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 LinkTips | SEJ
http://www.searchenginejournal.com/wrote-article-seo-tips-wont-believe-matt-cutts-next-especially-saw-tip-5/105985/ 1/28
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She Wrote an Article
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Tips and You Won’t
Believe What Matt
Cutts Did Next.
Especially After He
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Bernadette Coleman
May 21, 2014
506SHARES
55COMMENTS
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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time.
AreLinkBaitTitles
ReallyAllTheyAre
CrackedUpToBe?
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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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?
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HereAreSomeSEO
ProblemsWithLink
Bait,AndTheResults
WillMakeYouCry
As 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 ROI
So 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
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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’tThereAWayICan
StillUseLink-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?
Linkbaitingwith
LinkableAssets
The idea is to merge the idea of link baiting with
linkable assets, so you not only draw your visitors in,
Use?

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How
Content
Curation
May
Boost
Your
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
5/22/2014
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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

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.

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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
BernadetteColeman
CEO 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

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55thoughtson“She Wrote an
Article AboutThese SEOTips
andYouWon’tBelieve What
MattCuttsDidNext.Especially
After He SawTip#5”

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 Coleman
says:
May 21, 2014 at 10:49 am
Thanks John – Theme based
quality content is the key…
REPLY
Faisal Rehman
says:
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

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

Nate Henry Luedtke says:
May 21, 2014 at 9:31 am
The title worked on me. Link bait
effectiveness? Confirmed.
REPLY
Bernadette Coleman
says:
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 Aslam
says:
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:

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 Coleman
says:
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 Coleman
says:
May 21, 2014 at 10:52 am
I’m with you Scott!

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 Coleman
says:
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

REPLY
Bernadette Coleman
says:
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

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
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,

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
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
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

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

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
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:

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.
REPLY
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

for you.
REPLY
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
REPLY
Edward says:
May 22, 2014 at 3:54 am
Hi Bernadette,
that was a perfect example of link baiting
from you!
REPLY
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 :(

REPLY
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.
REPLY
May 23, 2014 at 12:56 pm
It will hamper credibility. That’s
what this article is about. Thanks
for commenting.
REPLY
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 …
REPLY
May 23, 2014 at 12:59 pm
Thank you Praveen, I appreciate
the sharing. Have a good

weekend.
REPLY
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.
REPLY
May 23, 2014 at 12:57 pm
Thanks Sean. I’m glad you enjoyed
the article.
REPLY
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…. :)

REPLY
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!
REPLY
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.
REPLY
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.

May 22, 2014 at 12:49 pm
Thabnks Sandeep
REPLY
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.
REPLY
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!
REPLY
May 23, 2014 at 1:00 pm

Finesse is the word! I agree…
Thanks Alex.
REPLY
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.
REPLY
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.
REPLY
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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She Wrote an Article About These SEO Tips and You Won’t Believe What Matt Cutts Did Next. Especially After He Saw Tip #5