Seo Tips

SEO Link Building Tips and Techniques

Right now, backlinks are the most important factor when it comes to the search engines deciding where to rank your website. In the future, that may change, but there is no doubt that backlinks will continue to be an important factor in the ranking process. Because of this fact, it is important that you steadily build links leading back to your website. In this post, I will talk about a few effective ways to accomplish this, including creating Link Bait, Blogging, Press Releases, and Article Marketing,, just to name a few. But, I won’t just tell you to use these techniques; I will also tell you how to use them correctly and effectively.

SEO

Before I start, we want to clarify that I am not concerned about whether a link has been tagged “follow” or not. Research by a few independent SEO firms has confirmed that while PageRank is not transferred through “no follow” links, overall rankings are affected by “no follow” links in a positive way. I will address this issue and discuss the studies in-depth in a future blog, but in the meantime, I want to make it clear that some of the link building tips I will discuss include building links from sites that “no follow” their outbound links and that I believe this is a non-issue. I believe this because Google built its entire algorithm because backlinks were the most important ranking factor. I do not believe that Google intended the “Nofollow” tag to be used as widely as it is currently is, and they would never allow millions of webmasters to ruin all the work they put into their algorithm by tagging every outbound link on their site as “no follow.” Google may say that “no follow” links have no impact on rankings, but I simply don’t believe them based on studies I have seen and simple common sense. In our opinion, Google continues to say that “no-follow” links do not affect rankings in order to keep their intended targets of the “no follow” tag, spammers, in check. Still, in reality, they allow “no follow” links to have at least some positive effect on rankings.

Link Building Tip 1: Blogging

Blogging is the easiest and most effective way to gain backlinks. Not only can blogging lead to backlinks, but it also is a way to consistently add content to your website, and we all know that Google loves sites that consistently add quality content.

The key to gaining backlinks through blogging is making sure that you are blogging about topics that are either directly related to your business or field of expertise or provide useful information for your readers. Once you have found your blogging niche, the next thing to do is create an RSS feed and submit both your blog URL and RSS feed to as many blog directories as you can find. I have clients who gain hundreds of backlinks every month simply by blogging consistently. I recommend that you blog at least once a month, but once a week is even better.

Link Building Tip 2: Press Releases

Press releases are a great way for businesses to gain backlinks to their sites. There are many free press release distribution sites out there to submit your releases too, but using a paid service like PRWeb can result in hundreds of backlinks from major news organizations with just one press release. Making press releases a regular part of your link-building strategy can result in thousands of quality backlinks over the course of the year.

Your press releases can be about anything that you want related to your business. Whether it is an expansion, the purchase of new expensive equipment, a fundraiser, or sponsoring a local event, a press release is a great way to get the word out about your business and a way to gain valuable backlinks will help your search engine rankings.

Link Building Tip 3: Article Marketing

Article marketing has been declared dead as an SEO and link-building technique many times over, and it is still alive and kicking. There are rumors of its demise once again floating around out in cyberspace because of Google’s new algorithm update released on April 25th. I, for one won’t believe article marketing is dead until I see it with my own eyes. It is true that many article sites, such as Ezine Articles, took a hit in the rankings when Google’s Panda was released, but the effects were not fatal. Ezine has since taken steps to ensure that the articles posted on their site are of better quality moving forward.SEO

I ran my own SEO test over the last two months and found that article marketing is still alive and well. I took a brand new site and wrote article after article and posted them on Ezine, Articlebase, Articlecity, etc. The articles were the only source of backlinks I actively perused. The results have been astounding so far. Five out of the six keywords phrases I am currently optimizing for are now on the first page of Google, Bing, and Yahoo!. I cannot definitively prove that the sole reason for these rankings is the articles and the links contained in them. Still, the anecdotal evidence is quite strong, and the most important thing is that my site has not been penalized or fallen in the rankings over the last two months. Things could change, and I will keep an eye on it and report to all of you if they do, but as of right now, article marketing is alive and well and a great way to acquire backlinks to your website.

The key to good article marketing is creating informative, original, and unique articles. Don’t just write one article and post it on 10 different article sites. Instead, write 10 different articles and post them on 10 different sites. Make sure you use to mix up the anchor text of your links as well.

If done right, article marketing can result in a ton of quality backlinks and increased rankings.

Link Building Tip 4: Directories and Review Sites

Using business directories and review sites isn’t the most innovative link-building strategy, but it is proven to gain backlinks to your site. These backlinks aren’t the most valuable, but believe it or not, some of these directories actually get a decent amount of traffic, and being listed in them can drive traffic to your site. Many people who visit your site are taken into account by Google when they decide where to rank you. Google figures that if many people are visiting your site and spending time on it, then your site must have valuable or interesting information on it, and they will rank your site accordingly.

When listing your site in business directories, start with industry-specific directories if they exist for your industry. A few years ago, I might have suggested that you submit your site with DMOZ, but now I wouldn’t even waste your time. DMOZ doesn’t carry the juice it once did, and there are rumors of corruption and “pay-to-list” schemes within the organization. I have submitted numerous sites over the years, and only a handful have ever been accepted even though I followed their guidelines exactly. After submitting to industry-specific listings, submit your site to any local business directories in your area. After that, pick a few business directories a week and submit them to your site. With time, you will find that you have gained a large number of backlinks. Once again, these aren’t the best kind of backlinks, but they are not worthless either, and they can drive traffic to your site.

There are a few review sites that I recommend creating a listing for. Manta, Yelp, and Angie’s List are the ones I always list my sites and my client’s sites in. Don’t be afraid of negative reviews. If you receive a negative review, the best thing to do is find out if it is legitimate. If it is legitimate, then your best course of action would be to reply to the comment on the review site and try to minimize the damage. If it is not legitimate, you can contact the site administrator and ask them to remove it. You will have to prove it is an illegitimate complaint, or they won’t take it off their site. The links from these sites can also drive traffic to your website.

Another benefit of listing your website on sites such as Manta, Yelp, and Angie’s List is improving your Google Places listing. Google Places are ranked using a different algorithm than the one used to rank organic listings. Based on independent research, the consensus is that the most influential determinant of whether or not your local listing will appear in the results is mentions or reviews of your business across the net.building

Link Building Tip 5: Create “Link Bait”

“Link Bait” is content on your website that makes people want to link to it on their own. There are many forms of linkbait you can choose to incorporate into your site. Below are a few examples.

1. Well-written, humorous, and/or informative content.

This one is a no-brainer. If you have well-written, informative, compelling, and or humorous content on your site, people will link to it.

2. Widgets/Tools

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Creating fun and interactive widgets and tools is a great way to get people to link to your site. I helped a client of ours develop a BMI and calorie counter widget. That widget has resulted in many inbound links since its creation.

3. Video

Many people and businesses have a YouTube channel. YouTube is great, but why should you push people to your YouTube channel when you can get them to watch your videos right on your site. By embedding your videos right on your website, you will encourage people to link them, thereby gaining backlinks.

Conclusion

These are just five examples of link-building techniques. There are others, but these five are the most effective. In the future, I will write about some other effects, but less used link building techniques.

Keep in mind that link building can be a long and time-consuming process. Patience is the key when it comes to link building. Don’t take the easy way out and take part in some link building scheme or pay for links. These techniques will only hurt your site in the long run.