Blogging is an amazing science. One must be able to accomplish many feats at the same time to grow readership. Two ways to accomplish readership goals are SEO and linkbait. Both have similarities and likewise, differences.
Definitions from the impNERD glossary:
- Linkbait
- Link baiting is a technique used to create links by creating content that appeals to social networks and/or bloggers.
- Search engine optimization
- SEO is an abbreviation for Search Engine Optimization. SEO is a way to increase rankings within search engine results.
Similarities
Linkbait and SEO are quite similar in many aspects.
- Both are a form of internet marketing.
- Both have the main priorities of gaining links.
- Both are best accomplished when having contacts in your own niche.
- Both are for the outcome of traffic.
Differences
However, there are also many differences. Lets go over what they are:
| Linkbait | SEO | |
| Titles: | Clickable titles | Optimized titles for SEs |
| Content: | Anything controversial or interesting. | Pages with 200+ words = best result. |
| Traffic type: | One time only. | Sustained. |
| Chance of accidental success? | Yes | No |
| Difficulty level (scale of 1-10): | 8 | 4 |
In case there is any confusion, ‘chance of accidental’ means the chance which people can accidentally create it. Many times the best linkbait is from something sources you never dreamed of becoming linkbait. As for SEO, it is rarely, if ever, accidental.
As for the difficulty level, SEO is one of the easiest marketing techniques to learn and implement, at least at the basic level. Linkbait however, is one of the hardest.
Which to choose?
There is no need to choose. Both can be accomplished (and sometimes are with the same article). The real choose is when to post one over the other. A general rule is to keep linkbait to a minimum, otherwise visitors might tend to grow angry. However, there are sites out there which live on linkbait alone.
Written: Oct 24, 2008
Steven Wilson
October 24, 2008 @ 6:13 pm
I feel that the linkbait gets more readership I have seen some linkbait tactics that have gone viral overnite.
fragileheart
October 24, 2008 @ 8:57 pm
Great information here Gary – had no idea there was even anything to consider! And that table… why that’s an OC’s dream!
Dennis Edell
October 25, 2008 @ 1:21 pm
You mentioned the biggest difference in my mind – short term and long term.
Kenny Ritchie
October 25, 2008 @ 6:18 pm
There’s a lot in here that should be linked to from newbie sites. So nice piece of linkbait.
It’s not necessarily something to be frowned upon most of your content should be good enough to merit a link from somewhere.
And the quality here does merit this so keep up the good work.
Texas Wanderer
October 26, 2008 @ 12:08 am
Interesting article. I agree that too much linkbaiting can make people angry. SEO is still the easiest and best option.