Non-public Weblog Networks, Correlation Research, & Google Penguin and Hyperlink Evaluation

SEO Theory January 29, 2016 Hangout

Search engine optimization discussion with Kent Yunk of Roaring Pajamas SEO. Topics include:

* Building private blog networks
* Why Domain Authority is a useless quality metric
* Major companies operate multiple interlinked Websites
* Bing and Google accept some interlinkage between sites
* Low-metric value Websites provide links just as good as high-value sites
* Web marketers only pay lip service to the uselessness of SEO metrics
* Spammers inflate the metrics assigned to their sites by SEO tools
* You should never disavow links on the basis of SEO metrics
* Web marketers continue to disavow many good links
* SEO tool metrics are valid opinions but should not be used as standards
* Wikipedia uses “rel=’nofollow'” but has a private network that passes link value to itself
* Links from many Wiki sites, even when using “rle=’nofollow'”, can be great links that fall out of link graphs
* Google provides too few examples of bad links
* Google does not use PageRank to determine if a link is good or spammy
* Web marketers should not substitute similar metrics for PageRank in trying to identify spammy links
* How should SEOs discuss links when auditing Websites?
* Marketers mistake correlation for confirmation
* Correlation does not confirm anything
* Correlation studies are inappropriate for analyzing complex ranking systems using hundreds or thousands of signals
* SEO correlation studies use inappropriate analytical methods
* Typical SEO correlation studies publish results that actually point to NO correlations
* People mistakenly believe that SEO metrics confirm their beliefs
* Large amounts of data are not enough; signals must be isolated.
* SEO correlation studies don’t have all the different types of data they need to isolate ranking signals
* SEO correlation studies would not be accepted for peer review journals
* The Xenite.Org Network is a private network where a few core sites link to each other
* Large corporations with many sub-brands have to use two-tier interlinking
* When linking for business purposes the links are usually very good, very useful to visitors
* Yes, some private blog networks can be built for spam
* An automated Penguin algorithm may spur growth in private blog networks used for spammy links
* It’s only a matter of time before people game the Penguin algorithm

source