John Mueller, Google’s Search Advocate, stated that SEO advice that mentions “link juice”, is to be distrusted. It’s true or false?
It was unclear to me what the context meant. There are .
A lively discussion ensued after Barry Schwartz posted the news to LinkedIn. Rand Fishkin, SparkToro founder and Moz founder, commented on the discussion saying that link juice might be real. Perhaps you should all write more on it!
Bad SEO advice and link juice
Mueller answered a question regarding outgoing links when he disregarded link juice. Mueller essentially ignored the question, and only responded to “link juice”.
Mueller usually speaks neutrally, but this time on Twitter he almost went off-the-wall.
- It is best to ignore anything that speaks about “link juice”.
It’s not a new idea. This is just him repeating what he said in the past.
This is from his in 2020.
- I’d lose all the information you’ve read on ‘link juice’.
Is link juice a term that is so offensive? It is similar to what fringe SEO professionals still offer as “snake oils”. Let’s look at the larger picture.
SEO: Snake oil is a popular panacea
The SEO industry has had bad reputation for years. Many websites have suffered from misguided SEO strategies and advice.
SEO has been often compared to the proverbial snake oil – which is a synonym for of miracle cures for all types of diseases.
We see more # on Twitter than inspirational success stories, even in 2022. Not just SEO professionals, but also outsiders tend to focus more on negative news.
SEO isn’t the only industry guilty of spreading snake oil and selling it.
Many clients asked me to use unethical SEO techniques over the years. You must be firm about your ethics to avoid getting caught in the downward spiral of untrustworthy SEO practices. Regularly, I get mail requests from people asking for paid links or similar offers.
Link juice: The story of link juice
Google was a pioneer in search engine marketing, and had an . It used “PageRank” as a method to establish website authority. The Google cofounder Larry Page was the name of it, and not just “webpage”.
Many slang terms were used by SEO professionals to describe PageRank. Google juice or link juice are the most common.
Google’s PageRank was a key factor in its success and it grew its market share steadily over the first years of its existence.
You can easily hack first-generation search engines such as AltaVista and Yahoo by using just:
- Keyword stuffing.
- Hidden text.
- Meta tags that are misleading
After Google became a dominant player in the market, unscrupulous SEO professionals focused on increasing the amount of backlinks (also known as incoming links) to get them higher rankings.
Google began adding ranking signals to their algorithm to improve PageRank over time. This led to PageRank becoming less reliable in ensuring high-quality searches.
Google continued to add more quality concepts such as E-A-T and advanced technologies such AI, ranking signals, and sophisticated technologies like AI, as link juice was more misused.
Find the Daily Newsletter Search Marketers Rely on.
What is link juice?
As others have already done, we won’t get into too much detail about link juice. WooRank guide that is worth looking at to give a brief overview. The visualizations of the site are very self-explanatory.
The theory is that the authority site links out to has a greater spread than the pages to which it links.
In reality, however, it is more complicated and the link value of this process depends on many factors including:
- Anchor Text ( : Too many keywords can be a red flag. Not enough will pass lower value.
- Footer link on page: These links are less important than the content links.
- The Page and Site contexts: Less value for irrelevant or off-topic contexts.
- Other attributes : HTML rel attribute , such as rel=”nofollow”, UGC, Sponsored” devalue links.
- Link count: Links lists with many links might not be of any value.
What is the best new link, content?
Google’s messaging has changed to focus on quality content by 2019. The pivot appears to suggest that content is now the link. One of Google’s most important SEO documents, which was mainly focused on linking, was eventually updated to primarily cover content.
Google reps have long been critical of link building’s focus in the industry. They emphasize the importance of quality content every time the question is raised.
Google is known to emphasize content to increase awareness and to underrepresent links to stop SEOs obsessing over them.
mentions content six-times, including at the top. Links are only mentioned three times.
I believe we need to look at both sides and find the middle.
While links are important, while content continues to grow in importance.
Is link juice really real?
Although the term “link juice” sounds somewhat sleazy at times, it is actually a valid concept that Google’s original algorithm uses to calculate website authority and value.
This is a gross oversimplification of the complex Google algorithm , which contains many checks and balances (as Kaspar Symanski has ), ensuring that a ranking is more stable to manipulation.
You still need to get links back to your site or other similar content will rank you higher in search engines. Although the term “link juice” may seem dated, it is still a useful phrase.
What are the opinions of experts? Fishkin isn’t the only expert to talk about link juice.
Brian Lonsdale is the co-founder of Smarter Digital Marketing Ltd. .
- Google does not want you do anything, it is because it works.
Pierre Zarokian is the CEO of Submit Express / Reputation Stars. .
- I will not be fooled. Since 1998, Google Algo is based upon link juice.
Which terms are better than link juice?
It’s possible to say many things about link juice and not sound like you are a drug dealer.
Jessica Levenson is the Global Head for Digital Strategy & Search at NetSuite and Oracle.
- It’s a terrible term. It’s not linked and it serves no purpose.
You can also use these words to describe your situation. Some of the more professional-sounding terms include:
- Link authority
- Value of a link
- Link equity
Daniel Foley Carter, Director at Assertive, :
- It’s what I call link equity, regardless of Google’s claims. Anyone who has been involved in SEO knows that you need to be careful about taking things like these into consideration.
You can also follow Brent Payne’s if this is too monotonous or techcratic.
- I use link tequila because it is just as fun. Tequila is my favorite spirit.
It is impossible to have link equity
Use synonyms for link juice, but remember the idea is still in its early stages and won’t work as a standalone concept.
It was common for websites to be ranked empty when I began my career in SEO back in 2004.
Link juice could be directed to thin pages in order to get them to rank for keywords competitive. This is a very rare exception in 2022.
To attract amazing links, you should focus on great content
The truth lies somewhere between the two. Google has begun to de-emphasize links in its algorithm and public rhetoric. However, Google’s technology is still dependent on some degree of links.
It is still difficult to gain organic search visibility for Google using content alone. However, once your content is endorsed and ranked by authoritative sites, visibility in Google’s top ranks increases dramatically.
How can we do that without paying for paid links? It is an established path. This path has proven to be successful for content SEO professionals.
Create ‘linkable assets’
Website owners have been looking for SEO services to replace creating quality content that can earn them links over the years. Many potential clients lost their trust when I explained that it was impossible to artificially increase the rank of a site with only self-promotional content.
Any type of unique, comprehensive and valuable linkable asset is likely to be recommended by another publisher. You can find examples in-depth guides and unique surveys results.
Naturally attract links
After you’ve published quality content, it is time to wait for people to link.
Of course this is the theory. If you have an existing audience, in practice you’ll be most likely to get overlooked.
You should mention people who are experts and have an audience in such cases. These experts can be a great help in getting the ball rolling.
Get in touch with ‘linkaratis.
Journalists and influencers are often very busy. A mention on social media may not suffice to grab their attention once established.
Email outreach can be a powerful tool. Many linkaratis will be open to suggestions that are relevant to their interests.
You can get some initial momentum by focusing on the right people, and not sending out mass mails to thousands of random strangers.
These opinions are not necessarily those of Search Engine Land, but they do reflect the views of the guest author. Here are the names of staff authors.
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