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Sphinn Home » Social Media
Link Baiting: Do you control the link flow or do you 301 it all?
Social Media News Source: http://wiep.net
Published: Nov 30, 2007 - 05:03 am
Story Found By: swags2804 1998 Days ago
Category: Social Media
... Yesterday, when I was doing some research on Digg, I spotted a page that I had seen before and wanted to check it out once more. This page in question managed to get to the front page about three months ago, but when I tried to visit it today through Digg, it wouldn’t load anymore...
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from AndyBeard 1997 Days ago #
Votes: 0

Some very good points. This is why I placed emphasis in my "Blogstorm Aftermath" post of doing the 301 redirects for the benefit of users who might be coming to a story late in the day when the situation has been updated, or who might appreciate the wider scope of material available on the same subject.

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from janecopland 1997 Days ago #
Votes: 0

I linked to a piece of bait from an SEOmoz blog post recently. When I went back to take a look at the post again, the bait’s page had been 301ed to the company’s most profitable page. In effect, I’m now linking to something completely different to that which I intented. I don’t care all that much, but the Bait ’n Switch "makes" people link to a page they’d never link to naturally. Rarely will people go back, notice their link has changed and remove it. Most of the links will just sit there, juicing the site in question.Although your site is yours to control, I’d prefer to see the on-page optimization of the linkbait done really well so that the rest of the site benefits from the links naturally. 301ing to a relevant page is one thing; presenting something completely commercial is another. I’m not saying I’d never ever do this: none of us are angels and we shouldn’t pretend to be. But there are more tactful ways to handle linkbait success...

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from Wiep 1996 Days ago #
Votes: 0

Jane, that’s exactly what I meant with the post. I assume you’ll think again before linking to that site in another post...301ing might work (and might even be the best solution) in some occasions, but really isn’t the way to go in every situation. Like you said, a good on-page optimization will result in link juice for the rest of the site as well.

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from janecopland 1996 Days ago #
Votes: 0

It was a good post and brings up an important point about linkbait ethics. It is oh-so-tempting to pull a fast one on people and linkbuild for your premier products page... but it’s a bit disrespectful. Still, I don’t think I’ll go back and remove the link. The point I was making was about dull websites  or websites that don’t receive much social interest that had made the top of Reddit or Digg. Somehow, the bait and switch almost brings the story full-circle :)

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