If you're anything like me then you love to keep your finger on the pulse of the affiliate marketing and SEO world. Just like you probably watch the 6pm news broadcast on TV, you should keep up to date with SEO current events. The biggest headline story this week has to be the deindexing of blog networks by Google.
Thousands have been affected by Google either partially or completely removing entire blog networks. When Google removes a website from its index, any outgoing links automatically become null and void. Also, it doesn't look very good if a big portion of your links come from services that Google dislikes.
What is a blog network?
In case you aren't aware what a blog network is, allow me to quickly explain. Basically, blog networks allow you to publish blog posts (read "articles") on different websites that are linked into some form of automatic content distribution system. For example, if I wrote an article called "5 Killer Guitar Solo Secrets", I could then submit to a blog networks and in theory this article will then be published to sites in the network related to "guitars", "music", "hobbies", and things like that.
Blog networks come in many different flavors and varieties, with the only real underlying similarities being they are a system for generating backlinks by submitting content, and there is usually a price for membership (I'll come back to why this is important soon) "Public" blog networks consist of blog owners putting their sites in the network to receive free content. "Private" blog networks are slightly different, because the administrators of the network actually own the sites to which writers publish their content.
The biggest casualty so far of Google's push against blog networks is the Build My Rank service. This was a private blog network, and the sites which made up the network have all been deindexed by Google. Any links generated through Build My Rank are now worthless, and the service has been closed down to new members. You can read BMR's statement about the closure of their network here - kudos to them for coming clean straight away about what happened too.
Other notable networks that have been punished include SEO Link Monster, Authority Link Network, and Linkvana.
If you want more evidence of this latest algorithm update in action, just search "blog networks deindexed" and see how many discussion results there are. Some of them are truly frightening - SEO companies relying entirely on blog networks like BMR to build links for their clients' websites, entire websites disappearing from Google's index; it's like Nightmare on SEO Street (I'm keeping the horror related quips going here!)
Why are blog networks being targeted by Google?
I see three principal reasons why Google has started to crackdown on blog networks, so let me run you through them:
- Blog networks are a form of paid link building. Google's policy on paid link building is crystal clear, especially the fact that "buying or selling links that pass PageRank is in violation of Google's Webmaster Guidelines and can negatively impact a site's ranking in search results." The purpose blog networks is to facilitate link building, and these links are most definitely paid for in a slightly less obvious manner. Google penalized the website of their own Chrome software when it was revealed that a marketing company they used had employed paid backlinks; Google were hardly going to think twice about penalizing other paid link users were they?
- Blog networks are a form of "link scheme". Just like paid linking, Google's opinion on link schemes leaves no room for confusion. They are not a natural form of link building, especially once blog networks developed the technology to allow you submit a spin-ready article to hundreds of different blogs in a short space of time. Nobody submitted to blog networks just for the sake of getting content published - it is and always was about generating links. Blog networks sold themselves on this basis of being a way to get unnaturally large amounts of links quickly, and it was only a matter of time until Google caught on.
- Articles posted to blog networks tend to be low quality. The vast majority of articles posted to blog networks were low quality "filler" content that was only written to get backlinks. That might sound harsh, but the unfortunately the truth hurts. If the Panda update of 2011 wasn't a big enough wake up call, then hopefully the newest of Google's changes is. Google wants quality, unique content to populate its search index. Google wants you to create and distribute content for the purpose of providing value to readers, not just to build links. If you want high search engine rankings then you need to focus on providing value first, and link building/SEO second. I simply cannot stress this point enough!
Are any blog networks still safe?
It's still early days with Google's latest rollout. Some blog networks, such as Article Marketing Automation appear not to have been hit yet. In fact, blog networks that publish content on member submitted blogs (as opposed to admin-owned blogs) appear to have fared better than other networks. However, that's not to say that more blog networks wont be penalized going forward, so proceed with caution.
Don't put all your eggs in one basket and rely on a single blog network as your main source of links. In fact, you shouldn't even rely on multiple blog networks for the bulk of your links. If you are going to use any of the remaining networks, it should be as the cherry on your SEO cake. The ball is in Google's court here, so you should be playing by their rules of natural link building and quality content.
What now?
However, there is one new blog network that looks quite promising - it's called The Content Facilitator. In fact, it isn't really a blog network at all because the articles you submit aren't automatically passed to sites in the network. There isn't really a network to speak of at all. Instead, I like to think of The Content Facilitator as a guest blogging marketplace. Bloggers looking for quality, unique (and non-spun) articles for their blogs can come and browse for content written for those who want to reach a larger audience and get some backlinks in the process.
