The Link Building Expert

You may have read articles online that suggests 'link building is dead'. I've read at least 5 posts in the past week saying link building is dead which is over dramatising to say the least. Link building is not dead. Why? Well for a start, online visibility is still very much related to links and until search engines like Google find another signal that is as strong, links will remain. What is true is the days of lots of low quality links that successfully boosted rankings are gone...they've been dead for a while in fact.

Today it's all about quality, not quantity of links via creating engaging content that will earn links, be shared socially and send traffic.

Those link building companies that promise you hundreds/thousands of links will struggle today and are more than likely be inundated with previous clients requesting clean ups and disavow of links they have secured for clients. Those in the know will be hiring high quality link building experts with proper digital marketing experience that can deliver quality. Link building experts that use successful content marketing techniques to attract high quality relevant links are in the driving seat. These are people who've forged strong relationships over the years with top bloggers, websites and publishers in different niches. Their mindsets these days are not so focussed on links but the user and creating engaging, relevant, topical content published on sites with good readership and social following. It's clear this is what Google wants, for SEO's to stop thinking about search engines and think of the user.
This month we saw SEOMoz rebrand to MOZ and rumour is that SEOGadget will shortly follow suite and rebrand from 'SEO' to 'Digital Marketing'. I expect many other SEO agencies will be doing the same in the months ahead. Perhaps I should rename myself to 'online marketing consultant'? The ability of Google to attribute authority to links has lead many agencies to migrate away from pure SEO towards a combination of:


This combination of SEO, content marketing and PR that focusses on the user via optimised onsite and offsite by creating engaging content is now key to online success. The question i've been pondering the past few months is should I still call myself a link builder or should I rebrand and call myself an online marketing consultant or digital marketing consultant?

It's undeniable that Google's Penguin and Panda updates have changed the face of SEO and link building. Since this years Brighton SEO conference we've witnessed the industry rebrand itself from SEO to incorporate 'online marketing' and 'digital marketing'.

Whether the term 'link building' will be used much going forwards remains to be seen but my feeling is it will...but will sit under the umbrella of online marketing / digital marketing and be called inbound marketing or similar that incorporates the following: blogger outreach, social media, content writing, info-graphics, product reviews, citations, niche site listings, competitions and PR.


Related Reading

I recently wrote an article called don't stop link building - do start genuine online marketing with PR which I argue that link building is not dead, it's evolved.

Link builders need to change their mindset and think like an online marketer. Use social media and other online marketing tools to reach out and engage with users.