In Episode #347, Eric and Neil discuss why big brands get away with spammy link building. Tune in to learn how Google has changed their algorithms, making businesses think twice about using shady link tactics. And even if these tactics work, find out why it’s still not recommended for you to use them. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: Why Do Big Brands Get Away With Spammy Link Building? 00:44 – Big companies like Google and Amazon make hundreds of millions of links 00:50 – The over-optimization cup 01:01 – Once it overflows, you’ll get hit with penalties and adjustments 01:08 – A new site or brand has a smaller margin of error 02:06 – One of hardest indicators to manipulate is brand craze 02:10 – This is when more and more people are searching for your brand 02:30 – When Google knows that you’re a big brand, it’s harder for them to remove you 02:38 – Google just penalizes a big brand for shady link building 03:05 – Google notices that people will turn to other search engines when they don’t see the big brands from the search result 03:08 – Google now does not penalize big brands as easily 03:23 – A lot of industries are using shady link tactics 03:58 – Google has adapted different algorithms to determine if a brand should be penalized 04:30 – Google now tries to showcase the best sites first 04:27 – Viper Chill’s How 16 Companies Are Dominating the World’s Google Search Result 05:08 – Hearst Media started BestProducts 05:24 – The total number of visits skyrocketed in just a few months 06:05 – SEO out-playing still happens 06:29 – If you’re creating too much possibility by doing something wrong, it will look bad 06:46 – Shady tactics still work but is NOT recommended 07:00 – Top keywords from SEMrush 07:31 – That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points: People tend to use a different search engines when they don’t see the brands that they want from the search results. Shady tactics are still being used today and while they work, they aren’t recommended. Google now shows the best sites first. Leave some feedback: What should we talk about next? Please let us know in the comments below. Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please leave a short review. Connect with us: NeilPatel.com Quick Sprout Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.