she wrote an article about these seo tips and you won’t believe what matt cutts did next....

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5/23/2014 See What Matt Cutts Did After Reading These Link Tips | SEJ http://www.searchenginejournal.com/wrote-article-seo-tips-wont-believe-matt-cutts-next-especially-saw-tip-5/105985/ 1/28 Content Marketing She Wrote an Article About These SEO Tips and You Won’t Believe What Matt Cutts Did Next. Especially After He Enter email address SUBM Subscribe to SEJ Get the latest news from Search Engine Journal! Popular Authors Amanda DiSilvestro SEO CONTENT MARKETING SOCIAL MEDIA PAID SEARCH AGENCY ENTREPRENEUR

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Link baiting seems to be quite a trendy way these days to attract potential viewers. This is an article about Click Bait, the good, the bad and the ugly... Enjoy!

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Page 1: She Wrote an Article About These SEO Tips and You Won’t Believe What Matt Cutts Did Next. Especially After He Saw Tip #5

5/23/2014 See What Matt Cutts Did After Reading These Link Tips | SEJ

http://www.searchenginejournal.com/wrote-article-seo-tips-wont-believe-matt-cutts-next-especially-saw-tip-5/105985/ 1/28

Content Marketing

She Wrote an ArticleAbout These SEOTips and You Won’tBelieve What MattCutts Did Next.Especially After He

Enter email address SUBMIT

Subscribe to SEJGet the latest news from Search

Engine Journal!

Popular Authors

Amanda

DiSilvestro

SEO CONTENT MARKETING SOCIAL MEDIA PAID SEARCH AGENCY ENTREPRENEUR

Page 2: She Wrote an Article About These SEO Tips and You Won’t Believe What Matt Cutts Did Next. Especially After He Saw Tip #5

5/23/2014 See What Matt Cutts Did After Reading These Link Tips | SEJ

http://www.searchenginejournal.com/wrote-article-seo-tips-wont-believe-matt-cutts-next-especially-saw-tip-5/105985/ 2/28

Bernadette ColemanMay 21, 2014

506 SHARES 55 COMMENTS

Saw Tip #5

Did you click on a link to this article based on the

title? Good. My link bait worked.

Isn’t that the point? To get you here. But there are

people who are so concerned with SEO that they’d

(almost) do anything to drive traffic to their site. And

guess what? It works. Every time I see a title that

intrigues me I click on it. I fall for it over and over.

Sometimes the click is worth it. Sometimes it’s not.

Link baiting seems to be quite a trendy way these

days to attract potential viewers. It is essentially

generating compelling or useful content that will

naturally lure people to a website. It can be fun (I

know I laughed after I wrote the title for this piece)

and has the ability to attract some very big SEO

results. Link baiting is not new. Check out this article

on CopyBlogger about the history of link baiting. It

is, however, getting better and more engaging.

Now lets be clear about why people use link baiting.

The main goal is to increase the number of external

links and shares, rather than website visits and sales.

The idea is to improve your rankings and hopefully

increase your organic search results over a period of

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Page 3: She Wrote an Article About These SEO Tips and You Won’t Believe What Matt Cutts Did Next. Especially After He Saw Tip #5

5/23/2014 See What Matt Cutts Did After Reading These Link Tips | SEJ

http://www.searchenginejournal.com/wrote-article-seo-tips-wont-believe-matt-cutts-next-especially-saw-tip-5/105985/ 3/28

time.

Are Link Bait TitlesReally All They AreCracked Up To Be?Some people like link baiting and some don’t. It’s

just another way to get people interested in your

story. Ann Simmons says it best in this line from her

highly regarded book The Story Factor. The jargon

she uses demonstrates link baiting:

“We try to “hook ‘em” and “reel ‘em in.” … Your story

is the bait. If a fish doesn’t bite do you blame the

fish? Do you call the fish unmotivated, lazy, greedy?

No, you look for better bait.

Sites like Upworthy and BuzzFeed thrive on link bait

titles in order to draw visitors to its site, which is fine

with them because they get paid to sell advertising

to its audience.

And while link baiting can bring visitors to your site,

many people are growing tired of it. You won’t

believe what people are doing it to stop them, and

the results will shock you.

