Listener (3:53)

Okay?

Grumpy SEO Guy (3:54)

It has to have two traits. Do you remember? One, it has to be useful, and two, it has to be scarce or rare, right? Like, hard to get.

Listener (4:03)

Okay?

Grumpy SEO Guy (4:03)

So backlinks are useful because they give you authority, okay? But good backlinks are kind of hard to get because think about it, if they were easy to get, everybody would have good backlinks, and then it wouldn't matter, would it? Look, so you also know I say that, that SEO is a competition. It is not a checklist. Okay, now we gotta think about this for a minute. People think that SEO is a checklist. They think if I just do A, B and C on my website, I will have all the things that I need and I will rank. But people always think it's a checklist. No, because if that was all that was necessary, everybody would do those three things or, you know, however many things, and then everybody would Rank. But everybody can't rank. Everybody can't be number one, because SEO is a competition, okay? So it can't possibly be a checklist of things that you do, and then you are at the top of the search engines. Because that doesn't make sense. If it was a checklist, everybody would do those same things, and everybody can't be at the top of the search engines. So look, and let's. Let's specify right here, okay? When I say a checklist, that means of things that you do to your website. If you remember from another episode, I said SEO is not about what you do to your website. SEO is how your website relates to every other website on the Internet, okay? A large part of SEO is not doing stuff to your own website, okay? Because you can't make a perfect website that will be in the number one position because it doesn't work that way. You need authority, and authority only comes from other websites, okay? It only comes from links from other websites, okay? So a big part of what you're going to be doing depending on your competition is getting authority, not making the perfect content, having the perfect user experience, and all the other things that people always try to say are super important, but are actually not super important. Because if there were a per. Really pay attention here. If there was a preferred way of doing those things, everybody would do them, and then it would have no value, okay? That's why getting authority is such a big factor for SEO. Of course it's hard to get good backlinks. That's why they're valuable, is because they're useful and they're hard to get, okay? Like, because they're so useful, that's what makes them hard to get. That's why there is an entire economy around buying and selling backlinks, okay? SEO is simple, but it is not easy. Here's an example. Are you a CEO of a company? I'm seriously asking this. Are you the CEO of a company and do you make $60 million a year?

Listener (6:58)

Okay. Okay.

Grumpy SEO Guy (7:00)

Now let me ask another question. Why aren't you. Why aren't you the CEO of a company?

Listener (7:05)

Okay.

Grumpy SEO Guy (7:06)

Why not? Why not? So somebody's gonna say, grumpy SEO guy, it's hard to become the CEO of a company. Yeah, it is. But somebody else is gonna say, but there's only one CEO of a company. But there's lots of regular employees. Yeah, that's right. And there's only one website in the number one position in the search results too. So I don't know if that example Makes any sense to you, but I hope it does. Everybody wants to be a CEO and make $60 million a year, but it's very hard, okay? Everybody wants to be number one in the search results. But wait a minute, wait a minute. It's very hard. It's simple. Just, you know, get backlinks. And if you're not sure how to get backlinks, listen to episode 49, which is called the Four Ways to Get Backlinks. I literally tell you how to get backlinks in that episode. There are four ways to do it, but basically you either gotta do it yourself or you have to buy them, okay? So I don't know. Some people have a problem with buying backlinks. We have an entire episode on that. It's episode 101, which is called SEO. The ethics of Backlinking. Anyway, but the point is, in order to get authority, you need backlinks. That is the only way to get authority, okay? That is the only way to get authority. All websites have authority, okay? And when a website links to you, it shares with you some of its authority, okay? When a website links to you, it provides authority to you, okay? The more authority that website has, okay? Or more precisely, the more authority that page has, the more authority you get in a backlink, okay? So getting authoritative backlinks from websites with high authority will help you more than getting backlinks from websites with less authority. But backlinks from websites with less authority still help you, unless, you know, there's. There might be exceptions to that, like if the website is penalized or considered spam or something like that. Whatever. But, like, when normal websites link to you, it's all gonna help you. All backlinks, with some exceptions, pass authority, okay? But what's important to understand is that that is the only way to get authority, okay? People will tell you that, oh, good. Content builds authority. No, it doesn't. Only backlinks provide authority. Well, having a good user experience provides authority. No, it doesn't. Only backlinks provide authority. Having a site that loads really fast builds authority. No, it doesn't. Only backlinks build authority. Only backlinks share authority. You cannot make your own authority. You can only get authority from other websites. That's how it works. It doesn't matter if you think that's dumb, because that's how it works, okay? I didn't make the rules. I'm just telling you how to do it, all right? Yes. The Internet would be a better place if we did not have to rely on backlinks. And good quality content ranked because it was good quality. But that is not how it works. So in the meantime, get authority or don't rank. It's up to you. Doesn't matter to me. Anyway, look, here's another example, okay? So people learn that they need authority, and they're like, I'm gonna get backlinks. And then they go out and they find these people that are selling, like, let's say. Let's say 100,000 backlinks for $10. I'm just. I'm just guys just making up numbers here. Okay, let's say a hundred thousand. Because I'm sure there are places where you can buy 100,000 backlinks for $10. Okay, now let's think about this for a second. Let's think about this.

