When you hear about a viral link campaign, take the next step beyond looking at the numbers and dig into the business and traffic.

Around 50% of the time I see these publicized, the ideas are off-brand for the company.

This is problematic in several ways:

1) From a topic authority perspective, it's possible these will not create direct value for the business if we believe Google is smart enough to perceive this or will be.

2A) That the company approved the idea means it's not a brand nor is it likely they will be in the future.

2B) Given this, it's unlikely they'll realize ROI given brands are winning in the search results/other disconnects will "break" the ability to rank.

3A) If it's on-brand and viral, there's a decent chance it's also controversial and possibly something about it was damaging.

3B) If we believe Google understands link sentiment, it's possible this also means a good % of those links are devalued. Combine this with brand damage, and it may be net-negative.

4A) It's possible these giant link spikes are things Google may devalue.

4B) Giant link spikes aren't a natural occurrence or signal of a long-term quality site. Consistent link acquisition YOY is.

All this considered, that viral idea might not be something to brag about after all.

We should be bragging about increased link velocity on a MOM basis and helping our websites/clients improve that.

The sexy one-off idea is nice and sparkles, but it's definitely not a coincidence that you rarely hear about the search impacts of these campaigns, just the links.