{"id":9433,"date":"2023-05-11T13:14:29","date_gmt":"2023-05-11T13:14:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2023\/05\/11\/forget-link-building-think-link-earning\/"},"modified":"2023-05-11T13:14:29","modified_gmt":"2023-05-11T13:14:29","slug":"forget-link-building-think-link-earning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2023\/05\/11\/forget-link-building-think-link-earning\/","title":{"rendered":"Forget link building, think link earning"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s time to rethink how we approach <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/how-much-will-backlinks-matter-392493\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">backlinks<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In this article, I\u2019ll explain what link earning is, why it\u2019s essential and the types of results you can generate.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_81 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2023\/05\/11\/forget-link-building-think-link-earning\/#Link_earning_What_it_is_and_how_it_differs_from_link_building\" >Link earning: What it is and how it differs from link building<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2023\/05\/11\/forget-link-building-think-link-earning\/#Link_earning_You_have_to_make_it_and_cant_fake_it\" >Link earning: You have to make it and can\u2019t fake it<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2023\/05\/11\/forget-link-building-think-link-earning\/#How_to_earn_links_today_and_beyond\" >How to earn links today and beyond<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2023\/05\/11\/forget-link-building-think-link-earning\/#Forget_about_creating_content_and_promoting_it_to_death\" >Forget about creating content and promoting it to death<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2023\/05\/11\/forget-link-building-think-link-earning\/#Forget_about_guest_posting_for_links\" >Forget about guest posting for links<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2023\/05\/11\/forget-link-building-think-link-earning\/#Link_earning_Thought_leadership_data_and_stories\" >Link earning = Thought leadership, data and stories<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2023\/05\/11\/forget-link-building-think-link-earning\/#The_benefits_of_link_earning\" >The benefits of link earning<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2023\/05\/11\/forget-link-building-think-link-earning\/#Link_earning_creates_new_traffic\" >Link earning creates new traffic<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2023\/05\/11\/forget-link-building-think-link-earning\/#The_demise_of_%E2%80%98do-follow_links\" >The demise of \u2018do-follow\u2019 links<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-10\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2023\/05\/11\/forget-link-building-think-link-earning\/#%E2%80%98No-follows_lead_to_fame_fame_leads_to_%E2%80%98do-follows\" >\u2018No-follows\u2019 lead to fame, fame leads to \u2018do-follows\u2019<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-11\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2023\/05\/11\/forget-link-building-think-link-earning\/#Link_earning_is_a_fame_game\" >Link earning is a fame game<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Link_earning_What_it_is_and_how_it_differs_from_link_building\"><\/span>Link earning: What it is and how it differs from link building<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>I\u2019ve been building links for over 20 years, and I can tell you that it never gets easier.<\/p>\n<p>From shotgun outreach to guest post writing.<\/p>\n<p>As an industry, we\u2019ve been repeating the same approaches and seeing diminishing returns, or worse, being asked to hand over some cash for \u201cadmin\u201d fees for adding your link.<\/p>\n<p>The message is clear from those in webmaster power land.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Links = cash<\/p>\n<p>Backlink merchants have emerged in droves to capitalize on this trend, acting as the middle person, the negotiator, and the heavy lifter.<\/p>\n<p>How long before generative AI takes over the whole process of identifying link opportunities, writing blog posts, and even email sites for you?<\/p>\n<p>Link building is the next big AI task, probably losing link value in the process.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Enter link earning.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>That old-fashioned idea that your business and content earn links for you based on merit, not money.<\/p>\n<p>And buckle your safety belts because link earning is coming, and either you\u2019re onboard, or you\u2019ll get left behind.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Link_earning_You_have_to_make_it_and_cant_fake_it\"><\/span>Link earning: You have to make it and can\u2019t fake it<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Back in 2021, Sparktoro CEO Rand Fishkin suggested that <a href=\"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/blog\/inferred-links-will-replace-the-link-graph\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">inferred links would replace the link graph in the future<\/a>, saying:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you pay an SEO agency to get you 50 \u201chigh-quality links\u201d a month for $5,000 and refuse to pay a digital PR agency to get you 10 mentions in relevant publications for the same price, I\u2019d argue you\u2019re making a very unwise tradeoff.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The idea of inferred links is simple to grasp.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>If Google is good enough to understand entities, it can crawl a page and understand when a business is being discussed online.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, this turns the SEO game into the \u201cUpside Down\u201d from Stranger Things.<\/p>\n<p>Because the ethos should be that mentions matter, links might happen.<\/p>\n<p>I can hear an old-school SEO spitting out their coffee with rage.<\/p>\n<p>Sure, we all like links, but what if they were nice-to-haves, not must-haves?