Analytics is an area that I will be focusing quite a bit in the coming months.

I read this article about linking and Penguin 2.0 changes on a website called “Search Engine Watch.”  There are many pieces to the content puzzle that websites have to face, and understanding quality links certainly seems critical now and especially in the Penguin 2.0 future.

One can’t but feel a bit snookered by all the tactics that are called out:

1. links must be citations (aka “relevant”)

2. avoid crappy and irrelevant infographics

3. avoid rich anchor text in guest posts and keep guest posts relevant

4. award badges and other non relevant links

The author (Eric Enge) has some good reflective questions towards the end:

1.  Would you build the link if Google and Bing did not exist?

2. If you have 2 minutes with a customer, and the law required that you show a random sampling of your links to customer prospects, would you happily show the link to a target customer? Or would it embarrass you?

3. Did the person giving you the link intend it as a genuine endorsement?

4. Do you have to make an argument to justify that it’s a good link?

I especially like the second item.  Link building is returning to the content and subject matter experts, and away from automation and brute force.  It’ll be interesting to see what shakes out.

By: Christopher Rufe