The Content Facilitator also runs on a credit system, which means membership is free for both writers and those looking for content. Every time one of your articles is picked up by a blog owner, credits are deducted from your balance (this means you don't wind up with hundreds of articles being published at once, and an unnatural link profile) You can earn credits by referring new members to The Content Facilitator, and by publishing others' content.
My favorite feature of The Content Facilitator is the ability to set your article as "unique", meaning it can only be published by one member in the marketplace. Writing "unique" articles for The Content Facilitator therefore provides a strong incentive to other members to pick up your content and publish it before it's gone.
Mark has managed to organize a pretty sweet deal with the owners of The Content Facilitator, where you can get 100 free publishing credits by signing up here (you will need to use the coupon code TrafficTravis inside the members' area to get these credits) The Content Facilitator is in its infancy at the moment, and I predict it will get much bigger and more popular in the coming months; just remember that the early bird catches the worm!
Closing thoughts
One issue a lot of people are raising with the deindexing of blog networks is the theory that a competitor could simply submit hundreds of spun articles to networks, featuring links back to YOUR website. Think of it as a kind of "SEO sabotage". However, there is no need to worry about this - if a blog network is deindexed, the outgoing links in the network count for nothing, and therefore won't be able to affect your website. This is just disinformation at best, and scaremongering at worst.
If you've been affected by the closure and deindexing of blog networks, I'd love to hear from you. Just leave a comment below!
View all 106 comments (Currently displaying latest 50)
Sylvia uhlig • 13 years ago
BUT , I also DISAGREE with some other "technique and systems" BIG G has set up.. which making a honest work very difficult to handle..like YOUTUBE is totally messed up since BIG G own this !!
.. I also DISAGREE strongly.. that GOOGLE try to control our minds and try "to think " for as.. in search-engines !
.. I also DISAGREE with BIG G... to want forcing people to set up... FOR EVERY YOUTUBE CHANNEL a SEPARATE "gmail account" !.. and further.. they want forcing people to open for each YOUTUBE CHANNEL A ANOTHER "g+ ACCOUNT" !!
... WHO the HE... can dealing with this MESS ????
I AM VERY PISSED OFF ABOUT THIS TACTIC !
.. there is even NO any way get to BIG G'S costumer service or any like this for questions we have about all this Nonsense what goes on .....
..... except ... when you pay a 48 $ fee or so for an answer from one of there "experts" ???? !!!
WHAT IS THIS ABOUT.. this made me more as upset when this was happen to me... !
By ALL MEANINGS... BIG G should "re-thinking in many ways and employing in there Head-Office maybe people with human brains instead this "Robot-Brains" working there for big money !!
Sorry to be so direct here , but SOME OF AS really should wake up and start to do some in this "messed up World" !
Ignorance.. and silence or complaining in fear.. give the "BIG ONCE" there Power !
Mister EX • 13 years ago
Punish the poor quality not the link building.
Link building is like advertising, if it supports a good product why is wrong? It's just bringing a good product/service/piece of information to peoples' attention.
Samuel Frost • 13 years ago
You make a good point - is link building (done correctly, and not with spammy black hat methods) actually a bad thing? With our affiliate marketing glasses on, link building doesn't seem like a bad thing - what's wrong with trying to give your superior content an edge over the competition by building links?
However, if you examine the situation from Google's point of view you can see why this kind of link building is frowned upon. It is an active effort to manipulate the Google search engine rankings; as much as I love SEO and link building, that's really all it boils down to.
As affiliate marketers we have to be honest with ourselves and admit that link building efforts are only there to try and get our content ranking higher than what Google feels it should. Whether this impacts negatively on the average search engine user is something we will probably never know, however.
Posted by My Smokey Eyes Makeup.com • 13 years ago
provide credit and sources back to your website?
My blog is in the very same area of interest as yours and
my visitors would genuinely benefit from some of the information you provide here.
Please let me know if this okay with you. Regards!
Simon Slade • 13 years ago
Interiorni vrati • 13 years ago
Yoshi • 13 years ago
I have a question, if for example i create my own blog network using free blogging services like blogger.com and then put links into it, not spamy links, Would it be consider bad by google or there won't be any harm?
Samuel Frost • 13 years ago
You should probably be fine with this approach (I do a similar thing myself)
Just make sure you use unique content, vary your anchor text etc.
Shalisha Alston • 13 years ago
Also, how come AMA was not touched?
Alex Ta • 13 years ago
Alex
onsubie • 13 years ago
So let me get this straight. Google pays to outsource their link building to a marketing company and then punishes that marketing company for paying to outsource backlinks?
Google pays the company -> Company pays a consultant -> Consultant outsources to fiverr.
Who's paying for links?
Mahlon
Shalisha Alston • 12 years ago
Samuel Frost • 12 years ago
Secondly, I never said Web 2.0 sites are useless for building links. I still build a lot of links myself using Web 2.0 sites.
