In a recent Webmaster Hangout, Google’s John Mueller addressed a question regarding the use of social bookmarking as a link-building tactic. Mueller provided valuable insights into how Google views low-quality link-building strategies.
Understanding Social Bookmarking for Links
Social bookmarking is similar to forum spamming. It is based on the belief that social media websites possess "authority" and that by placing links on these sites, a new website can capture some of this "authority" and begin ranking. This tactic is flawed because there is no actual "authority" signal or metric.
A web page can accumulate multiple links from relevant websites, thereby becoming authoritative on a particular topic. However, there isn’t an inherent "authority" signal or metric.
There is no such thing as an authority metric. While links can measure authoritativeness, there is no actual authority metric, and their effects can be limited or enhanced by factors like relevance.
In the above diagram, most SEOs would prefer the Strong Web Page for a link. However, the Weak Web Page might be more desirable if it is on-topic. Conversely, a "strong web page" could be less desirable if it lacks relevance.
A page that receives inbound links relevant to Topic A will be regarded as relevant for Topic A. However, if your page is about Topic Z, such a link is unlikely to provide any ranking benefit. A web page does not inherit authority but only inherits links, which matter only when they are also relevant.
Therefore, acquiring links from social media or social bookmarking sites offers no particular advantage since they are inherently irrelevant, and any inbound links from them are also irrelevant.
When viewed in the context of how links are analyzed and ranked by modern search engines, the notion of gaining ranking advantages from bookmarking sites becomes implausible.
Does Social Bookmarking for Links Impact Rankings?
Question from a webmaster:
"I social bookmarked my site. After one week, I noticed that the site I bookmarked has been marked as spam. Do these pages have any effect on my ranking?"
John Mueller’s Response:
"I don’t think those pages would have any effect on your ranking because we’re likely ignoring those social bookmark sites and the links from there. That’s a very old SEO strategy, and we have a lot of experience recognizing those kinds of links and simply ignoring them."
The strategy of using social bookmarking for links to improve rankings is not recommended, as it is ineffective. Links from social bookmarking sites do not contribute to an improvement in rankings, as Google disregards them.
Watch the Webmaster Hangout to learn more.
Images by Shutterstock, Modified by Author
Screenshots by Author, Modified by Author
