SEO professionals looking for ways to gain a competitive edge in their link acquisition and blogging techniques can take heart — 2023 is bringing some exciting advancements that you'll want to add to your toolbox of tricks.  Ann Smarty joins me on the SEJ Show to talk about techniques in link acquisition, resourceful and trusted content, and other progressions of traditional SEO strategies. Discover approaches for boosting visibility and SEO success in this episode.   Link building is the only thing that can move the needle. You can optimize, and you can make your site fast. You can create content and do keyword research, but at the end of the day, what moves the needle to get that website ranking very competitively is still linking. –Ann Smarty, 07:43 We even have our database of websites that sell links, and we can track every company that buys links there. So we know that if this site is buying here, that site is usually selling links. So the neighborhood is a huge thing here. –Ann Smarty, 10:28 The beauty of educators is that it's the best neighborhood. Those people never sell links on their websites because they're busy with something else and value all the resources they put on their websites. So that's a never been spammed neighborhood.–Ann Smarty, 21:20   [00:00] - About Ann. [03:59] - Are experimental side projects important? [07:15] - How crucial is linking for SEO nowadays? [11:56] - The importance of quality of content in terms of a link target page. [14:53] - What's more important on Google reading lists, at the top or bottom? [21:09] - Other forms of ethical link building. [26:42] - Kinds of content that attract more links now. [30:23] - Types of impactful outreach and linking. [32:57] - Importance of original statistics.   Resources Mentioned: https://www.seosmarty.com/ Some companies are closing down, and there are stores and restaurants everywhere that are closing down. That's very sad. But the opportunity from a link acquisition perspective is someone's going to lose their domain, which you can always pick up in the future and do something creative with, or those lists are now going to be linked to pages, which 404 or redirect. So you can go out and help the publisher update and make things fresh. –Loren Baker, 13:51 Google is being used by journalists and bloggers all the time. So if you can write an excellent article on a topic and rank it for half of the high-volume search queries, you will see those links coming because people would just come across your resource using Google. –Ann Smarty, 23:02 I do have a theory that Google does look at clicks when they evaluate links. So if links are never clicked, those links are not helpful. So usually, I do want the most valuable links to be those that get traffic. And the higher on the list you are, the more traffic you will get. So always, if you are higher, that's better. –Ann Smarty, 15:53   For more content like this, subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/searchenginejournal Are you looking to keep up with current and effective digital marketing today? Check out https://www.searchenginejournal.com for everything you need to know within the digital marketing space and improve your skills as an internet marketer.   Connect with Ann Smarty: Ann Smarty is a digital marketing mastermind. Not only does she have extensive work experience as an Affiliate Program Manager and SEO consultant, but she's also the Community Manager at Internet Marketing Ninjas.  With her diverse link building skills, keyword research, and social media management, Ann has developed numerous free guides plus courses to help everyone, from individuals to businesses, get ahead. So get ready for success with all that HQ knowledge from one super smart(y) cookie! Connect with Ann on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annsmarty/ Follow her on Twitter: https://twitter.com/seosmarty Connect with Loren Baker