Is This Title Linkbaiting You? What Is Linkbait And What Does Google Think Of It?
The term "linkbait" started being thrown about in the past year or so and has since become a hot topic of discussion in SEO circles. Upon hearing the term for the first time, most people tend to have negative connotations, but should they? What is Linkbaiting? What do the search engines think of it as an online promotion strategy?
What is Linkbait?
The concept of Linkbait is actually pretty simple and straight-forward. It simply refers to any content that is created with the intent to entice people to link to it. Obviously, we always hope that other site owners will link to our content since it can mean more free traffic, increased PageRank, and higher overall visibility.
However, content that is created as linkbait is different than your average content. It usually involves a deeper level of creativity and flare. The idea is to catch people's attention in an unexpected and powerful way.
There are many ways to write content that will stand out amongst a sea of similar pages. It could mean saying something controversial. It could mean sharing an extreme opinion about a hotly debated topic. Sometimes it could mean just being plain silly.
Whatever the actual subject of the content, the goal is the same... to entice people to link to you in order to increase the link popularity of your site.
What Does Google Think?
In the SEO world, there's no shortage of "gurus" constantly proclaiming clever, new ways to develop more back links to your site. However, the initial reaction to any plan to acquire more links should always be to consider what Google and the other search engines think of the idea.
The best way to do this usually is to refer to the Google Webmaster Guidelines. While in this case, there's no direct mentioning of linkbaiting on Google's site, we do have something that's just as authoritative: Matt Cutts. Cutts is a Senior Engineer at Google and is their official spokesperson and he recently devoted a page on his blog towards the concept of linkbaiting:
"On a meta-level, I think of "linkbait" as something interesting enough to catch people's attention, and that doesn’t have to be a bad thing."
So it’s clear from this post that Google has no problem with the concept of linkbait.
Not only do search engines not have a problem with linkbait, when it comes down to it, they probably appreciate it. After all, search engines exist to give people access to helpful, interesting, engaging information. The more great content out there, the more people use their search engine, and the more money they make. However, Cutts also warns that too much linkbait can lead to a loss in credibility:
"If everything you ever say is controversial, it can be entertaining, but it's harder to maintain credibility over the long haul."
Steve Lazuka is a well-known expert in the field of natural search engine optimization and seo content development.
Mr Lazuka founded Interact Media, an seo content service that leverages the power of high quality content to improve search engine visibility for its clients.
To learn more about this and other seo topics, visit Steve's blog at www.interactmedia.com/blog.html
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