As online businesses and publishers continue to warm up to the idea of search engine optimization (SEO), link building has taken center stage as it traditionaly is the most time consuming and crucial part of any internet marketing and/ or publicity strategy. Link building services are the most commonly outsourced aspect of SEO. This process involves finding qualified and thematically relevant one-way linking partners who will link back to your blog or website.
At first glance this sounds easy and there are hundreds and hundreds of automated products out there that claim to add thousands, in some cases even tens of thaousands, of back links virtually overnight. Unfortunately, the truth is there are no short cuts in cultivating authoritative backlinks for a blog or website. Link building companies spend many hours building links by hand in order to get the best results. Spammy automated products in most cases do not cultivate valuable links and tend to do more harm than good. Here are a couple of suggestions to help you get started.
1. Know Which Keywords You Are Targeting
Link building strategies are an extension of your current SEO practice, if you already have any. You will want to reference the list of keywords you have selected to optimize your site. Make sure that the anchor text of the link has the keyword you are targeting. For example, if you are targeting the keyword "sports cars" you will want to place that keyword in the anchor text of the link. I have seen many companies go after links by using their company name. Although this does boost link popularity it fails to increase popularity for a specific keyword and therefore can be seen as a failed attempt.
2. Develop a Sound Link Building Strategy
There are quite a number of strategies link building companies use to source qualified backlinks to their clients. The most tedious but often most rewarding method is manual linking requests also known as "cherry picking". This method allows you to obtain exceptionally qualified links which can really help boost your position in the search engine results pages (SERPS). A good place to start with manual link building is to look at your suppliers, vendors, clients, related organizations or associations, thematically related blogs, online communtities and more.
Besides manual link requests other often used tactics include:
- Directory submission (Dmoz, Yahoo Directory, BlogCatalog, MyBlogLog, etc.)
- Article submission (ezinearticles.com, goarticles.com)
- Optimized press releases (PRWeb.com), expensive!
- Social media outlets (FaceBook, Linked In, Twitter)
- Bookmarking sites (Digg, Reddit, Furl, StumbleUpon)
- Blogs (niche blogs)
- Forums (niche forums)
- Classifieds (niche classifieds)
3. Identify Thematically Relevant and Authoritative Linking Sources
Search engines see links as votes of confidence for a site. The more relevant and authoritative the blog or website, the more consideration is given to the link and the subsequent keyword in the anchor text. It really pays off to focus on the quality of your links rather than the quantity. It is also important for your link building to look natural and not an attempt to deceive search engine spiders in search of links. Try looking for sites within your industry or related to the topic of your site rather than general, unrelated sites to get links from.
A good example of this would be content creation and distribution. Try creating content on a relevant subject of which you can speak authoritatively. For instance, a SEO company writing a short article on 10 simple ways companies can start link building and placing it on an authoritative, industry relevant site like SiteProNews. Remember, before placing a link on a site (or making a request), ask yourself three questions:
1. Does a link to my website belong here (does it look natural)?
2. Is the site relevant and authoritative?
3. Is there any benefit to my potential visitors/readers/customers?
And take a close look at the on-site attributes of the linking site.
4. Determine Where Your Link Will Reside
Once you have found a potential linking partner that represents the overall quality and thematic authority that your site deserves you will need to see where your link will appear.
Here are a couple guidelines that you should look for when placing links on a site. Try to get your links no more than a few clicks away from the homepage. The page must be thematically relevant and recently cached by Google's search engine (this lets you know that the page has been indexed by Google). You should also take a look at the number of external (outbound) links leaving that page. The number of external links should be kept below 50, otherwise it will dilute the effect of the page. Lastly, look at the page the link will be placed on. For some sites this is harder to control, but if you have the option you should know where the most valuable locations are. Try to get your links in line with thematically relevant content, like an article or blog post, if possible. I have found this produces some of the best results. Try to avoid placing your links within a "sponsored" or advertisers section that runs throughout the entire site. Also avoid footer links - rumor has it Google has devalued links buried in the footer of the site. Links placed at the top of the page or inserted into the site's navigation also tend to do quite well. Bottom line is that your links need to look like they belong and provide value to the user and the site it is published on.
5. Be Aware of "No-Follow" Links
Within the last couple of years Google developed the dreaded concept of the "no-follow" link. The "no-follow" code is inserted into your link and instructs the Google and every other spider to ignore it. The "no-follow" link can be seen used most commonly in blog comments and forum posts. This initiative was set forth to combat spam and automated linking mechanisms that were desingned to place links automatically on blog comments and forum posts.
There are a lot of SEO professionals who will only place a link if it is a "do-follow" link, meaning it does not have the "no-follow" attribute. Others disagree with the aforementioned notion, especially when the link in question is on a highly trafficked authority site. If it makes sense for the link to be there, then add your link. Even though Google will not give you any credít for it, it will be seen by thousands of people who may visit your site and link to you themselves because your site is highly relevant. This concept is called indirect link building. You are promoting your site to potential linking partners.
Link building is a very time consuming process and link building companies spend a lot of time researching, testing and improving their techniques. Link building services are available to anyone who does not have enough time for manual link building. The bottom line is that anyone can link build and move their site up the SERPS, thereby attracting more traffic.
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Get More Traffic with These 10 Important Inbound Links
12 Ways to Increase Link Density
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