What Is LinkWheel?

[brownnataly21]

It's quite risky to use the link wheel. It's like black hat SEO and it won't bring anything good to you in future.

[MikeF421]

I'm sorry, but not only do linkwheels work, they work very well.

Has Google caught on to them? I don't know. I always build them with random links to eachother. I no longer build them in a linear structure such as...

A => B => C => D => E

I use a script to build them and have them randomly linked to eachother. There is no clear recognizable structure.

I also always build them with an open structure. So in the above structure, I would never close the wheel by linking site E back to site A.

I usually limit them to 5-6 sites, sometimes as many as 8 or 9, and I put unique content onto each site with varied anchor text in all the links.

[BrittMalka]

Hey Mike

It seems like you put a lot of work into this, so how come you don't know if Google has caught up to them?

I mean - you risk to spill all your energy on building something that doesn't work. Or did I misunderstand?

[MikeF421]

Hey Mike

It seems like you put a lot of work into this, so how come you don't know if Google has caught up to them?

I mean - you risk to spill all your energy on building something that doesn't work. Or did I misunderstand?

Good question.

Nobody knows the answer to that unless Google officially comes out and says so. It is all just speculation and a lot of misinformation.

I have never built a site where linkwheels are the only linkbuilding tactic that I use. I use a variety of linkbuilding methods. I know I've seen my linkwheels show up in Google as backlinks. However, if there is some degree to which Google officially recognizes them and discredits those links, I could never say 100% for sure. I've seen positive results from mine though.

What I can tell you is that Google does not PENALIZE anyone for using a linkwheel. That is one of the most foolish ideas I have ever heard. If that was true, internet marketing would turn into a viscious battle. If you wanted to be #1 in Google, you would just build a whole bunch of linkwheels to your competitors' sites and get them penalized until you are #1. It's similar to the idea that people have about building links too fast. If there was truth to that, you could just blast links to your competition all day long until you are #1.

[BrittMalka]

He, he, I liked that with building link wheels to your competitors ;-) Evil LOL

But yes, you might be right. I've never tried to build a real link wheel, so I cannot tell from personal experience.

You wrote that you used a script to help you. What kind of script is that?

[AlexNewell]

Fact is there are different versions of links wheels.If you do a linkwheel such as in the graphic that Thom has shown then Google will spot this very quickly and will reduce the effectiveness of the links. It is too obvious and too regular.

By all means do some link building but do not follow someone elses' pattern and do not make it too regular and repeatable.

In other words, if you do a particular linking pattern for one site do not copy that for another site.

Vary and randomise your linking and you'll be fine.

The best SEO is superb content put together in a silo structure.

Building link wheels is an option.

[MikeF421]

He, he, I liked that with building link wheels to your competitors ;-) Evil LOL

But yes, you might be right. I've never tried to build a real link wheel, so I cannot tell from personal experience.

You wrote that you used a script to help you. What kind of script is that?

I've used a few. I have used SENuke. Lately I have been using Link Builder Pro.

I vary my linking quite a bit and I avoid using the same sites in each linkwheel I build. So if I use Vox, HubPages, Squidoo, Wordpress, YouTube, and Livejournal for one wheel, in the next wheel I'm going to drop at least 3 of those sites and replace them with something else.

I think using proxies is a good idea too for whatever linkbuilding you are doing. A bunch of links built from the same IP address is easy for SE's to recognize.

[MikeF421]

Fact is there are different versions of links wheels.If you do a linkwheel such as in the graphic that Thom has shown then Google will spot this very quickly and will reduce the effectiveness of the links. It is too obvious and too regular.

By all means do some link building but do not follow someone elses' pattern and do not make it too regular and repeatable.

In other words, if you do a particular linking pattern for one site do not copy that for another site.

Vary and randomise your linking and you'll be fine.

The best SEO is superb content put together in a silo structure.

Building link wheels is an option.

Alex,

What do you mean by the "silo structure"?

And I completely agree. Build a wheel in a pattern like the graphic used and you are leaving an obvious and easy to recognize footprint.

[mikew1948]

For what it's worth....I've been using a link wheel, although it is not a complete wheel as I left off a "spoke".
During the time that I've been using it Google raised my PageRank from 1 to 2. I used a number of other link building techniques as well but I don't see how a link wheel caused any harm to my site.

[painternc]

There is a service LinkWheel.net - that is a link wheel service - has anyone used it?
Nan