The Concept of Linkbait and its Resurgence on Twitter

Linkbait is not a new phenomenon, it has existed since the dawn of the modern internet. It is often funny if you know what it is and how to spot it. If you don't and go on a rant and post a blog about it...you are simply accomplishing the author's goal.

Essentially, linkbait is an inflammatory article or list targeted to offend one demographic and praise another. For instance complain about Gen Y's lack of work ethic or how people over the age of 50 are worthless. The resulting uproar (usually largely negative) is then spread around and discussed in various blog posts creating a plethora of new links to improve that site's SEO and page rank.

Typically, linkbait is created for mid-level news websites (think your local nbc, abc, or cbs affiliate) or smaller market newspapers. These articles can also appear on prominent blogs and sometimes even mainstream news sites like MSNBC and CNN. This assumes a baseline amount of readership already built into your site because if no one ever visits your site to begin with then the attempt at linkbaiting will fail.

Linkbait used to spread primarily through social bookmarking sites like Digg, Delicious, and a variety of others. For me Fark.com is my favorite place to read comments on linkbait as it has snarky and genuinely humorous responses usually. This usually meant a one time hit of traffic to the offending site and a number of blog posts about ignorant and idiotic the writer of the piece was. So basically a one time hit of traffic and links will be the result of a successful campaign. Thus, large amounts of articles would need to be written and updated regularly to make the strategy a success.

With the expansion of Twitter and instant sharing capabilities built into browers, linkbait has never been as successful or prolific as it is now. Not one day goes by where I don't see at least one piece of it, and why not? It's an excellent strategy for SEO, expanding your user base, and building notoriety. Twitter allows the spread of linkbait to reach epic proportions thus exposing it to a whole new audience. Greater audience=More success.

The reason that people say that there is no such thing as bad publicity is because there isn't. If something seems blatantly untrue and even contradictory on a news site...it's linkbait. You can call it whatever you want but that's why it is there to drive more links and clicks.

So the next time you start a flame war instead just laugh and revel in the genius of the original author of the article.

tagged as link marketing, link tactics, linkbait, linkbait marketing, linkbait tactics, marketing tactics, seo linkbait, social media linkbait