Dear owner of https://moz.comI can create a laundry list of don'ts based on this email alone:
I'm the webmaster of [site redacted].
We came across your site on the Internet and feel that it would fit perfectly into our collection of quality links at [redacted].
The Google PR of this site is currently 2.
We've already placed a link to your web site along with a description at our site on the page, which we encourage you to check for accuracy.
We'd appreciate it if you place a link back to our site using the following HTML code (just copy and paste it into your links page):
<a href="[redacted]" title="[redacted] showcases the coolest SEO sites, offering tools and tips for optimization, marketing online and webtraffic.">Showcasing the coolest SEO sites and marketing online.</a>
<br>[redacted] showcases the coolest SEO sites, offering tools and tips for optimization, marketing online and webtraffic.
On your page, the code will look like this:
Showcasing the coolest SEO sites and marketing online. [redacted] showcases the coolest SEO sites, offering tools and tips for optimization, marketing online and webtraffic.
If you'd like the description of your site modified, the category changed, or if you have any other cross-promotion ideas, feel free to email us.
Please note that if you don't place a reciprocal link to us somewhere on your site within a week, the link to your site will automatically be removed from our directory. Please link to us using the code above, and let us know where we can find the link.
Best regards,
Scott
[email address redacted]
This is NOT SPAM -- this is a one-time reciprocal link request. We have NO INTENTION to email you again. You can also reply to this email with REMOVE in the subject line.
- "Dear owner of seomoz.org" screams either "spam" or "I'm too lazy to look for an actual contact." Personalize your emails if you can. We have an entire Staff page full of smiling people with names and contact info, for crying out loud. (I have no idea why this dude emailed my Hotmail account, but whatever.)
- Mentioning Google PR is, in my opinion, tacky. It places an over-emphasis on the importance of PageRank and also, to me, identifies the email sender as someone with very little to no knowledge of decent SEO skills.
- Saying "we've already placed a link to your website" is a bit bullying and doesn't sit well with me. I'm thinking, "I didn't even ask for this link, so why should I feel obligated to link to you, especially when I don't even know you?"
- Pasting the HTML code and then explaining how the code will look on our page is just downright insulting. I mean, he's emailing the "owner of SEOmoz.org," so you'd think that he'd give me the benefit of the doubt and figure I know how to read basic HTML code and how to link out to someone. Instead, he uses some dumbed down template without doing his homework and adapting his message to a more savvy audience.
- This anchor text and description are just ridiculous.
- "Please note that if you don't place a reciprocal link to us somewhere on your site within a week, the link to your site will automatically
be removed from our directory" is, again, kind of bullying. The tone is imposing and vaguely threatening. Me no likey. - "This is NOT SPAM -- this is a one-time reciprocal link request. We have NO INTENTION to email you again" makes me instantly suspect that it is spam. It's kind of like saying, "Don't look at the gigantic zit on my face!" Well now you HAVE to look at it, right?
So Scott emailed me 8 times in a little under 3 months. The second email, titled "Backlink Request Reminder," is pasted below:
Also, I like how the PR of the page he's trying to build links to has dropped from 2 to 0 in the three days that had passed since he last emailed me. This is why you don't list your page's PR in link building email requests, people. Talk about awkward.
Here's his third email:
My buddy Scott was quiet for a month, then it was lather, rinse, repeat. I received another "Link Exchange Request" email on 3/4/09 that was identical to the first email he sent me. Two days after that, he sent me Email #5 and went with a new approach:
Emails 6 and 7 were identical to Email #3, and Email #8 was identical to Email #2 (confusing, I know). I never respond to Scott's requests, so naturally he assumes I'm still interested and keeps spamming me with automatic link request emails a few times a month. You gotta love that tenacity!
Even though it seems clear that I'm on some sort of automated spam list, a main lesson to be derived from Scott's Memento-esque emails is that you should keep track of who you've sent requests to. Maintain a spreadsheet or a list of contacts and keep track of your efforts. When I first started working at SEOmoz, I was tasked with building links for one of our clients. Below is a screenshot of an example spreadsheet I created:
This particular client had a lot of user generated pages, so I contact these users to see if they were willing to link to their page from a personal website or blog. I color coded responses--blue and green were "Yes" as in we were able to get a link (I don't remember what the difference between blue and green were, though I probably had a good reason for it 3 years ago), yellow was "N/A," meaning the contact didn't have a website, and red was "No" if we couldn't get a link or if the link couldn't pass any value for whatever reason.
I created a lot of basic spreadsheets similar to this one, where I'd have info on the page from where I was trying to obtain a link, contact info, how many times I contacted someone, whether I received a response and what the response was, and if I was able to get a link to the site. Being organized minimizes sloppy mistakes like contacting the same person more than once with the same introductory email. In 2007 Melanie Nathan authored a fantastic post for YOUmoz about creating and managing your link campaign, which is a great resource on how to get organized and keep track of your link building efforts.
Sorry Scott, but you lose. This isn't the best way to go about getting a link from us. While I don't doubt that this tactic has resulted in some success (otherwise why would he keep doing it?), if you've got a remotely reputable site or any pride whatsoever, you won't go about acquiring your links this way, lest you want to be ridiculed for being unprofessional, spammy, and a dumb-ass. I still think that contacting site owners and webmasters for links is an important strategy, but there definitely are better ways to craft your link request campaign than the one I highlighted in this post.
Dear owner of https://moz.comOkay, contrary to how Scott is ending his emails, this is clearly spam (either that, or he's a super lazy link builder and uses the same template each time he emails someone). I do like how this email starts with "Did you happen to see my previous email?" and then proceeds to have virtually the same content as last email. I guess Scott's betting that I did not see his previous email. (He lost that bet.)
Did you happen to see my previous email?
I'm the webmaster of [redacted] and just wondering if you are interested in link exchange with us.
We feel that your site would fit perfectly into our collection of quality links at [redacted].
The Google PR of this site is currently 0.
A week ago we already placed a link to your web site along with a description at our site on the page, which we encourage you to check for accuracy. We'd appreciate it if you place a link back to our site using the following HTML code (just copy and paste it into your links page):
<a href="[redacted]" title="[redacted] showcases the coolest SEO sites, offering tools and tips for optimization, marketing online and webtraffic.">Showcasing the coolest SEO sites and marketing online.</a>
<br>[redacted] showcases the coolest SEO sites, offering tools and tips for optimization, marketing online and webtraffic.
On your page, the code will look like this:
Showcasing the coolest SEO sites and marketing online.
[redacted] showcases the coolest SEO sites, offering tools and tips for optimization, marketing online and webtraffic.
Please note that if you don't place a reciprocal link to us somewhere on your site within three days, the link to your site will automatically be removed from our directory. Please link to us using the code above, and let us know where we can find the link.
Best regards,
Scott
[redacted]
This is NOT SPAM -- this is a one-time reciprocal link request. We have NO INTENTION to email you again. You can also reply to this email
with REMOVE in the subject line to make sure we'll NEVER send you any more e-mails in the future.
Also, I like how the PR of the page he's trying to build links to has dropped from 2 to 0 in the three days that had passed since he last emailed me. This is why you don't list your page's PR in link building email requests, people. Talk about awkward.
Here's his third email:
Dear owner of https://moz.comHey, he's linked to us, despite me never responding to his first two emails! How thoughtful of him! He also mentions how he supposedly has software that monitors his site's links and that he'll delete the link to our site if we don't link back within 3 days. I checked the page from where he supposedly linked to us, and lo and behold I indeed saw a link to SEOmoz...although it's still there after over 2 months, so I guess that whole "deleted after 3 days" claim is an empty threat. Oh, and I like how Scott's stopped ending his emails with "This is not spam!" I figured he was like, "Who am I kidding, I'm a huge spammer" and came to terms with it.
I'm the webmaster of [redacted]. I'm pleased to inform you that your link was added to our site on the [redacted] page with the following description:
URL: https://moz.com
Title: SEO - Search Engine Optimization | Read SEOmoz, Rank Better
Description: SEOmoz is a hub for the search marketing industry, providing an SEO Services Marketplace, a popular SEO Blog, SEO Tools and premium content.
If you'd like the description of your site modified, the category changed, or if you have any other cross-promotion ideas, feel free to email us.
Please keep the link to [redacted]. We have software in place that automatically monitors the status of all our links.
Should you remove the link to our site by accident or in error, or if the link to our site has been moved elsewhere, please let us know immediately.
Otherwise, the link to your site at [redacted] will be deleted after 3 days.
Best regards,
Scott
[redacted]
My buddy Scott was quiet for a month, then it was lather, rinse, repeat. I received another "Link Exchange Request" email on 3/4/09 that was identical to the first email he sent me. Two days after that, he sent me Email #5 and went with a new approach:
Dear owner of https://moz.comOkay, this email is pretty much making me do all the work. You're the one who wants the link, so why are you making me contact you? Flatter me a little--talk about how much you like my site, outline how you've got a similar site and would love for me to take a look at it, point me in the direction of a specific blog post or article, ask me to review or provide feedback, grovel for a link, etc. Ass kissing gets you far in the world of building links.
I have a web site, [redacted], and have spent a lot of time and effort to ensure my visitors gain the maximum benefit from their visit, and from what I have to offer. As our web sites are closely related and our products do not compete, I feel the exchanging of links would be a mutually beneficial arrangement. If you are interested in exchanging links, please feel free to contact me at your earliest convenience.
Best regards,
Scott
[redacted]
Emails 6 and 7 were identical to Email #3, and Email #8 was identical to Email #2 (confusing, I know). I never respond to Scott's requests, so naturally he assumes I'm still interested and keeps spamming me with automatic link request emails a few times a month. You gotta love that tenacity!
Even though it seems clear that I'm on some sort of automated spam list, a main lesson to be derived from Scott's Memento-esque emails is that you should keep track of who you've sent requests to. Maintain a spreadsheet or a list of contacts and keep track of your efforts. When I first started working at SEOmoz, I was tasked with building links for one of our clients. Below is a screenshot of an example spreadsheet I created:
This particular client had a lot of user generated pages, so I contact these users to see if they were willing to link to their page from a personal website or blog. I color coded responses--blue and green were "Yes" as in we were able to get a link (I don't remember what the difference between blue and green were, though I probably had a good reason for it 3 years ago), yellow was "N/A," meaning the contact didn't have a website, and red was "No" if we couldn't get a link or if the link couldn't pass any value for whatever reason.
I created a lot of basic spreadsheets similar to this one, where I'd have info on the page from where I was trying to obtain a link, contact info, how many times I contacted someone, whether I received a response and what the response was, and if I was able to get a link to the site. Being organized minimizes sloppy mistakes like contacting the same person more than once with the same introductory email. In 2007 Melanie Nathan authored a fantastic post for YOUmoz about creating and managing your link campaign, which is a great resource on how to get organized and keep track of your link building efforts.
Sorry Scott, but you lose. This isn't the best way to go about getting a link from us. While I don't doubt that this tactic has resulted in some success (otherwise why would he keep doing it?), if you've got a remotely reputable site or any pride whatsoever, you won't go about acquiring your links this way, lest you want to be ridiculed for being unprofessional, spammy, and a dumb-ass. I still think that contacting site owners and webmasters for links is an important strategy, but there definitely are better ways to craft your link request campaign than the one I highlighted in this post.
Dear owner of SEOMoz.org,
I have placed a link to your site from my comment here. Currently, this link comes from a site with a Google PR of 6. If you do not reciprocate with a link, I will have to remove this comment.
This is not spam.
I TOTALLY get what your saying {first_name}. It's so annoying when sites like {the_url} write you asking for links. For example on my SUPER V1@gra Ac@1 berry website, I get requests from people just like you did, {gender_id}/t{last_name} SO CRAZY!! Now if you could just leave me a link to {home_url} I won't have to remove you from my list.
Love SCOTT.
LOL. Just recently, I received an email that looked exactly like that. Something went wrong with the software and didn't even render any variables. I think we all have an eye for these type of emails and just delete immediately - even the title gives them away...
Wow. If you personalize the message to the smallest degree, people respond so much better, starting with a name.
Taking 5 minutes to understand the basic principle of the site goes a long way.
The problem is, there are still tens of thousands of "Internet Guru" articles from a decade ago, or more, still out there on the web and still pushing these tactics as the way to go... and plenty of newly online web noobs that have no idea that such things are a complete waste of time. The quantity of crap advice out there is enormous - and far outweighs the amount of articles with good advice.
Rebecca,
I literally laughed out loud at this:
"I never respond to Scott's requests, so naturally he assumes I'm still interested and keeps spamming me with automatic link request emails a few times a month. You gotta love that tenacity!"
