50 Percent of All USA Web Traffic Goes to Just 74 Websites (shown in the photo below) | 2021

Hartzer
50 percent of all USA web traffic goes to just 74 websites ( shown in the photo below). We should give up on guest blogging unless it will appear on one of these sites.
If your guest post isn't on one of these sites, no one will see it.
That's what Lisa Myers said at Mozcon this week.
Prove that she's wrong.
43 👍🏽 7 🤭 5 🤯 56

50 percent of all usa web traffic goes to just 74 websites shown in the photo below 2021
🔗🏹
👈📰
[filtered from 113 💬🗨]💬🗨

Gaude
I want to be on p0rn-hu6 😍

Eric
I would say 90% of that 50% is p0rn-hu6.
60% of the time, it works all the time.
👍🏽🤭6
Andrew
I am selling do follow p0rn hub guest post. (Not really)
🤭👍🏽2
Tung Tran » Andrew
Done for you video creation and distribution service would sell better – just saying 😉
🤭1

Ady
I spose p0rn-hu6 gets lots of return traffic… 😎
🤭👍🏽2

Kasem
Hmm interesting hypothesis! I'll do some competition analysis and see for myself
🤭👍🏽2

Chiến

🤭1
Andy
and 48% of that 50% go to p0rn-hu6 😂
👍🏽🤭7
Cavallo
Hey, how can I do a guest post in p0rn-hu6? 😁
🤭1

👈📰

Ammon
Hey guys, be nice. Lisa has been around the block a few times and done a lot of good work for a lot of very serious clients. Anyone questioning that doesn't know their industry. You don't have to agree with her, but you ought to disagree *respectfully*.
She's NOT saying what you think she's saying. So until you actually take the time to find out what she was talking about, you're not doing yourselves any favours.
If you take the time to understand the link graph, and that it is all about how everything connects to EVERYTHING else, you'll understand what she's talking about. And she's right, to a large extent.
The links you can get, from anywhere, have a power that is directly related to how those pages are connected to others, right the way up to the truly elite sites. That's how PageRank works right from the start.
As I've explained many times, the link graph, PageRank, etc are all forms of Network Theory, like a huge game of 6 degrees of separation. The sites she's talking about are the ones that top that graph. The sites that are 50% of all the "How closely related to X is Y?" computations.
If you don't understand it, well, asking questions will get you a lot further than trying to piss into the wind.
💟👍🏽5

