The great misconception of a "bad backlink"

A topic that seems to be coming up for discussion more and more are bad back links and their impact on a websites google ranking. In this article I want to offer some clarity on what we are seeing across our existing 2,500 clients and what we also hear every day from potential new clients.

Firstly, I want to clear up the misconception.

There's no such thing as a back link that will move you down the Google rankings, there are just links that will not be recognised by the search engines. So bad links will never move you down the rankings they just won’t move you up!

So why, I hear you ask, did some websites rankings drop when Google made their latest penguin update?

Simple, this is because lots of back links were suddenly not being recognised and therefore some websites rankings dropped as a result. To further clarify this is the fact that backlinks are out of a webmasters control. For example, anyone could build a backlink to www.clicksubmit.co.uk. So, if bad links can move a websites ranking lower then everyone would be building bad links to their competitor’s sites.

Our belief at Click Submit is that a slow and careful link building strategy is the order of the day. We will request around 300 links to be built to your site over a 3 month period with the aim of getting around 150 to 200 recognised by the search engines. When you combine this with the crucial on-site changes that we recommend after sign up, in order to make your website 100% relevant to your search terms, we are seeing great results. Our numbers speak for themselves. We have over 2,500 clients and not one contract. Our Clients only continue to subscribe to our service because our strategy more often than not works!

If you have found this useful please share it via Facebook, twitter or e-mail.

Thanks for reading!

Google's latest update and why we're one step ahead

Only recently, Google’s head of web spam, Matt Cutts explained that there will be a massive update to Penguin sometime this year. The word ‘Penguin’ is likely to be a familiar term to a number of you and also something many will be concerned about or have previously been affected by.

How can an update named after such a cute creature have the potential to bring chaos and detrimental destruction to my websites ranking, I hear you say. Well, the purpose of the Penguin update is to 'demote sites that violate Google’s webmaster guidelines' such as sites that use negative manipulative ‘black hat’ techniques to improve their rankings. These would include unnatural links, links from automated link content, links created using duplicate content and so forth. However, the great news is that here at ClickSubmit we have never, ever.... ever had one of our clients blacklisted by the search engines and are confident that this will remain the case for the next update because of our White Hat guarantee.

Image by birdsinhats.blogspot.com

For every enquiry we receive the question ‘how long will it take before I reach page one of Google?’ is usually asked. It is for this reason that many companies often feel under pressure to apply black hat techniques in order to get certain sites to the top of Google as quickly as possible. But these techniques will not keep you near the top for long. SEO takes time and the only way to get to the top is by helping the search engines, not cheating them.

We develop a mixed portfolio of links that are placed across the right sites at the right pace in order to maximize the benefits of SEO without any chance of blacklisting. Google’s goal is to give the best possible search results and we are simply co-operating and assisting their aim to help people find what they’re looking for. As Cutts himself said, ‘There are many, many valid ways that people can make the world better with SEO.’ The key is to find a trustworthy and transparent company, which is why we at ClickSubmit developed our control panel and write quarterly reports so that our clients can see exactly what links are being built to their site whenever they like.



Matt Cutts explaining that white hat SEO can be of great benefit

There is reason to believe that the major penguin update will either expand beyond spam, or broaden the definition of it in order to improve search quality. So to all who may come across this blog make sure that the links you are building indicate ‘popularity, shareability and authority’. Make sure the techniques you are using are white hat, or sign up with us to ensure that your link building is done productively, positively and correctly.

See our 3 step SEO strategy.

Our very own Elf AKA Annabelle AKA Elfabelle!

Click Submit has it's very own Elf this Christmas and her name is Elfabelle!

Some of our Client's may already know Annabelle but if you don't Annabelle heads up our Adwords department and for the whole of December she has decided to dress up as an Elf for charity!