These are my favorite types of posts nowdays, thanks for laugh.
I wish I knew Scott so I could give him your a copy of your lesson and tell him to try again.
Oh, and I like the new comment design.
I don't know what's worse - gettting these emails - or getting these emails forwarded to me asking if its a good idea for us to actually do it and link back.
wait...you're telling me you WOULDN'T want to link to Scott's super cool totally rad and completely awesome SEO site? Ridiculous. Seriously? Thats hilarious. Thanks for sharing, and using it as a big glaring example of how NOT to email a link request. I'm especially fond of the tactic "I will not email you again...so you better act on this now! I'm serious...No more emails.....please...pleeeaasseee" Wow. :)
The only thing worse is mentioning that the your PR is 2 (or 0). At least he could have the decency to lie and claim the site is PR8.
"decency to lie" - I like your style Pete, I like your style. ;)
To be fair, I was about to make the same point until I noticed you had beaten me to it. These folk seem to try to punch a bit above their weight with their "offering". The message seems to make out that a link from their "Pagerank 2"(!) website would be of great value to you, realistically, who do they expect to fool? It would seem to be a very low numbers return with a message like that.
Better to be honest with a well crafted message as Rebecca suggests, though should the "decency to lie" take you, at least make it a good one so that they will see the funny side when they find you out!
I think you could shorten "Ass kissing gets you far in the world of building links." to "Ass kissing gets you far in the world".
I am reluctant to ask for links outside of my personal relationships because of the crap-bag of email requests we get, much like your example. I haven't figured out how to even approach someone through email without associating myself with "Scott" (who I'll assume is a nice enough guy).
What about a phone call? I don't (yet) know if that's a dumb idea or not, but it could provide an opportunity to set yourself apart. On the other hand, it positions you a phone solicitor, which is an even greater sin in my world.
i agree that for some high value links a phone call might be useful, if you are trying to get a edu or gov link might be worth 5 mins of your time, who knows they might have some other sites or may even need seo assistance for their own site.
Wow,
Dear Rebecca
That was all he needed to increase his chances a million of times.
Is it that hard to write Rebecca while addressing you :)
Thanks for the learning lesson anyway, I believe that email #5 was his best approach, although I dont have that much experience in link building, but this post really helped me understand more, and it would've been great if you wrote a sample email or a re-edit for his email, so that we have more insight about how to create good requesting emails.
Thanks
Absolutely...there are some good lessons about email marketing in general to be learned from "Scott" and his mistakes.
Dude, if you're trying to moonlight as a link builder for some extra pocket change, you need to improve your strategies. ;P
Hey, your reply urged me to start now to go all through your Link building blog, and start taking notes and developing my own starategies :)
I just want to reply because these new, nested comments look so nice!
Is there a nesting limit?
Yes.
Edit: :(
What's the limit?
Willareallylongwordorasuperlongurlbreakthelayoutwhenyougetfurtherdowninthenestingofposts?FWIWit'sreallyhardtotypewithouthittingthespacebar.
https://www.thelongestdomainnameintheworldandthensomeandthensomemoreandmore.com/ claims to be the world’s longest domain name. But is it? It turns out that this is a matter of definition. According to the domain registrars, the longest legal domain name is 63 characters starting with a letter or number.
(source)
--
Edit: lol, perhaps overflow:hidden needed? I even managed to get a horizontal scroll on my 1650px widescreen.
li.reply div.comment-body { overflow:auto; } looks nice for me on FF3.
no wonder you're getting spammed so much! stop using hotmail ;)
I really would love to see Scott write a Youmoz post about his link building strategy and success rates, and whaddayaknow, he might even be able to get a link out of it!
You mean his "coolest" link building strategy (LOL)?
The anchor text and description are ridiculous.
I just did some quick keyword research here and "cool" or "coolest" is not part of any SEO related searches. Granted, content should be written for readers first, so we can overlook the fact that someone showcasing SEO sites doesn't know how to do basic keyword research for their anchor text.
Having said that, if the anchor text was written for readers first, what SEO or online marketer is looking for the "coolest" SEO sites? We're talking about an SEO directory, not a directory with funny videos about kittens or dancing inmates here. Correct me if I am wrong.
Nice post! Made me smile.
Edit: Corrected a spelling mistake.
