As I mentioned in a previous post on Linkwheels, I outsourced some linkwheel creation to the guys at maxdesk.com.
I asked them a “newbie-like” question on how well link wheels work and if it would get me the rankings I wanted just by having them create this for me.
Here is their response, verbatim, and I thought it was a good explanation on the reality of how link wheels work…
Hi Dan,
I’ll try to answer your question as best as I can however with all web properties, including main URL’s, the performance really depends on what is happening in your particular market. For example, one of my sites in the gaming community is in a market where there are no constant updates (at least for my main keyword), moderate link building, and lots of rich media (video rankings on top5 pages).
So in my market, building a link wheel is just not going get me over the edge. While it does help tremendously, I will need to:
1. Update my site consistently as the competition is not – #1 is an abandoned blogspot blog from 2008
2. I must put up strong link building campaign since I am competing with clickbank product owners that I am an affiliate of
3. Create and promote videos via backlinks, and working the youtube angle
4. Keep updating my link wheels – google loves fresh content right? So I will not only update my main url, but also keep my link wheels updated, but if the #1 spot is abandoned, then surely enough my link wheels must rank well once google is “trained” to keep on coming back for more content. So my LW will not skyrocket right away, but with proper care it is only scientific that not only will my money site rank, but my web2′s must also rank according to what google is telling me. Google will tell you what it wants.
As you can see it is all dependent upon the competition levels in your market. Check out the top 10 sites that are ranking for your main keyword and evaluate everything about them, especially the strength or PR of their backlinks and their incoming anchor text links.
One thing that people should understand about Link Wheels is that if you don’t want them to fade away, then you’ll have to update them, and drive backlinks to them like you would for any site. I personally update/repost to my link wheels once every two weeks, ping, submit rss feeds, etc. That way you give the SE’s a reason to come back and index your content. The way I update my wheels is by posting short 150-200 word posts that once again contain a link up to money site, and linked to my other properties. If you want a real blackhat and quick way to do it (hasn’t hurt any of my sites so far, been a few months in) then let me know.
Or, you can do like Linus (the LW creator) and just build them in crash and burn style but then your wheels will possibly never rank at all. That is one thing I always hear complaints about because most people make em’ and leave em’ then expect the world to be at their doorstep – it just isn’t possible like that.
But it’s all up how you work your strategy and especially the market as to how well your wheels and overall site will perform. I’ve heard it said that 99% of sites will fail, before you even buy the domain – due to faulty market and commercial research. Try a tool like Market Samurai if you already haven’t, they have an awesome SEO Competition module that breaks down onpage and offpage SEO factors in your top 10 competitors. Or you could try the SEOQuake toolbar for firefox, it’s free and shows you a lot of offpage info right in the SERP display however I think Market Samurai is much easier and “cleaner” to view the data from.
Hope that cleared it up on how you should work the wheels if you really want them to shine.
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{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
Very interesting!
About Market Samurai: it is true. I am using it and it is really brilliant!
Hey Dan,
I’m interested in this. Keep me posted.
Will do, just waiting for the task completion and then a few days after that to see if anything “pops”
Hello,
Please email me on your Real Blackhat method, i would love to hear all about it.
Joe
Fantastic Article Daniel,
Thanks for sharing. Keep me posted.
Hey David, here’s a more updated article on link wheels.
FYI, if you DO return here to comment please leave your KWs OUT as your “name”
Thanks,
Dan
Dan,
Great article, thanks for sharing your tips on renewing linkwheels.
From our experience, our clients have had the most success on long tail, local keywords, ie “sales training atlanta”. Since there’s so little competition, the quick flurry of backlinks can really shoot their site up to the first page.
Also, may I suggest the SEOMoz keyword difficulty tool. It looks at the competitors for a keyword and gives you a % of difficulty. It’s not a free tool, about $80 per month, but it’s a great report to give to a client before they commit to any sort of link building package.
.-= Andrew´s last blog ..How To Get Backlinks with Linkwheels — Easy, Free, Permament Links =-.
Thanks Andrew,
link wheels are really just a fad term depicting what is solid seo work and inter linking, or cascade linking mechanisms. Dominating the SERPs for long tail…even with multiple indented listings is easy, as yes, that can be accomplished with link wheels or just multiple sites you own.
About the keyword tool thingie… all you need is to look at page one and assess several things to see what’s needed to capture page 1 and top 3 spots. If I were to use a keyword tool, I’d go back to wordze, it seems to be the most comprehensive research tool out there.
Reason I don’t use KW research tools is I try to write for my visitors not search engines, and if you know your niche you should know what to write about, imho.
Thanks for stopping by,
Dan
hey bro, thanks for the info.
would you fill me in on the “If you want a real blackhat and quick way to do it (hasn’t hurt any of my sites so far, been a few months in) then let me know.” method to auto update the linkwheels?
Thanks a bunch
Although I wouldn’t consider them blackhat you can create linkwheels quickly with Link Farm Evolution and SE Nuke but I prefer to remain whitehat and just do some Twitter Link wheels, amongst other ways…
Hmm , still i don’t have clear undestanding about link wheels , but i will try to combine LFE and SEOnuke to make link wheels xD ?
LFE’s getting worse and worse, mainly good for indexing stuff nowadays