James
Here's Lisa's deck from MozCon… https://www.slideshare.net/…/mozcon-2018-none-of-us-is
Mozcon 2018 – None Of Us is as Smart as All of Us
Thompson
The statements as quoted in the OP are ridiculous, IMO. If they were taken out of context or misquoted, that's the fault of the OP. You can't really blame the commenters for that. Of course, I agree that disagreement should be respectful.
Thompson
And since I'm not at the event, I have no way to know what she said or understand what she said in context. I've looked at the slides, but they're just the bare bones of the presentation.
Thompson
Appreciate your insight, though. It sounds like the speaker didn't mean what the OP quoted her as saying.
Ammon » Thompson
If you look at the deck, you can quickly see that the overall presentation wasn't on links at all, it's about staffing and team development. Where the links came in was in highlighting that very often, quality is far more important (and economical) than quantity.
And on that statement I'm going to agree 100%.
I've been involved in SEO groups and forums for a lot of years. It keeps my finger on the pulse, helps me better help in-house SEO teams with their issues, and lets me know what most people are struggling with.
One thing that hasn't changed in over a decade is that the average SEO out there usually wastes a lot of time on chasing the easier, less valuable links. They'll spend six months building up just a hundred or so so-so links with pretty minimal value on easy to get guest posts and low hanging fruit.
The truth is that if they instead put that six months into getting one major link, far closer to those core sites we're talking about, that one link is worth 1,000 of the hundred or so links they'd have gotten normally. That's ten times the effect and value just by better use of the time.
Alex » Ammon
I feel like there's some serious wisdom here in your remark. How would you go about grading a link that's powerful vs not?
Ammon » Alex
As a humorous answer (that's funny because it's true), grade them on the scale of how many limbs (or testicles) you'd be tempted to sacrifice for them. 😃
The thing is, if you're grading links by metrics and numbers, that's probably one of those 'lesser' links. The good one are the ones you don't even bother to check, because you already know this is an amazing link – like from an article (not guest post) in the MAJOR newspapers, or a celebrity endorsement, or simply from that top authority site in your general niche, etc.
The link you couldn't buy but would have thought was a bargain at $10k if you could.
Here's a quick exercise for you to work on over the weekend or the next week: Think of just 10 links that you'd swap your entire backlink profile for. The links you'd ring the family up to celebrate about getting.
Those are the valuable links. I think usually the thing that sets them apart is that, even if they did nothing for Search Engine Optimization (SEO), just getting that link is a major endorsement, and a real thing to boast about. The links that enhance your reputation with humans who see it.
Because, ultimately, that's exactly what the search engines are trying to model mathematically with algorithms.
Ammon
Obviously, the follow-on homework after you come up with those ten links you'd give everything to get – is to spend the next month thinking of what those sites and sources *would* link to, and then create or pay to have created, that thing.
Alex » Ammon
I figured as much! However, I understand this for a big corporate.
1) If you're trying to rank the average small business, surely this doesn't apply? Firstly because it will stick out like a sore thumb (compared to your competitors) and secondly because it's overkill. In this instance would you mean a local newspaper, or magazine?
2) How do you systemize this approach? That's what seems quite tricky.
3) I think you're going after much bigger terms. If you had to scale this down for smaller terms (something like best stick blender, or 'mechanic near me' what would your approach be?
4) I think this is why all those 'pillow' type links feel like a bit of a waste of time. Signing up for all those profiles for a cheap profile link. Feels futile.
PS. Thanks for the conversation. This has seriously got me thinking! Could be the second major part of my process I need to tweak this year.
Ammon » Alex
The core thing to realize, and it is a big shift in thinking, is that ANY link is possible. Not easy, but possible. The ONLY real limitations are how much effort or resource you think are justified to get it. Very very few have the will and determination to play big, so it's actually a far more effective tactic than you might think.
A1) This comes down to what it's worth. The national newspapers and BBC run fluff pieces and local stories too – so even a local mechanic sometimes gets national coverage for something or other.
As for the overkill part, think about this: If you are going to spend the next year trying to get links anyway, then whether you spend that year on mostly chasing one massively, unbeatably, valuable link, or 300 links that are only as powerful and good as every other competitor is only a difference of choices – not costs.
A2) You don't. Being original is what makes you stand out and be remarkable, and ALL valuable link building is about being remarkable. Links are how people say "Wow, check this out!".
When I'm working in agencies and responsible for a team, or when I'm building up the in-house team for a client, I always recommend they read "Purple Cow" by Seth Godin. It's a really valuable mindset trainer for any link-building activity.
A3) There are no clients or projects with small dreams – only those with little resources or big fears. That mechanic would love to have people finding he was a 'near me' recommendation not just for a couple of blocks, but for a whole borough or state – he's just not necessarily willing to admit it out of fear of disappointment.
However, lack of resources (time and money both) is a reality that you have to incorporate into any marketing plans, be they digital ones or real-world. Again, if this is something you are going to work on over time though, HOW you spend that time doesn't change the cost.
A4) Yup. Honestly, about 95% of the links that most companies build are, to all real intents, practically worthless. They only have an effect at all because 95% of their competitor links are the same worthless crap. But honestly, it means that about 95% of all link-building budget and activity is a complete waste of resource.
And for the conversation, my pleasure. Seriously, I enjoy a good, intelligent conversation about Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and I love to help others get as passionate and enthralled by it all as I am. So, thanks to you too.
💟1
Alex » Ammon
Thanks for that! The last 4 months I've been dealing with a 'small' remark
Alex made in a conversation. 'Google already shows you their hand on how to rank' I didn't realize the depth of it at the time but trying to build Standard Operating Procedures (SOP)s based off this remark is over 4 months of work. Currently doing internal link stuff, onpage stuff, anchor text stuff. Next on the list is outreach/external links and your discussion has changed how I'm viewing it.
🤭👍🏽2
Ammon » Gillispie
The biggest secret, (though not so much a secret as something most simply overlook), is that even those ultra-niche sites, or sites that wouldn't be interesting enough themselves can simply create something that is linkable, anything at all, and it's just one more degree of separation, instead of the 100+ degrees of cruddy link-building. 🙂
Imagine that the hypothetical local mechanic we were using as an example earlier started a project to teach local underprivileged youths about car mechanics, using some cheap old banger of a car he'd have the contacts to pick up real cheap. He could create an entire website around the project, in it sharing the things the kids were learning and doing. Not a huge investment other than spending a few hours a week with the kids and a couple more on blogging about it, but it would absolutely make local news, pick up links, and could easily go national at some point. Plus, think of the word of mouth from it locally.
It's big, but not unattainable or unrealistic, and if the project were for a year, well, I think the pay-off would be huge. Even if it didn't get the national news coverage, the local effects would be incredible, and the boost to reputation would be priceless.
💟👍🏽4
Alex » Ammon
Thanks for a specific use case. It really helps make it easier to understand. Do you have an example for 'best 4 slice toaster' 😉 type sites?
Ammon » Alex
I'm just heading out for the evening, and possibly the night, but trust me, I have stories and examples for EVERYTHING. 🙂
However, a question: Is this 4 slice toaster the sole product, or one of a range of products? It make a difference. Is this their own product, or something they resell? What's the USP?
Alex » Ammon
Thanks. It's one of many reviews. A bit like the wire cutter as an example. I'm just trying to understand your logic by applying it to a few niches. Local, international affiliate, etc.

