Google’s Matt Cutts recently posted a video on the search giant’s GoogleWebmasterHelp channel on Youtube answering an irate question from a Google user.
Ed, from the Caribbean wrote:
How can linking remain a major part of a search algorithm when the majority of Internet users are unable to post a ‘followed’ link on the World Wide Web? For example Twitter, Facebook, wiki etc. are all ‘nofollow’. It seems only a very small percentage of links count.
I was very pleased about Matt’s response.
Matt is absolutely correct here. Create compelling content that people are going to want to link to and the do-follow links will follow. If you create a how-to about something related to your business, like a white paper or a really good instructional blog post, people will link to that. The majority of the time, when people link to other stories, they don’t include the no-follow attribute. This is a great way to build links.
Matt has always said, often to the frustration of many in the SEO and Web design world, that building a great site with great content is the best type of optimization.
Now I don’t completely agree with Matt on the finality of that statement, the overall premise is key. Create great content and you will get good links and eyeballs looking at your site.
Crappy content will only yield crappy results.
What do you think? Post your thoughts in the comments.
