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Backlinks :Why They Still Matter and How To Build them?

Links are still the backbone of Google’s algorithms, which determine where your site ranks in Google’s SERPs (search engine results pages). This is why having quality links pointing to your site can help you gain more visitors organically versus relying on paid efforts.

A backlink, also known as an inbound link or just a link, is an incoming link from another website or page that directs or points back to your own site or page. Unfortunately, too many bad backlinks can get your site in big trouble with Google in the form of a penalty. It can be hard to know what constitutes a good link versus a link that could spell trouble for your site. Google is the final judge of your backlinks and you have to play by their rules.

Today, we break down what natural backlinks are, why you need them, and how to gain them while staying within Google’s guidelines. Before we discuss natural backlinks, it’s a good idea to explain how links have evolved over the years. Here’s a brief history of links:

Wild West Times (pre 2012): This was a wild time for SEO, when nearly any tactic was fair game and Google didn’t enforce many of their regulations. Only the most flagrant of practices would get you penalized by Google. Reciprocal linking, directories, link farms and three-way linking were just some of the tactics used with reckless abandon and they worked.

Companies charged money to provide a link from their low ranking site, and people would pay for these types of links. It also was very common for sites to have a “reciprocal links” page where they would make trades with other sites for links. These linking relationships provided very little value to Google and searchers, so Google eventually stepped up their enforcement and changed their algorithms to provide a better search experience. Google’s biggest weapon in the battle against bad backlinks came in the form of the Penguin Algorithm in April of 2012.

Relationships & Quality Links (post Penguin): After the Penguin update leveled many sites that were playing cowboys in the “wild west days of SEO,” most people changed their way of thinking. The painful realization (for some) that these tactics were no longer beneficial for clients and companies provided a much needed reality check to the SEO industry. There has been a shift from trying to get as many links as possible, to getting higher quality links.

What is a natural link?

A natural link isn’t something you ask for, especially for SEO purposes. A natural link is earned because someone finds value in your site, page, products or content. Gone are the days of reaching out to webmasters asking for a link back because it’ll help your SEO efforts. If you think about the movie, Field of Dreams and the famous scene in which Kevin Costner is told “if you build it, he will come,” that’s how you should think about obtaining natural links. If you build it (content), he (links) will come. It’s a simple concept, but one that helps illustrate why you need quality links.

Why do you want links?

Backlinks still signal to Google that sites are relevant and are going to be useful for searchers. It was only a few months ago that Google’s Matt Cutts said “links still have many, many years left in them.” So for a long-term SEO strategy, link building is a good idea. The more good quality, natural links you have, the better your rankings in Google can be. Just keep in mind, if you’re going to build links, ensure they’re quality.

How to build quality links

As we outlined above, the “Wild West Times of SEO” are long gone, and link building is no longer fast and furious. The new buzz word/phrase to remember is “link earning,” which means earning links over time. Producing great content is a foolproof way to build natural links. Examples include in-depth, well researched blog posts, informative videos, which entice people to subscribe to your YouTube channel, and images that make people want to pin, tweet and Like their hearts out. You want to produce content that people will love to share and link back to.

Here are some small businesses that are nailing it on the link building front (and they probably don’t even realize it):

Stumptown: We really love coffee in San Francisco and Stumptown out of Portland, Oregon is among our favorites. Stumptown Coffee often writes blog posts and links back to various coffee shops that use their beans and cold brews – Talk about a link with some juice java! Here’s a perfect example below in which Stumpton writes about Ace Hotel in LA. Not only does Ace Hotel get a link from Stumptown, but they also gain exposure to a new audience.

Taylor Stitch: Looking like a million bucks isn’t hard with some handsome threads from Taylor Stitch. Their blog features stunning real world product photos, weekend plans, and even a weekly playlist. All of these features are ripe for linking, Pinning, Liking and more. Each new product they release gets its own blog post with 8-10 beautifully shot photos, which are always hot on Pinterest, and often get write ups on fashion blogs and even GQ – Now that’s a good looking link!

Off the Grid: This San Francisco food truck gathering is always the talk of the office come Monday morning. Maybe it’s the Bloody Mary cart, Mimosa bar or the tofu tacos, but Off the Grid is the place to be for Sunday Funday. You want a link from Off the Grid? Better fire up your food truck, because they are more than happy to link to your site, menus and everything else if you serve food or drinks at their events. They even include a link to book your truck for catering. Now wouldn’t that be a tasty link to get?

If you have some good examples of how you gain quality links, please share in the comments. We also recommend keeping up with Google’s ever-changing rules. Luckily, Google is kind enough to provide a rule book of sorts called Google Webmaster Guidelines, so keep it bookmarked.

http://www.business2community.com/seo/backlinks-still-matter-build-01002493

Can Google Be Trusted? Guide to Protecting Your Online Privacy

Since former NSA analyst Edward Snowden leaked evidence of the security agency’s covert surveillance of millions of Americans to journalist Glenn Greenwald last year, online privacy has become one of the tech sector’s most contentious issues.

