Minion Dominance: Featuring Web 2.0s as Minions

First and foremost, if you are expecting a comprehensive guide that teaches you how to build a flurry of diverse backlinks from Web 2.0 sites, unfortunately, you may not have much luck and you’ll be disappointed. With that being said, I hope that any misconceptions of Web 2.0s will be cleared up after you make it to the end of this post.

The truth is, nobody is entirely certain about how useful Web 2.0s really are! In reality, there are two-sided opinions related to the topic under discussion. I asked a professional growth hacker whether he would consider including Web 2.0 link building as part of his marketing strategy - and the answer was a blunt “no”.  That's because, primarily, it consumes too much time.

The difference lies in a matter of perspective and we should adjust our approach and look on the bright side in order to emphasize the usefulness of Web 2.0s. So, let’s get started then, shall we?

What is Web 2.0?

Image source: Meg

In short, Web 2.0s are a version of mini websites that are dominated by user-generated content. Users create content for people to interact with and the content then gets recognized by other users.

Image source: Pixori

The user-generated content game is so strong that it has directly contributed to the success and rapid growth of these platforms. It’s a deceptively brilliant approach. Also, social media websites are innovative and evolved forms of conventional Web 2.0s.

However, Web 2.0s have been getting a lot of flack lately. Condemned by some SEOs and Internet Marketers, 2.0s are seen as time-consuming and not effective at producing the desired results. Moreover, many have blamed Web 2.0 links to be a major reason for getting flagged by Google. So, what could be the possible reasons for ending up on the "blacklist?"

Well, here are some main reasons:

1. Use of link blasting services from Fiverr. You can do it as long as you have no intention to link your Web 2.0 - to the money site.
2. Using the same credentials for each Web 2.0 site.
3. Using the same IP address for all the sites.
4. Spinning content. If you don’t have a clue on how to create 100% unique content and are considering using content spinners, don’t bother, it’s a trap.
5. Pointing all Web 2.0s to the money site. Remember, it’s all about diversity.

So, how do we overcome this hurdle?

5 Key Traits to Consider While Link Building With Web 2.0s

Image source: Link Building by Moz Design Team

Before we proceed, I’d like to state the fact that creating a natural backlink profile by using these websites will require you to put in a lot of effort, unless you’re automating certain phases. By “natural”, I mean one that doesn’t look spammy in the eyes of Google.

So, here they are:

Authority

In the world of SEO, the two metrics that come to mind when you hear the term “authority” would be DA and PA. While they boast about the “authority” of a website, I’d like to refer to these as a mirage of power (as stated by an SMM expert).

And, here’s a known fact: every new Web 2.0 starts with a PA of 1. It’s quite easy to increase the Moz metrics using tiered link building and pass the link juice to the money site. But, there’s a more convenient approach since time is of the essence. The solution is simple- find or buy expired Web 2.0s.

What’s great about this is the fact that another person has already done the hard work for you by building a good backlink profile and improving metrics. These expired domains are proven to pass link juice and still get indexed with little effort from your side. More importantly, these increase the Trust Flow metric which signifies how much Google trusts a particular website. Here’s a shortcut guide on how to find expired domains and it will surely make the job easier for you.

Diversity

As mentioned before, the art of building a diverse link profile which benefits your money site cannot be taught using a guide - instead, it requires experimenting.

I’d like to invite you to perform a small task: Search Google for the keyword, “virginia seo” and this is what you can expect to see.

If you check the content in the two pages, you would notice that both of these search results point to the same money site. What impressed me is the fact that these two Web 2.0 sites ranked above normal domains!

So, I decided to perform a brief backlink analysis using Ahrefs for the two pages and I was surprised, yet again.

Most of the backlinks for the Google site are from Web 2.0s.

The same applies to the WordPress site. If it worked for him, it can work for you too.

However, take note that he has mostly used Blogspot for achieving his objective. Imagine how effective it would be if you could scale this process using a different number of 2.0s. I’m talking about something like this:

Image source: SEO Journal

Looks fun, right? The greater the number of tiers, the crazier it gets.

Therefore, devise a strategy, start experimenting and record your observations. And don’t forget to share when it yields positive results.

Keyword Research

You’ve heard this term a gazillion times already, but here it is again. For instance, if you’re trying to rank a keyword like men’s shoes, make sure you find the LSI keywords and sprinkle them across your Web 2.0s. You may use a keyword generator or check the related search queries at the bottom of the Google SERP.

This practice is very beneficial to increase the rank of a particular keyword associated with the money page. Another important thing is to try and include the LSI keywords in the URL of the Web 2.0s.

For example, the URLs of your Web 2.0 sites could be - mensathleticshoes.wordpress.com, allmensshoes.blogspot.com, mensboots.tumblr.com etc.

This link building strategy is perfect for low to medium competition keywords.

Content Uniqueness

This is pretty straightforward. Treat your Web 2.0 like a normal website. Make unique content. Don’t stuff keywords. Repeat for the other Web 2.0s.

If you’re feeling lazy, you could check out some content spinners to do a part of the work for you. Chances are that you’ll end up spending as much time as you would writing an original piece. I’ve tried many and Articoolo is my personal favorite.

It’s quick and easy to use.

Take a look at the content created with this paid tool. A quick touch-up would get your work done with enough time to spare.

Semi-automation

Well, a bit of automation won’t hurt since every second counts. Yes, you read that right - as long as the content is non-plagiarized, automation won’t pose a risk. Scraping to find niche-related domains and expired domains, creating accounts and managing Web 2.0 profiles could be automated to an extent.

For what it’s worth, manual content creation, posting and account creation is still the safest way to go. But, you can still get in trouble if you blast it all on the same day. For instance, let’s consider the previously mentioned example of Bradley’s Web 2.0s. When I checked the dates when the backlinks were indexed in Ahrefs, I noticed that those were spread over the course of an entire year.

So, if you build links the same way an automated tool would, you’re no different from a spambot.

Web 2.0 Link Building: Should I or Should I Not?

Well, there’s a lot of homework to be done to master the art of tiered link building. Remeber, there are some attractive shortcuts to be avoided if you’ve chosen this path- buying links, using content spinners recklessly, creating two or more Web 2.0s without changing IP, to name a few.

If you have the know-how to automate the process while playing it safe, you’ll start seeing results quickly. However, it’s mandatory to have a proper plan if you ever decide to use this Web 2.0 link building strategy. If something goes wrong, your website will be engraved on Google’s blacklist.

Build Web 2.0 links for the purpose of increasing diversity of link profiles and try not to spend too much time on it.

Here’s a rhetorical question:

Does any link building method ever die? Nope. It only gets better.

Learn. Adapt. Evolve