Leveraging links into SEO backup plans

A short time ago I posted Xenite.Org’s 2006 search referral statistics at Spider-Food, where I have occasionally shared statistics through the years. I would have to say that, with respect to search engine referrals, we had a great year — probably our best ever. Xenite earned about 440,000 referrals from search engines in 2006.

And while it’s true that Google dominated the referrals, Yahoo! and MSN/Live gave respectable performances. Even Ask probably sent us about 7,000 referrals throughout the year. Most of our traffic comes from non-search sources anyway so we would not vanish off the map if Google were to drop all of Xenite’s pages from its indexes.

I could probably do better on Yahoo! if I were to put my heart into optimizing for that service, but you really need more linkage than with Google and I just don’t like building links. Yahoo! just doesn’t like content the way Ask, Google, and Live do. I don’t know why, since content is where the relevance lies.

But let’s play out a hypothetical scenario. What would happen if Google did drop all of Xenite’s pages?

MSN sent us over 32,000 referrals in 2006. Let’s say we got about 38,000 altogether. Many sites get along just fine with 38,000 search referrals in a year. Most sites would love to get that many referrals.

If you include about 14,000 referrals from My.Yahoo, then Yahoo! probably sent us around 80,000 referrals in 2006. I can live with 120,000 search engine referrals a year. I think most people would appreciate that.

But that means Google still sends us around 65% of our search referrals. And in reality Google’s market share increased over the year from about 45% to about 60%. Unless someone pulls a rabbit out of their hat, there is good reason to guess that Google may seize another 10-20% market share in 2007. So if Google ends up with 80% of the search market by December 2007, what is a Xenite.Org to do if it’s dropped from Google?

I ask the question because right now many thousands of Webmasters are dealing with that problem. I’ve been looking at a lot of complaints in a lot of forums. Google seems to have been doing its Spring cleaning a little early this time around, because a lot of link-poor sites have either gone supplemental or they are just not indexed any longer.

Sooner or later, search engine optimization fails to deliver the goods. It even happens to many high-powered sites like Xenite.Org. In early 2005, we did lose a lot of listings in Google. Our traffic dipped by about 1/3. Had it not been for our inbound linkage, we would not have had any traffic to speak of for about 3 months.

So I know what it means to lose significant visibility. I don’t have to think back 8 or 10 years to feel the pain that other people feel today.

I didn’t have either the time or the inclination to build up my linkage during the Days of Dearth in 2005, but I did notice that new content was getting indexed and ranking well. Experience taught me to stay calm and assume I wasn’t penalized. That’s the advantage that I bring to the table with search engine optimization. I’ve been through most of the ups and downs. I know what real pain feels like.

But people today just don’t seem to understand that inbound linkage can be the difference between no traffic and lots of traffic. Xenite.Org still received thousands of visitors every day while Google sent us almost none for those 3 painful months. That’s the real value of inbound linkage.

And for years I have been advising people not to put all their eggs into one basket. Of course, most people don’t listen to me. Google has been so easy to game that the shock of being thrown out of the playground all of a sudden hasn’t fully sunk in for many Webmasters. While Google may relent in the near future and start letting people back in, everyone would be better off assuming they are on probation rather than thinking it will be game on as usual.

Gametime is pretty much over for the average SEO and Webmaster. All the old favorite tricks are being filtered out. Even a minor adjustment in the algorithm at this point won’t set the clock back very far. People need to start looking down the road to when Google does this again, because another cleansing will happen. Be sure of it.

And that’s where you need a backup plan. But don’t assume that it requires any more effort than you’re already investing in your campaigns. All it takes is a little thought and a careful shifting of priorities.

Over the past few weeks, I have found myself repeatedly giving people the same advice. Everyone wants those high-value “quality links” that get you into the Main Index and (hopefully) keep you there. But if you cannot buy them, and if you cannot trade for them, and if you cannot beg for them, then how do you get them?

The sickening refrain from many forum moderators lately has been, “Build great content!” But let’s assume for a moment that no one is capable of doing that. We’re stuck — as surfers and SEOs — with the hard, cold reality that all business sites from now on will just plain suck when it comes to content.

So where can these awful Web sites whose owners truly, honestly believe they should be in the Main Index get those high value links?

I think the answer has to begin with a reassessment of value. Far too many people who don’t know what they are talking about start out their SEO discussions with “My site has a PR of X”. PR tells you nothing. I’ve said that before. However, no one listens because PR is easy to check. It’s the placebo that makes everyone think they have something to work with.

Instead, Webmasters and SEOs should be looking at their links with respect to referrals. When you lose search engine rankings, start out your forum complaint with, “My site gets X visitors from Y inbound links, but we’re not listed in Google/Yahoo!/MSN. What can I do?”

The value of telling strangers who may try to help you how many visitors your site gets from inbound linkage is that it conveys value to them. Other Web sites are recommending your site to their visitors. That’s a good thing. That immediately tells any strangers who unerstand true Internat marketing that you have some worthwhile links.

Don’t worry about whether your links are in Google. Most of you don’t know how to check links in Google anyway. You’re either wasting your time with Google’s link: query operator (which only returns random samples) or you’re looking at Yahoo! (which knows nothing about what’s in Google’s database) or you’re puttering around with some SEO tool.

When you’re not getting any love from Google, are you getting any love from other Web sites? That’s the first question to ask yourself before asking anyone else for help. If no other sites place value in your content, you have bigger problems than not being listed in Google. You have no backup plan.

At least when other sites send you traffic you can continue to do some business while you figure out what Google needs. And maybe all Google needs is just a few more of those links that send you traffic.

So the next time you go link hunting, think in terms of “how many visitors is this link worth?” Because when Google drops you from the index all you’ll have left are the links you got in the first place. And which would you rather be stuck with: cheap, easy links no one clicks on, or links that send you traffic?