The SEO Blog from cognitiveSEO

There are no more shortcuts to link building. In 2013-2014, Google changed the rules for SEO once again. It’s slowly trying to shift the mentality from "hunting" for links to "growing" them naturally. Sincerely, there are no future proof link building techniques that we could vouch for, because we’re swimming in a sea of uncertainty. You can’t forecast with certainty the decisions Google will or will not take in order to predict the path for SEO as a technique. The algorithms developed [...]

The antagonism between black hat and white hat strategies has been going on for years now. These strategies have been around since the existence of SEO. It seems they aren't obsolete. On the contrary, they’ve persistently lingered around the SEO world and seem to be fruitful even in 2014. We do not endorse or recommend the usage of these techniques. This blog post's intent is to show how black hat SEO works in 2014. Some of the techniques presented below are not only black hat but also "cra [...]

Google started to apply even more penalties and they are getting stricter and stricter when it comes to the link building strategies that you may be using. There is a lot of confusion and chit-chat floating around the unnatural links concept. For this reason I decided to host a free training webinar, to help you clarify what are the most important aspects when talking about a Google Penalty. The "Unnatural Links & Recoveries Webinar  with Razvan Gavrilas" was recorded and can be watch [...]

The concept of manual link building has been multiple time reviewed and re-analyzed over time. Putting it simply, a manual link building campaign is a process of actively trying to increase links to a website.   When it comes to ranking and natural links, leaders aren’t spawned overnight and they can’t just buy their spot. Those long-term top ranking sites get there by working smart. That’s the right price when it comes to achieving that goal. We're here to talk to you about manual link [...]

A picture is worth a thousand words! In order to best outline how search engines changed the way we manage our businesses and conduct our online strategies we created the Google Equilibrium Illustration. We are in the year 2014 and the search landscape has dramatically changed compared to what it was in the '90s. Year after year, things seem to get more and more complex and we involuntary wonder how will the world of search, and therefore the online businesses, will look like in the near [...]

This Friday we have a new cartoon about the Natural/Unnatural Link Building Process. How fast does it take to rank your newly created site in the top results of Google for the normal webmaster ? Hopefully this comic will give you some insight. Enjoy! <div style="width:604px;"><div><a target="_blank" href="https://cognitiveseo.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/unnatural_link_building.jpg" ><img width="100%" alt="Un[Natural] Link Bu [...]

In nature, there is no such thing as opposite. The night is not the opposite of the day, as the light is not the opposite of dark. There are just different phenomena that exists in different shapes. Allow me to extrapolate this to links. When asked: “What is a natural link?”, the correct answer is: A natural/organic link is not necessarily “the opposite of the unnatural link”. It is much more than that. And although unnatural links are in fashion, maybe its time to put the spotligh [...]

When you start working in the SEO field, all your life changes. You begin to see the world differently, your relationships gain a special flair and your own existence takes on a new meaning. If you don't want to take my word for granted, let me illustrate what I am talking about by reviewing some regular moments from a day-to-day search engine optimizer's existence. In the SEO world, you usually have a at least half of these moments each day everyday: 1. Wake up Wake up early in the morning [...]

Starting this Friday, every Friday (almost :) ) we want to give you all , my zealous digital marketers, something cool to enjoy and share with your friends. This Friday's "cool stuff" is a cartoon comic about Webspam, Google Penalties, Matt Cutts and Recoveries :). Enough talk. Here is the cartoon. Meet Anakin Spamwalker! (for all you Star Wars Fans :)) Hope you liked it!If you did you could even embed this SEO Comic in your site by using the code below. <div style="width:604p [...]

[thrive_leads id='14544']   With all the changes happening in Google's algorithms on unnatural links, spammy content, un-optimized mobile websites, it may be a bit overwhelming to keep track of all the Google Guideline violations. Some of them are an obvious violation of Google’s Quality Guidelines and some of them are not that easy to spot. The process of link development is already hard enough without Google's representatives (like John Mueller or Gary Illyes) breathing heavily down your [...]