Ok, I’m being a bit sarcastic here, but you get my

point. In all seriousness though, there are things like

a Google Chrome plugin called Downworthy (get

it?). In a nutshell, this plugin claims that it will reflect

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Page 4: She Wrote an Article About These SEO Tips and You Won’t Believe What Matt Cutts Did Next. Especially After He Saw Tip #5

5/23/2014 See What Matt Cutts Did After Reading These Link Tips | SEJ

http://www.searchenginejournal.com/wrote-article-seo-tips-wont-believe-matt-cutts-next-especially-saw-tip-5/105985/ 4/28

the article story more realistically, instead of showing

you hyperbolic headlines. My personal favorite is “go

viral” will be replaced with “be overused so much

that you’ll silently pray for sweet release of death to

make it stop”. Others include replacing “literally”

with “figuratively” and “incredible” into “painfully

ordinary”.

This means that instead of being annoyed by these

headlines, you’ll find them wildly entertaining. Since

you’re going to be bombarded with link baits on a

daily basis (remember that part about it being trendy

these days?), you might as well try to enjoy them.

Instead of being annoyed, some are actually

downright offended by them.

Back in January, CNN

posted a tweet that

went viral, but also got

a lot of backlash for it.

It said “14-year-old girl

stabbed her little sister 40 times, police say. The

reason why will shock you. http://cnn.it/1eDwRlj”.

Many people not only retweeted it, but people

responded that they wouldn’t take CNN seriously

anymore.

Do you think CNN really thought it through when

they thought about how they wanted to drive traffic

to their site?

Conducta

ContentAudit

on Your

Site

5/23/2014

Why

You’reDoing

Digital

Public

RelationsWrong

5/23/2014

E-

Commerce

101:How to

Get

Started

withSEO For

Your

Products

onAmazon

5/23/2014

Facebook

Introduces

Privacy

CheckupTool,

And

NewDefault

Privacy

Settings

5/22/2014

LinkedIn

Page 5: She Wrote an Article About These SEO Tips and You Won’t Believe What Matt Cutts Did Next. Especially After He Saw Tip #5

5/23/2014 See What Matt Cutts Did After Reading These Link Tips | SEJ

http://www.searchenginejournal.com/wrote-article-seo-tips-wont-believe-matt-cutts-next-especially-saw-tip-5/105985/ 5/28

Here Are Some SEOProblems With LinkBait, And The ResultsWill Make You CryAs demonstrated with the examples above, not only

can bad link bait not be effective, but it can have

some very serious consequences down the line for

your SEO regarding the relevance of your content,

and the kinds of links you earn. Some websites have

even suffered Google penalties because of how bad

their link bait is.

There isn’t really a benchmark for bad link baiting,

but here are some characteristics that help to define

what bad link baiting is:

Infographics without quality information

Creating controversy for the sake of

controversy

Content that is barely related to topic at

hand, or totally off-topic

Link Baiting and ROISo what does this mean? Is link baiting good for ROI

or not? Yes it is, when done right. You just never

know what Google has up its sleeves, so what you

do today could be penalized down the line. Also, be

careful. If people hate your content because they

Releases

Report:

LinkedInUsers

Have

More

BuyingPower

Compared

ToOther

Networks

5/22/2014

What

The

ExpertsHave to

Say:

Google

Panda4.0 and

Payday

Loan 2.0Updates

5/22/2014

5 ThingsYou

Didn’t

KnowAbout

Twitter’s

Biggest

Acquisitions

5/22/2014

PinterestVersus

Twitter:

Which

ShouldMy

Business

Page 6: She Wrote an Article About These SEO Tips and You Won’t Believe What Matt Cutts Did Next. Especially After He Saw Tip #5

5/23/2014 See What Matt Cutts Did After Reading These Link Tips | SEJ

http://www.searchenginejournal.com/wrote-article-seo-tips-wont-believe-matt-cutts-next-especially-saw-tip-5/105985/ 6/28

were tricked by the title, what are the chances they

will share it? And if they don’t share it, how will the

traffic you gain lead to loyal followers and

customers?

Isn’t There A Way I CanStill Use Link-Baiting?Yes, in fact it can be quite easy. Instead of pouring

your energy into finding easy solutions, use that

time to create one piece of link bait that is not only

relevant, but highly valuable for your readers. This is

what is known as a linkable asset.

Ask yourself the following questions and see if your

linkable asset is actually worth making:

Does it help make the viewer’s life easier?

Will it be used over and over again?

Will it provide value that is actually practical?

Will it reveal any new knowledge or insight?

Will it get a strong emotional response?

Link baiting withLinkable AssetsThe idea is to merge the idea of link baiting with

linkable assets, so you not only draw your visitors in,

Use?

5/22/2014

How

Content

CurationMay

Boost

Your

Influence

5/22/2014

Find us on Facebook

Search Engine Journal

You like this.

You and 97,586 others like Search Engine Journal

Facebook social plugin

Like

Page 7: She Wrote an Article About These SEO Tips and You Won’t Believe What Matt Cutts Did Next. Especially After He Saw Tip #5

5/23/2014 See What Matt Cutts Did After Reading These Link Tips | SEJ

http://www.searchenginejournal.com/wrote-article-seo-tips-wont-believe-matt-cutts-next-especially-saw-tip-5/105985/ 7/28

but with the value you provide them, you get them

to stay.

Every day online, both great and not so great articles

live or die by the quality of their title.

As content creators, we have just one line of text to

include a keyword or phrase that might match a

search keyword or engage an audience who will

make a final judgment on the quality of the content

piece in real-time. As a matter of fact, many usability

studies show Internet users generally scan

headlines, link lists, or status updates.

Writing titles is a serious matter and the success of

your campaign depends on it. Here are some of key

factors our Rob Garner tells says you should

consider when writing engaging headlines:

Write an Engaging Heading That Readers

Will Quickly Understand: How would you

describe your article or digital asset in

seven to 10 words? Be clear and succinct,

and cover at least one of the captivating ideas

or features of your digital asset.

Accurately Describe What the Reader

Should Expect to See: Make your title

relevant, because your audience does not like

to be tricked. They will appreciate the

truthfulness in consistency between the title

and actual content. The same goes for search

engines—don’t try to stuff irrelevant keywords

into your title, because engines’ algorithms

Page 8: She Wrote an Article About These SEO Tips and You Won’t Believe What Matt Cutts Did Next. Especially After He Saw Tip #5

5/23/2014 See What Matt Cutts Did After Reading These Link Tips | SEJ

http://www.searchenginejournal.com/wrote-article-seo-tips-wont-believe-matt-cutts-next-especially-saw-tip-5/105985/ 8/28

can detect this type inconsistency and will

ignore your content altogether.

Reveal an Outcome of the Article or a

Provocative Question That the Article Might

Answer: What thoughts or conclusion would

you like your reader or consumer to walk

away with after clicking through to read or

view your content? Entice your audience by

asking a question or providing the answer in

the title, and be sure that your content lives

up to your title. Sample titles include “How a

Graffiti Artist Earned $200 Million on the

Facebook IPO” and “Is Google Making Us

Stupid?”.

Use a Relevant Keyword or Keyword Phrase

in the Title: Keywords are connections to

people who use social networks. A good

keyword in the title that reflects the literal

theme of the article or asset will ultimately

determine whether it ranks in search and

social. If you are writing a 10,000-word review

of the best hotels in New York City, it would

be beneficial to include the relevant phrase

“New York City Hotels” somewhere in the title

to reinforce the main theme for your

audience and for search engines. Not all

articles have an exact keyword fit, though

most should. If you do not place a keyword in

this highly competitive spot, don’t expect to

automatically rank in search, because search

engines still apply heavy weight to this page

element.

Page 9: She Wrote an Article About These SEO Tips and You Won’t Believe What Matt Cutts Did Next. Especially After He Saw Tip #5

5/23/2014 See What Matt Cutts Did After Reading These Link Tips | SEJ

http://www.searchenginejournal.com/wrote-article-seo-tips-wont-believe-matt-cutts-next-especially-saw-tip-5/105985/ 9/28

Bio Facebook Google+ LinkedIn

Latest Posts

What if you don’t know how? Start by using a nifty

tool called MOZ Worthy to help you come up with

some headlines. Just plug-in your link, what kind of

response you want to get from viewers, and away

you go.

By the way, did you even notice that I did not even

mention Matt Cutts. That there is no Tip # 5? Does

that piss you off or did you enjoy my article on “To

Link Bait or Not to Link Bait?” Let me know. Cheers!

Screen shot

from https://twitter.com/cnnbrk/status/426265271914205184

Bernadette ColemanCEO at Advice Interactive Group

Bernadette Coleman is CEO & Executive

Director of Advice Interactive Group, an

award winning digital agency focused on

improving visibility for clients across the

digital universe. Highly experienced and

considered an industry leader in search

engine marketing, social media, design, and

development, she leads one of the fastest

growing interactive agencies in the U.S. by

Inc. 500 You can read more about her on

Page 10: She Wrote an Article About These SEO Tips and You Won’t Believe What Matt Cutts Did Next. Especially After He Saw Tip #5

5/23/2014 See What Matt Cutts Did After Reading These Link Tips | SEJ

http://www.searchenginejournal.com/wrote-article-seo-tips-wont-believe-matt-cutts-next-especially-saw-tip-5/105985/ 10/28

6

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55 thoughts on “She Wrote anArticle About These SEO Tipsand You Won’t Believe WhatMatt Cutts Did Next. EspeciallyAfter He Saw Tip #5”

Page 11: She Wrote an Article About These SEO Tips and You Won’t Believe What Matt Cutts Did Next. Especially After He Saw Tip #5

5/23/2014 See What Matt Cutts Did After Reading These Link Tips | SEJ

http://www.searchenginejournal.com/wrote-article-seo-tips-wont-believe-matt-cutts-next-especially-saw-tip-5/105985/ 11/28

John Smeth says:May 21, 2014 at 7:34 am

Very interesting post Bernadette !! Its been

very hard to decide this days which things are

helpful to promote any online business. But

focusing on theme based high quality links is

always a good idea. It wont create problems

for any website.

REPLY

Bernadette Colemansays:May 21, 2014 at 10:49 am

Thanks John – Theme based

quality content is the key…

REPLY

Faisal Rehmansays:May 23, 2014 at 1:40 am

In today’s world trust

building is really

important and is the

1st step in getting

loyal visitors and

customers. when a

title promises

something and

doesn’t deliver.

People will never re-

share the article and

eventually will not

Page 12: She Wrote an Article About These SEO Tips and You Won’t Believe What Matt Cutts Did Next. Especially After He Saw Tip #5

5/23/2014 See What Matt Cutts Did After Reading These Link Tips | SEJ

http://www.searchenginejournal.com/wrote-article-seo-tips-wont-believe-matt-cutts-next-especially-saw-tip-5/105985/ 12/28

re-visit author’s site

who practice that!

Joseph de Souza says:May 21, 2014 at 8:24 am

If the title created as a link bait does not match

the contents of the article accurately, after a

few times no one will click on it

REPLY

Norman says:May 22, 2014 at 12:46 pm

Hammer, meet head of the nail.

REPLY

jack says:May 21, 2014 at 9:02 am

What a stupid title. Cheers for wasting my

time

REPLY

chris says:May 21, 2014 at 2:09 pm

agreed. read the title, scrolled

down (TLDNR), and decided this

was a waste of time. thanks. Not.

REPLY

Page 13: She Wrote an Article About These SEO Tips and You Won’t Believe What Matt Cutts Did Next. Especially After He Saw Tip #5

5/23/2014 See What Matt Cutts Did After Reading These Link Tips | SEJ

http://www.searchenginejournal.com/wrote-article-seo-tips-wont-believe-matt-cutts-next-especially-saw-tip-5/105985/ 13/28

Nate Henry Luedtke says:May 21, 2014 at 9:31 am

The title worked on me. Link bait

effectiveness? Confirmed.

REPLY

Bernadette Colemansays:May 21, 2014 at 10:50 am

Thanks Nate! It works every

time. Just needs to be done with

finesse not lies in the title. Good

content rules…

REPLY

Salman Aslamsays:May 21, 2014 at 3:02 pm

The Linkbait Titles,

for me, are about to

cross a line because

the content does not

fulfill the promise in

most cases however

if the asset is

worthwhile the

results can be

spectacular.

MSI Sakib says:

Page 14: She Wrote an Article About These SEO Tips and You Won’t Believe What Matt Cutts Did Next. Especially After He Saw Tip #5

5/23/2014 See What Matt Cutts Did After Reading These Link Tips | SEJ

http://www.searchenginejournal.com/wrote-article-seo-tips-wont-believe-matt-cutts-next-especially-saw-tip-5/105985/ 14/28

May 21, 2014 at 9:45 am

What I think is, SEO is becoming more

complicated day by day. All the time new SEO

techniques are created. But I think there are

some stable SEO tricks regarding Title,

Description, Content and Backlinks. We can’t

deny the words of Matt Cutts. We have

nothing to do but to make our mind for new

SEO strategy.

REPLY

Bernadette Colemansays:May 21, 2014 at 10:51 am

Yes there are. Good titles are the

key. They are your “Billboard”

Just don’t get out of hand.

REPLY

scottmckirahan says:May 21, 2014 at 9:53 am

Pisses me off when a title promises

something and doesn’t deliver. Will never re-

share an article that does that!

REPLY

Bernadette Colemansays:May 21, 2014 at 10:52 am

I’m with you Scott!

Page 15: She Wrote an Article About These SEO Tips and You Won’t Believe What Matt Cutts Did Next. Especially After He Saw Tip #5

5/23/2014 See What Matt Cutts Did After Reading These Link Tips | SEJ

http://www.searchenginejournal.com/wrote-article-seo-tips-wont-believe-matt-cutts-next-especially-saw-tip-5/105985/ 15/28

REPLY

Mike says:May 21, 2014 at 10:25 am

While big entities can get away with this, I

wouldn’t revisit a site after the first 2 – 3 times

of using these tactics. I understand that link

bait titles can generate a lot of traffic, but it

does piss me off when the article does not

deliver on its title.

REPLY

Bernadette Colemansays:May 21, 2014 at 10:53 am

I agree 100% That’s the whole

point of this article. Thanks for

responding.

REPLY

Khem Raj says:May 21, 2014 at 10:51 am

Crap!! This is not at all link bait. Link bait is

something when your title is so very attractive

and matches with content as well. No one

share or re-share or refer an article that

promises something else and deliver

something else. Though this article can

definitely be quoted among the worst titled

articles

Page 16: She Wrote an Article About These SEO Tips and You Won’t Believe What Matt Cutts Did Next. Especially After He Saw Tip #5

5/23/2014 See What Matt Cutts Did After Reading These Link Tips | SEJ

http://www.searchenginejournal.com/wrote-article-seo-tips-wont-believe-matt-cutts-next-especially-saw-tip-5/105985/ 16/28

REPLY

Bernadette Colemansays:May 21, 2014 at 10:55 am

Khem, that’s the point of this

whole article. Most titles do not

match. I’m glad you took a

moment to comment. Have a

great day.

REPLY

Lissa Duty says:May 21, 2014 at 10:52 am

Love the title – I did click thought because is

said Matt Cutts! I have been known to do

some link baiting in my titles, however, I

always address what the title said in some

form or fashion! Perhaps even with a joke or

making a point like you do here. Great job

reeling us in, Bernadette!

REPLY

Bernadette Coleman says:May 22, 2014 at 12:40 pm

Thanks Lissa!

REPLY

Dogan Akdag says:May 21, 2014 at 10:55 am

Page 17: She Wrote an Article About These SEO Tips and You Won’t Believe What Matt Cutts Did Next. Especially After He Saw Tip #5

5/23/2014 See What Matt Cutts Did After Reading These Link Tips | SEJ

http://www.searchenginejournal.com/wrote-article-seo-tips-wont-believe-matt-cutts-next-especially-saw-tip-5/105985/ 17/28

I think this kind of titles are working

sustainably only for content sites like

buzzfeed, upworthy etc. Because they are

time-wasting websites when you are bored

and want to procastinate.

Even those websites don’t use misleading

titles like you!

Of course this behaviour makes reader pissed

off, don’t you see that I’m leaving comment

for the very first time:)

I don’t suggest that you SEJ crew continue to

make that experiment.

REPLY

Bernadette Coleman says:May 22, 2014 at 12:43 pm

Thanks for your comment Dogan.

The purpose of the article is to

point out that these types of titles

piss us all off! The title was

purposely misleading to make a

point. Thanks for commenting for

the very first time.

REPLY

Tom Coleman says:May 21, 2014 at 11:14 am

This is a great story and provides an excellent

example of how “shocking headlines” are still

able to TRAP readers’ attention and pull them

in. It has worked on the front pages of

newspapers for centuries, and it still works,

Page 18: She Wrote an Article About These SEO Tips and You Won’t Believe What Matt Cutts Did Next. Especially After He Saw Tip #5

5/23/2014 See What Matt Cutts Did After Reading These Link Tips | SEJ

http://www.searchenginejournal.com/wrote-article-seo-tips-wont-believe-matt-cutts-next-especially-saw-tip-5/105985/ 18/28

now, with electronic social media and news

sites. The headline works on the human

nature side of the equation that search

algorithms just can’t replicate. Our eyes and

minds still need that “candy” to force us to

click.

REPLY

Bernadette Coleman says:May 22, 2014 at 12:45 pm

It works Tom, but it still gets our

goat everytime we click on a title

and we are disappointed with the

article content. But you are right,

they worked years ago and still

work today. Let’s remember that

the content still needs to be quality

content.

REPLY

cayn0r says:May 21, 2014 at 1:30 pm

I have to be honest, I’m a bit pissed off! :D

REPLY

Bernadette Coleman says:May 23, 2014 at 12:59 pm

Sorry Cayn0r, I get pissed when I

see a title like this and get tricked

into clicking. That’s why I wrote

this article. Thanks for the

comment and taking time from

Page 19: She Wrote an Article About These SEO Tips and You Won’t Believe What Matt Cutts Did Next. Especially After He Saw Tip #5

5/23/2014 See What Matt Cutts Did After Reading These Link Tips | SEJ

http://www.searchenginejournal.com/wrote-article-seo-tips-wont-believe-matt-cutts-next-especially-saw-tip-5/105985/ 19/28

your day to read the article. Have a

good weekend!

REPLY

Jake J. says:May 21, 2014 at 4:24 pm

Didn’t know SEJ was still around

REPLY

Kelsey Jones says:May 21, 2014 at 4:37 pm

Welcome back! Glad to have you

as a reader.

REPLY

Takeshi Young says:May 21, 2014 at 8:01 pm

You use the words link bait and click bait

interchangeably in the article, but the two are

not really the same. Upworthy/Buzzfeed style

titles are “click bait”, they entice users to click

on their articles in the Facebook news stream

and maybe share it with their friends. “Link

bait” is content that is created specifically to

attract links, things like expert round-ups or

useful resource pages.

Link bait is often less cringeworthy than click

bait because it takes more than just a quick

emotional response for people to link to

something, it takes time and effort to add a

Page 20: She Wrote an Article About These SEO Tips and You Won’t Believe What Matt Cutts Did Next. Especially After He Saw Tip #5

5/23/2014 See What Matt Cutts Did After Reading These Link Tips | SEJ

http://www.searchenginejournal.com/wrote-article-seo-tips-wont-believe-matt-cutts-next-especially-saw-tip-5/105985/ 20/28

new link to a website vs just clicking on an

article.

REPLY

Jesse Aaron(@JesseAarone) says:May 22, 2014 at 10:25 am

^ nailed it.

REPLY

Bernadette Coleman says:May 22, 2014 at 12:49 pm

Takeshi, you are right. they are not

the same. Click bait is probably the

right term but the point of the

article is don’t lure me with bad

titles and unrelated content.

Clickable titles are good if I click

and get what I expected, which

should always be good content.

REPLY

Sandeep Dahiya says:May 22, 2014 at 1:50 am

I read the whole article and learned a few

things I dint know.

Confirmed – Link bait works.

REPLY

Bob Jones says:

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May 22, 2014 at 2:04 am

Yep, pissed me off. Skimmed through to see

what it was about and did not get what I was

promised.

So to an effect it worked, getting me to the

page – but I didn’t read the article. Guess that

works for some site who sell CPM

advertising.

REPLY

Rajan says:May 22, 2014 at 2:25 am

You got me. That title sure did the job. I just

wonder if Cutts fell for it too. Maybe he read

your post too hehe.

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David E Carey says:May 22, 2014 at 7:48 am

Did I click through to your

posting? I certainly did as I love to

hear and see MATT CUTTS tells

the world. Is this approach an

original link bait tactic? doubt it.

Does it make me want to leave?

Mmm well yes unfortunately it

seems to be the case and not

bother reading the article.

In the nicest possible way sorry

Bernadette no doubt you had a

genuine reason for running the

experiment – hope it works out

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for you.

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Bernadette Coleman says:May 22, 2014 at 12:50 pm

He probably would not wast his

time with my article, I did tweet

him though and let him know it

was there to read if he wanted.

haha

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Edward says:May 22, 2014 at 3:54 am

Hi Bernadette,

that was a perfect example of link baiting

from you!

