Back when link building meant creating 50 links in a day with citations, social bookmarking, email spamming while wearing a giant, leather, old FUBU jersey with DJ Jazzy Jeff playing, I thought link building was difficult. But, nowadays, it's even more difficult than that…and requires less sportswear.
There are a ton of linking options right at my fingertips. I can find new linking options for whatever I want, whenever I want…especially if I'm not bothered by that big, awkward message in Google Search Console stating there is suspicious linking activity [insert sarcastic tone].
Let's be honest: Link building has evolved. I have to be picky about where I'm building links to now. I have to find a niche. I have to understand where my target audience lives. And, I have to provide them with quality content that engages them to lower my bounce rate, increase time on site, and ultimately be good enough for the user to click, comment, and share my content.
Whether you prefer to risk it with the black-hat tactics and sweater vests of 1995, or would rather progress forward, you have to get your content shared. When you're creating epic content, people deserve to see it.
So, how do you get your content seen by millions?
This is a topic often discussed at SEJ. There are tons of content promotion ideas and link building techniques to get your work to reach the right people. But, what are the right channels? Is it social? Blogs? Social bookmarking? Today, I'm going to focus on the topic of social bookmarking as a link building tactic.
Let's dig in.
The Pros of Social BookmarkingSocial bookmarking works when done with the purpose to build an authentic community.
Just take a look at Process Street. They stated, "Over the past 30 days at Process Street, around 11% of the traffic to our blog came from social bookmarking sites like Reddit, Inbound, and GrowthHackers."
StumbleUpon became the #2 traffic driver for Cisco.
At SEJ, StumbleUpon alone brought us 5,787 pageviews in the month of July. It also shows in our #SurveySays Twitter poll results that StumbleUpon is a top social referrer for others.
And, advertising on social bookmarking sites work. Brent Csutoras goes in-depth on how to advertise on Reddit in a recent #SEJThinkTank webinar:
Here's a peek into my StumbleUpon and Reddit campaigns I ran for $5.00 a day for 2 days.
Our own Danny Goodwin mentions a new Promoted User Posts feature on Reddit that rolled out on August 4 of this year. So, social bookmarking sites still want to be in the content promotion game. There is proof that it does work. Brands just have to find the right way to connect to users using these platforms.
Social Bookmarking Site ListRemember my old, leather FUBU jersey? Well, here's my list of 50+ social bookmarking sites I used for link building back when that FUBU jersey was in style.
Now, here's my list of social bookmarking sites today…minus the FUBU jersey.
I cut my social bookmarking list by more than 40% in four years! Why? Because I want high-quality backlinks that are more relevant, useful and just a plain better experience for the user and the brand all-around.
The Cons of Social BookmarkingSocial bookmarking introduces a couple disadvantages to SEO. Social bookmarks seemingly take the authenticity away from organically earning links. SEOs and content marketers become robots executing a strategy of plug-n-play when we should be empowered to solve problems with our content.
You may not need social bookmarking in your SEO strategy. At SEJ, we don't have a dedicated social bookmarking strategy anymore. Instead, the goal is for our content to earn their own links. Ultimately, some posts may not scale, but we love seeing how our content gets distributed naturally.
When there is no need to dedicate time to share posts on social bookmarking sites, a magical thing happens. You let your content do the work. The "chores" of manually posting links are no longer a burden and you can focus your attention on higher priority items like manually outreaching to people you mentioned in your articles.
Some will argue that you're not getting the right traffic from social bookmarking sites. Submitting a link to a social bookmarking site may increase traffic, but may reduce your engagement metrics (time on site, conversions, pageviews, etc.) and increase your bounce rate. If one article can produce X traffic from one social bookmarking site, why can't you produce the equal or more traffic from a social channel? Or, syndicating your content? The reality is that it's a lot more work.
Developing and managing communities in multiple channels, creating authentic content, and manually performing personalized outreach takes time. It also increases the amount of work on the shoulders of each person doing the work. In order for links to build quickly, SEOs must collaborate with the content team. Ownership of links is now distributed and no longer a plug-n-play tactic.
Another major issue plaguing social bookmarking sites is a little algorithm called Penguin. The more low-quality, non-relevant links you generate, the more red flags you'll be waving for Penguin to come waddling in. Search engines already have it out for social bookmarking sites. Just take a look at what Google search results brings up when you type in "social bookmarking sites:"
A long list of a whole lotta spam. Links from social bookmarking sites are low on the totem pole. They have low engagement, low conversion rates, and search engines do not like them.
The Hybrid Strategy of Social BookmarkingSo you've heard both sides of the story of social bookmarking. Now, you're trying to decide what's best for you. Follow these steps for a real, actionable social bookmarking strategy.
1. Know your AudienceFact is, unless you know who and where your audience is, you probably won't know what social bookmarking channels they are on. Developing personas from your Google Analytics and social channels will help guide you to determine where to spend your time. For example, if you're writing a blog on parenting tips, sharing an article on Inbound.org is not going to be useful to you or the audience.
2. Engage in ConversationIt's always scary to start a conversation for the first time. But, asking questions, leaving comments, and recommending another person submission, even if you don't know them personally creates a community of engagement. This technique works because people love sharing if your content makes the right connection.
3. Say 'Thank You' to OthersBefore you begin posting, the temptation to only submit your own content may be high. Resist the urge. Just take some time to share and promote others work. It's a way to say thank you to others.
4. Casually Self-PromoteFinally, when you think you've nailed it on a great piece, pick your social bookmarking site to share. You should have your personas built out for each social bookmarking site you're building your community on so you'll know which piece will perform best where. For instance, my article on Google Adwords probably won't hit the top of the charts on Pinterest. Be selective. Be courtesy to your audience on each social bookmarking site.
Okay, Your Turn!It's an awesome feeling to watch the pageviews of your content continue to rise as the day's progress on after submitting a new post to StumbleUpon or Reddit, and there is no shortage of social bookmarking sites to help you get there. But, link building is now link earning. And, link earning is no longer about link chasing. So, do you develop a social bookmarking strategy? Or, do look grow your community elsewhere? I'd love to know more about the tools, channels, and strategies you use for social bookmarking.
Do you still use social bookmarking as a link building tool? If yes, which social bookmarking sites do you use to distribute content? Feel free to share in the comments below!
Image Credits
Featured Image: Image by Anna CroweAll screenshots by Anna Crowe. Taken August 2016.
Source: The Death of Social Bookmarking in SEO?
No comments:
Post a Comment