Backlinks and work VS just leaving them to bake...

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   LarasMamaposted 14 years ago

   I continually see two types of groups on the forums/HP. They are the following:
   
   1. If you backlink in social bookmarking sites and spend lots of time going over your hub, working hard at getting them out there, you'll make money.
   
   2. If you leave a hub alone for a while, even without a lot of work, you will slowly earn more money each month after about 8-9 months minimum on the site.
   
   A little confusing - so would be great to hear feedback on why or if the second way actually works - google being the wily thing that it is! If you've found one way or the other works better please say why - or just write how long you've been here and how it has been working using one method or no method at all.

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   1. 60

      Mrvoodooposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I tend to go the second route (because I'm lazy) and if something begins to show potential I may go back later and bolster it with some backlinks.  But hopefully if your hub is of interest to others they'll take care of that side of things for you (to some degree) by linking from forum discussions etc. 
      
      Another reason hubs may gain increased traffic over time even if left alone is due to the additional free content added in the form of visitors comments (as they build up), and these can dramatically increase traffic too.

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      1. 60

         LarasMamaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Hmmmm... had not considered comments section but guess they count too - some of my hubs get tons of comments and questions. Good to remember!

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   2. 60

      Originposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Both options work, just depends on what you want to do. There have been times where I let some websites (my own .com's) just sit there without working on the backlinks (they were still regularly updated though), and they ranked really high for specific keywords - as in on the front page of Google (right behind mainstream competition that has been around for years). Other times I've cranked out backlinks, did keyword tucking, and so forth, and only have had moderate results. Granted, when I did that purposely I knew I had a rather large amount of competition for those keywords, and I treated the internet like a battlefield.. I guess you can say.

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2. 74

   sunforgedposted 14 years ago

   I dont think you will see many credible people suggesting that you "1.  backlink in social bookmarking sites ... working hard at getting them out there, "

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   1. 60

      LarasMamaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Sorry meant to mean more along the lines of.... lots of backlinks of all kinds, including social bookmarking sites...directories, sites of similar interest etc.

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3. 56

   Dame Scribeposted 14 years ago

   I would assume that some people have access to a capturing a existing audience from other sites. Just a thought.

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4. 74

   sunforgedposted 14 years ago

   ok...
   
   those who state that "leaving to bake" is the best option, would only be credible if they created two near duplicates of a hub - and proceeded to allow one to "bake" for 9 months and actively promoted the other.
   
   Then compared the two results 9 months later.
   
   What they are really saying is " I never bothered to promote( or I rather not..which is fine) and I still have good results"
   
   Actively promoting, backlinking etc. can turn 9 months success into 1 weeks success (but 1-2 months is more accurate)
   
   But dont believe me ! ...Ive never waited 9 months to see if something would just work!
   
   but these guys do that type of thing...
   http://www.seomoz.org/article/search-ranking-factors
   
   SEO MOZ search industry professional survey
   http://www.seomoz.org/dp/seo-industry-survey-results
   
   
   The level of competition of the topic keywords are ahuge factor here ..if someone has a very specific niche, the power of hubpages will boost them very high ..if someone is attempting to break into a more competitive niche or keyword then promotion/backlinks are necessary - one can just aim to find terms with low competition and do very well here at hubpages without backlinking at all

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5. 74

   sunforgedposted 14 years ago

   thats the rub! the catch 22 - A hub must rank in order for natural visitors to find and naturally create backlinks to it

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      Mrvoodooposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      True enough, but so far due to HPs (current) good standing within the search engines and the fact that I don't target anything too competitive I've done relatively well.  Especially considering that my hubs were (initially at least) only created for the backlinks elsewhere themselves.  So essentially (and I know this is something you champion) I'm earning extra from my backlinks, which is kind of win-win.
      
      But I appreciate that if you want to go after the big money, you're either going to have to work hard, or smart.

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6. 71

   Cagsilposted 14 years ago

   Hey LarasMama, comments add fresh content. The Hub is changed for the next time bots/spider crawl looking for freshness....

