Value

I 'wrote' this email on the chairlift this morning, dictating it to my AI transcription app.

App failed, content didn't sync to cloud.

Skynet...meh.

Take two:

Value.

It's what we provide the world.

It's what we take from our experiences.

Without value, I contend there's no life worth living.

Case in point, I got up at 4:38am this morning.

Shoveled snow.

Fed and watered animals.

Brought in firewood.

All so I could give myself a punchers chance at first chair.

I didn't make it, I was 5th chair.

Doesn't matter, I know where the goods are depending on which way the wind blew and got there first anyway.

All that work and effort for an ephemeral fleeting experience.

Morning sunshine glittering on a foot plus of un-tracked powder.

So cold I worried I might get frostbite trying to create content from the chair.

The sound it makes swooshing under my board, that feeling of floating...as birdlike as I can get.

These are the moments I value.

I'm sure you have your own.

I'd love to hear about them, replies open.

It's like a PM.

IYKYK.

Value.

It's why you're reading this email.

You're looking for some.

SEOs struggle with many things.

Chief amongst them, from my experience, is trying to decipher what will provide the most value.

In an activity with a million variables, seeing the signal through the noise is an All-Star skill set.

Once you figure this out, it really is a case of the haves and the haves not.

Google is for most intents and purposes, a black box.

You can read blogs.

Patents.

Case studies.

But at the end of the day, the only time Google shows its cards is in the SERPs.

Everything besides the SERPs is people trying to confirm biases or disprove counter-biases.

SERPs, like ball, don't lie.

SERPs show us, to get really reductive, what Google considers the haves. And the haves not.

If a site ranks for valuable keywords, then Google likes it.

Full stop.

If it doesn't, then Google doesn't.

Can you do two consecutive full stops? We're going to try.

So why do we care about sites Google likes?

Because the #1 question I get asked in consulting sessions, DMs, skype chats, etc

How can I tell if a site is good for building links on?

Unless you specialized in eating paint chips as a child, you probably know where this is going.

Build links on sites Google likes.

Build links on sites Google ranks for valuable keywords.

If Google likes a site (or a page, more on that in a bit) enough to rank it for valuable keywords, then getting a link on that site/page will help your SEO.

It's really that simple.

The converse is also true.

Shouldn't need to be said but I'm staving off at least 20 replies asking me exactly that.

Sad but true.

How do we know what a valuable keyword is?

Volume x CPC is a really easy starting point

It's 2024, the arbitrage era is over.

There's no more (except during trending events) low hanging PPC fruit anymore.

So if someone is willing to pay $1+ per click for 5000+ searches, you can roughly say that KW is worth $5000.

Don't get pedantic, I know there's a million variables I'm ignoring.

Just go with it.

If a keyword is worth $5000/month, then someone is actively SEOing it.

If a site ranks top 20 with an optimized page or say top 100 with a poorly optimized page, there's a very strong chance that a link off that site will help your SEO efforts.

Couple caveats and I've got real work to do so I'm going to slam this out real quick:

Site vs Page

If you're not tiering your links, then you have to grade link opportunities on a page level.

A link on a page on a good site (one that ranks for many valuable keywords) that doesn't rank for any valuable keywords isn't going to do much without further link building to it.

Sorry, it is what it is.

So either build links to your links or find links on pages that Google values.

it's that simple.

If you're wondering how I know this, it's simple.

I've bought (and sold...you do know we sell links right? I'll throw the link in the P.S. so I don't have to get creative down there) north of 10,000 links since launching our link building agency.

The number one focus of my team (besides not F^\*&i%G up anchor text) is determining value of placements.

Because these bastards...and I'm not talking about Google, I'm talking about SOME people selling links on sites...these vermin.

They've figured out how to abuse all the popular metrics.

To make their POS site look sexy with metrics.

301s, canonical tricks and my favorite since they've figured out that SEOs are filtering by traffic....

Using click through rate bots to search and click hundreds of thousands of times for nonsense terms.

That they rank #1 for.

And Clickstream reports the traffic.

So Ahrefs and Semrush do too.

And the CPC is $0.00.

Worthless.

No value.

Designed to separate you from your link building budget.

Like I said, vermin.

Damn, that's almost 900 words.

This one is really going to fire up the unsubscribes, I can feel it.

Stop reading this tripe and get to work, I am.

No proofread, no edit, not sorry for any typos.

You get what you pay for.

Cheers,

Grind

P.S. Want to buy links from someone who understands value? https://clients.grindstoneseo.com

Go through your link profile. If you find yourself with a bunch of links on non-valuable pages on valuable sites, our Link Boost Only package is your new best friend.

Probably the best bang for your buck in the SEO world. Yes, I'm biased.