Few issues in tech are as polarizing as online privacy, but the topic goes far beyond opinions about the security of personal data or how it should be used. In fact, online privacy (or the lack thereof) is shaping the future of search, whether you realize it or not.

Advertisers are desperate to plumb the depths of people’s personal lives in search of more accurate targeting, while many users are balking at how the monoliths of the tech sector are gathering, storing, and using their information. But what does the future hold, and should you be worried about how companies such as Google and Facebook are using your data?

Online Privacy Is NOT A Crime

Although millions of people continue to willingly hand over their personal data to Facebook and Google without question, increasing numbers of people are beginning to question whether their data is truly safe.

Image via ireneogrizek.com

To assuage their concerns (and capitalize on the increasing desire for more secure online services), Apple and Google recently announced that the operating systems of their mobile devices would be encrypted by default. Encrypting user data means that information stored on such devices would be inaccessible to anyone but the user, even Apple and Google.

However, in what should have been hailed as a major step forward for the tech industry and privacy advocates, the move has instead been criticized and derided by lawmakers in Capitol Hill and across the country. Cathy Lanier, head of the Washington Metropolitan Police Department, claimed that iPhones and Android devices will now become the preferred tools of pedophiles and hardened criminals, and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder also played the “think of the children” card.

These asinine comments were echoed by numerous other officials, including FBI Director James Comey, who said that individuals using an encrypted device were essentially placing themselves “beyond the law.”

Apparently, not wanting law enforcement officials and three-letter agencies to have unrestricted access to your personal data automatically makes you a criminal.

Online Privacy And The Future Of Search

There can be little doubt that law enforcement and the technology sector are likely to remain at loggerheads over whether user data is fair game or not. However, the privacy of the individual is not the only aspect of the debate. Indeed, the very future of search is predicated on users’ willingness to be tracked and monitored.

As I wrote in a previous post, Google Hummingbird was a huge leap for search, offering users increasingly personalized results that anticipate user queries based on prior activity, location, and numerous other factors. Doing so anonymously is impossible, and as recent evidence revealed, technology companies and the government have unprecedented access to your personal data.

This puts users in a difficult position – do you use potentially inferior services to maintain some semblance of privacy, or sacrifice the confidentiality of your data for the sake of ease and convenience?

HTTPS and Ranking Signals

Before Google and Apple pissed off the suits in Washington, it had announced that sites using the encrypted HTTPS protocol would be rewarded with better placement in the SERPs. However, the inclusion of HTTPS as a ranking signal was revealed as little more than lip service by Google at this year’s SMX East conference.

As Search Engine Land reported, Google’s Gary Illyes said that the HTTPS ranking signal affected only approximately 1% of all searches. He added that only 10% of all indexed sites used HTTPS, but that around 30% of front-page results made use of the protocol.

Although it’s a step in the right direction for Google, the true impact of HTTPS as a ranking signal remains negligible. Bing’s Vincent Wehren, however, recently stated that HTTPS will not affect placement in the SERPs at all – way to go, Bing.

Are Search And Online Privacy Mutually Exclusive?

Google’s desire to become the “Star Trek” computer is no secret. The folks at Mountain View have invested billions of dollars into R&D projects that will revolutionize the world as we know it. Unfortunately, such advances come at great cost, namely our ability to inhabit today’s exciting online environment and retain some semblance of privacy.

Every single advance in search technology is predicated on users relinquishing their online privacy. After all, Google cannot anticipate what we want before we want it without delving into our browsing histories, social media profiles, and even online purchasing habits.

Social Media Analytics: Nowhere to Hide

Even people who construct online personas or carefully monitor their social media usage in an attempt to maintain their privacy have nowhere to hide. Companies such as IBM are leveraging the power of big data and increasingly sophisticated analytics technology to infer even more about people than they already know.

For example, IBM’s proprietary social media analytics technology can determine, with a reasonable amount of accuracy, an individual’s personality type based on a sampling of just 200 tweets. Even publicly available archived data can be used to construct detailed psychographic profiles of people, as a study – which only accessed archived data from defunct social media network Friendster – recently demonstrated.

The ‘Nothing to Hide’ Fallacy

One of the most common arguments made by anti-privacy advocates (including the government and law enforcement agencies) is that you have nothing to fear if you have nothing to hide.

Although there are literally dozens of reasons why this position is worse than ridiculous, the simplest is also the best. As noted cryptographer and security expert Bruce Schneier noted, the “nothing to hide” fallacy is based on the mistaken premise that privacy exists to mask wrongdoing, when nothing could be further from the truth.

Image via popularresistance.org

The “nothing to hide” argument is among the government’s favorite arguments for its massive domestic surveillance operations (which routinely intercept personal data sent through popular online services such as those offered by Google, Microsoft and Apple).

Even if you have nothing to hide, you should still expect some degree of privacy without being labeled a criminal or a suspect.

For more information about metadata, see “Why Metadata Matters” at EFF.org.

The Benefits Of Online Anonymity

Whether you’re a die-hard online privacy advocate or haven’t really thought about it until now, there’s never been a better time to start taking the security of your data and your browsing habits seriously.

