SE Slingshot is a link building service offered by Jacob Hagberg (Initial Effort). It is generally advertised on forums and has had some really good reviews from an awful lot of people so I decided to put the service to the test and see what all the fuss was about.
Scroll down to see my detailed case study of the service and how it performs in the real world.
What Is SE Slingshot Exactly?
Se Slingshot It is a private network of blogs owned by Jacob that have a minimum page rank of 3. He has a boat load of domains from PR3-PR5 that are all hosted across multiple web hosts so there is no traceable footprint for Google to find.
Jacob and his team will create a unique article that is 400-600 words in length and spin it, then post it to either 50 or 100 of his blogs with your backlink.
BONUS – Get 20% more posts for your money with this blog! Just place your order and then submit a support ticket with the code Matthew Woodward to claim your extra posts free of charge!
These blog posts will appear on the high page rank homepage of each domain for a while and all get ping, bookmarked and submitted to RSS directories. These are all permanent links that will stay in place forever.
Jacob will send you a detailed report showing you exactly where your links are!
How Much Does It Cost?
Jacob offers 2 different packages-
- 50x high page rank blog posts – $147.00
- 100x high page rank blog posts – $277.00
This might seem pretty expensive on the surface but really these are the highest quality type of link that money can buy period.
Exclusive Reader Offer – Get 20% more posts for your money with this blog! Just place your order and then submit a support ticket with the code Matthew Woodward to claim your extra posts free of charge!
Why Is It So Expensive?
When you consider it costs around $200 to buy a PR4 domain and well over $400 for a PR5 domain you can see how expensive it is to run a network like this. On top of that you have to host all of them at different web hosts (expensive) and create all of the content for the blog posts.
This is a very high quality private network of high page rank blogs and the price reflects that.
The real proof is in the pudding though so let’s see how SE Slingshot performs in my case study.
SE Slingshot Case Study
For my SE Slingshot review I decided to select an inner page of a new website that was registered on the 24th of January 2012. This page has had no previous link building done to it at all.
I chose to go with the cheaper $147 package giving 50 blog posts across the network. You can target 2 keywords with this service and I have chosen-
Primary Keyword Competition – 14,800 Exact Match
Secondary Keyword Competition – 3,600 Exact Match
The Order Process
Placing your order is simple and only takes a few minutes. All you need to do is provide your name, email address, url and up to 2 anchor texts.
I placed the order on February 6th and received my report with all of the links on the 13th of February which was nice and quick.
The Results So Far
All of the blog posts have been live for 8 days now and I have already seen some fantastic movement in the positions of the keywords above.
Primary Keyword Rankings
When I placed the order the keyword was not in the top 500, it is now sat at rank 7.
Secondary Keyword Rankings
This keyword sat at rank 217 at the start of the experiment and is not sat at 40.
Bonus 3rd Ranking
Out of the blue a third keyword which I did not directly target with the service also showed some huge signs of improvements. It has an exact search volume of 2,400 so was nice to see this appear. It wasn’t in the top 500 originally and is now at 8.
SE Slingshot Review Conclusion
Well the huge rank improvements pretty much speak for themselves; the primary keyword wasn’t even in the top 500 at the start and is now sitting comfortably on the first page.
It is worth noting that the blog posts have only been live for 8 days so far and I also ordered the smaller 50 blog post package to achieve these results. I’m sure the 100 blog post package would have pushed me into the top 3 for the primary keyword.
Placing your order and setting up the campaign takes minutes, all you have to do is sit back and watch the ranks increase.
Exclusive Reader Offer – Get 20% more posts for your money with this blog! Just place your order and then submit a support ticket with the code Matthew Woodward to claim your extra posts free of charge!
The SE Slingshot service provides some of the highest quality links that money can buy and is certainly one of the better services I have used in my time. Don’t forget there is also a 100% money back guarantee if the service does not increase your rank so you’ve got nothing to lose.
No not Matt Cutts, but I am better at SEO than him :P I make a great living online with SEO and I will teach you 
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33 Responses
Matthew,
How are the rankings now? I am asking because deindexing happens with his network too,
Also, the link is dead.
Thanks,
[Reply]
Matthew Woodward Reply:
August 16th, 2012 at 7:47 am
Yes they did get some of the sites deindexed but Jacob replaced the links without any problem.
I fixed the link ^^
[Reply]
Vusal Babashov Reply:
August 16th, 2012 at 11:12 am
You do know how late your reply came, don't you?
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Hey Matthew! Yet another excellent review!
I will definitely try this link network shortly! and by the way.. which service/plugin do you use to track your rankings? The screenshots look really nice, which makes me wonder 
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Matthew Woodward Reply:
August 16th, 2012 at 7:46 am
At the time I was using SEScout but they seem to have just abandoned it so now I'm purely using RankTracker
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hey matthew, how's the keywords for this service doing now are they still ranking high? looks like another pretty insane service.. Paul
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Matthew Woodward Reply:
August 16th, 2012 at 7:46 am
Hi Paul,
The site got wiped out during a penguin update unfortunately but the service is still top notch. Previously you could only use 2 keywords but this is now unlimited AND Jacob even goes the extra mile to produce a more diverse range of keywords and generic terms for customers.
Not often you'll find me recommending a service (99% are worthless) but this is one to watch!
