Advantages & Disadvantages of Some SEO Techniques

The Pros and Cons of Different Back links

We have looked over the backlinking types and examined a few basic pros can cons. But now we really need to build up a deeper understanding of how each backlink can potentially benefit your site and even harm your site. So lets start with the the most abused backlink technique.

Pro and Cons of Article Directories

Pros of Article Directories

• Benefit from the targeted traffic of a larger site
• Creates more awareness for your site and content.
• Niche related contextual link on a heavily crawled site will help to strengthen the relationship between your chosen niche and your site. Resulting in higher Google ranking.
• Linking from an authority article site like ezinearticles.com will further help to solidify your site as an authority in your market niche
• Writing a great article can boost your reputation within your niche, which in turn can organically increase your traffic.

Cons of Article Directories

• Very easy to post your content on a spammy directory that might get de-indexed by Google.

Pro and Cons of Web Directories

Pros of Web Directories

• Potential increase of targeted traffic.
• Further the knowledge and awareness of your site.
• A niche related link will strengthen the relevancy of your site within your chosen market. And this in turn could help to boost your pagerank.
• Linking from authority web directories like dmoz further help to build your site’s relevancy within your niche.

Cons of Web Directories

• Many sites are using web directories so you will need to get ahead of the competition and submit your link to hundreds if not thousands to see a dramatic affect.
• Mass employment of web directories has recreated directory spamming, which Google will eventually de-index.

Pro and Cons of Press Release Sites

Pros of Press Release Sites

• Your content can be featured on media giants like: msn.com and nytimes.com
• Links from top authority sites can easily finalise the relevancy of your site to market niche. Resulting in an increase in pagerank and rise in SERPs.
• Links from sites like nytimes.com can easily result in an explosion of traffic.
• Your site can gain enormous amount of respect and acknowledgement.
• Some premium press release sites offer an article writing service.

Cons of Press Release Sites

• The really good press release sites cost alot of money.
• Free press release sites normally result in your content being posted on spammy article directories.
• You need to create an extremely well written piece. This takes time and usually alot of good quality research.

Pro and Cons of Blog Commenting

Pros of Blog Commenting

• Linking from authority sites is a good way to strengthen the relationship between your site and your chosen market niche.
• Commenting back and forth on a variety of market related blogs is a great way to gain exposure and slowly build up a rapport with fellow bloggers
• Leaving valuable comments can build and strengthen the perception of your knowledge within your given field.

Cons of Press Release Sites

• The backlinking value is questionable and always in dispute.
• Some sites are unmoderated and comments are auto approved. This leads to spam and possible de-indexing of links held with that site.
• Based on the negligible value of comment links, you need a lot of them to create a noticeable affect in the SERPs

Pro and Cons of Guest Blogging

Pros of Guest Blogging

• Links from another niche blog will reinforce your authority in said niche.
• A well written guest blog will help to elevate you personally as an expert in your niche. Which will also draw traffic to your site.
• Guest blogging on numerous market related blogs with certainly help to promote relevancy for your blog for search engines and users.
• Great way to fortify relationships with other bloggers and potentially lead to further guest blogging opportunities.
• Your link will provide targeted traffic.

Cons of Press Release Sites

• The value of your link is determined by the blog holding it. If the admin begins to neglect the site then the value of your link will be affected.

Pro and Cons of Blogroll Linking

Pros of Blogroll Linking

• Your link may appear site wide, which could mean hundreds if not thousands of backlinks.
• You could benefit from a portion of the link juice and traffic from each page of the blog.
• Linking from an authority site can vastly improve the relationship between your site and the market niche you are targeting.

Cons of Press Release Sites

• Blogroll links have been hit hard by recent Google updates and they should only be initiated with the greatest of care.
• Most blogroll links utilize very short and optimized keywords, which Google is currently penalizing.
• Blogroll linking usually results in a reciprocal link or link exchange. Google can identify reciprocal links and penalize both parties.

Pro and Cons of Forum Post Linking

Pros of Forum Post Linking

• On a busy forum your content may be seen by thousands of people, thats alot of exposure.
• Good posts that convey and reflect a solid understanding of the topic at hand, empower your position of knowledge and expertise.
• Linking from big popular forums will result in your link being crawled by a lot of search engine bots. Which in turn will crawl your site, resulting in faster page indexing.
• The link, if accompanied by a related post, will bolster the connection between your site and your niche. This will highten your ranking in Google.
• Forum posts can hit the top spot on Google for keywords in their title. This can generate lots of traffic directly to your post that can quickly filter to your site.

Cons of Press Release Sites

• Your content and link are at the mercy of the forum, if they react badly to your post, then this can reflect badly on the image and reputation of your site.
• Some forums are pporly moderated and allow spam. Spam eventually results in de-indexed pages.

Pro and Cons of Forum Signature Linking

Pros of Forum Signature Linking

• If you use forums regularly, to post and converse with other users, then your links can appear on hundreds of pages. That means hundreds of backlinks.
• Usually very quick and easy to setup.
• If your responses convey a deep understanding and generate respect, then user will be inclined to follow your signature links.
• Some forums allow images and links in the signatures. Combine the two and you have a powerful potentially eye catching link.
• Depending on how the forum is setup, you could benefit from the link juice on every page you have posted.
• Your signature link appearing on thousands of posts within a niche related forum, is great way to build up relevancy within that niche.

Cons of Press Release Sites

• Over optimized links could be ignored or de-indexed by Google.
• Silly or aggressive comments will devalue your kudos within a forum and possibly your site.
• Some forums allow adult and casino links in signatures. This could result in entire posts being de-indexed or your link being devalued.

Pro and Cons of Forum Profile Links

Pros of Forum Profile Links

• If you are an active member of a forum and have thousands of posts, that means thousands of links to your profile. If your profile contained a link to your site, then that would result in your site be crawled by Google bots more frequently.
• Thousands of links to your forum could mean your profile starts to gain pagerank, so a link in the profile could result in a nice transfer of link juice.
• Profile linking from a niche related site will help to further your relevancy within your niche, resulting in higher search engine rankings.
• Forum users who like your posts, most look at your profile for more information about you and a link could direct them to you site.

Cons of Press Release Sites

• Some forums are poorly moderated and allow instant profile linking. This can be seen as spam and result in the site be valued, taking your link with it.
• You will probably need to be an active member in a fair few forums to really see a noticeable affect in the SERPs.

Summary of Backlinking Pros and Cons

Backlinking Pros and Cons

• Building up backlinks is a great way to create a firm relevancy rating with search engines. Resulting in better search engine rankings and ultimately more targeted traffic.
• Backlinking from high quality content will reinforce the above point and if the content has been written by you, it will promote you as valued expert in your market niche.
• Interacting with fellow bloggers on forums and blogs, is a great way to build a rapport and further your reputation and following.
• Backlinks on an authority blog that allow dofollow links, is a great way to build up your pagerank.

• The negative side of backlinking is generally a reflection of posting on low quality sites or using low quality content.
• Your linking neighbours can affect the value of your link.

And just incase you where still unsure about pros and cons of quality backlinking vs spammy backlinking, give this a read: