes? Do you get the picture now? If not then here are several essential characteristics of Web 2.0 that all experts do agree with.

• Knowledge-Oriented Environment - Web 2.0 acknowledges the need and power of knowledge. Information is what makes the world go round today - or at least it does in the Internet.

• User-Generated Content - Now, what matters most is the content that users themselves are not generating. They may not be as professionally packaged or executed as what we've been used to with Web 1.0 websites and applications, but user-generated content also tend to have greater impact on readers.

• User-Managed Content - With Web 2.0, users don't just generate content. They manage it as well. They control how, when, and where it's presented as well as who gets to see it.

• Service-Oriented Architecture - It's all about what a Web 2.0 application can do for you. That's why Web 2.0 applications tend to offer as many features as possible and expand continuously.

• Human Interaction - Web 2.0 also acknowledges and makes use of human interaction. It is why social bookmarking and social networking sites are incredibly popular with people nowadays.

• Doesn't Fight the Internet - Web 2.0 learned from its predecessor, Web 1.0, not to fight with the Internet. Rather than force the Internet to make itself suitable to the services required by a particular application, Web 2.0 takes advantage instead of the inherent advantages of the Internet. Its global audiences should be seen, for instance, as a benefit rather than a disadvantage.

• Syndication - Web 2.0 makes great use of syndication. Syndication refers to the various processes used by websites to make their content available and accessible, preferably in digest form, with other users and websites for several purposes. RSS feeds and podcasting are just a few ways of syndicating content.

• Innovation - Web 2.0 embraces innovation in all its stages. It is why web 2.0 is defined as to be in a stage of "perpetual beta": not a day passes by wherein software developers continue to find ways to improve their products and services.

Four Levels of Web 2.0

Tim O'Reilly provided four levels to categorize Web 2.0 applications. Level 3 is at the top of the hierarchy: they exist only in the Internet and primarily rely and improve based on the frequency and variety of interaction with and between users. Wikipedia, eBay, and del.icio.us are just a few prime examples of level 3 Web 2.0 applications.

Level 2 websites are those able to operate offline but work better online such as Flickr. Level 1 websites on the other hand are those that also operate offline but provide more features when they're operated online. Examples of level 2 Web 2.0 websites are iTunes and Writely. Lastly, level 0 websites are simply those which produce the same results whether they're operated online or offline. Examples of such websites are Yahoo! Local and Google Maps.

Link Building Misconceptions Exposed

Incoming Links From "Bad Neighborhoods" Will Get You Penalized or Banned...

This is another very common myth and is probably also the most illogical.

The worst cases I see of this one are when you hear / read / see webmasters spending even the most minuscule amount of effort to try and get another webmaster to remove an incoming link from the respective webmasters website.

There is no way that links from a bad neighborhood will get you banned and I guess I need to explain what I mean by "bad neighborhoods".

This is a common term for a lot of black hat / grey hat search engine marketers that use cloaked domains, have massive networks of in house websites, maintain splogs, and can also be classed as links from adult, pharmacy, gambling related websites and so forth.

Generally just "bad neighborhoods" that you wouldn't actively look for links in anyway.

This myth simply defies all logic.

If someone could "negatively manipulate" their own (or more importantly here – anyone else's) website rankings by throwing a truck load of incoming links at their websites from "bad neighborhoods" then everyone would be doing it.

Imagine if I could knock off the top 10, 20, or 30 websites ranking for a specific keyword phrase I wanted to target - simply by running a software application and throwing thousands of spam type links at it.

If that were the case, that you could "negatively manipulate" other webmasters rankings, every competitive search engine optimizer and his dog would be doing it.

It just doesn't work that way.

(FYI - a popular software application that could do this very easily is called "Xrummer" and is used extensively in the Black Hat SEO world. You can find it online easily enough if you want to read more about it. I don't recommend using such software however. It's not inline with my principals of building a solid incoming linking foundation for long term success and the links it can obtain hold little real value SEO wise.)

Further to the point, if this was the case, search engine results would be much easier to manipulate in this fashion than they currently are - by building a solid foundation of sensible incoming links to positively improve one's own search engine rankings.

So where does this misconception come from?

Generally from those webmasters that have seen negative impacts of doing other "questionable" things to "game" the search engines (search engine cloaking, keyword stuffing, and so forth), who then attribute the effect of a penalty to the wrong cause.

The worse case scenario here is that incoming links from such websites hold little to no value in terms of improving ones own search engine rankings.

So the null effect ultimately makes this myth a null point.

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Article provided by Duncan Carver of Online Marketing Today, an Internet Marketing Newsletter

The Importance of Creating Value to a Web Site Using Web 2.0

Web 2.0 is a term used to promote web-technology. It essentially refers to a supposed second generation of hosted services including social-networking sites, folksonomies, and wikis and of web-based communities. Basically, its main goal is to assist teamwork, creativity and sharing between multiple users. Many of us might have heard of Web 2.0, but do we know how this dynamic version of the internet means for our online business?

How Web 2.0 affects online business

As what most successful people tell on using the Web 2.0, this type of technology is an inexpensive way to employ and allow the borrowing of data freely which are available from any other web sites. Business sites are generally grouped into six categories:

1. Social networks. Such as MySpace and Friendster.

2. Social media. This are user-generated content such as Flickr.

3. Webware. It includes applications that specifically work within one's browser.

4. Aggregators. It includes a collection of contents from all over the world. An example is My Yahoo.

5. Mashups. This include sites that add a lot of features to Google.

6. Internet TV. An example is YouTube.

Because of the fact that Web 2.0 is a kind of joint venture, which may also be identified as a network of autonomously created content, it would then affect the world of online business. Meaning, no individual organization could therefore acquire the lead on a marketing promotion and thus need other organization to help campaign its cause. This innovative version could also be defined by its social networking sites, blogs, RSS feeds, and wikis. Unlike Web 1.0, Web 2.0 allows users to interact freely with each other.

Why we need the Web 2.0 business sites

A few businessmen might say that Web 2.0 can't affect the progress of their business because according to the Forrester Research, Inc., they found out that more than half of the employees viewed blogs and networking as unnecessary. Perhaps it might have been practical for businessmen to miss the use of web 1.0's version, however, with web 2.0, it's an entirely different circumstance. For example, the change from 1.0 to 2.0 may seem to be a simple movement from flowing reports via e-mail to a regular procedure where a team makes use of blogs.

A company's development may also be affected unexpectedly, such as the company newsletter might lose its subscribers but the page views may also increase as there will be a rise in the number of new users who subscribe via RSS feeds. Or, with the presence of a technical support team, its members can collaborate immediately when troubleshooting something within the site.

Thus, as what the Forrester Research, Inc. found that a total of 89% out of the 119 companies they have polled were using at least a key component of Web 2.0 which are either blogs, podcasts, wikis, RSS, content tagging, or networking. It can be concluded that Web 2.0 business sites are mostly important for businessmen.

Web 2.0's whole point is that it allows us to create web experiences to the hands of the businessmen, web developers and users so that all of us can make the most out of everything we have shared. Web 2.0 persuades us all to put everything online so that we could also benefit the information it has provided us thus making the Internet a community for everyone.