Here's why in Elfabelle's words:

I am raising money for The Sheffield Children's Hospital 'Make It Better' campaign by dressing as an elf to work every day from December 1st until Xmas. The hospital needs donations in order to continue the build of their new wing that will provide 21st century facilities for it's patient's and their families. The new single rooms will each have an en-suite and the parents will be able to sleep by their child's bedside.

http://tchc.org.uk/wonderful-wards

When my brother, Oliver was 14 months old he toddled himself into my Auntie's pool during my cousins birthday party. Unfortunately, it was a few moments before he was found. An ambulance came immediately and rushed him to The Children's Hospital where there were a team of people awaiting his arrival. He was then induced into a coma and put on life support for the next four days. After many tests we were told that Oliver would wake up but we were unsure as to whether he would suffer any brain damage. He was looked after by an exceptional team who without their help, he would not be here today. It was an exceptionally sad and difficult time for my family but we are incredibly fortunate to still have Oliver in our lives. He is almost 19 and is fit, healthy and occasionally rather annoying.

I was too young (4) to really recall the whole incident. I remember the ambulance collecting him, visiting him in hospital when he was on life support and wondering why he was attached to so many tubes and needles. However, whilst Oliver was in intensive care my parents were able to stay in the hospital, albeit on another floor. That opportunity is not always available and I am sure everyone reading this can imagine the difficulty for both child and parent when the doctor says it's time for the parent to leave the ward. The new wing will provide a much needed facility where the parents will be able to stay with their child. This is just one brilliant aspect of the new build. As it is a leading hospital it cares for children from all over the UK and also internationally, so these facilitates will make a vital difference to it's patient's and their families. My parents cannot retell enough how desperate they were to be beside my brother during every moment of the day.

Although it was about 17 years ago we shall be eternally grateful for their work and help in saving my brother's life. I hope to spread some festive cheer and raise money for a really great cause. Christmas is a time that brings families together and without the hospital's brilliant team and facilities mine would not be complete.

If you would like to make a donation you can do so via Elfabelle's Just Giving page:

https://www.justgiving.com/elfabelle



Elfabelle turning on the Children's hospital lights with Lucy Spraggan and Michael Vaughan



...and in the office with a little visitor

Thanks and have a very merry Christmas!

Our view on Google's EMD update

So Google have completed the latest part of their recent updates. Previous updates have included sand boxing certain types of backlinks and also what we now understand to be penalizing certain types of content based links which were previously though of as "high quality backlinks".

The latest update focuses on exact match domains or EMDs. Here's our take on it.

Basically Google have removed the emphasis that they put on the domain name as part of their algorithm. So for example if you owned the domain name "cars.com" it would have previously been very easy to get to position 1 for the keyword "cars" now it would be just as easy if you owned the domain name "haydoodledoo.com". Google are putting more emphasis on relevant content / backlinks and less on your domain name.

So it's leveled the playing field which is great for people entering a market late with a less descriptive domain name but with a good SEO strategy.

Check out our SEO strategy below:

Like to Follow system launched!

Get an instant social impact with our unique “Like to Follow” system!

• Real ‘Likes’ and ‘Follows’ from people wanting to assist each other.
• Included as part of our core SEO product at no extra cost!
• It’s SEO positive as the search engines are now looking at how many ‘Likes’ and ‘Follows’ you have.

Feature available 24/7 via your control panel. View demo control panel.

Detail page within your control panel. View demo control panel.

Adwords management launched

Adwords are the Advertisements displayed at the top and down the right hand side of the search results page on Google. If set up correctly Adwords can drive high quality, highly targeted traffic through to your website.

Making sure your Adwords are set up and managed correctly is so easy with our totally unique one click install system. Just login to your control panel and simply click one button to active Adwords.

Once activated one of our specialists will set up and then manage a group of highly relevant advertisements targeted to your keywords and phrases.

The first £75 of clicks are free with no obligation to continue, allowing you to see it working before you commit any funds.

See video:

SEO Analyser now available 24/7

We have now made our on site SEO analyser tool available to all Clients via their control panel.

This will allow clients to check specific URLs against keywords/phrases an unlimited number of times making sure that their site is optimised to the highest level.

We are constantly updating the tool as the search engines add/change their ranking criteria which is a massive benefit to our Clients on going.