[Reply]
Just checked out the "guarantee" on the offer. You get your money back if your keyword does not increase by ONE position at any time during 30 days. Not to page one but up ONE position. It could do that on its own within Google and you would have never had to build a link..
[Reply]
Matthew Woodward Reply:
October 2nd, 2012 at 11:07 am
Well given 99% of services offer no refund policy what so ever I think its a generous offer.
The flip side to this guarantee is sites can also drop positions during the building of links (especially if there is no existing velocity), so to offer a full money back guarantee which also protects against that is a very bold offer with significant risk for the service provider.
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Excellent service and even better customer support. Highly recommend!
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Matthew Woodward Reply:
October 14th, 2012 at 3:34 pm
They are certainly one of the better service providers I have used
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hi all would it be ok to use this service over and over again sorry new to this seo stuff.
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Matthew Woodward Reply:
November 21st, 2012 at 10:09 am
Speak to Jacob (Slingshot owner) and he will advise you on how many times based on the current size of his network. Remember if you order through here you get +10 posts free as well
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Just tried the links above to SE Slingshot – not working!
Is this still a service worth trialling?
[Reply]
Matthew Woodward Reply:
February 6th, 2013 at 12:03 pm
Thanks for the heads up working on a fix now
Yes it definitely is =D
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link for the trial not working
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Matthew Woodward Reply:
February 7th, 2013 at 5:50 pm
working on a fix thank you
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Interesting that you didn’t publish my comment, it’s a shame as that further reinforces my views on blog networks. You’ve got some good stuff on your site but I feel your letting your readers down with links to networks that could potentially harm clients sites
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Matthew Woodward Reply:
April 27th, 2013 at 2:42 pm
Hi Suzanne,
Every comment gets published – did you submit it under the same email address?
What makes you think these links hurt sites? Jacob runs a tight ship and I’ll stand by that.
[Reply]
Hey matthew, first of all, thx for all your amazing posts, this is the first time I visit your blog and it really changed my SEO perspective. I live in Cancun, Mexico, and to be honest I learned more today than in almost 2 years, I am a rookie SEO playing White Hat Google rules, till today I think. I was wondering if you think that this type of blog network could help an Spanish written travel website? I thought I knew SEO, but today after looking at all these softwares, rankings, videos, etc. I feel kinda lost… Anyway I’ll keep reading your blog and try to apply all I can to my website. Thx
[Reply]
Matthew Woodward Reply:
May 2nd, 2013 at 6:51 pm
Hi,
Thats great to hear, glad my blog has helped you and taught you something
Get in touch with Jacob about the Spanish side of things he will be able to help you out with that, he is a great guy which is why this is a great service.
Feel free to drop me the URL of your site in an email to see if there is anything I can help with as well.
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How is this service shaping up in 2013? Looks like a good option, just not keen on spun text. BTW who did your blog – Min looks like C***p need to get someone who understands marketing and can work with the theme I have…any suggestions….?
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Matthew Woodward Reply:
May 5th, 2013 at 12:55 pm
Hi,
Yeah its still good to go, Jacob is a great guy and knows what he is doing.
I could take a look at doing that as a project?
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Hi Matt,
Good to see a fellow Northerner doing well though I’m on the right side of the Pennines! (Sheffield)
I have a new SEO client (new website) and I’m planning to do the ‘on-page’ stuff in May and then do some link building in June – would you recommend this service for a ‘young’ site or is it a bit ‘too much too soon’?
I also like the layout of your site and was thinking of switching from Thesis – can you remind me of the theme? (I know you mention it somewhere on your blog!)
Cheers!
Andy
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Matthew Woodward Reply:
May 9th, 2013 at 9:10 am
Hi Andy,
Cheers man!
I would say to do this for a while alongside the onsite http://www.matthewwoodward.co.uk/tutorials/how-to-find-engage-your-target-audience-online-for-profit/
The theme is here http://www.matthewwoodward.co.uk/get/convergence/ and you can see all the plguins I use here http://www.matthewwoodward.co.uk/tools-of-the-trade/
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Andy C Reply:
May 9th, 2013 at 10:21 am
Thanks Matt!
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Matthew Woodward Reply:
May 9th, 2013 at 10:38 am
No worrys!
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Hey Matt, hope your travels are treating you well.
Is the spun content done by this company spun how you teach it- in other words if one were to take a look at the sites and posts is it readable? Just wondering if these would pass a human inspection or not. Cheers.
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Matthew Woodward Reply:
May 16th, 2013 at 8:05 am
No they dont spin to my specification – I dont think anyone other than me goes that far lol
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Hey Matthew,
I see this was published many months ago even though I only got the email now.
I can imagine this would still work, but I would not risk any of my real sites on this, only small term affiliate sites. Reason being is that if the blog network gets penalized it can wipe out your site. You have no control over the backlinks.
Would love to hear your thoughts.
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Matthew Woodward Reply:
May 20th, 2013 at 9:05 am
Hi,
Yes its part of the auto responder series.
Its ok to use on any site – the only time it becomes a risk is when a large amount of your backlink profile and authority is built from them. People often try to push the envelope too hard and pay the price, just gently pepper them in
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Hi Matt,
Am planning to purchase this service to get quick rankings. Do you still vouch for this service? Your feedback would be immensely helpful.
Thanks and Regards,
Manish
[Reply]
Matthew Woodward Reply:
May 24th, 2013 at 8:52 am
Hi,
Yes
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