Link building is a great way to improve search engine rankings because you will be bringing in the traffic you wanted but didn’t know how to find. By linking your site to a related site has the potential to double your traffic. That site’s readers could be looking for exactly what your site offers, but they didn’t know where to find it. By linking there, you will tap into an entire targeted audience. Many search engines calculate the number of links your site has so it is important to build quality links. In order for this to be beneficial, you have to investigate the sites before you link to them. Search engines use sophisticated calculations, so any old link on any old site won’t cut it.

Link building in order to improve search engine rankings doesn’t mean that you have to spend all day looking for potential link sites. You do have to take your time and be selective. Having links to relevant sites not only will be appreciated by your readers, but the search engines as well. Because search engines are able to measure the quality of links, the tactic of linking to every site you can find won’t work. It will take work finding the right sites for linking, but the results will be worth it. You will see noticeable results in your rankings, so you shouldn’t mind spending some time finding these sites.

The more high quality links you have to your site is one of the best ways to improve search engine rankings. Linking is one of the ways in which search engines formulate their rankings. If you looking for ways to improve your rankings, then using links could be the answer for which you are looking. By focusing on one aspect of search rankings, you’ll be able to complete it better. This will make your results better.

Check out SEOintelligence today – SEO plans starting at $9.95 a month!

Recently I helped my wife launch a new fitness site, and by doing so I’ve been testing some of the most basic linking techniques and theories. What has astonished me is that even though her site is only 2 weeks old, she is receiving a lot of positive feedback and links from sites she has emailed, asking for a link. Is it still possible to blindly email someone asking for a link and receive it? Yes, it can be, especially if your site is Link Worthy!

So, how does one go about making a site linkable? Here are some tips that will assist you in your link building.

1. Presentation : First impressions mean a lot, even online. The way you present you site means a lot to the person who may be linking to you, because by linking, they are making a warm introduction for you to their site audience, which includes search bots. If your website looks like it was thrown together overnight, or may spam the hell out of the people they will send to you … chances are they’re not going to send a link your way.

This does not mean that you have to have a million dollar website to attract links. Look at DailySEOTip for example, we wanted this blog to be barebones, and that’s what it is. But the barebones approach serves a purpose because this site is about information and sharing. What’s your site about and how well does it represent your business?

2. Personality : One reason I think my wife’s site has had such a high positive response rate in linking requests is because the site has personality. Since her site is a blog, her photo and personal info is on the site, and her photo is on all of her posts. This gives the reader of the blog a sense of warmth, like they really know the person.

Not only does the blog reader feel like they know the person, but also does the recipient of the email. If you’re sending out an email link request, please make sure you send the email from a web address associated with the site or company (especially if you represent a big brand). The reader of the email, if they click to the site, should instantly associate the site with the person who sent the mail, making it more difficult to say no.

Not only blogs need to have personality. A lot of business sites will feature the CEO of the business, the guy from your commercials or an employee of the month. How about an image on the homepage or about us section that says “Meet Our Team” (check out this Google search for “our team” for some ideas) and shows a group photo of your employees?

Who represents your site or business? By adding a personal feature to the site itself, the site speaks to the potential linker on a human level.

3. Interactivity : Giving people something to do on your website will get them interested and active on the site. Sure, blogs are inherently interactive, with commenting, polls, tagging, voting and other tools to get the reader, or potential linker, involved.

Look at DailySEOTip.com as an example. Our goal here is to have robust comment conversation that will impact the visitor to our site the first time they glance over the blog. Personally, I know everytime I visit ShoeMoney’s blog or TechCrunch, the first criteria I look at to judge the value of one of their news stories or blog posts is the commenting and interactivity; and most of the blog entries on these sites attract hundreds of comments.

Make your site more interactive by giving your visitors a way to contact you or leave feedback, include polls to gather info on your visitors, use quizzes or tools to get readers or potential customers involved. The potential linker will also get involved, probably like what they see, and there is a higher chance that they will link to you or respond to your email.

4. Accountability : Sure, you may have personality but are you accountable for your site? Can you be reached? Having a contact information page, an about us section and an address which matches your email information (always use a sig in your email when asking for a link) are basic pillars of an organically grown website, but you would be surprised how many businesses or online publications overlook these simple steps.

Be sure that your site is listed on your LinkedIn profile or your Facebook account. This way the end user, who you’re asking for a link from, can see that you’re serious about your site and they won’t be linking to a dead page, a redirect or worst of all, a splog after a year or so.

5. Are they in good company (current inbound links) : A smart publisher is going to check out a little bit about the site history and inbound linking before making the final decision on linking over to you. For this reason, I suggest taking the time and resources to build some nice inbound links via directories like Yahoo or Best of the Web before going on an all out aggressive link building campaign.

Once these links are established and the publisher you have contacted checks your backlinks, they will be impressed that you are listed in these major resources and this also shows that you’re serious about your linking and linking for the longterm.

Be picky about where you build your links, because publishers are going to be picky about who they link to. If your backlinks are all Guestbooks, Article Spam and Freebie listings, this does not only reflect negatively upon your site in the eyes of Google, but also in the eyes of the publisher who may link to you.