Listener (10:34)

Okay?

Grumpy SEO Guy (10:35)

Your competition. And I'm just using example numbers here. Your competition. For example, let's say you're in a competitive industry. They might be spending $9,000 a month. Let's say they're getting 90 backlinks, okay? So they're paying $100 per backlink per month.

Listener (10:49)

Okay?

Grumpy SEO Guy (10:50)

For those backlinks. So we're just. Again, these are just numbers that I'm just, like, randomly choosing right now. Okay, look, I just want to say something really quick. If you're a beginner and you're listening to this episode, don't think you're gonna need to spend $9,000 per month. Cause you're not going to probably. That's just an example of somebody in a competitive industry.

Listener (11:07)

Okay?

Grumpy SEO Guy (11:08)

It's very unlikely that you will have to spend that much monthly to rank for your keywords. Now, you might. There are some industries where you might need to do that, but that's going to depend on what your competitors are doing.

Listener (11:20)

Okay?

Grumpy SEO Guy (11:21)

Your SEO is going to depend on what your competitors. SEO is. Remember, we've said in other episodes, SEO is a competition, not a checklist. So what you have to do is. So what you have to do depends on. So what you have to do is dependent on what. Upon what your competition is doing. You might need to spend $9,000 a month or more, but probably you won't need to. Okay, does that. Does that make sense? Like, this was just a little example because I wanted to. I wanted to give an example of, like, cheap SEO versus, like, you know, actual SEO, because you can find the cheap stuff anywhere. And I just want you to know that it's probably not a good idea to do it the cheap way.

Listener (12:07)

Okay?

Grumpy SEO Guy (12:07)

And we're going to talk later on about, like, some of the problems with the cheap stuff and why it can't be cheap to begin with. And we're also going to talk about why real SEO can be pretty expensive. So again, this is just an example using like a big number and a very small number just to kind of like talk about what some people might think. I'm saying it is probably not the case that you will need that much money, but it's not unheard of that you might be spending $9,000 a month for 90 good quality backlinks.

Listener (12:43)

Okay?

Grumpy SEO Guy (12:44)

$100 a month per backlink. And that's not 90 new backlinks every month. That's 20 to keep them online, you're paying $100 per backlink for the same backlink to keep it online every month.

Listener (12:54)

Okay?

Grumpy SEO Guy (12:55)

So hypothetically speaking, you're in a competitive industry. Your competitor is spending $9,000 a month for 90 backlinks, okay? And you buy 100,000 backlinks for $10. Okay? Do you think that's gonna do anything? Like, obviously it's not about quantity, right? Those hundred, okay, because let's even take what. Let's even take another step away from this for a second, okay? That person who is selling you 100,000 backlinks for $10, okay? They have to make money, right? So their expense for those hundred thousand backlinks is smaller than $10.

Listener (13:33)

Okay?

Grumpy SEO Guy (13:34)

Now just think about that. Just think about that. If it is possible to build 100,000 backlinks for less than $10, do you think they're going to do anything? Do you think they're on powerful domains or powerful webpages or anything? Or do you think it's just like blog spam or something? Think, like, think. Okay, here's another way to look at it. Good SEO is expensive because it is expensive to do.

Listener (14:06)

Okay?

Grumpy SEO Guy (14:06)

For example, let's say there's a person who buys a domain for $1,000. Okay? Again, I'm just choosing pretend numbers here. Let's say somebody buys a domain for $1,000, okay? Do you think they're going to sell backlinks on that domain for a dollar? That would mean they have to sell 1000 backlinks just to make their money back. Do you, do you think they're going to do that? And would you even want to buy a backlink on a website that has 1,000 outbound links? Like, like, like OBL. Like, do you like. Guys think. Okay, here's another analogy.

Listener (14:47)

Okay?

Grumpy SEO Guy (14:49)

Say you want to buy a Porsche. Like the car, okay? Porsches are Expensive? Why do you think Porsches are expensive? So I will admit that, yes, some of it. Some of it is branding, some of it is marketing. Yes, you are right. Yes. But do you think it's expensive to build the cars, to hire the engineers who envision the cars? Do you think it's expensive, like, to build a Porsche engine? Right. And the wheels and like, all the other stuff? Right. Like, do you think that's expensive? Yes, that's expensive. That's why Porsches cost a lot of money.

Listener (15:26)

Okay?

Grumpy SEO Guy (15:27)

SEO is the same way. If you're buying good quality backlinks, whoever is selling them to you also paid a lot of money to be able to or spent a lot of time to be able to provide those backlinks to you.

Listener (15:41)

Okay? Okay.

