SEOClerks

Building backlinks today is different than back in the year 2000



Write the reason you're deleting this FAQ

Building backlinks today is different than back in the year 2000

Backlink building wasn't quite the same thing back in the year 2000 compared to what it is today.  If you just started getting into SEO and backlinking, you might be upset that you didn't start sooner.  Backlinking back in the day wasn't as advanced as it is today, you could actually get away with a lot more then than you could now, and still get top rankings because of your less than white hat methods lol.  People refer to the early years of SEO as the "Backlink Hayday" because everyone was building backlinks wherever they could, and they didn't care what type of link they were getting.  Back then it was a numbers game, not an authority game where you had to be on niche related websites that already had high authority.

In this discussion, I'll be going over what backlinks were all about back in 2000 and what they are like today Building backlinks today is different than back in the year 2000


Advancement in backlinking
Back in the day, we could just go to any sort of blog or forum and build whatever backlink we wanted.  We could do an exact match anchor to a subpage or link whatever we wanted to the homepage, and benefit from it!  In today's world, we have to build exact match niche related high authority links in order to see a big benefit.  Sure, you can build other types of backlinks, but they won't have as big of a benefit compared to something that is high authority and is similar to your own website.

Backlinks themselves haven't really evolved since they all still use an HTML hyperlink code, but the methods of how, and where, you place them has evolved.  You can't just post links anywhere and expect a big boost in the search engine results pages, you now have to set up a strategy and implement it flawlessly if you want to overtake your competition.


Evolution of the search engines
Back in 2000 you could pretty much do whatever you wanted when it came to backlinking and search engine optimization.  It was more like the Wild West of search engine optimization, and it got that name because of all the chaos when it came to building your backlinks.

Search engines are constantly evolving and they will keep evolving to make their search results the best they possibly can be.  Because they are always evolving, we have to be evolving when it comes to building backlinks strategically.  We can't act like we did in the past and build a few links, then see top rankings almost overnight lol.

Search engines were more worried about collecting information back then and not how everything should be ranked.  I'm sure they knew about how people were spamming backlinks all over the place and ranking for every keyword they could, just think about the payday loans websites getting ranked all over the place for every single keyword they could think of lol Building backlinks today is different than back in the year 2000


Using software for all your backlinks
In the past, you could put some powerful SEO software like Xrumer and SEnuke on a VPS and let it run overnight.  You could literally build 1,000,000 profile backlinks overnight and get your website ranked within a week or so.  You didn't have to worry about any sort of penalty because they didn't really exist back them Building backlinks today is different than back in the year 2000 

Since penalties weren't handed out to the websites who were building massive amounts of links, that weren't related to their own website, these websites were getting #1 rankings for their keywords over the other websites that were doing everything the right way.


Building high-quality backlinks
In the past, you didn't have to worry about any sort of quality when it came to building your backlink profile.  You could literally go to any website, forum, or blog and drop a link to your website and get a massive benefit from it.  Now with all the algorithm updates, you need to be niche specific and focus on high authority. 

Google now ranks websites based on authority, and if you're not getting links from these types of sites you won't see top rankings for your competitive keywords.  In the past, back in 2000, you could build "high-quality profile backlinks" which were just dofollow profile backlinks on a website that had a high Page Rank (PR).  It's such an ancient method to get rankings, even PR isn't a factor when it comes to getting rankings because Google stopped valuing websites on a PR scale because it was being abused so much.


Manually building backlinks
Back in 2000 you could definitely build backlinks manually, but you wouldn't stand a chance if you had some competitors using software to do the dirty work.  Of course, just like today, you wouldn't get on the well-known websites if you were using software since they were manually moderated.  This means you had someone watching your posts and all the profiles, so if you spammed you were gone almost as quick as you came lol.  Today you have to build a lot of backlinks manually, or outsourcing the work to do so, in order to boost your rankings to the top. 



In Conclusion
Search engine optimization and building backlinks to increase your rankings have definitely evolved to filter out the spammers.  Google is trying to reduce the spammed websites within their rankings so the higher quality websites will begin to show up in the search results and you have a better experience online.  You can't really use software to post and gain backlinks anymore because most of the filters from forums and blogs will block you almost immediately.  You need to do everything legitimately and stop cutting corners now, so don't even try to run some software or hire a freelancer to do the dirty work for you, because it won't end well lol.




Remember to follow me!
https://www.seoclerks.com/user/Razzy



Thanks!

Razzy

Comments

Please login or sign up to leave a comment

Join
potentialwriter
Building backlinks nowadays is totally different from that of those days. Google and other search engines love content so much and website owners must understand this in order to make the most out of the internet. Ways to build backlinks include guest blogging, content writing, posting at forums with signatures enabled.