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      Mrvoodooposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Plus the addition of extra long-tail search terms that were not present within the original article.

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         Cagsilposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Good to know.

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7. 58

   darksideposted 14 years ago

   It's not a case of one or the other. Each person will have a balance of what works (or what they're hoping will work) for them.
   
   If you do go to either extreme though, you're better off publishing quality original content and doing absolutely nothing to push it (relying on Search Engines and other peoples word of mouth) than creating backlinks for every single article at every single social bookmarking/networking site. Because if you go all out on the latter you'll, 1) bore people, or 2) get banned (as well as the domain you're publishing on) for being overly promotional.

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8. 81

   thisisoliposted 14 years ago

   I don't really do much backlinking nowadays, I found that if I spent the time backlinking creating hubs and linking internally, it actually helped more.
   
   I have monopolised a couple of niches within hubpages and it has shown not only an increase in traffic but also a pretty good conversion rate for amazon sales.
   
   Backlinking is important, but it is just one part of a large formula.
   
   Take a look at my hub the truth about backlinking for more infor on backlinks, and my thoughts on them!

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9. 71

   Cagsilposted 14 years ago

   Here is the link...I have bookmarked - http://hubpages.com/hub/The-Truth-About-Backlinks

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10. 74

    sunforgedposted 14 years ago

    backlinks still are the largest part of a large formula
    
    that is not likely to change, it is likely that G will get smarter about the importance of the site that is giving the link and the context in which it is linked. I would go out on a limb and say that the only reason that G is claiming to devalue PR is so SEO's dont have such an easy way to target valuable links
    
    A similar quality/authority will exist..but it will no longer be so transparent
    
    You know what a really good way to get natural backlinks is? Appear on the first page of Google

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11. 66

    relacheposted 14 years ago

    I'm one who does not spend time on backlinking.  I put my efforts into my content. 
    
    And I do have to say I agree with sunforged that getting Hubs that appear on the first page of Google's search returns does work awesomely.  The trick is to be able to do that for very commonly used and simple phrases.  Too many inexperienced Hub authors get all excited when an overly-specific Hub phrase turns them up in the #1 slot.  You want to be able to do that for the most mundane search phrase used by the most people for your topic.

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12. 61

    seamistposted 14 years ago

    Hi Everyone
    
    I have been here at Hubpages for almost two years now. When I first started, I didn't backlink anything. My traffic and earnings were rather dismal. However, in December 2009, I started seriously trying to use social bookmarking services for backlinking. Since then, both my traffic and earnings have improved significantly. If you've heard of Keyword Academy before, they advise that you spend 90% of your time backlinking and only 10% writing content. Although the process of backlinking is boring, I think they are right.

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13. 87

    Edweirdoposted 14 years ago

    I haven't been here as long as most of the others who have responded, but I think that gives my answer some weight!
    
    I follow some simple backlinking techniques and do my best to write quality hubs. I sometimes do and sometimes don't do keyword research prior to choosing a topic, but I try to always do some research after publishing and then go back and tweak the hub to include good keywords.
    
    Since I started doing this in the first weeks since joining HubPages, my traffic has consistently been 90% external - 80% from search engines, 10% from referrals. I have only had a handful of $0.00 AdSense days in the 4 months since I joined, and I'm more than halfway to my first AdSense payout. My hubs routinely get 500-600 views per day, all tolled.
    
    So I would say letting them sit and stew is a good long term strategy, and working at backlinks is a good short term strategy. But if you DO take the time to backlink in the beginning, you get the advantages of both strategies! I backlink early and often, and then over time things just keep getting better!
    
    And I forgot to mention that a good many of my hubs turn up on the first page of Google within weeks or days (depending on the topic and the keywords). Google "Tom Cruise Movies List" and you'll see what I mean...
    
    And, BTW, I've been keeping track of what I've done so far here - search HubPages (or Google) for "My Adventures in HubPages" and you can read just what I've done!
    
    Whichever way you choose to go, I agree that content is king

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