McCarty DavidCrowdlinks are links from places where they are likely to be left by live users. These can be forum threads, social networking tracks, feedback sections, bulletin boards, and other sites where communication takes place. Such links have always been given attention in global crowdfunding – they help improve brand recognition, create a positive opinion of products and services, and help build customer loyalty. But lately crowdfunding has been more often discussed in the context of search engine promotion. On the wave of tightening of the fight against link spam, they have become an indispensable element in the buildup of link mass.
What tasks are solved by crowdsourced links?
Attracting targeted traffic. Like any links, crowds bring users to a site. But a link profile built solely on such links, no matter what they say, will not give as stable traffic as the same commercial links. But crowds are better at reaching the target audience and converting into revenue, it is more trusted by users and less hostile to search algorithms.
Increased brand awareness and increased customer loyalty. This is what we have said above: crowdfunding allows you to take full advantage of live communication with your target audience. Proper work with links on forums and other thematic platforms increases sales, builds a circle of loyal audience, helps in solving reputational crises, etc.
“Warming up” the young site. After launching, each project gets into the so-called sandbox. How long it will spend there, and with what results will leave it – it largely depends on the SEO-work that was carried out with a young site. Competent provision of external crowdsourced links is an effective strategy for supporting a resource with zero link mass. In contrast to the purchased anchor and unsynchronous counterparts, these links are safer: the probability of falling under the anti-link filter is very low. Thus, sites heated by Crowd, more quickly leave the sandbox and already at the start have the foundation, which helps to actively build traffic.
Minimizing the risks when using commercial links. Since crowds generate the most natural link mass and does not pose a serious threat in terms of search algorithms, its role is indispensable as a stabilizing component. Dilution of such links frankly commercial anchor and to a lesser extent unanchored links, allows you to shade their effect and to re-insure against the possible imposition of filters.
Thus, the role of Crowd in the promotion of sites is mostly auxiliary. It can not fully replace the commercial links, but acts as a mechanism that enhances the effect of the link building and reduces the risk of imposition of anti link filters. This is why we always pay special attention to crowdfunding and include it in our standard SEO packages.
Where to place crowdslinks?
Without getting into details, all Internet sites with opportunities for open commenting are suitable for placing crowds. We partly listed them above – these are thematic forums, feedback boards, message boards, social networking tracks, Q&A services, directories, etc. But if we are talking about SEO – for search engines, the value of external links from a particular donor site has different weight in importance.
Practice shows that crowds placed on thematic forums with a more or less clean link profile quoted best. We are talking about sites where moderation monitors the quality of links left and does not allow their forum to become a link dump. Placement on such resources is more difficult, because there is a high probability that the link will be removed by the moderators, but it is here crowdsource will bring the most benefit to your site. Again, this is purely a matter of SEO. Attracting direct traffic, increasing brand awareness or product promotion is another story.
Q&A services are another effective type of donor for placing free crowdsourced links. When linking to such sites, the quality of your comment is important. If you give a useful and thorough answer, establishing yourself as an expert on a particular topic, the reader is likely to click on a link to the site. Such a promotion strategy requires time and resources that have to be spent on writing really useful posts. If you simply post a comment in a thread along the lines of “read the answer here,” it is possible that such a link will only increase the bounce rate and harm the behavioral factors of your site.
