Google SEO Ranking Factor Tier List (Part 2)

Summary

In this SEO-focused video, Matt Diggity ranks 21 link building techniques into tiers, highlighting the most effective for higher Google rankings and those to avoid. He shares insights on A-tier strategies like guest posting and digital PR, while warning against E-tier tactics like blog comments and automated software links. Matt also offers practical tips on securing quality backlinks, emphasizing the importance of understanding Google's link analysis limitations and the value of high-effort, high-reward techniques.

Takeaways

• 🔒 SEO involves 21 different link building techniques, categorized into tiers based on their effectiveness and impact on Google rankings.
• 🏆 The S tier represents the best techniques that significantly improve Google rankings, while E tier techniques are either harmful or completely ignored by Google.
• 📈 Matt Diggity, an SEO expert, shares his experience and insights on various link building methods through his video, aiming to guide viewers on which techniques to prioritize.
• 🚫 E tier techniques such as blog comments, forum link building, and automated software links are discouraged due to their spammy nature and potential to harm a website's SEO.
• 🤝 Guest posting is an A tier technique, highly effective for building authoritative links and is a popular method among SEOs.
• 🎨 Image outreach is a B tier technique where one can use their images found on other sites to negotiate backlinks, reaching domains previously considered out of reach.
• 📉 Skyscraper technique, once effective, is now considered a D tier method due to its time-consuming nature and the likelihood of requiring payment for links.
• 📢 Digital PR, an S tier technique, involves leveraging surveys or research to attract high-quality backlinks from reputable news sites.
• 🔗 Link insertions are an A tier tactic where one requests existing articles on other sites to include a link to their own content, often more affordable than guest posts.
• 🔄 Link exchanges, a B tier technique, involve reciprocal linking agreements, which can be beneficial but should not be overused.
• 📊 Expert roundups, a C tier method, involve compiling tips or advice from industry experts, which can attract backlinks but require significant management effort.
• 🖼️ Infographics, once a popular D tier technique, have lost their appeal and are now considered less effective due to the preference for richer media like video content.
• 📝 Citations are a B tier foundational link building technique, important for local SEO and establishing a website's credibility.
• 📰 Press releases are generally a D tier technique, with high-quality releases being useful for link diversity, but low-quality ones often ignored by Google.
• 💰 Buying links from reputable vendors is an A tier technique for scaling link building efforts efficiently, though it's crucial to avoid spammy links.

Q & A

What are the different tiers of link building techniques according to Matt Diggity?

Matt Diggity categorizes link building techniques into five tiers: S tier (the best), A tier (valuable for everyone's SEO toolkit), B tier (builds powerful links but should be occasional), C tier (okay but not cost or effort effective), and E tier (harmful to the website or ignored by Google).

Why are E tier link building techniques considered harmful or a waste of time?

E tier techniques such as blog comments, forum link building, and automated software links are considered harmful or a waste of time because Google can easily identify and ignore these spammy links, and collecting too many can lead to an unnatural links manual penalty.

What is the significance of guest posting in link building according to the video?

Guest posting is an A tier link building technique, highly utilized and effective for getting results. It involves reaching out to websites to write content with a link back to your own site.

How does image outreach work as a link building technique?

Image outreach is a B tier technique where you take images you own, find where they're being used without permission via Google's reverse image search, and then reach out to the website owners to request a link back to your site in exchange for using the image.

What is the issue with the skyscraper technique as described in the video?

The skyscraper technique is considered a D tier technique because it involves creating a comprehensive guide and then reaching out to websites that have linked to similar content, asking them to link to your 'better' version instead. However, it's often a waste of time as most of these links are no longer free and require payment.

What is the role of digital PR in link building and how is it categorized?

Digital PR is an S tier technique that involves conducting research or surveys and then reaching out to journalists and news outlets to get your findings published, which can result in high-quality backlinks.

How does the technique of creating link bait articles compare to other techniques in terms of effort and results?

Creating link bait articles is a C tier technique. While it can attract links, it's not always worth the effort compared to other techniques. It requires a well-thought-out content plan and can be more hit or miss in terms of results.

What is HARO and why is it considered an A tier link building technique?

HARO stands for Help a Reporter Out. It's an A tier technique where you receive requests from journalists seeking expert quotes on various subjects. Responding to these requests can result in free links from reputable sites if your quote is used.

Why are broken link building and unlinked mentions considered not worth the time in the current SEO landscape?

Broken link building and unlinked mentions are D tier techniques because when you reach out to site owners to correct these issues, they often ignore the requests. The time spent could be better utilized on other more effective link building techniques.

What is the advantage of link insertions over other link building techniques?

Link insertions are an A tier tactic where you ask websites to add a link to your site in an already created article. The advantage is that since it takes minimal effort to update an article with a link, websites typically don't charge as much for this as they would for a new article or guest post.

What is the concept behind link exchanges and how is it categorized in the tier list?

Link exchanges, categorized as a B tier technique, involve getting a link from a website in exchange for linking back to them. It's an efficient way to gain links, but should not be the primary strategy due to the potential for unnatural linking patterns.

How does Matt Diggity view the use of infographics as a link building technique currently?

Matt Diggity views infographics as a D tier technique. While they were once an effective way to attract links due to their novelty, they are now considered less valuable as people prefer richer media like video content.

What is the role of citations in link building and why are they considered important?

Citations are a B tier technique where you add your website's information to directories like Yelp or the Better Business Bureau with a link back to your site. They are considered foundational links that trustworthy businesses should build first, providing a base of credibility.

Why is the use of press releases for link building considered less effective in the current SEO practices?

Press releases are a D tier technique because cheap press release services often result in syndication to low-quality or ignored sites, providing little to no SEO benefit. High-end press releases, however, can still offer some value for link diversity or specific SEO strategies.

What is the stance on buying links from vendors and how does it compare with other link building techniques?

Buying links from vendors is considered an A tier technique, especially for those in lucrative niches or at a business scale where time efficiency is crucial. It's a direct method to acquire links but should be done carefully to avoid links from spammers that could harm the website's SEO.

Outlines

00:00

🔗 Link Building Techniques & SEO Tier List

Matt Diggity introduces 21 link building techniques used in SEO, categorizing them into tiers based on their effectiveness. He rates them from S to E, with S being the most effective for ranking on Google and E being either harmful or completely ignored. Techniques such as blog comments, forum link building, and automated software links are deemed E tier, while guest posting and digital PR are considered S tier. Matt also mentions a promotional offer for his SEO services and outlines the criteria for each tier, emphasizing the importance of quality over quantity in link building strategies.

05:02

🚀 Effective Link Building Strategies & Examples

This paragraph delves into various effective link building strategies such as guest posting, image outreach, and digital PR, which are categorized as A and B tier techniques. Guest posting involves writing content for other websites and includes a link back to one's own site. Image outreach is about using reverse image search to find where images are used and requesting a link back. Digital PR involves conducting surveys or studies and pitching the results to journalists for high-quality backlinks. The paragraph also discusses the use of seasonal trends to earn links and the importance of anticipating journalists' needs.

10:06

❌ Debunking Ineffective Link Building Methods

Matt Diggity critiques several link building methods that he considers ineffective or a waste of time, such as skyscraper techniques, broken link building, and unlinked mentions. He explains why these methods are no longer valuable, often due to the ease with which they can be manipulated or the lack of genuine interest from website owners. He then contrasts these with more effective methods like link insertions and link exchanges, which are categorized as A and B tier techniques, and discusses the benefits of using HARO for obtaining backlinks.

🛠️ Advanced Link Building Tactics & Tools

The final paragraph discusses advanced link building tactics such as expert roundups, PBNs (Private Blog Networks), infographics, citations, press releases, and buying links from vendors. Expert roundups involve compiling tips from industry experts and then requesting them to link back or share the content. PBNs involve buying domains with existing link value and using them to link to one's own site. Infographics, while once effective, are now considered less valuable as people prefer richer media like video content. Citations are still considered a foundational B tier technique, while press releases are largely ineffective unless they're high-end. Lastly, buying links is presented as an A tier technique for scaling link building efforts in lucrative niches.

Keywords

💡Link Building

Link building is the process of acquiring hyperlinks from other websites to your own. It is a key aspect of SEO (Search Engine Optimization), aimed at increasing the visibility and authority of a website in search engine results. In the video, the speaker discusses various link building techniques, ranking them in tiers to indicate their effectiveness and advising which ones to focus on for higher rankings on Google.

💡SEO

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, which is the practice of improving and promoting a website to increase its visibility in search engine results. The video's theme revolves around SEO, specifically focusing on link building techniques as a means to enhance a website's SEO.

💡DR90 Links

DR90 refers to links from websites with a Domain Rating of 90, indicating high authority in the context of SEO. The speaker mentions these as desirable links that can significantly boost a website's ranking on Google, exemplified by the links on diggitymarketing.com.

💡Tier List

A tier list in this context is a ranking system used by the speaker to categorize the 21 link building techniques into different levels of effectiveness. The tiers range from S, the highest, to E, the lowest, helping viewers understand which techniques are most valuable for SEO.

💡Blog Comments

Blog comments are a form of link building where one leaves comments on blogs with a link back to their own site. The speaker categorizes this as an E tier technique, suggesting it is outdated and not effective for SEO, as Google can easily ignore such spammy links.

💡Guest Posting

Guest posting involves writing content for another website in your niche and including a link back to your own site. It is an A tier technique, highly regarded in the video for its effectiveness in earning high-quality backlinks, as demonstrated by the speaker's success with a post on HostGator.

💡Image Outreach

Image outreach is a B tier link building technique where one finds usage of their images online and reaches out to the sites hosting them, requesting a link back in exchange for image use. The speaker describes how this can help secure links from high-authority domains.

💡Skyscraper Technique

The skyscraper technique involves creating comprehensive content that outperforms existing popular content on a similar topic, then reaching out to websites that link to the existing content, asking them to link to the new, improved version. The speaker rates this as a D tier technique, suggesting it is no longer effective due to being overused.

💡Digital PR

Digital PR, or public relations, is the practice of managing a company's image and message in the digital space. In the video, the speaker describes it as an S tier technique, where they conducted a survey and reached out to journalists, resulting in high-quality backlinks from reputable news sites.

💡Broken Link Building

Broken link building is a technique where one identifies links on other websites that point to dead pages (404 errors) and then contacts the site owner to replace the broken link with one to their own content. The speaker considers this a D tier technique, as it is often ineffective and time-consuming.

💡Link Insertions

Link insertions involve reaching out to websites and asking them to add a link to your content within an existing article. The speaker rates this as an A tier technique, as it is a common and effective method for acquiring links, especially when done strategically.

💡PBNs (Private Blog Networks)

PBNs refer to networks of websites created to funnel link authority to a main site, often considered a black hat SEO technique due to its manipulative nature. The speaker categorizes PBNs as a B tier technique, acknowledging their effectiveness but cautioning against overuse due to the risk of penalties from search engines.

💡Infographics

Infographics are visual representations of information, data, or knowledge. They were once a popular D tier link building technique for attracting links by offering to enrich other sites' content. However, the speaker notes that their effectiveness has waned as people now prefer richer media like video content.

💡Citations

Citations are mentions of a business's name, address, and phone number, often with a link back to the business's website, on directories and review sites. The speaker considers citations a B tier technique, important for building foundational links that contribute to a website's local SEO.

💡Press Releases

Press releases are official statements sent to the media, often used for announcing news or updates. The speaker categorizes traditional press release distribution services as a D tier technique, suggesting that they are largely ignored by Google unless they are from high-end services.

💡Buying Links

Buying links refers to the practice of paying for backlinks from other websites. The speaker rates this as an A tier technique, noting that it is common in lucrative niches and can be an efficient way to scale link building efforts, though it's important to avoid links from spammers.

Highlights

There are 21 different link building techniques in SEO, varying in effectiveness and legitimacy.

Matt Diggity, from diggitymarketing.com, ranks these techniques in a tier list to guide which to prioritize and which to avoid.

S tier techniques are the most effective for higher Google rankings, while E tier techniques can harm a website or be ignored by Google.

Blog comments, forum link building, and automated software links are considered E tier and are not recommended.

Guest posting is an A tier technique, highly utilized and effective for building authority on Google.

Image outreach is a B tier technique, useful for obtaining links from high-authority domains.

Skyscraper link building is a D tier technique, considered a waste of time due to its outdated nature.

Digital PR is an S tier technique for earning high-quality backlinks through media coverage.

Creating link bait articles is a C tier technique, with mixed results and requiring a comprehensive content plan.

HARO (Help a Reporter Out) is an A tier technique for securing backlinks through expert quotes in media articles.

Broken link building and unlinked mentions are D tier techniques, not recommended due to low response rates.

Link insertions are an A tier tactic for adding links to existing articles on authoritative websites.

Link exchanges are a B tier technique, effective but should not be the primary link building strategy.

Expert roundups are a C tier medium, useful for obtaining backlinks but can be management-intensive.

Private Blog Networks (PBNs) are a B tier black hat technique, effective but risky due to unnatural link patterns.

Infographics are a D tier technique, less effective now as richer media like video content is preferred.

Citations are a B tier technique, foundational links that establish a website's credibility.

Press releases are generally a D tier technique, with low-quality releases being largely ignored by Google.

Buying links from vendors is an A tier technique for scaling link building efforts efficiently.

Transcripts

There's 21 different link building techniques in the game of SEO.

Some of them are legit and can get sexy DR90 links like these that

I have on diggitymarketing.com.

Other techniques can get hundreds of high volume links with a single effort.

Others are dog poopoo and a complete waste of your time.

My name is Matt Diggity and I literally build backlinks for a

living through my five SEO companies.

In this video, I'm going to be exposing the truth about link building and

ranking all 21 techniques in a tier list so you can know which to double

down on and which ones you can tell your competitors are the bomb with

an anonymous account on SEO Reddit.

Here's how it's going to go down.

For each link building technique, I'm going to give

them a rating and a tier list.

S tier is the best of the best.

These are the ones that undoubtedly get you a higher ranking on Google.

The ones that you'd probably slap your mama for.

A tier belongs in everyone's SEO toolkit with a brain.

These links get movement and build authority on Google.

B tier links can also build powerful links, but you want to dabble

in them from time to time, not make them your bread and butter.

C tier link building techniques are okay.

They just might not be cost or effort effective.

Deterred links are just a classic waste of time and are sadly a

crowd favorite amongst SEO noobs.

And lastly, E tier techniques will either hurt your website or in the very best

case will be completely ignored by Google.

And for the good links, I'm also going to tell you exactly how I get them.

But real quick before I get started, I wanted to let you know that the

search initiative is taking on a handful of clients right now for a

thousand dollars off your first month.

In exchange for a testimonial down the road.

Just head on over to thesearchinitiative.

com, put your deets into the form, and we'll get right back to you.

I'm gonna kick things off and do everyone a big favor by knocking

out the entire E tier in one shot.

Remember, these are the links that hurt your website, or in the very best

case scenario, are ignored by Google.

In this category, we have blog comments, where you're going to blogs and

commenting like it's 2014 and deluding yourself that you're actually doing SEO.

Then we have forum link building, where you're essentially doing

the same thing on forums.

Profile link building, where you're making accounts on Reddit,

Quora, SoundCloud, and whatever.

Web 2.

0 link building, when you're digging up old antique diagrams like this one and

creating Weebly, Blogger, and WordPress.

com sites, as if Google is still a moron of a search engine.

And last but not least, Automated software links where you're going to be using

tools like GSA, SE Nuke, or Money Robot to basically negative SEO your own website.

Hell, even ChatGPT knows these links blow.

Why do they suck so bad?

Well, Google has a link spam problem.

And it's a very hard problem to solve.

Imagine the computation cost of analyzing the trillions

of backlinks on the internet.

So they're forced to make heuristics and cut corners.

Blog comments, web 2s, forum links.

Google knows that anyone can create these links for free with 60 seconds of time.

A blog comment.

This isn't viewed as a vote that one website is saying that

another website's content is good.

You made the damn blog comment yourself.

So, algorithmically, Google knows that they could ignore spamming

links like these and they're not gonna break the internet.

That said, collect enough of them and you'll eventually land yourself

an unnatural links manual penalty.

Which is no bueno.

Next, let's talk about guest posts, which is an A tier link building technique.

With guest posting, you're reaching out to websites, offering to write

them content, in which you'll place a link to your own website.

Like this guest post that I landed on HostGator, a DR90, on the

actual topic of guest posting.

How meta is that?

Why is it A tier?

Well, it's the most highly utilized form of link building, according to a poll I

took in my 32, 000 member Facebook group.

And it's so popular because it gets results.

Make sure to check out my video called Guest Posting on Steroids

if you're building them yourself.

Next up, we have image outreach, which is a B tier technique,

one that you want to dabble in.

My business partner and I took a bunch of pictures of us drawing

equations and s on a window.

I used Google's reverse image search to see where it was being used,

and then reached out to DR89s like this one, and asked them to link to

my site in exchange for using it.

This technique can get you links on domains that you previously

thought were out of reach.

You just don't want to make it your primary link source.

By the way, I had a suspicion that Google might have started ignoring

these links in a past link spam update.

But that's not the case according to a recent single variable test that I did.

Next we have skyscraper link building, a D tier technique, which is a waste of

time, which is why I never bother with it.

With skyscraper, you're creating a mega guide on a specific topic

in your niche, like this ultimate list of 100 free stock photo sites.

Then you scrape up every website that's already linked to a similar

article and then you send them an email like this Hey, I saw you link to a

piece of crap article on photography You should link to mine instead.

Skyscraper used to work well before, before it got played out But these

days the only skyscraper links you're gonna get for free are from sites that

you don't actually want links from.

The rest are Gonna ask for money and if you're gonna pay there's way more

efficient methods coming up later Let's PR, an S tier technique, baby

I conducted a survey asking people which tech companies had the biggest

impact on the world Then I contacted a bunch of journalists and told them

about my research, with the hopes that they'd publish it on high end sites.

And boy did they, including the New York freakin Times.

Check out my video called, That said, digital PR can be hit and miss.

These days, I'm outsourcing 90 percent of my digital PR work to

Ferry and the awesome team over at searchintelligence.co.Uk.

By the way, here's a quick word from the sponsor of this

video, Search Intelligence.

This campaign got us big links in websites such as Lifehacker, Wales Online, Daily

Record and about 20 other news websites.

Let me show you how we've done it.

We knew that people will be flying a lot this summer and we knew that journalists

will be writing about this topic a lot.

So on behalf of our client, we put together a nice guide about

how to fall asleep on the plane.

Then we used MuckRack to find journalists who write about travel.

Then we put our advice in a nice email and sent the tips to the journalists.

Within just a few days, the links started landing, securing our client

natural placements in really big websites, just like this, this and this.

This is a great example about how you can leverage seasonal

trends to earn links to a website.

Anticipate what journalists want to write about at all times and give

them the stories that they need.

They will reward you with some great, juicy links.

I hope this is helpful.

Now back to the video.

Next up, we have the technique of creating link bait articles

in order to attract links.

And I'm assigning this to C tier, meaning that I do it, but I'm not

exactly sure if it's worth the effort compared to other techniques.

A while back, I wrote this complete SEO guide to anchor text.

I'm not complaining, it's naturally picked up 151 links.

But this is more the exception than the rule.

If you really want to go down this linkbait road, take a page

from Brian Dean's playbook.

If you load up exploding topics into Ahrefs, you'll see that he

has 47 different linkbait articles with statistics in the title.

So essentially, he's become a topical authority on statistics.

Don't just write a linkbait article or two.

Go all in with a fully thought out content plan.

Next up, we have Help a Reporter Out, otherwise known as HARO, an A

tier technique that should already be part of your backlink strategy.

When you sign up for HARO, three times a day you're going

to get an email like this.

These are all requests from journalists seeking experts to

give them quotes on these subjects.

If they use your quote, then they're going to link to your site for free.

See this article on DR92 Yahoo Finance?

Yep, that's my link right there.

To succeed at HARO, you need to reply to as many of these

quote requests as possible.

The issue with this is that you're likely to lose your goddamn mind.

So in order to keep your sanity, use ChatGPT.

The next problem is that so many SEOs are already using ChatGPT, so to say Haro is

overcrowded would be an understatement.

Next, I got a twofer for you because they're about the same thing, and

that's a D tier broken link building and unlinked mentions techniques.

Which, in my opinion, are not worth the time.

With broken link building, you find out where websites are linking

to dead pages and 404 errors.

Then you email them and say, Yo, you're linking to a page that isn't

there anymore, link to me instead.

With unlinked mentions, you find out where people mentioned you or your website's

name, but didn't give you a link.

And then you're like, Yo, what's up with that?

You used my name, but why you no backlink, brah?

There's a reason why both broken link building and unlinked

mentions aren't worth it anymore.

It's because when you email these site owners, they're going to read it and

say to themselves, I don't give a f k.

Your time is better spent on other link building techniques, like

link insertions, an A tier tactic.

Next to guest posts, link insertions are my second most used link building tactic.

You outreach to websites you want to link from and ask them to link to you from

an already created article, preferably one that has a bunch of links itself.

In 2024, most websites are going to ask for money.

But the thing about link insertions, because it takes 10 seconds to

update an article with a link, they don't charge as much.

In the affiliate lab, I share a sick script that gets link

insertions on the cheap.

Next, we have a highly slept on technique, and that's link exchanges.

It's a be true technique, which means it's great, but you don't

want to do too much of it.

This is when you get a link from a website in exchange for linking to them.

Or there's also three way link exchanges where they'll link to

you, but you use another one of your websites to link to them.

Or you can even sneak them into a guest post that you're about to land.

The most efficient way to get quality link exchanges is so stupid,

you'll want to slap yourself.

And that's by simply paying attention to your inbox.

Guess what?

Quality websites do outreach too, and there's a good chance that

they've already reached out to you.

How do you think I got this DR93 link from HubSpot?

Next we have expert roundups, a C tier medium.

And In this article, I asked 30 SEO experts, what is your best tip to get high

quality backlinks from authority sites?

Overall, it netted 11 high quality backlinks.

After the roundup is complete, you can reach out to each one of these

experts and ask them to link to it.

Or at the very least, they can share it on social media with the hopes

that someone else will link to it.

The only reason that I don't like doing expert roundups too much

is because of all the management.

Imagine trying to cat herd 30 extremely distracted experts into giving you

quotes and sharing your article.

Next, we take a trip to the dark side with a black hat link

building technique in PBNs.

This is B tier, meaning that it gets great results, but you don't want to overdo it.

With PBNs, you're buying up expired or auctioned domains.

Juicy domains that have a lot of links going to them.

Then you're recreating these websites and then linking to your website from the

homepage, which is like blasting your site with a page rank fire hose of link juice.

You just don't want to do too many of these because it's fairly unnatural

to get a link from a homepage, which is why I typically send only one to

two PBN links to my priority pages each with exact match anchor text.

You can also use PBNs as tier 2, using them to charge up

your tier 1 white hat links.

The main issue with PBNs is PBN management.

Having to maintain hundreds or thousands of websites, they're hosting, they're

content, they're indexing, all of it.

Which is why I outsource PBNs Next is infographics from the D tier.

I used to create infographics like this Client SEO vs.

Affiliate SEO one.

You can then use it to reach out to websites with similar pieces of

content and tell them they can use it to enrich their content by using your

embed code, which links back to you.

This used to work when infographics were new and all the rage.

Nowadays, people just don't give a s t about them.

They want richer media, like video content.

Citations is next, a B tier technique.

You should definitely do them, but they can't be your only strategy.

Go out to free directories like Yelp, Trustpilot, Yellow Pages,

Better Business Bureau, etc.

Add an entry for your website with name, address, and phone number

with a link back to your website.

These are one of the first links you want to build to a website.

They're considered foundational links that normal, trustworthy businesses

build first to their websites.

To add, I ran a single variable test and found that citations provide value

for websites even without a physical location, such as affiliate websites.

To build citations, find a list like this of directory websites, then simply

start building them out one by one.

Next we have press releases, which is a D tier doodoo link building technique.

You submit a press release to a service, and then they syndicate that

release out to a bunch of news sites.

Actually, high end press releases, like you get on PRWeb, are

good for some diversity, or in cases you'd want to justify an

acquisition method 301 redirection.

But the cheap ones that people use for who knows what, they only get

you on crappy FM radio sites, which are going to be ignored by Google.

Then we simply have buying your links from vendors, an A tier

technique that pretty much everyone in lucrative niches ends up doing.

At a certain point in your business, you need to think about scale.

Do you want to spend five hours a day reaching out to websites

and begging for free links?

Or do you want to spend that time to actually grow your business

by focusing on key decisions?

What I don't recommend is getting links from the spammers that somehow always

seem to weasel their way into your inbox.

They're all selling the same used and abused links.

Thanks for watching and remember to subscribe for more

videos just like this one.