Developing link popularity still seems to be a mystery to many bloggers, yet it really isn’t that difficult to understand when one realizes that links exchanged within sidebars carry very little weight, and add very little value to a blog.
Many bloggers are still running around on the Internet in hopes to exchange links within their sidebar, and they are overlooking the fact that since they have a blog they have a more superior way to gain links. I’m sure this is due to the fact that many are simply still unaware that linking within relevant content is far more valuable to a blogger. Time goes by quickly, and most of us need to spend it where we gain the most value in return, and that is true with the time we spend developing our link popularity.
One way to express the difference would be to ask a blogger this question, “If there were two bills laying on the ground at your feet, one is a twenty and the other is a one dollar bill, and it is a windy day, which bill are you going to grab first?” It’s no different with developing our link popularity!
Time is flying by so we should be investing our time into developing our link popularity as quickly as we can, but in the manner that will provide the most value to our blogs. That’s the foundation in which Link & Blog Challenge is built upon and it also provides a blogger with fresh inspiration at the same time.
The basis for understanding the foundation in which blogs have the advantage over other websites with building their link popularity within relevant content is revealed to us right off Google’s site in their webmaster center! Google states,
Keep in mind that our algorithms can distinguish natural links from unnatural links. Natural links to your site develop as part of the dynamic nature of the web when other sites find your content valuable, and think it would be helpful for their visitors. Unnatural links to your site are placed there specifically to make your site look more popular to search engines.
Did you catch that? Google is looking to reward sites whose content provides value to a visitor, which also means Google themselves will pay close attention to your links within content! It does NOT say “when other sites find your sidebar links valuable”, but instead it says, “when other sites find your CONTENT valuable”! Blogs are content rich, and your primary focus for building links should be within your content.
I think this next statement about sums it up when thinking in terms of developing your links, “Nowadays search engines reward sweat-of-the-brow work on content that bait natural links given by choice.” which is stated on Google’s official webmaster blog!If you would like an easy way to establish link popularity from links pointing to your site within relevant content daily, in other words through the natural way, that is my goal to help bloggers establish and the reason I began Link and Blog Challenge!
No Follow for Blog Comments is Still Good
Stuck on searching for only the “Do Follow” blogs to leave comments? According to Google, all is not lost for those who leave comments on blog posts or web pages using the “No Follow” attribute!
According to Google’s Webmaster Central, you may still benefit by leaving comments on relevant blogs using the no follow attribute, (assuming you are filling in the form with your blog or website url, and that the site links your name to your blog or website, from their comment section). If you don’t believe me, read for yourself the following excerpt below from Google Webmaster Central:
In other words, if your blog or website is already linked to by other reputable sites, and/or you have submitted a Sitemap to Google, then your comments with a link to your site may still be of benefit to you! My research on this topic led me to the above quote from Google’s site after reading an article about the benefits of commenting. In David Koh’s article about the benefits of commenting, he stated,
The other obvious benefit of commenting on sites that use the no follow attribute is the fact that it can also still of course lead to an increase of traffic to your site, providing you leave read-worthy comments, and that your site is relevant to the one you commented on.
To serve as an example, I’ve included some images here to demonstrate the fact that leaving comments on no follow blogs, will still be of benefit to your blog! The image you see below is a comment I recently left on a blog, that is relevant to my Tall Sails Adventure blog. The comment I left is on a Blogger blog, which automatically utilizes the no follow attribute, which you can see in the properties shown in the image including my comment, with my name linked to my Tall Sails Adventure blog.
Regardless of that fact that it was a no follow attribute comment, Yahoo has already picked up on my comment, counting it as a link to my blog!
Yes, I realize Yahoo works differently than Google, but the point here is that commenting on blogs with the no follow attribute is still beneficial to you, and this serves as just one example.
Keep in mind though that the more relevant your blog post permalink topic has with the blog post you’re commenting on, the better it is for you. Don’t always leave comments with just your blog home page. Use relevant blog post permalinks whenever it makes sense to.
The second image below shows an incoming link I discovered while I checked out my links with Yahoo. It didn’t take long for Yahoo to count it as a link for my blog, and I’ll certainly not complain about a link count from Yahoo! Results like this are also now showing up in my Google Webmaster Tools dashboard too!
If you spend your time only looking for blogs with the Do Follow attribute, you will probably spend more time making that determination, when instead you could have spent the time in contributing good comments regardless of which attribute the website or blog applies. If you didn’t already know of this benefit, my hope is that you now understand how commenting on blogs that use the no follow attribute is still beneficial for your blog.
With all that being said…. Care to comment now?