I think a lot of Link builders will be glad to see the back of 2012. The bar to entry on the first page of Google has been reset by Matt Cutts and his team:
- Anchor text no longer holds as much weighting
- Penguins are causing Negative SEO problems
- Google are sniffing around Infographics and Guest Blogging
So it’s important that you are keeping up to date with the industry news, learn what is or isn’t working and perhaps pick up a few tips to make sure your link outreach emails are opened or acted upon.
Below are a few of my recommended reads for 2013 to make sure you are getting the most bang for your link building $ (but not paid links – no, that’s bad)…
Update… I have updated the list to include 2 new blogs I have started following this year which I am sure you will enjoy…
- Point Blank SEO – you have to admit Jon Cooper has been the go to blog for Link Building advice in 2012. I mean who can forget this beast of a post at the start of the year on Link Building Strategies or his latest post on Creative Link Building Ideas. Jon doesn’t just curate the best link building posts he writes his own content and has his own link building course too.
- Linkbuildr – every time I read one of Ryan Clark’s link building posts I find myself nodding my head in agreement as I scroll down the page. My favourite posts from the past year are let’s talk future bait, Stop Building Links and Start Attracting them.
- Sky Rocket SEO – James Agate has really owned the guest blogging space over the past 18 months and has deservedly built up a great reputation when it comes to guest blogging techniques and outreach advice. James doesn’t just write about guest blogging, as this article on finding local link opportunities proves.
- Buzzstream – provides a great link building outreach tool and they have a pretty decent blog that’s updated regularly with practical advice on advanced ways to use their product but also on link building in general.
- Kaiser the Sage – Jason Acidre is a Manila based SEO consultant. He only began working in SEO in 2010 and his support to the online marketing community and his dedication to his blog have been inspiring in the past 12 months. Oh and don’t bother trying to take his crown as King of Inbound.org – you’ll regret it. One of my favourite posts of 2012 was on Conversion based Link Building.
- SEOmoz – some of the best link building posts of 2012 have come from the user generated content section. Anthony D. Nelson dropped the beginners guide to broken link building, Mike King’s Noob Guide to Link Building and Kane Jamison’s post on link building with local events.
- Cucumber Nebula –Peter Attia’s shares his advice and thoughts on link building and online marketing. Peter offers a lot of good advice on outreach techniques and also some outside the box thinking with his Evil Ways to Build Links posts.
- SEER Interactive – the team over at SEER regularly write on their company blog and offer up lots of great advice, such as this gem from the past year on how to use Screaming Frog for Link Prospecting from John-Henry Scherck.
- TLC SEO – this is the personal SEO blog of John Henry Scherck. It was launched in the last few months of 2012 and it already shows a lot of promise. John Henry writes a couple of times per month on tips that can help you scale your link building efforts using various tools such as Screaming Frog or the Citation Labs Link Prospector. Check this post out How to Scale Link Prospecting.
- Backlinko – Brian Dean launched this blog in 2012 and I have been checking out some of his recent work. His link building techniques might be a little risky for some people but I recommend that you read his post 17 Untapped Link Building Resources which contains some creative link opportunities.
So fire up your RSS reader and if you aren’t already reading these blogs regularly I highly recommend you do.
I know there are probably some link buildings blogs I’ve missed off my list but many of them haven’t posted that frequently in the past 12 months which has meant they’ve not made the list.
So who have I missed? Tell me in the comments…
