Let’s Talk Dirty: Van Iderstyne Lists the Five Dirty Words of Link Building

Debra Van Iderstyne, writing for Search Engine Journal, says that while there are a lot of dirty words use to describe people in the SEO business, there are 5 dirty words in link building that she hears all the time– that is, they’re words that should never be used or said in polite company when discussing link building. The first one is “Hundreds” – as in buying hundreds of non-relevant links at once. Or “signing up for a few hundred links on ‘book marking’ sites.” “Hundreds” of links is a sure way to raise suspicion about your site.

Another dirty word is “Exchange – as in “link exchange.” The very phrase implies underhanded doings. The third dirty word is “Worthless.” Collecting “worthless” links on the gamble that they’ll be worth something to you in the future is a waste of money.

The fourth word is “perfect.” If it’s “the perfect site” to link to, there’s probably something wrong with it. Links can always be made better. Or as Van Iderstyne says, “Anyone who promises perfect links is perfectly full of crap.” The final dirty word in the list is “guarantee,“ for many of the same reasons that “perfect” is on the list. It can’t be guaranteed. No one can guarantee that any link building strategy will work.