Wednesday, 1:30 pm - Buying & Selling Links

Unexpected circumstances kept me from staying for this full session, so I only caught the first two (of four) presentations.

Patrick Gavin of Text Link Ads (an obvious supporter of buying & selling links!) explains that buying links isn’t a standalone tactic; it’s part of the mix, a good supplement to your overall SEO/SEM campaign. He suggests you begin conservatively, and that if you do buy links, wait at least 2-3 months before you determine the success or failure of your link buying.

Eric Ward, who essentially pioneered link building, offers some more sobering thoughts on buying links. He reminds everyone that the engines don’t like link buying, but says he personally has no problem with it. But … you have to think about your motivation. Are you buying links to gain better rankings? Or just to advertise on a site that you think will bring you quality traffic? The link buyer has to know the risks up front. He suggests looking beyond web sites to blogs, email newsletters, and even podcasts as link sources.

And that was all I was able to hear….

tags: sessj06, sessanjose06, links, buying links, text link ads, patrick gavin, eric ward