Google apparently can’t publicly make up their mind as to whether or not the link search operator works or not. About a year ago I noticed that the link search operator (e.g., link:billhartzer.com) wasn’t working reliably for any website. At that time, Google’s Gary Illyes said that that “short answer is no”, implying that they didn’t remove it. But now, about a year later, Google’s John Mueller said not to use it. [Read more…]

If you’ve taken advantage of Google’s Disavow Tool to disavow backlinks to a website, it’s quite possible that you may not be seeing any results. The whole idea of the disavow tool is to tell Google that there are certain links to your website that you don’t want them to count when they are calculating the Google algorithm. It’s can be helpful to use the disavow too to upload a disavow file if you can’t get rid of certain low quality links to the website. But, if you don’t do it correctly, you may not see any movement in search engine rankings. Here are several reasons why you may not see any results after uploading a disavow file. [Read more…]

Robert Fisher recently asked a question over at Moz regarding the use of CDNs to potentially hide a link network. In the past, there has been (and currently is still) an issue regarding linking websites together that are hosted on the same Class C Blocks of IPs. Essentially, if you own several websites, they’re hosted on the same server, then they will be on the same Class C Block of IP addresses. So, the search engines can easily see that you most likely own all those sites linked together by looking at the sites’ IP addresses. [Read more…]

I ran across an interesting conversation on Twitter, started by Ashley and her tweet: “Sign my petition to get all SEOs to stop using the term “link juice”.”

Do you think that the term “link juice” is gross? Does it relay un-professionalism in the SEO community? Well, let’s first take a look at a definition of “link juice” and what it means, according to Woorank: [Read more…]

As you probably know by now, one of the search engine optimization services that I am heavily involved in is cleaning up low quality links to websites. If your website has been hit by any of the Google Penguin algorithm updates, then most likely you have links pointing to your website from a low quality directory. One of those low quality link directories is shown below, in a screen shot.

One directory owner, though, is cashing in on link removals. That directory owner is charging $975, nearly $1,000 dollars, to remove all the links to a website in his 1800 directories. And he charges $5 a link. [Read more…]

Over the weekend, it was confirmed that Google has updated their Google Penguin algorithm. Or, at least while I write this, Google apparently is still in the process of updating it. So, if your website was previously hit by the Google Penguin algorithm, then there is a chance that your site may recover if you’ve truly cleaned up your site’s links. [Read more…]

Google Has Updated Google Penguin after a Year

According to many SEOs in the industry, who are trusted sources, the Google Penguin algorithm is being updated as I write this post. There are reports that some are seeing organic ranking increases as high as 30 to 40 places from previous rankings. As you might recall, John Mueller from Google reportedly said that there would be a Penguin refresh by the end of the year. [Read more…]

Tonight is the night! This evening, at the Globe Runner offices in Addison, Texas (North Dallas area), we’re holding our first-ever advanced link training seminar. If you’re an online marketer, search engine optimization professional, business owner, marketer, or even a Public Relations professional and am responsible for websites, then you need to attend this event tonight.

At the Advanced Link Training seminar, we’ve teamed up with Majestic SEO and DFWSEM to provide the latest linking techniques, even from the very basic link issues to some advanced techniques that I’m sure you’ve never heard of. And since Google has been penalizing websites left an right these days for links, it’s important to know what you need to do in order to clean up a website’s links. [Read more…]

My first advanced link training seminar, which I am running, will be held in Dallas on Thursday, September 25, 2014. In conjunction with Globe Runner, Majestic SEO, and DFWSEM, I will be talking about links, link acquisition, link cleanups, and even more about links. Did I mention that this is advanced link training about links? [Read more…]

That’s actually a great question. Someone recently entered that question into Google and, because I’ve written about link removals before, they found my blog. So, I decided to go ahead and answer that question. I’m sure there are others that would like to know if it’s safe to do so.

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As a part of my commitment to folks in the Dallas/Fort Worth area to help provide more search engine optimization knowledge, I’m teaming up with Majestic SEO (I’m one of their Brand Ambassadors), and Globe Runner (I’m a Senior SEO Strategist) to provide advanced link building training. [Read more…]

In 2014, is it still okay to participate in a free link exchange? That’s what I had to ask myself today when I received an email that proposed a free link exchange amongst “our websites”. I have to admit that I found this email rather odd. Especially given the fact that people just aren’t sending out these unsolicited emails anymore. But still, I had to ask myself, “technically speaking, are free link exchanges still acceptable?”

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One of the tasks that I help website owners with is cleaning up their website’s backlinks. If a site has been penalized by Google, or the website has been penalized by the Google Penguin algorithm update, then it’s necessary to take the time to try to get the low quality and toxic links that are pointing to your website removed. I have actually a pretty good response rate when it comes to contacting the site owners. Many are very helpful and will remove links if you ask politely. [Read more…]

Guest blogging for SEO purposes started its downfall recently, especially with Google penalizing MyBlogGuest, and before that it was Google finding and penalizing advertorials. And before that, it was paid links in general. It’s not that Google’s against those advertising vehicles, it’s that they don’t want SEOs and website owners manipulating their algorithm, gaming the system so to speak, and “buying links that pass PageRank“. And now, if it’s paid, we all know that it’s not just Google’s problem: the United States FTC has also spoken up. [Read more…]

I’m really excited about officially joining the Majestic SEO Ambassador program, and to have been accepted by the folks at Majestic SEO. I’ve been a proud user of Majestic SEO for many years now. [Read more…]