If you’re on the fence about the pros of online privacy, let’s take a look at some of the major benefits.

No Remarketing Ads

Let’s face it – even marketing professionals get sick and tired of online ads. At best, they’re an annoyance. At worst, they’re downright intrusive. While remarketing might be a blessing to advertisers, it’s a blight for people who don’t want to be relentlessly sold to as they go about their business online.

Since remarketing utilizes cookies to track users as they navigate the web, online privacy countermeasures effectively prevent advertisers from hounding you.

Your Secrets Stay Secret

Let’s say you or a loved one has an intimate and highly personal medical problem. Sure, you’ve probably made an appointment to see your primary care physician, but in the meantime, the siren song of radically misdiagnosing yourself online is just too tempting. So, you perform a search for your symptoms.

All jokes aside, you find the information you’re looking for, and breathe a sigh of relief that it’s not Ebola or the current disease du jour. However, while you might rest easy until your appointment, your search data has been recorded, categorized and sold to data brokers who want to sell you things.

This might be fine and dandy if you’re in the market for a new jacket or a vacation, but how do you feel about your personal medical history being used as a marketing tool?

Online Products Are Cheaper

Ever tried to book a flight, only to find that the price has changed in the time it took to get your credit card out of your wallet? This isn’t (just) a result of airlines’ policies of bleeding you dry for every last cent they can get their hands on.

Image via alprussia.com

Many ecommerce sites use your location data and browsing history to adjust their pricing, meaning that you could end up paying more than someone else for the same product. The Wall Street Journal highlighted this practice two years ago, and while not all retailers use these tactics, many do. Why should you pay more for a product or service than someone else, based purely on your location?

Peace of Mind

Of course, the most obvious benefit of online privacy is that, if you care about such things, you’ll likely feel a hell of a lot better about accessing the web securely. The peace of mind that comes from taking your internet privacy seriously is its own reward.

The Disadvantages Of Online Privacy

As much as it pains me to admit it, there are a couple of drawbacks to online privacy.

Increased Potential for Surveillance

The first disadvantage to internet privacy countermeasures is also the most serious – namely, that by “disappearing” from sight, you’re effectively risking placing yourself under even greater scrutiny.

Image © AFP

Such behavior is considered unusual, and may result in greater focus being placed on your online activities. This is especially true if you utilize online privacy tools such as Tor, an encrypted network that the FBI and NSA have spent years attempting to subvert.

Decreased Site Functionality

There are dozens, if not hundreds, of plugins and browser extensions that can protect your online privacy (see final section for my personal recommendations). However, using these tools can actually result in some sites failing to work properly.

To some, this is a mere inconvenience and a price worth paying. To others, however, this is often the straw that breaks the camel’s back, forcing them to begrudgingly uninstall them and give up on maintaining their privacy online.

Reduced Social Interaction

No, I’m not talking about holing up in your apartment and covering the windows with tinfoil, I’m referring to withdrawing from social media.

Image via Fast Company

As sites such as Facebook and Twitter are often the most egregious offenders when it comes to compromising the security of your data, it should come as no surprise that some people turn their backs on these services altogether. Doing so in this day and age can be a considerable sacrifice, and one that can mean less interaction with family and friends. If you’re a serious Facebook user, consider how “disappearing” would affect your everyday life. Is this a sacrifice you’d be willing to make?

Tools To Protect Your Online Privacy

If you want to start taking your online privacy seriously, here are some tools that can help you accomplish this.

Browsers

• Tor: A modified version of the Firefox browser that masks your IP address by means of an encrypted proxy relay system, making it difficult for prying eyes to intercept your data or determine your location. Available for Windows, OS X and Linux.

Plugins and Extensions

• HTTPS Everywhere: A simple extension that forces your browser to use the more secure HTTPS protocol whenever possible.
• Disconnect.me: Another excellent browser extension that prevents sites from tracking you and gathering your personal data. WARNING: May interfere with how certain sites function.

Search Engines

• DuckDuckGo: A superb alternative to Google, this browser was built with privacy in mind. For more information, visit Donttrack.us.
• Ixquick: A secure, anonymous search engine hosted in the Netherlands. Not as effective as DuckDuckGo, unfortunately.

Email

• Guerilla Mail: Disposable email addresses that feature strong encryption.
• Neomailbox: A secure email service for Outlook and other email clients, hosted in Switzerland.

Instant Messaging

• Cryptocat: Superb secure IM client.
• TorChat: Tor’s secure IM service, which requires Tor for use. Not the easiest software to install if you’re unfamiliar with Tor.

There are many, many more services than those I’ve included here, but if you’re curious, this list should serve as a good starting point.

Behind Closed Doors

If you’ve never given much thought to how tech companies like Google use your personal information, now might be a good time to start. As search technology becomes increasingly sophisticated, the security of your data could be jeopardized. Are you willing to sacrifice your online privacy for the sake of new tools and features?

Are you taking steps to protect your online privacy? Got any suggestions for tools or services that protect your online identity? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2014/10/08/online-privacy#.