Tyronne Ratcliff • 12 years ago
Shalisha Alston • 12 years ago
I'm glad you still believe in building links with web 2.0.
Ringo • 12 years ago
Thanks for your great insight on it
Ringo
Franklin Leads • 12 years ago
I know of a very good one, relatively untouched by the latest Google Panda update and still going strong. They charge about $595 USD monthly , but i think it is now close to the public. But you can email
hitplusonline (AT) Gmail DOT com
to register interest and find out about their waiting list.
Joyce Knake • 12 years ago
4rs gold • 12 years ago
revisiting. I wonder how much attempt you put to make any such great informative web site.
Deborah Baker • 12 years ago
Keu Reviews • 12 years ago
I know I speak for a lot of IMers out here when I say 'We trust you guys and appreciate you all for keeping your pulse on what is going on in our affiliate marketing industry'. There is a lot of bogus information out there and we know you all do this for a living so if it is working for you it will work for us.
keep'em coming!
:-)
Ramzkie • 12 years ago
Puru • 12 years ago
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john • 12 years ago
kevin • 12 years ago
Astro Gremlin • 12 years ago
Phil Butler • 12 years ago
http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!category-topic/webmasters/crawling-indexing--ranking/fwrplSaw97A
If you can look here, A Panda poof took down a site geared to please Google, white hat all the way. Now, begging, pleading, sacrificing lambs and virgins later, and we are screwed.
What do you think happened? I know some key pages are still out of the indexes, the aggregate traffic from which, is substantial. We no longer get (since Panda pooped) Google Com organic of any significance.
Maybe you guys can help?
Always,
Phil Butler
Editor of a bunch of stuff
Social Connects • 12 years ago
lilen • 12 years ago
private blog network
It is also important to ensure that your private blog network is made of articles of varying length. Good posts should range between 300 to 500 words. Avoid having posts with similar length. You also need to vary the phrase you use as your keyword in the anchor text that you link to the money site. For instance, if your keyword phrase is "dog training", you can use training your dog, trained dog or tips on how to train a dog. You also need to have a detailed procedure on how to run your private blog network. You can also outsource someone from a professional firm to help you run it.
susmita • 12 years ago
private blog network
Time consuming + more work in that you need to create a lot of content for each of the sites in the network as well as generate more links off site to your sites to get the most out of it. If you pay to outsource content creation and or link building this obviously increases your expenses, as well. This can be an effective linking strategy because you can help multiple domains and pages on each of those domains to rank better by sharing the link love between your own property.
Eric Burnett • 12 years ago
Eric
John H • 12 years ago
Sean • 12 years ago
Niki Bullas • 12 years ago
Juli Becker • 12 years ago
health care • 12 years ago
Many thanks for providing this information.
Beatriz • 12 years ago
Jose Mwebi • 12 years ago
Nadeem Khan • 12 years ago
Jagjeet • 12 years ago
• 12 years ago
alfred lowe • 12 years ago
alfred lowe • 12 years ago
chirosche • 12 years ago
Abdullah • 12 years ago
SEO Sevenoaks • 12 years ago
Thanks so much for the update. DO you have any other suggestions apart from the content facilitator.
@chirosche: makes me understand that i got to go the content way.
Penn • 11 years ago
Charles Smith • 11 years ago
, and i see now there's only 6,950 hits, From Google and the first 10 pages are all me and the SEO, went to 14 % now i struggled to hold this Google back , like jumping in the sand on my own so i could work without interrupting traffic ,
Henry • 11 years ago
Cheers
affiliate marketing • 11 years ago
The goal is to find opportunities in specific niches, not try to replicate what everyone else is doing.
Plus, if it really does sell well, no affiliate is going to share that info.
thank you ...
Raz • 11 years ago
If a site for had a series of articles, and had the privilege of guest posting on several sites, such as mashable, entrepreuner.com, inc.com, and a few other not as big sites. and let us also say that this site is new and currently has pagerank of 0.
How would the above benefit the site and the visibility of the articles on google? Also, with guest-posting, is it problematic to have the exact article also on your site?
thanks in advance!
Sushil Saini • 11 years ago
Justin Golschneider • 11 years ago
Matt Brading • 11 years ago
The idea that having the same article appear in more than one place is somehow bad and should be punished, is plain ridiculous. Authors have always sought the largest possible audience for their message, so content has been syndicated across the media for years... long before Google decided they knew best.
I continue to use content publishing processes because they generate direct traffic that is worth far more to me than anything Google might decide to dole out.
Google ... it's not always about you!!!
Dave Mitchelll • 11 years ago
Martina • 10 years ago
Melissa Johnson • 10 years ago
Here's our contact page:
https://www.affilorama.com/contact
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