B (4:03)

Okay?

A (4:04)

If you are unfamiliar with this topic, by the way, you must be a first time listener. So thank you for listening. Authority comes from backlinks. Good quality backlinks provide more authority than bad quality backlinks. The quick version is almost every website on the Internet has some amount of authority. The more authority a page has that links to you, the more authority a backlink from that page provides. So if I have a very authoritative website and I link to you, that backlink is providing you some authority. If somebody else with a less authoritative website links to you, that backlink provides a little bit of authority, but it still provides authority. Now, there are exceptions to this. We're not going to talk about them now. But what you need to understand is backlinks are the only way to get authority. Okay, Most people can do 1, 2, and 3. Most people have a hard time getting enough authority. There are a lot of posts on different websites that say things like, guys, I can't figure out why I can't rank. I have really good content, I have title tags, I have H1 tags. I'm using EEAT. By the way, you should know that EEAT is not a ranking factor. And we have other episodes that describe this in detail. But anyway, I'm doing all these things right? Why can I not rank? Well, the answer to that question is usually because you do not have enough authority. Do you remember the episode where I said SEO is not a checklist, it is a competition. A lot of listeners, hopefully not listeners to grumpy SEO Guy, but a lot of listeners think that SEO is a checklist. Okay, what does that mean? That means that if you follow a, a certain method and do all the right things, you will rank. It's like a paper in school. Do you remember when you were given papers that you had to write? And like, if you do everything correctly, you will get an A. You will be rewarded with a perfect grade. You remember? And like, there's a checklist. First you. I'm just making this up. But first you write the title, then you have to have this many paragraphs, then you have to cite your sources, blah, blah, blah. As long as you do everything right, you get an A. And so people think that SEO works that way, but it, it doesn't. SEO is a competition. SEO is not a checklist. Here's the difference. There can only be one website at the top of the search engine results, okay? And that is the website with the best SEO.

B (6:25)

Okay?

A (6:26)

So SEO is not about doing everything according to a checklist. It is not about. There is no standard. Okay? If there was a checklist, that would presume a standard exists. But if there was a standard that existed, why wouldn't everybody do the same things and meet that standard? Why would. Of course they would. And then everybody would be number one. But wait a minute. There's only one website at the top of the search engines. So SEO is not about following a checklist. SEO is about doing SEO better than your competition. There are no standards that exist. And any standards that exist would be for on page things and they wouldn't really help you very much. Now obviously there's bad ways of doing things, but, but as long as, for example, as long as you're not keyword stuffing okay, like that would be an example of something not to do. But not keyword stuffing doesn't mean you're gonna rank. It just means you're not gonna get a keyword stuffing penalty. Okay, does that concept make sense? Like, just because you don't do things wrong doesn't mean that you will be in the first position. It doesn't even mean you'll be on the first page.

B (7:32)

Okay.

A (7:32)

It just means you have a better chance of ranking because you don't have a penalty. Okay, so anyways, backlinks, the only way to get authority. Backlinks usually either cost money or effort. Okay, so there's four ways to get backlinks. And you know this because you have listened to this episode. If not, I'll put a link in the description. But anyway, look, there's four ways to get backlinks. Let's mention them very quickly. One, do nothing and let people link to you. This method does not work if you do not rank. Because if you do not rank, people will not know that your website exists. And if they do not know your website exists, they cannot link to you. So it's a great method if you already rank. But most people with new websites do not already rank. Number two, you can buy backlinks. We have other episodes on this, but let's just assume for now that's a way to do it. Number three, you can guest post or link outreach. Okay, let's describe these really quickly in case you have not heard of them. Posting is when you email somebody and say, hey, we'll write an article for you and in exchange you provide us a link, usually in the article or at the bottom of the article. Okay, that's cool. If they say yes and they don't try to make you pay, that is a free way to get a backlink, but it still takes energy because you have to actually do it. Link outreach is similar. Link outreach is when you email someone and say, hey, we saw your post mentions whatever topic our website is on the same topic. Can we have a link? If they do not make you pay for that link, that is a free to get a backlink and to get authority. Okay, now guest posting. Link outreach can work. I'm not going to say they don't work. I'm just saying they, they, they can work. It's one way to get backlinks. And the fourth way to get backlinks is to build your own. We describe this with a lot of specificity in other places, so we're not going to talk about it now. But it costs money. Costs a lot of money to do it yourself, usually at least to start. So, anyways, look, there's four ways to get backlinks. One more time, do nothing and let people link to you. That's number one. Number two, buy backlinks. Number three, guest posting and link outreach. Number four, build your own. Okay, so there's two ways in there that are free sometimes. One of them is to do nothing and let people link to you. Okay, that can work. And the other one that is free sometimes is to link, outreach, and guest post. Now, some people are gonna make you pay, but it's possible to do that for free.

B (10:02)

Okay?

