Thomas ✍️
so branded traffic and brand mentions on websites is what I'm picking up from this.
Sheppard » Thomas
correct that's literally the most important thing to do. However, if you are posting your brand in random places unrelated to your niche then it will have trouble matching them. So you need to have multiple signals confirming its a brand mention and not someone mistakenly mentioning a word or misspelling.
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Darren » Sheppard
so if citations are irrelevant then why do Moz and SEMrush have dedicated areas for this specific service. hmmmmm
Thomas ✍️ » Darren
Because people are paying them and not knowing any better (possibly, hence the reason for this post).
Darren » Thomas
ok let’s get this right?
Are citations one of the hats?
Does Google use, crawl or signal from information collected in citation?
Are citations used to calculate DA and PA?
Sheppard » Darren
because people pay for it… anything people pay for is a service. It doesn't mean the value is as great as what you'd want or think you're paying for.
Thomas ✍️
I've been paying for citations for over 10 years. I'm finally seeing that in 2020 that they don't pay for themselves. That is all. If someone paid for them in the last few months and got good results, I would love for them to tell me about it…
Darren » Sheppard
I’ll ask again
are citations a HAT?
Does Google crawl info related to citations and relate that information?
Are citations a ranking factor, and a relational metric to ranking
YES AND NO ANSWERS WILL SUFFICE
Sheppard » Darren
you need to drop the "hat" statement. Everyone does. SEO has moved far beyond dividing work and services as white or black hat. If you're doing dodgy work, you know you are. Citations are classified as branding. The more popular your business the more it will be spoken about organically and pop up around the internet. Its signals of both on page and off page marketing. Google tried to integrate offline into online so the more you're seen online its likely to be the more popular you are and the more likely you would be a good fit for a search.
Darren » Sheppard
the image is a direct reflection of implementing the "HATS"
citation or backlinks are a fundamental aspect of those HATS, and also a FACTUAL factor of ranking!
I'm using the term HATS as a generalization, without being pedantic
i don't make the rules you don't make the rules Google make the rules.
this group is called "SUPERSTAR SEO" and CITATIONS or HATS are a part of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) whether you like it or not.
any SEO expert worth any salt will be aware of RANKING factors, regardless of how much of a necessity these factors are.
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Sheppard » Darren
I've been doing SEO 10 years and have hundreds of sites looking like this. I get the hats. But SEO is black hat if you look at old terminologies. Aksing for links isn't blackhat its promotion. This is done worldwide by the biggest of brands and Google knows it because you're promoting yourself. Google dont care if you promote your business that's how one business outgrows another through manual hard online and offline promoting resulting in both requested and organic links. This isnt bad SEO this is simply marketing. To say someone is doing blackhat SEO for link building is factually incorrect that's marketing. Its when someone tries to manipulate buy putting strong anchors or buy PBN links that's when there is an issue. Same as citations. This is promotion. Not black or white hat SEO.
Darren » Sheppard
thank you for replying.
But as stated, if “citations are irrelevant” how come I have High da and pa backlinks from citations?
Both factors that effect ranking.
Thus why I’m struggling to get why citations are irrelevant. Or am I missing something.
Sheppard » Darren
a backlink from a domain who links to millions and I mean millions of domains using the exact same anchor text isnt worth anything but a pretty number on a report. It doesn't help your SEO. The link looks pretty on a report but offers no tangible or measurable ranking value. In fact most of the time the page isn't even indexed by Google. Tools pick it up but Google sees such little value in the page it doesn't bother to index it.. how valuable do you think that link is? The link isn't important its the mention of the business. You can create the same citation and not link to your domain and still get the same value. 🤷‍♂️
Darren » Sheppard
fair point, now I didn’t look at it from that prospective, iv clearly overlooked the obvious. 😂
So what are your thought on backlinks from the likes of trust pilot. Each review is picked up as a link, do they have any ranking significance, in terms of improving domain authority DA / page authority PA?
Sheppard » Darren
i mean all links have some value. The issue is you need the page to be indexed. The most valuable links are those on pages that get real traffic.
Da and pa are virtual metrics created by third parties to represent what Google may see. These can be manipulated to go up and look better but this is pointless because all that is being done is the data they are trying to make accurate is being pulled further from what Google may see. Think of link building as marketing. Market a brand and market a page, if your aim is to build domain authority or manipulate a metric then you're doing it wrong and it won't have much value.
The major difference is from link building to marketing is marketers want to promote where traffic is, where people will see them and sell to people who are likely to buy. Link building is putting a link anywhere and everywhere for who ever will see it. This is a major mistake SEO users make. I can get 1 link on a topically relevant blog that has my demographic reading it and that links value is enormous because people are on that page and that page ranks for keywords. This is what a marketer would do. The value of this is 100x the value of a citation or mention of my business on a directory that links to millions upon millions of random businesses. An SEO buys a link from a topical site which probably has manipulate authority to look good to charge more, which in reality Google sees it as useless and unimpactful.