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Wouldn\u2019t that change a business\u2019s approach to link building?<\/p>\n<p><!-- START INLINE FORM --><\/p>\n<div class=\"nl-inline-form border py-2 px-1 my-2\">\n<div class=\"row align-items-center\">\n<div class=\"col-12 col-lg-3 col-xl-4 pe-md-0 pb-2 pb-lg-0\">\n<p class=\"inline-form-text text-center mb-0\">Get the daily newsletter search marketers rely on.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"col-12 col-lg-7 col-xl-6  pe-lg-0\">\n<div class=\"form-nl-inline\">\n<div class=\"row g-0\">\n<div class=\"form-group col-12 col-lg-8 mb-0\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"col-12 col-lg-4 col-xl-4 mb-0\">\n<div class=\"d-none\">\n<p>Processing\u2026Please wait.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<button class=\"btn btn-dark inlineButton w-100 rounded-0 font-weight-bold\">SUBSCRIBE<\/button>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"col-12 col-lg-2 col-xl-2 ps-1\">\n<p class=\"text-center mb-0\"><a class=\"nl-terms\" href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/termsofuse\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">See terms.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- END INLINE FORM --><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_to_earn_links_today_and_beyond\"><\/span>How to earn links today and beyond<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>If I were to push a motto for SEO this year, it would be \u201cMove fast, create things.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Create content.<\/p>\n<p>Create stories.<\/p>\n<p>Create link opportunities.<\/p>\n<p>When it comes to link earning, it&#8217;s these things that matter.<\/p>\n<p>But first, let&#8217;s throw the old-hat methods under the bus.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Forget_about_creating_content_and_promoting_it_to_death\"><\/span><em>Forget<\/em> <em>about<\/em> creating content and promoting it to death<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>This is what the gurus teach, and it has some merit. If you spend hours creating a piece of fantastic content, you should spend far longer promoting it.<\/p>\n<p>And sure, this can work.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But it has some significant drawbacks. Just because your \u201cultimate guide\u201d might be a beast of an article, it ignores a basic rule of thumb.<\/p>\n<p>The article is entirely based on your ranking goals.<\/p>\n<p>Your promotion is based on the &#8220;Hey, I wrote this, you might like it too&#8221; remit in the hope they&#8217;ll share, mention, and even link to your content.<\/p>\n<p>People are busy. People are self-interested.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The chances your content is so good that they&#8217;ll log into their site and give you a backlink is highly unlikely.<\/p>\n<p>Your working theory should be that even the best content gets ignored.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Forget_about_guest_posting_for_links\"><\/span><em>Forget about<\/em> guest posting for links<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>I&#8217;m a fan of guest posting. This is a guest post.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Guest posting helps to build brand fame.<\/p>\n<p>But for links?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Come on. We\u2019ve been told long ago to put a fork in that type of link building because it was \u201cdone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And yet, guest posts are still the go-to link method for most SEO agencies and websites.<\/p>\n<p>The idea that a link in a post, buried in the deepest darkest corners of a low-traffic website, has little value should not be a shock.<\/p>\n<p>But guest posting is easy.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;OK, clever SEO, tell us what&#8217;s better?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The solution is a mindset that businesses can adapt to easily.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;How do we earn links?&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Link_earning_Thought_leadership_data_and_stories\"><\/span>Link earning = Thought leadership, data and stories<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Link building is selfish. You go to webmasters, interrupt their day and say in a Golum-esque voice.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLook at my precious content. Reads it; you will. He wants it you do. Links to it, you tricksy little webmaster.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>No wonder people ask for money for link placements.<\/p>\n<p>Link earning is different.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s adding to the conversation.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s taking the expertise in a business and helping others with that expertise.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s creating stories from data that people will want to hear about \u2013 not forcing content down throats.<\/p>\n<p>Is that romantic? Maybe.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Is that effective for SEO? Heck, yeah.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_benefits_of_link_earning\"><\/span>The benefits of link earning<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>I don&#8217;t need to explain the whole <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/google-e-e-a-t-guide-seo-394191\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">E-E-A-T<\/a> thing.<\/p>\n<p>But too often, we don&#8217;t think about how building this takes place.<\/p>\n<p>You build E-E-A-T through the network effect.<\/p>\n<p>Mentions online.<\/p>\n<p>Links.<\/p>\n<p>Content on your site.<\/p>\n<p>Content on the sites of others.<\/p>\n<p>You build connections with other web properties.<\/p>\n<p>But the quality and speed that this happens is where specialists come in.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Mentions in authoritative web properties.<\/p>\n<p>Links from authoritative websites.<\/p>\n<p>Quality content on your site.<\/p>\n<p>Quality content on the sites of others that shows your expertise.<\/p>\n<p>The benefits are clear:<\/p>\n<p>Faster rankings.<\/p>\n<p>Increased traffic.