A (10:03)

Excluding those. Why are backlinks expensive? Backlinks are expensive because they work, okay? SEO is about doing SEO better than your competition and assuming that everybody has a good, you know, a reasonably good webpage, okay, a reasonably good webpage because there's nothing you can really do on your page that will make you rank higher than someone else. You. I mean, that's not entirely correct, but let's assume that if that was true, everybody would do it the right way. Okay? So let's assume that everybody has a perfect website.

B (10:40)

Okay?

A (10:40)

Let's just assume everybody, whatever checklist you're following, remember, SEO is not a checklist, but whatever checklist you're following, let's just assume everybody's doing it correctly, okay? So if everybody's website is exactly the same and they're all great and they're all perfect, how does a search engine know what website to rank first and second and so on? Authority. The answer is authority, okay? Authority comes from backlinks. So once your website is set up correctly, okay, Meaning no penalties, Content and relevancy. And it's a little bit more detailed than that. We're just being brief right now with our summary. As long as those things are in place, it basically is a contest to see who can get more authority. More authority comes from better backlinks. Better backlinks come from better websites.

B (11:32)

Okay?

A (11:33)

So SEO, ultimately, and I'm being honest with you when I tell you this, SEO ultimately is about getting as much authority as possible by getting as good quality of backlinks as possible. That is what happens. That is why there is an industry for buying and selling backlinks. Now, we're not gonna talk about that very much in this episode, because that's not the purpose of this episode, but I want you to understand, because they are valuable. That's why there is an entire field around this, okay? Now, I'm not even gonna Talk about the quality. We have other episodes that talk about what you should, you know, consider and forget about when it comes to buying backlinks. By the way, episodes 37 and 39 are good places to start. If you want to learn about that, we'll put a link in the description. Look, the reason good backlinks cost money is because they work.

B (12:25)

Okay.

A (12:26)

If your competition is ranking because they have a lot of authority, the only way for you to outrank them is by getting more authority. How are you going to do that? You're going to do that with backlinks? How are you going to get your backlinks? Well, we just talked about how to get backlinks. Wait and let people link to you, buy them, link outreach and guest posting or. Or build your own. That's how you get authority. So rather than listen to people who say things like, well, maybe you should just change this article a little bit and put more E E A T in it. No, that's the wrong answer, because E E A T is not a ranking factor. Well, maybe you should modify your website so that the UX user experience. The UX is more enjoyable. No, the. That's not a ranking factor. UX user experience is not a ranking factor. Well, maybe. Have you ever thought about maybe you should write more articles on the same topic? No. More articles on the same topic is not a ranking factor. In fact, it can cause concerns if you get into keyword cannibalization, which is something that we're not gonna talk about in this episode.

B (13:40)

Okay.

A (13:41)

People always try to come up with stuff, and I don't. I don't know why. Well, yes, I do. It's because most of the SEO information out there is terrible and just, like, completely unhelpful and wrong. I just. I don't know. I don't really spend a lot of time listening to other SEO podcasts or reading other SEO websites because I just. I'm not really interested in, like, sometimes if I. Sometimes if an article, like, sounds, you know, like fun or something, like, I'll read it. And usually I'm like, it's a clickbait title. Even some of the popular SEO websites that we're not gonna name have clickbait title articles that have no useful information in them whatsoever. I don't. I don't want to read that. I'm busy doing other stuff anyway. But, like, usually you guys, usually it's wrong. Usually the details in the article are wrong, and it's like, it just tells you, basically, I read stuff and I'll be reading an article, and I'm like, okay, this is good. This is good. And then it's like, well, and just remember, guys, the most important thing is to write good, quality content. And I'm like, no. Are you trying to help people rank? Because you're not going to with this advice. I don't know. But anyways, so SEO costs money, usually because you need to. You basically need to pay for authority, ultimately. Unless you're gonna wait and let people link to you, or you're gonna do link outreach and guest posting.

B (15:08)

Okay.

A (15:08)

And not have people have you pay. Because sometimes you have to pay. Sometimes when you guest post and link outreach, people will say, yes, we agree to these terms. It costs you this much money. Not always, but sometimes. So ultimately, you are going to have to spend money probably to get authority. That is how SEO. And I'm not saying this because I'm. I'm trying. Like, here's. Here's my concern. I think I'm gonna say these things and then people are gonna feel, like, excluded. Oh, I just. I don't have any money. I guess I just can't do it. It's like, it's like. But, like, there's not another way to do it. If you don't have money to spend on SEO, you need to either. One, select an industry that doesn't have websites that are currently ranking that have very good SEO, okay? So you won't have to get as much authority to outrank them. Or two, not do SEO. Look, look, I'm. I'm not gonna. I'm not going to, like, create this episode and be like, hey, guys, here's how you can do it for free. Just write really good content. Because that. That. That wouldn't be correct. And I don't want you to spend all this time and then in six months, you're like, oh, didn't work. Grumpy SEO guy. Of course it didn't work. That's not how SEO works. All right, so look, I'm not sure what to tell you to do. If I would. Okay, look, I would honestly say if you don't have money to spend on SEO, maybe don't try to do SEO. Or maybe you've got two options. You can do link, outreach and guest posting, which truthfully can be done for free. They actually can be done for free. Some SEO companies have guest posting departments or where all they do is try to guest post all day. I mean, I don't know if it's all day, but I know that this is a thing it's very surprising to me, but it's a thing that they do because it does work and it can be free. Okay, but what I'm trying to tell you is don't be led astray by people who are telling you, oh, you just write good content. Because like the key message in that, that they're trying to tell you without actually telling you, they're trying to tell you that if you write better content than the competition, you will ran higher than the competition, which is not true. That is not how SEO works. And usually these people have a purpose for telling you that. And it probably gets back to they're trying to sell you content.

