As a part of my work and own development I read a lot of articles online. Per day I spend around 2 hours reading. Since I have no central place to store or keep the links which I’ve read, I started a My Shared Links section of this site, where I keep track of the most insightful, best or funny articles I’ve read.
A second reason I do this for, is to secure the link graph for the good content online. Due to the rise of social media sharing, Twitter or other ways of linking with no-follow links, the best content on the web suffers from lower number of links to these sites. A link is still an editorial vote for the efforts of the author.
As the Shared Links section is part of this site, I hope there will be some SEO value, or link juice flowing to these links. Keep the Internet alive, keep linking!
Yesterday I highlighted the Info-graphic about the Pakistan flood. The Info-graphic was being used by a discount voucher affiliate website as a cheap way of getting more inbound links with their preferred keyword anchor tag. Although I was happy to call them out of heir shameless plug of the disaster in Pakistan, I blame myself of having an angle in my post which does not fully cover the load of this practice: The shameless marketing use of a disaster impacting millions of people in Pakistan.
Instead, I highlighted the idea the use of an info-graphic in this story could be the end of info-graphics for link building. Shame on me for missing the deeper message which I intended to highlight! Andrew R H Girdwood is right when he wrote (bold pieces from me to highlight main message that made me think about my own post):
Are we horrified at this attempt at SEO? Not quite. The title suggests the info-graphic is to blame! The headline isn’t the attempt to profit off death. The headline isn’t the appalling unpleasant SEO approach on the back of human tragedy. No, the headline speculates on the end of the info-graphic. Gah. I can see how this might have happened. Dennis had the info-graphic in mind as he started to write the post. He might have initially wondered why a voucher code site was writing about Pakistan at all. However, I feel, the dirt he’s dug up can be planted, fair and square, on the boots of the type of SEO that encourages the world to hate SEOs.
The comments I have seen on Twitter regarding this post better cover the load of what DiscountVouchers.co.uk is trying to do. Here are some of these comments, which obviously make much better titles for my original post:
From these reactions, it’s clear to me the majority of people who make the connection between discountvouchers.co.uk and the Pakistan floods are totally appalled from the marketing practice this company is using. Trying to get an extra push in the search engines, while even no-following the link to the charity website.
I updated the title of my original post to better cover the impact of what we see here: some marketeers don’t care on how they get traffic or customers, as long as there is growth and lot’s of them.
It was a humbling lesson on my own view of the world. While writing the post, I was only thinking on how this company could do this. After finishing the whole post, I tried to think about a good headline which would cover the full load. With my SEO head on the full day, and still having a couple of emails open I’ve been working on, while browsing the Internet, I created the original title: Pakistan Floodbait: The End of The Info-Graphic. This title was pretty SEO related, which I know have changed into: Shameful use of Pakistan Flood Disaster to Gain SEO Links and Traffic
IMPORTANT: Donate money to the Pakistan relief charity funds, find links at the bottom of this post!
Update: I changed the title from Pakistan Floodbait: The End of The Info-Graphic into Shameful use of Pakistan Flood Disaster to Gain SEO Links and Traffic for the following reason.
Everybody who knows and works with me knows I like the Info-graphics trend in Link Bait. These visual representations of mostly data and facts about any kind of topic, makes the story so much more consumable for the average reader. And I know, as I’m the average reader, I include myself in this group!
There are so many people jumping on the wagon of Info-graphics as a form of link building, that it almost becomes irrelevant. The cool kids are already moving on, and finding new ways of building links. Info-graphics will soon lose its value on the Internet. Why? Because there are companies like DiscountVouchers.co.uk who try to gain links using the Pakistan Flooding disaster to get ahead and get more business (I don’t place any link, because I despise the company for its actions, see for full story below). Take a look at the image below here.
At first sight, I liked the info-graphic as it calls to the attention to the major humanity problem which is greatly ignored; the flooding in Pakistan. The info-graphic is very clear and focused on the floods in Pakistan and lack of clean water or any help for the people suffering in Pakistan.
Above the Info-graphic you can find the following text (original info-graphic can be found on:http://www.discountvouchers.co.uk/pakistan-flooding.html) :
Flooding began in Pakistan in July 2010 caused by monsoon rains affecting the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, Punjab as well as parts of Baluchistan. It is thought that at least 2000 people have been killed and over 20 million are now destitute and suffering. We've created this infographic to demonstrate the scale of the disaster and the amount of relief that is still required. A link to a reputable charity can be found at the bottom of the graphic
Yes, they do place a link to a charity, a no-follow link! Let me correct these guys and place a good link to this charity, while I’m donating money at the same time. Donate for Pakistan Flood Appeal. I ask you all to donate to the flood relief as well, as more help is really needed! (More links for charity or help funds can be found at the bottom of this post).