👈📰

Brian
Provocative statement in the OP.
All I can say is relevance in link building (whether geo or niche or brand or follow or no follow) goes a long way to improving a client's traffic.
I bet the "6 degrees of separation Cadillac links" power punch action in the background does come into play and I take them when I can get them but there are lots of low-hanging fruit, traffic-building links available to those looking to build traffic.
Understanding the essence of the OP is important tho.
Thies
That's lovely fodder for a corporate audience but in the real world the long tail of websites is usually able to deliver a more focused audience. And as Moz halfway learned too late to save them, paid social is the new SEO.
🤯👍🏽8

Thies
Build a social audience and find the aggregators in your niche. They're there.
Wilson
Hi Dan! You were one of the first people I learned SEO from in 2006! Thanks 🙏🏻
👍🏽💟3
Ammon » Dan
You know I love ya buddy, so don't make me hurt you with any of that "X is the new SEO" crap of a billion clickbait articles over 2 decades. 😃
Paid Social is the new banner ads. Not a darn thing more (if you were any good at selecting sites to run banner ads on, and getting the right creative for the audience and site). 😃
Tell you what, why not pop over to p0rn-hu6 from those most visited sites and see how many banner ads it has, and how many 'paid social'. And NO industry has been more on the pulse of where the money and power is than the top adult sites with their huge amounts of usage data.
Lisa's slide there is simply saying she restructured how her company go about getting links. They switched from guest posting for low to mid quality links to doing the high-end, high-value big money kind of link building. And even then, as I said in an earlier comment, it's only to illustrate the principle that quality is far more important than quantity in many things.
The same point you are making yourself when you talk about the value of long-tail, where the specificity and intent (quality) is so much more valuable than the sheer volume of fuzzier, less qualified head traffic (volume). 😉
Now, there are some people in the game for whom that discussion is irrelevant, because they just don't have the ability to get high-quality, high-end links, so volume is all they can do. Nothing wrong with that. Everyone should play to their strengths.
But personally, I'm in full agreement with Lisa, and it's what I always advise my clients too. It is almost always far more effective and efficient to build fewer, better quality links – the kind where you may work for months on that one perfect article, or on building a relationship with a journo, but the result is worth literally ten times as much as if you'd spent those months just churning out lesser stuff for more but lesser value links.
Thies » Ammon
When you create content and nobody sees it, you waste electricity. When you create content and you have an audience to drive traffic to it, you get real natural links. The easiest way to do that, by far the most cost effective way, is with paid social amplification.
Thies
It doesn't matter if HuffPo gets a ton of traffic, it only matters if your content gets seen by people who care. Give me a link in Barry's weekly link wrapup over a guest post on Huffie any day.
Ammon
So, "Paid Social Amplification", Dan … is that the process of buying a link on Facebook (listed top left of Lisa's slide), maybe Twitter too (bottom left), perhaps LinkedIn (lower left) … 😃
You see why you're making her point yet?
Ronald
I think what Dan is pointing out is building an audience and at the same time getting people to link to your site is much more effective when using paid social amplification. This is because FB, for instance, puts the content right in your face using interruption marketing. You get a much larger reach than if you show up in a Google search result. Here's a quote from Steve Jobs: "A lot of times, people don't know what they want until you show it to them". There is still a shit-ton of traffic available in the lower 50%, but it makes more sense to do targeted interruption marketing (paid or non-paid) in the top 50%.
Thies
Yes, probably. It takes a lot of squeezing to fit everything into one frame.

👈📰

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *