Why am I being so flippant today? I’m not too sure; perhaps it has more to with the fact this it is a Friday and that within a few hours I can stop by at my favourite “Watering Hole” on my way home and generally reconnect with the real world i.e. those who don’t make their living from life in this massive “Goldfish Bowl” we call the Internet?

Perhaps it is also due to the fact that I have spent quite a bit of time this week looking at existing link Building Campaigns from folks who should know better and wonder how they have ended up getting their butts kicked by the “Mighty G”.

Some people really should know better and I know those who are reading this will know better but let me reiterate this message for once and for all. There is effectively no such thing as a bad inbound link. There are good links and there are very good links but effectively there is no such thing as a bad inbound link.

The reason for this? Well one of the things that Google likes to see is a nice spread of inbound linking types as well as sources of IP’s. Hence to take full advantage of this Google is expecting to see direct links, indirect links, redirects, dofollows, nofollows, typos you name it. Why? The answer is simple, Google wants to see an inbound Links landscape that very closely resembles what humans would provide and that includes mistakes.

If it doesn’t see that then look out as your entire approach could be seen as too controlled and manipulative?

Have a great weekend and keep those messages and emails coming in.

See ya soon folks!

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Sorry to be the “prophet of doom and gloom” amongst the SEO Community but I have just been checking up on all the information abut the latest Google “goings on” i.e. the so called “Caffeine update” and the word on the streets is that things could get a little bumpy for a while.

Now “Caffeine” is lot more than just your “box standard” Google Update so to refer to it as just another update actually doesn’t do it justice, it is much more than that but that is not what actually worries me.

The guys at Web Pro News who know a few things more than I do actually reckon that the effects of this could be worse than the so called “Big Daddy” and “Florida” updates. Remember them? They were infamously and widely regarded amongst the SEO community as some of the darkest days of the Internet where chaos ruled for a short while until most people (including Google) actually caught on as to what exactly was going on and put matters right.

If the after effects of “Caffeine” are going to have as much lasting effect on us as the other two updates then heaven help us all. We already have spoken to two Companies “wiped out” overnight by the effects of Google’s over enthusiasm and inability to actually make sure that everything goes as it should do.

Now I know the Internet and Cyberspace is a pretty big place (understatement of the year) and (as a colleague of mine used to gleefully say) “you can’t make an omelette without cracking a few eggs” that’s not the point. It doesn’t make it any better to be told cheerfully that most of us will not suffer any after effects when you happen to be the unlucky one that has just got wiped out.

It’s a bit like being in theatre of war and being told, don’t worry your latest gunshot wound was caused by “Friendly fire”, there’s nothing friendly about it at all.

Interesting times ahead.

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