Grumpy SEO Guy (15:42)

Like, if somebody has a cheap domain that's not worth anything, yeah, they could probably sell you backlinks for a dollar, but big deal, because, like, who cares, right? But if somebody has a good domain, they probably paid a lot of money for it and they're gonna want to make their money back and then make some money on top of that. That's how business works, okay? And like, it's going to cost you a lot of money. You cannot go out and get authoritative domains for $5. Like, you can't do it. So of course it's going to cost money. Because it's going to cost money. Yes. Look. Okay, so. So that's why SEO can be expensive. Okay, good. SEO is expensive. I've said this before. I'll tell you this another time right now. If it's cheap, it is definitely bad. If it's expensive, it might be bad, right? Because again, spammers can charge whatever they want, right? Just because you're paying a lot of money doesn't mean something is good. But if you're paying a little bit of money, it's definitely worthless. It's like I said in a different episode, I said, if somebody is trying to sell you a Porsche for $30, it's not a Porsche.

Listener (16:49)

Okay?

Grumpy SEO Guy (16:49)

Like, if somebody's trying to sell you SEO for $10, please just save your money, okay? If somebody's trying to sell you a Porsche, okay, for $30, it's not a Porsche. Porsches don't cost $30, okay? So somewhere in this discussion, you're being scammed somehow. Oh, $30 Porsche. Like, no, no, it's not. No. Right. Oh, 100,000 backlinks for $10. No, no. I mean, you can buy. Look, you can buy them if you want, but a. They're not going to help you at all. And B, they might possibly hurt you because I'm sure that they are low quality enough to be categorized in a negative way by the search engines. Maybe not, but you're not going to get any benefit from it. Like you're not. Like you're not.

Listener (17:37)

Okay.

Grumpy SEO Guy (17:38)

We have other episodes that explain why it's about quality and not quantity. By the way, if you're going to buy backlinks, listen to episodes 37 and 39 before you buy backlinks. Episode 37 is called the Difference between Good and bad backlinks. Episode 39 is called the Difference between Good and bad backlinks. Part 2. Listen to those and then buy backlinks. Okay. Okay. Anyway, look, like SEO is simple, right? Let's go over what it is again, because it's only four things. One, don't get a penalty. Two, have content. Three, have relevancy. Four, have authority.

Listener (18:18)

Okay?

Grumpy SEO Guy (18:18)

And we already did this kind of. But those first three things are easy.

Listener (18:22)

Okay?

Grumpy SEO Guy (18:22)

They are easy. Getting authority is hard. I agree with you. Getting. Guys, I agree with you. Getting authority is hard. Well, it's not easy. I wouldn't necessarily say it's hard, but I'd say it's not easy.

Listener (18:37)

Okay?

Grumpy SEO Guy (18:38)

It's not easy. So that person who is ranting that, oh, fighting backlinks are so hard. Yes, it is. And that's because that's effective. Authority is probably the biggest ranking factor there is. Why? Because those other three things are easy. If something is easy, everyone's going to do it. And if everyone is doing it, it's not going to be super important. Because then the playing field would just be exactly the same. Okay, let's say. Right? No penalties.

Listener (19:08)

Okay?

Grumpy SEO Guy (19:09)

Not. Not hard. Not hard. I mean, we'll just say it's not hard to not get a penalty, right? Okay. So it's easy. Content, easy. Relevancy, easy. Everybody's doing those. Your competition that is ranking higher than you has those three things.

Listener (19:22)

Okay?

Grumpy SEO Guy (19:22)

They're doing a good job, and so are you. Probably the reason you're not ranking is because you do not have enough authority, probably compared to how much authority they have. That is why getting authority is the hard part of SEO. Everything else is easy.

Listener (19:38)

Okay?

Grumpy SEO Guy (19:38)

Everything else is like a piece of cake. Like. Anyway, look, the reason getting good backlinks is hard is because they are a very significant part of SEO.

Listener (19:48)

Okay?

Grumpy SEO Guy (19:49)

So I'm not. If you have come to the conclusion, okay, that getting good backlinks is hard, it means you're understanding SEO correctly.

Listener (20:00)

Okay?

Grumpy SEO Guy (20:01)

Because yes, it's hard. It's like, it's like if you want to be a world champion powerlifter or something, but you got to go to the gym and lift heavy weights. That's hard. But then if you do it, you become a world champion powerlifter, then you're the champion. Of course there's like other stuff, you know, but. But still look like you can't just stay at home all day and be a world champion powerlifter. It doesn't work that way. And you can't not get authority and be on the first page of the search engine results unless you have like eight easy competition, right? Like, guys, you need authority to rank. You just do. Okay? I don't know how to explain it. So yes, getting authority is not easy, okay? SEO is very simple, okay? And many of the things are actually easy. But getting authority is not really that easy. But I hope that the examples in this episode we're worthwhile. 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 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. And@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.