So perhaps someone else has posted this already and their comment has been deleted, but here's the site responsible for this link campaign (just in case anyone was wondering):
<anonymized by Rand>
I like the death metal logo and the uber-cool logos circa 1998. If this is what it takes to be cool in SEO, I'm in.
Does anyone know where I can buy some grungy flannel shirts, jean shorts, a VW bug, and some Keds? I need to update my image...
Oh, wow <anonymized by Rand>
from the site...
"Building a great looking website is only half of the battle."
Looks like he lost that battle.
"Your report is not auto-generated. Each website is unique"
Yet you emails are auto generated and not unique?
MY EYES
Hey Jason (and others), I've gone ahead and removed the link/site reference from this. It was our/Rebecca's intent to talk about this as an example, not intentionally harm or disclose the websites or operators behind this.
Thanks for understanding!
It looks like from the email template Scott is probably using the Zeus link exchange robot.
I was going to say the same thing. I audited a couple link building tools a few years ago, but quickly realized that unless you're targeting the smallest of small sites, where the owners are net newbies, the output of these tools always trigger (human and spambot) deletion. They just made me feel shady.
When and if I do it, personalization is key. Link building needs to be tedious, imho.
Its called link BUILDING for a reason
Its NOT called link "fall in my lap"
Or the request I particularly hate:
"Please add a link on your site and let me know the location and once we have checked that iour link is in place, I will add a link to your site."
Wait, didn't you contact me? DOH
I get these ones all the time!
Yeah, these type of emails get old after a while. I mean how is "Scott" supposed to build any creditibilty if the "URL" is not even ranking. That's a red light right there.
Dear Rebecca,
let's exchange links, it will be mutually beneficial to both our sites and also the world.
Pollution levels will drop, Japanese Whaling will cease, the earth will turn, the stars will come out, even if it is day time.
Best regards,
Scott
You'd be surprised how many site owners I've encountered who dont know basic HTML.
I know, but when you're contacting the owner of a pretty reputable SEO site, you'd maybe want to give the benefit of the doubt that he/she knows how to add a hyperlink to a page.
We don't get these emails so much now but get a load of Indian off shore seo companies still adopting old tactics trying to get you to White label their services.
It gets quite hard not to be rude to them after a while : /
I've been getting a lot of mails like that lately, they imply how "beneficial" it would be and bla bla bla...
But they add a little twist, if you link to domain#1 from your site let us know so that we can add your link at domain#2, I didn't have much to do that day so I checked the site and ohh surprise domain#2 has "no follow" attribute.
And in the end of the mail I got this:
"I have many sites related to different themes to exchange links like Health, Auto, Finance, SEO, Casino etc."
I wonder when he would start spamming with his other sites. x_x'
Pretty interesting :) Something close happed to me: I received comments over my blog from someone who told me:
"How do you do? - I am from Guniea-Bissau and learning to write with English, please tell me right I wrote the following sentence:'Net provides discount hotels and cheap airline tickets reservations"
Needless to mention what he was linking for :)Anyway the english with good so congrats :P
Can you add my website? Just kidding. I am about to send an email to request a reciprical link to a couple good websites. And when I tested my own "request a link" message to my own outlook email (recommended if you are testing to see if it is considered spam), my own Outlook spam caught my message. So I have incorporated your insight. Specifically I like the fact that you say "check out my blog" or "article" and comment. In todays world of SEO, that's the way to do backlinks. Too many companies have tried to send "Please add me to your website" and it does fall on deaf ears due to too many spammers. This is a grand approach! Thanks for the tip!
Hi Rebecca,
Im sorry for the length of this message but I spent a lot of time writing this as a private message and of course when I hit "send" I was notified that your not accepting private messages :-)
____________________________________________________________________________________________
I just finished reading your article " How NOT to Request a Link Via Email" and found great value in it. You have a fantastic style of writing! Very witty and fun to read, I felt as though we were having a conversation. Cute profile photo BTW (not a come on…just a compliment ;-)
I'm contacting you because I am struggling with a few SEO related strategies. I own the site nicomate.com which is an electronic cigarette store. I am a former smoker who successfully quit when I started using this device. Today I am both tobacco and nicotine free. I truly believe in my product despite the slanders it receives by some of the major anti-smoking opponents. Because my product triggers controversy I feel limited to who I can reach out to.
