Blog networks are dying. Google Panda 3.4 saw to that. When considering search engine optimization, Sydney businesses want to make sure blog networks are not the only SEO technique being used to boost your Google ranking.

Backlinks

Google determines a website’s authority by counting how many backlinks it has. This means that a website to which other websites are linked is considered authoritative, and consequently ranked highly in the search engine results.

What is a blog network?

A blog network is a web of blogs related in content, and usually owned by one individual or group. It can consist of a dozen blogs, or of hundreds. Each blog in the network links to all other blogs, artificially increasing the reputation and popularity of the blogs.

At first sight, using a blog network to boost rankings can look attractive as a strategy for search engine optimization. But things are not as easy as that.

How blog networks work

A blog network has long been an effective means of artificially building backlinks for anyone interested in search engine optimization.

An example: the owner of a website selling cat food writes a handful of related articles, spins them with spinning software, multiplying them threefold, adds a link to his website in them, and then sends the articles to a blog network, which posts each on a different blog.

The result is that the articles, though poor in quality, are taken to be unique by Google (they really are). And since they contain a backlink and are placed on a relevant website, they are considered by search engines as a thumbs up for the website, whose ranking is increased.

Panda 3.4

Google recently introduced algorithm changes known as the Panda 3.4 update, which made blog network backlinks much less important, and in doing this, dramatically decreased the rankings of websites that relied entirely on blog network backlinks for their top search engine position.

Why avoid blog networks

Ever since Google Panda 3.4, backlinks from blog networks have lost their value, at least for many blog networks. The result is that a website that before Google Panda 3.4 ranked on the first page of the results thanks to its reliance solely on artificial backlinking, now might not make it at all into the results.

Stop using blog networks!

Not all blog networks have yet been penalized or de-indexed, but it’s obvious that their future is uncertain. If you currently use artificial backlinking via one or more blog networks it is time to consider a new strategy, before you lose your ranking or get banned altogether. When reviewing strategies for search engine optimization, Sydney businesses are best to invest in an SEO expert with a sound understanding of SEO.