One can ask himself what relevance discount vouchers have to the flooding and disaster in Pakistan. Are the Pakistani going to get a discount voucher from these Brits to any clean water? Is Discount Vouchers going to charter a plane with help packages of food after they got 10K links from this info-graphic? No, it does not seems so…
DiscountVouchers.co.uk is simply using a disaster in a far away land where so many people are suffering to get ahead in the search engines by combining this info-graphic for link building purposes. Their embed code is full of keyword rich anchor tags. Those keywords they would like to rank on…
DiscountVouchers - 2 for 1 Discount Vouchers
Here is the full code, where I removed any html links to prevent from passing on link juice.
As soon as one company gets a ton of incoming links using this kind of technique, competitors will follow to try to compete in the market place. And as soon as you go this route, it’s a slippery slope. Bam, Info-graphics are doomed!What has the world of link building come to; disaster relief link bait..?
I will know pledge myself not to get involved into any of these link building schemes, and will not link to this site, ever!
More places to donate for charity, clean water or Pakistan flood relief (taken from the list of The Huffington Post, I bet they don’t mind I’m copying as it’s for a good cause):
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton encouraged Americans to donate $10 to Pakistan flood relief by texting "SWAT" to 50555. Clinton said the funds would be used by the United Nations to provide food, water, medicine, tents and clothing to affected families.
American aid organization Save the Children, which has worked in Pakistan for over 25 years, is providing plastic sheets, hygiene kits and other supplies to children and families in flooded regions. Make a donation to Save the Children's Pakistan Children in Emergency Fund now.
CARE is responding to the disaster in Pakistan by providing tents and other emergency supplies to displaced families. The organization is also supporting several mobile health clinics treating the sick and wounded in flooded communities. Support relief efforts with a donation to the organization.
International Medical Corps deployed six mobile medical units in Pakistan and has already distributed over 10,000 hygiene kits to those in need. Donate to their efforts.
According to the Mercy Corps website, they are "working to provide clean water, staple foods and clean-up tools to families." A donation of $30 "provides a family with a two-week supply of cooking oil, rice, sugar and other staples." Donate to Mercy Corps.
ActionAid was already stationed in Pakistan when the rains hit, and were among the first organizations to bring food and hygiene kits. They're helping to build shelters in the Upper Swat valley. Make a donation to ActionAid.
Relief International is providing emergency resources to the Khyber Pukhtunkhwa, Baluchistan and Punjab regions. You can donate a survival kit through their Pakistan Flood Emergency Response Fund online or at 1-800-573-3332.
Medical relief charity Merlin USA is helping flood victims by airlifting medical teams into inaccessible regions to set up mobile clinics and treat injuries. You can make a donation to the organization's general fund to support their medical relief services.
The British Red Cross is on the ground in Pakistan, bringing medical services, food, water and shelter to Pakistanis in need. UK citizens can donate online or by phone to support the organization's efforts.
Flood waters have forced international poverty relief organization BRAC to close 10 of its 12 local offices across Pakistan. BRAC workers are now directing their efforts toward humanitarian aid, distributing water sanitation supplies and food packets to families. The organization also plans to help rebuild houses and latrines in upcoming months. You can contribute by making an online donation or signing up to give a monthly gift.
British organization Islamic Relief Worldwide has appealed for £2 million to provide water, food and shelter to victims. Donate through their official site.
Music For Relief is providing emergency assistance to Pakistani families in need. You can help by making an online donation -- Music For Relief will match all individual donations given to flood relief up to $10,000.
Update: I originally wrote the infographic was placed on DiscountVoucher.co.uk. This has to be DiscountVouchers.co.uk, which is a completely different site.
For the last year the traffic on my Dutch San Francisco site suffered from the backlash of Universal Image search. Images of San Francisco outranked my homepage on the KW San Francisco. My listing was pushed down around end of April last year, and as you can see in the graph below, on San Francisco, I dropped in traffic.
But since recently, traffic is returning. Today was the first time I checked on the actual rankings, and what you think… my site is above the images again! Hooray!
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