I will be forever grateful if you take the time to respond to the questions I have listed below:
QUESTION 1:
I am struggling to build links. More recently I have been publishing articles on article directories such as TRIOND.com that have "do-follows." I simply post the article with a link or 3 and move on to the next. Do you recommend this tactic?
QUESTION 2:
The majority of sites directly relative to electronic cigarettes are electronic cigarette stores. I haven't even bothered asking for link swaps. Other relative websites are review websites however I fail to get a response from them. My assumption is most of them are owned by my competitors. Have you had a similar experience with clients? Do you have any advice?
QUESTION 3:
Other avenues I have reached out to are tobacco cigarette wholesalers. On occasion I will get a response requesting pricing to which I respond professionally but fail to get a follow up response. FYI none of these cigarette sites have electronic cigarettes. I'm confident my wholesale pricing is attractive. Any advice?
QUESTION 4:
When I go to blogsearch.google.com and search for quit smoking blogs, anti tobacco blogs, etc...the results are thin. Are there any other means of conducting this type of search that generates better results?
I have found a few anti tobacco blogs such as tobaccoharmreduction.org and ep-ology.blogspot.com and tobaccoanalysis.blogspot.com
All of these blogs are operated by authorities on "Tobacco harm reduction" and I have established good relationships with them via comments and email interviews. However I haven't worked up the courage to request a link on their site because I feel like it would taint our relationship, plus it doesn't look like they link out to ecommerce sites or any site at all. I have permission from these authors to publish the interviews. Do you recommend I use paid for Press Releases? What are the odds of a good press release getting picked up?
Once again, your response to these questions will be forever appreciated.
Rebecca, if you took the time to read all of my MASSIVE email I thank you very much :-)
Michael Bluestone
mbluestone94 at gmail
314.409.3598
I feel silly posting this lengthy comment.....sorry :-(
Hah, right on cue!
If you can't get your links with an email, comment spam <3
I was getting hundreds of these exact templated emails every week across about 60 of our clients' websites. Incredible to think that so many link building companies are using these 'old skool' appoaches and that they work...
They are clearly spam despite their efforts to convince you otherwise and they are clearly templated and in some cases automated (in the sense of a spambot) as I have received loads of the same email from the same person requesting links for a load of sites that weren't even on-topic...
Honestly!! Hah
That one's pretty bad, but has nothing on a set of Vietnamese travel sites I keep getting emails from. I actually wrote a post about them back at the end of march, going over how hilarious their requests were. Here is the link text they wanted:
Title: Mekong delta tours, tours to Mekong Delta, tours in Mekong delta
Description : Mekong delta tours, tours to Mekong Delta, tours in Mekong delta, cruises in Mekong delta, Mekong Delta Tour, Mekong Delta Travel, Tour Mekong Delta Vietnam, Travel Mekong Delta Vietnam
I got such requests too. They seem to be pretty standard and comes from sites that have a ton of non-connected links. Funny that my link was not there at all even though they said they added it :)
I just filtered these e-mails on my mail server to silently drop them. There are key phrases that you can use for filtering.
Just got a link exchange request this morning...
WOW! A 6 for one trade? What a deal.
Really? Because you don't address me by name (real or imagined). Saying you're not spam is starting to convince me. If only you mentioned your PR. Maybe in a followup email?
Really? Because my email isn't listed on my site. I use a contact form, which is the polite way to contact me.
I believe you are also required to list a business address - but you don't
Bah, sending link requests is so unbelievably boring and mostly gets ignored. Link building was the crux of what I did for almost 4 years and courteous and offering real value to others is key - a client of mine actually developed a great business relationship from what started as a very innocent and polite link request. We offered to send him a keychain and he allowed us to craft a whole page to post on his authority site PLUS giving us a wealth of expert Content he wrote but was not using.
In addition, the owner recommends my client on a regular basis through his Authority site. How much business has it brought? I'm talking 30% of every converting lead he gets comes from this guy's ugly Website, and they're usually sold before they even call.In the end it's all about people and you have to look past the quick link-gasm and think about the relationship...it's all about people, and it's well worth it when you find the right ones.
I Got such an email for several times. Ok I have to admit that email is really lame and s**k.