As a site owner, you receive comments on your website or blog and you approve comments if they are up to your satisfaction. Upon approving those comments, you reply your commenters on a consistent basis. This is one of the sure ways to get ranked in Google and other search engines.



Are you sure you want to delete this post?

wiseagent
Well... Considering that we are practically in 2018, it's natural that things have undergone several changes (it would have been strange if things had stayed in the same place). Evolution is part of any aspect of life (real or virtual).

It's up to us to adapt ourselves to what has been shown to us. Building backlinks today is different than back in the year 2000



Are you sure you want to delete this post?

cmoneyspinner
I appreciate the efforts Google is making to reduce the amount of spam or spammy links showing up on the first page of search results. The search engine was designed to produce what the seeker is looking for, not a load of crap! When archaeologists dig for lost treasures, they want a genuine find. When people search, they want results that will lead them to the hidden treasure they're looking for. It's annoying when people "figure out" how the system works to get their stuff on the first page but when you click the link and get to the site, you discover that their stuff is not even worth looking at! If you were smart enough to get your site on the first page of SEO results, why can't you be smart enough to build a site that should be on the first page of SEO results? So I'm glad it's not so easy as it used to be.



Are you sure you want to delete this post?

vinaya
In early 2000, the only online presence I had was an email. I did check various sites, however, did not spend hours surfing the internet. Internet cost was very high then. I was introduced to online writing in 2005, however, I did not start to regularly write until 2010. Therefore, I did not know what was like in 2000.
I was introduced to SEO and other internet jargons only in 2012. Since I was writing on a third party writing site, I did not have to deal too much with backlinking. It was only in 2015 when I had to do backlinks that was when I published my own blogs and website.
Thanks OP for all the information.



Are you sure you want to delete this post?

DarthHazard
The internet was definitely quite expensive back then. I think the first time I managed to get online was in 2004-2005. And I don't think I actually got into the blogging world until around 2008ish so I didn't know much about how SEO was back then as well. I don't think I even bothered too much with backlinks really. I just tried to spread my site through forums and telling people directly.



Are you sure you want to delete this post?

kgord
I am so glad that advances in backlinks have happened. These are the sorts of of things that you need to be aware of when backlinking. Be aware of and thankful that it is easier then it used to be if it is something that is difficult for you to do. I think it is an option we should all be aware of and utilize.



Are you sure you want to delete this post?

overcast
In past people used to be generous about giving the links. Now they seem to be more paranoid about giving links to others. And that in itself can be something really bad. You can see that people only give links to those who trust. So that is another thing to consider when it comes to the link building. I have learned this the slow way. And I am working on small backlinking efforts. So hoping that it'd be working out.



Are you sure you want to delete this post?

Tronia
It sure is different so that's why when we're trying to learn more about building the backlinks we should check when the article was written in! If it's a few years back then try and find a more recent one since those will have updated information that you're looking for.

Backlinks are extremely important and many people seem to forget it. I have been building them manually and have undoubtedly noticed a nice traffic increase.



Are you sure you want to delete this post?

Cristian
I remember posting forum WTT (Want To Trade) posts where I would exchange backlinks with people all over the world with websites in all sorts of niches. This is the way I managed to get PR4 on a couple of blogs and website and then use those websites to sell link once I would remove all the reciprocal backlinks.
Google was slow in updated and even slower in giving out penalties. I was around in the SEO sphear starting with 2005 onwards but I remember people talking about a real wild west back in1999-2003 in terms of SEO.



Are you sure you want to delete this post?

Soulwatcher
Razzy thank you so much for this information because I am in the process of building backlinks to my website. I have built backlinks to my websites in the past and like you said, a lot has changed. I did have a pretty good unique visitor rate for my website but it has since tanked and I am trying to bring the unique visitors back up. So I will be sure to put this guide to good use and thanks again.



Are you sure you want to delete this post?

jaymish2
I agree that the process of back linking is more and more complicated as time goes by. When your first enter SEO that's the first gospel that is preached to you. As you get into it you realize that it is hard work and is not as straight forward as it seems. It is also getting harder to get back links from most websites. It requires a new level of skill to do this. Google has also changed the position back links plays in ranking your site. Everything is, so complicated!



Are you sure you want to delete this post?

Corzhens
I think there was not much features in the search engines during the year 2000. I was using AskJeeves and Yahoo Search because Google was still an infant that needed to baptized. Although backlinks were unheard of yet but if ever we would go back in time to build backlinks, I don’t really know how to do it because there are only few sites at that time especially with the local websites, there’s practically a rarity of big forums and e-commerce site.



Are you sure you want to delete this post?