<\/p>\n<p>Traffic referrals.<\/p>\n<p>Brand growth.<\/p>\n<p>Exposure to a new audience.<\/p>\n<p>Reach.<\/p>\n<p>But let&#8217;s look at an example of link earning in the wild.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Link_earning_creates_new_traffic\"><\/span>Link earning creates new traffic<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<\/div>\n<p>To give some context to this image, one of my agency&#8217;s clients is a discount code website.<\/p>\n<p>Typically, these types of sites are not glamorous and difficult to build links, and you&#8217;d have to rely on those traditional methods, as we discussed earlier.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s how link earning handles this.<\/p>\n<p>The team spotted an interesting post on social media about a supermarket loyalty card not being allowed to be used by those under the age of 18.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<\/div>\n<p>When it comes to link earning, speed of action matters.<\/p>\n<p>Having spotted this post on social media, our team quickly leveraged our client&#8217;s brand and expertise with a pitch to journalists.<\/p>\n<p>The result: more than 50 links, referral traffic to the client&#8217;s website and media mentions.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<\/div>\n<p>But are do-follows important?\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_demise_of_%E2%80%98do-follow_links\"><\/span>The demise of \u2018do-follow\u2019 links<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>\u201cDo-follow\u201d links (i.e., links without the nofollow attribute) were all the rage once. Today, they usually scream \u201clink buying.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s not to say such links don&#8217;t happen. They do and, of course, they add value.<\/p>\n<p>But any half-decent SEO can spot a paid link from one naturally occurring, and if the SEO can, then so can Google.<\/p>\n<p>In 2022, Google\u2019s John Mueller <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/links-may-be-less-important-to-the-google-search-ranking-algorithm-in-the-future-389364\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Well, it&#8217;s something where I imagine, over time, the weight on the links. At some point, it will drop off a little bit as we can&#8217;t figure out a little bit better how the content fits in within the context of the whole web. And to some extent, links will always be something that we care about because we have to find pages somehow. It&#8217;s like, how do you find a page on the web without some reference to it? &#8220;But my guess is over time, it won&#8217;t be such a big factor as sometimes it is today. I think already, that&#8217;s something that&#8217;s been changing quite a bit.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>That was 2022, and Google has been moving fast with updates on everything from link spam to content.<\/p>\n<p>Our data results show that do-follow links are definitely nice and need to have. But no-follow links do impact websites.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%98No-follows_lead_to_fame_fame_leads_to_%E2%80%98do-follows\"><\/span>\u2018No-follows\u2019 lead to fame, fame leads to \u2018do-follows\u2019<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>There are plenty of views on <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/rel-nofollow-ugc-sponsored-links-seo-413534\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">nofollow links<\/a> not passing any ranking signals to websites.<\/p>\n<p>Our in-house data disagrees with this view, but we also must remember that nofollow links in authority websites matter for more than just the links.<\/p>\n<p>These sites are in the business of generating traffic, and this means real humans (remember them?) visit webpages.<\/p>\n<p>This causes click-throughs to websites, searches, online conversations, talks in forums, group chats, emails, dark social and human conversation.<\/p>\n<p>These nofollow links end up causing natural fame, which turns into organically created do-follows.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Link_earning_is_a_fame_game\"><\/span>Link earning is a fame game<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Fame makes everything easier.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A good news story can sell out products in a day.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A social influencer can make you famous with a single post.<\/p>\n<p>And links and mentions, whether they follow or not, help build fame.<\/p>\n<p>Link earning is the game of fame.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s kickstarting traffic <strong>and<\/strong> links. It gets people talking.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, the other option is sending that outreach email. And yes, there&#8217;s a time and a place for that.<\/p>\n<p>But should that be your go-to?<\/p>\n<p>I don&#8217;t think so. Choose fame.<\/p>\n<p>Choose link earning.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/forget-link-building-think-link-earning-416059\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forget link building, think link earning<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Search Engine Land<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s time to rethink how we approach backlinks. In this article, I\u2019ll explain what link earning is, why it\u2019s essential and the types of results you can generate. Link earning: What it is and how it differs from link building I\u2019ve been building links for over 20 years, and I can tell you that it never gets easier. From shotgun outreach to guest post writing. As an industry, we\u2019ve been repeating the same approaches and seeing diminishing returns, or worse, being asked to hand over some [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"h5ap_radio_sources":[],"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-best-seo-blogs"],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":false,"author_link":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/author\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9433\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}