All our large clients gets requests like these everyday. Some of our clients even comply with every single one thinking that it will be a great benefit to them. I always have to show them that reciprocal linking is bad. So this strategy does work if they reach out to website owners that don't know better. Which is why these guys are around in the first place.
That email looks scarily similar...
What are those better ways you mentioned in creating link request to potential partners? It seemed I found nothing.
It would have been best if you did. Of course, am not looking for the email content rather just the outline of how to do it would be perfect.
Highlighting the dont's on "Scott's email" is not enough to help others craft a better link request email.
Your thought's Rebecca?
Here's an oldie but a goodie: https://www.seomoz.org/blog/email-is-still-the-key-to-a-successful-link-building-campaign
I would have said "wow," but it's been said a couple times already in the comments.
It is amazing to look at spam, which works on percentages (0.0000001 percent of people click on [...]) with the eyes of an actual individual. I think it's very easy (and generally mindless) for people to shift back and forth between statistics and individuals until they actually look at what people are saying and who is doing the reading.
Thanks for the post! I always wonder about how to request links, and how not to. I'm sitll new to all of this.
We get some spam here at Vertical Measures. I see we aren't the only ones that get similar e-mails. We did a post a little over a month ago, compare your search engine optimization spam e-mail to ours. Very similar right?
Alas, I receive these kinds of emails and link requests all the time. I think the thing that gets the most is the impersonal nature of them, because as you say, how much effort does it take to find my name that is clearly stated on my site. In a time when increasingly people are looking for meaningful connection on the web, these communications are the bottom of the barrel - indiscriminately oozing over anything they can. I think the only people who respond are those who don't realize that that kind of link will most probably not be of much use to them. It makes you that much more glad to create links and relationships that are based on commonality and mutual respect.
I have investigated these link building strategies to determine if they can get penalized by Google, although they fall in an unclear, but very risky, grey area , Iv'e determined that they are simply bad form. Having your URL sent out to thousands of site owners could work against building a positive rep. I guess like Autofusion says some people think it is a good practice to automatically accept recipricol links because of basic recipricol link theory. Unless a site that is being spammed all over is clearly junk, it could be hard to tell by some of the legitamacy of the link request.
My question here is "is it not good to link with these link banks because in fact the link is not recipricol, that they are recieving more than what they are giving? Or, is it because one can't trust a spammer?
Thanks.
Hi Rebecca, nice article. I would like to inform you that you have 15 minutes to add a link to our site. Failure to do so will result in the removal of your link from our site. Thank you.
Best regards,
Scott
Well, everyone says to send an email during link building campaigns but since even SEO people complain about recieving emails on link building what is the point?
I think it still works--you just have to be courteous and clever about how you craft your email.
You still have to give them something worth linking to - and a lame link exchange page isn't it.
You're absolutely right.
Right on Rebecca!
I get these dumb ass requests all the time too. The ones I really love are the ones from so-called SEOs who try to convince me that reciprocal link exchanges are great for improving my search rankings. Duh - don't they know they are spamming an SEO provider? Bite me!
What I'm wondering is, don't these crappy link exchange emails fall within the CAN-SPAM act? Shouldn't they be required to provide an opt-out link? It's a shame we don't have a DO NOT SPAM list, like the DO NOT CALL list, although I've been getting an increasing number of telemarketing calls lately, too.
Randy - I got an email similar to Rebecca's and enjoyed hours (at least 5 seconds) of laughter because it also said "this is the only email you will ever receive from us" and right below that was an "opt out" link.
.... I won't EVER email you again but if you don't want me to email you (you know EVER again), you must click on the opt out button.
FYI. I received 4 more EXACTLY the same emails from that company over the next 3 weeks. If nothing else, they were memorable.
Hi this is quite a nice and useful blog.
Thanks for sharing.
Hi Rebecca,
I trust you are doing well. I actually added a link as I thought not to bother you by asking for a link. As I can already see that you guys already not happy with any kind of link request. I think you will understand and appreciate my thought. Anyway I am new to this 'SEO' thing as I am a tester by profession, but I am trying to learn how to do 'SEO'. Therefore, I am trying different way to do it. It would be great if you suggest me some tips of how I can start.
I hope you won't erase this link again and I look forward to hear from you.
Thanks,
Farial
I erased it. Please stop injecting links into your comments unless they're on-topic and relevant to the readers. We nofollow comment links anyway, so they're doing you little good.