You may think it counter intuitive for me to propose that link building content is not the only way to go for links, as I earn my crust selling link building services.
But this is what I tell my clients who hire me for link building consultation.
There are many ways to skin a cat and many ways to build links, sure, content is a tried and tested way to build links if properly implemented and this is discussed at length.
But as you roll back the reasons and psychology of why people link you find that content can sometimes be less important.
Something I have observed over the years is that you are more likely to link to someone if you meet and like them at an seo conference. Why is that? The content is still the same.
It’s because the process of giving a link is based on emotion. Not the sobbing into your hanky after watching a tear jerker, but the fact that deep down within the brain the bit that drives emotion always beats the cold hard logic.
In a way it’s odd that a bunch of Spock wannabe seo engineers will link to someone because they feel it deep within them.
But the human condition affects us all.
Good or bad.
We try to be logical and base our decisions on the cold hard data, but we never do and here’s the thing, we don’t even know we are doing it and hate it when it is pointed out.
- Fear
- Greed
- Social acceptance
- Sexual gratification
- Jealousy
- Pride
All impinge on our decision making process. It’s what makes linkbait work. Linkbait is not based on logic, it’s based on the emotional triggers.
Social psychology is what you should be studying, rather than that new programming language.
Don’t believe me?
Watch the links fly after an seo conference. It’s not because the link targets content got better.
Observe that people mostly retweet those who retweet them. Getting retweets is link building lite, same process. If you can do one you can probably do the other.
How can you up your link building game.
1. Develop a social context
2. Control the relationship
3. Know why people link
4. Give back to those that give
We will be concentrating more on link building psychology in the coming weeks.