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Gemma says:May 22, 2014 at 4:28 am

Hi Bernadette, I have mixes feelings. As long

as its related I don’t mind. however I did only

Click due to the “Matt Cutts” inclusion. Don’t

forget many people still use Google alerts to

keep up to speed with industry specific

people, so you will be sure to get traffic from

there also. ALSO Your link to Mozworthy

doesn’t work :(

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Charak Patnaik says:May 22, 2014 at 4:37 am

Bernadette, your trick worked. The title did

made me click. But, as a author, if someone

comes up with such titles…won’t it hamper

credibility.

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Bernadette Coleman says:May 23, 2014 at 12:56 pm

It will hamper credibility. That’s

what this article is about. Thanks

for commenting.

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Praveen Kumar BK(@praveenkumarbk_) says:May 22, 2014 at 6:02 am

Yes, i agree. ‘TITLE’ is the first impression you

create on any reader. For instance the above

post created below interaction and

engagement. I am sharing it now ! let me see

how many such i can pass-on …

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Bernadette Coleman says:May 23, 2014 at 12:59 pm

Thank you Praveen, I appreciate

the sharing. Have a good

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weekend.

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Sean Kavanaugh says:May 22, 2014 at 7:31 am

Well done Bernadette, I’ll admit I did click on it

to see what Matt Cutts had to say however

once I started reading I didn’t stop.

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Bernadette Coleman says:May 23, 2014 at 12:57 pm

Thanks Sean. I’m glad you enjoyed

the article.

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Abhinav Dabas says:May 22, 2014 at 9:44 am

Hook, line and sinker!! Totally fell for the

headline… But considering the article was on

link baiting, I think that drove the point deeper

on how it can be more effective…. I wouldn’t

have read the article had it been titled ‘To bait

or not to Bait’ and would have missed the

information it offered all together…. so all in

all i think link-baiting is fine as long as you

provide value to the reader and keep it

relevant….. Interesting article…. Quite

informative…. But i was really really hoping to

find what #5 was…. :)

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Pawel Kontek says:May 22, 2014 at 11:00 am

Great article Bernadette. I like that you

presented the concept by using bait title. I am

not piss off at all, because you delivered

valuable content. Thanks!

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Bernadette Coleman says:May 22, 2014 at 12:52 pm

Thanks Pawel, it seems I pissed a

few people off but it seems that

they just didn’t get the point of the

article. Have a great day.

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chris says:May 22, 2014 at 1:03 pm

or perhaps you could

be wrong? doesn’t

seem you are willing to

consider that. rather

we can just “seem to

not get the point” and

our opinion that this

was a waste of time is

irrelevant. Glad to

know you are so

important.

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Bernadette Coleman says:May 22, 2014 at 12:49 pm

Thabnks Sandeep

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Don says:May 22, 2014 at 3:46 pm

Enjoyed the article, and the

interaction after…I’m a newbie and

didn’t know who Matt Cutts is (but

I do now) I’m reading up on how

to drive traffic as I’m just getting

ready to start that process…Did

Matt ever check out the post? I’d

be curious as to his reaction.

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Alex Ion says:May 22, 2014 at 2:49 pm

I get the point of sensationalizing your titles. If

done right, it really makes people click.

However, mentioning something and not

being able to find references to it inside the

article, totally breaks it for me. Lies get

punished! But you’re getting another chance,

Bernadette, for such a great post ;)

Link bait works. Finesse for it, is the word!

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Bernadette Coleman says:May 23, 2014 at 1:00 pm

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Finesse is the word! I agree…

Thanks Alex.

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William Forrest says:May 23, 2014 at 2:37 am

I agree, I would say that link baiting is one of

the effective ways to promote a website or to

make a post go viral. I’ve been a victim of

these intriguing titles too and my hot little

hands just couldn’t resist them…some posts

were empty, some were really good and fun

to read. Evoking high arousal emotions I think

is a big factor too..& intriguing images that

spoon-feed the readers will definitely make a

post worth it.

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Bernadette Coleman says:May 23, 2014 at 1:02 pm

You hit the nail on the head

William. Link or click baiting is

effective. It just needs to be done

right with good quality relevant

content. Thanks for the comment.

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Ayas Mishra says:May 23, 2014 at 8:03 am

Damn you are good. I took the bait too many

times.

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