B (17:37)

Okay?

A (17:38)

Now if you think I'm wrong, absolutely do it that way. Absolutely try it and see if it works for you. And by the way, I have a public challenge to anybody who can rank a website in a medium to competitive industry without backlinks. Because there are people out there that say it's possible, but. But it's not possible. But there are people out there that claim they can do it, but they will not show evidence. So if you do it, please show me that you did it. And I will, if you want, I will mention your name on a future episode, I will send you referrals. I will probably pay you to rank our clients. Because I bet you that writing content, writing really good content that ranks without backlinks is cheaper than running a private blog portfolio. Okay, so just FYI, by the way, I've been talking about E E A T earlier in this episode, and I just remembered, I never defined it. E E A T is experience, expertise, authority, and trustworthiness. It's like a writing standard that's supposed to make good content, but it has nothing to do with ranking. And even Google says on their own website it is not a ranking factor. And I'll put that link in this episode. But anyways, look, somehow that got misconstrued as well. If you do E E A T, you will rank higher. No, you won't. Because it's not a ranking factor. It's not a ranking factor. So anybody that tells you that you can rank just from content is lying. Or. Or ask them for proof, they will not show you any. Ask them for proof, they will not show you any. And then don't do business with them because they're lying to you. I actually had somebody message me that once. I do it all the time, but I'm not gonna show you because I don't like you. I was like, okay, cool.

B (19:26)

Okay.

A (19:28)

It doesn't matter. So I just want you to know that it usually will cost you money to get good SEO results. The basic concept here is that SEO is about doing better than your competition, okay? And that generally comes down to authority. So if you know a way to get authority for free, then you can absolutely do SEO for free, excluding, I guess, maybe content. If you're paying for content and like a website, because you have to pay for website and hosting, you have to pay for hosting. But, like, if you can get authority for free, then you absolutely can do SEO for free. Because what are the four things? One, avoid penalties. Two, have content. It doesn't need to be good, it just needs to be there. Three, relevancy. Four, authority. If you can get authority for free, you can do SEO for free. Okay, but remember, SEO is about having more authority than your competition generally. Mostly. So I'm not sure of any ways other than link outreach and guest posting. I'm not sure of any methods to get authority for free, but maybe you'll find one. I don't know. Let me know if you have one. Anyway, so I just want you to understand that there are a lot of people out there that give bad SEO advice. And I'm not saying that it has to cost money.

B (20:47)

Okay?

A (20:48)

Anyway, look, here's the point. You need authority to rank. Authority is usually the thing that costs money, and it usually costs money because it works, okay? Everything else is easy and free for the most part. Authority either takes a lot of money or a lot of effort to get. Because if you don't want to buy authority, you would have to build your own websites, provide them with enough authority, and then link them to your other website, which will either take you a lot of effort. A lot of effort. That is not easy. That. That is not easy. That will take you a lot of effort, or you have to buy it. There's. There's no other way. There's no other way to do it anyway. I don't know. People are gonna not like this episode because they're gonna be like, you didn't tell us anything. Crumpy SEO guy chain is expensive. I want you to understand why it works the way it does and why some things cost money.

B (21:41)

Okay?

A (21:42)

That was. That was the purpose.

B (21:43)

Okay.

A (21:45)

Okay. This episode is finished. Thanks for listening. Don't forget to subscribe, and if you enjoy this podcast, please leave a review. It would really help the show out. I hope this episode was helpful. If you have any questions or want to suggest a subject for a future episode, you can contact me on Reddit My username is Grumpy SEO Guy. You can visit the Grumpy SEO Guy subreddit or you can email me@hellorumpyseoguy.com if you email me, please either whitelist my email address or check your junk folders, because I've been told that my replies are going into the junk folder, and it's probably because we're talking about things like SEO and backlinks, and I think those words will clap. Classify an email as spam. And if you want to support the podcast because it's the best source of SEO information on the planet and it's free, you can do so@patreon.com grumpy SEO guy and I will talk to you later. You're listening to Grumpy SEO Guy, the SEO podcast that doesn't waste your time with nonsense that doesn't work. Join us next Wednesday for another episode. Sam.