6. Social Proof : One great aspect of blogging and social media is that it is very simple to show off the people who read your blog or visit your website via widgets from MyBlogLog, TwitterCounter, Facebook or Google Friend Connect. These tools lend a sense of value to your site and assist with establishing the site as an authority.

Look at the commenting on DailySEOTip.com for example, next to every comment is an avatar (powered by Gravatar – be sure to register with them to get your face on this site). This helps to show a new reader, or again, potential linker, who reads the site. If your site is a resource on venture capital and your MyBlogLog box shows that Guy Kawasaki recently visited your site, then this uncovers an instant association of value and resource for your site. Publishers are more open to linking to resources that have value

7. Targeted Resource : Relevance is Key : You may have noticed that I continuously state in this blog post the importance of establishing your site as a resource. Using techniques like adding an expert blog to your business site, a business term glossary or regional resource pages to your site can be worth the effort, especially if you are looking to target specific niche groups or geolocations.

For example, say that your business or organization is looking to attract targeted local oriented links from the Philadelphia area. Let’s take home security systems for example. Sure, your home security business may reside in Pennsylvania, but nothing on your site relays this fact except for the mailing address on your contact us page.

I would suggest adding a section to your site with plenty of information and guides to security and crime in the local area, adding a list of police, fire & rescue contact information per zip code, geotargeted neighborhood watch group information, articles on securing a home & family and post-trauma counseling groups in the Philly area. Now you have a locally targeted resource page that is extremely relevant to your business and incredibly link worthy.

When you approach local publishers, bloggers, family sites .. etc. about building links to your home security business, don’t just ask them to link to your homepage. No! Ask them to read and link to your local home security resource section! This won’t only help with attracting inbound links, but also with local SEO for geotargeted terms.

Oh yeah, now you have something that’s not only linkworthy, but also news worthy so :

• send out a press release to your local newspapers and wires
• then also email the local fire departments
• county commissioners and town government websites
• senior citizen centers and neighborhood associations
• boy scouts, churches and other local organization sites

Chances are you’ll end up getting links from .edu and .gov bodies which your business would not have had a chance to build otherwise.

Wrap-Up

These were some ways to make your business site more link worthy and SEO friendly. The more resourceful, relevant, interactive and personal a site can become, the higher chance that you’ll receive a positive response from any link building campaigns.

What are some method you use to increase your linking probability?
What tips do you suggest for successful link building?

Share them in the tips below and we’ll feature the best ones in a future post on DailySEOTip! Also, don’t forget to leave a comment below and share this post on Twitter, because we DoFollow our comments and you’ll receive some great links

After much thought and work with my designer (thanks Chris) here it is – voila!

Link building is already time-intensive, sometimes frustrating and also confusing – yet completely unavoidable for all SEO’s (Pro and small). Because ultimately, it’s still the trump card for gaining guaranteed higher rankings. That is exactly why the SEO Linking Pyramid is so important – print it out (click image above for full size image) – post it – blog it – tack it up on the wall and remember what your spending your time on is very valuable!

Cheers,
Jeremy

Few can speak about link building and link baiting with the experience and authority that Eric Ward brings to the table. He’s been doing this sort of thing since 1994, before the vast majority had even heard of a hyperlink.

In this WebProNews: The Insider video, Managing Editor Mike McDonald connects with Ward via webcam to discuss the finer points of link building today, what constitutes good link bait, and creating a good balance of organic and paid links.

What is linkbait?

Linkbait can be anything – anything that inspires somebody at another website or blog to link back to it. The only boundary is creativity.

What makes something linkable? We can only speak with examples and general guidance, but:

Whatever it is, it should be clever and useful to the end-user, either by “interestingness” or by its ability to solve a problem.

Widgets, then, make sense as great linkbait.

Good linkbait is pure, not coming off as “slimy” or “cheesy.”

“In the long run,” says Ward, “the end user votes with the mouse.”

How do you develop a linking strategy?

Strategies should mesh with the intent and market of the website being promoted.

Any link is not necessarily a good link. Quality links matter. The right audience matters.

Timing is important. If you want to promote something for next week, organic SEO isn’t going to work. You may need to buy some links or bid on some keywords.

Use organic SEO for promotions far in the future (if for the Christmas season, begin in September).

There is no optimal balance of paid and organic links. It depends on what the end goal is.

Get the content in front of the audience you care about.

In reality, there are several link building methods and some of them offer short-term gains while others can your website ranking on search engine exponentially. At the end of the day, the ranking and visibility of your website will depend on the quality of the links and not on the quantity. For example: you can actually get hundred of inbound links from any of the online auto-submission services but the problem is that your URL will be submitted on irrelevant search engines, directories and ad websites. The end result is that maybe your URL is there on hundreds of directories but they will not be counted by Google or Yahoo and thus your search engine ranking will be at the bottom of the table. In fact, Google or Yahoo are known to even ban such websites and considers it as spam linking or black hat activity.

So what you really need to do is identify topical websites or those websites that are related to your trade, business or industry and try and link to them. So if you have around 10 inbound links from top websites or quality websites or high-ranking websites then your website ranking will be far better than what it was with hundreds of low quality or spam links. For example: If you are able to get a link from Yahoo to your website then the ranking of your website in different search engines will be exponentially enhanced because Yahoo is one of the leading and popular web sites over the Internet.

Of course, the process and analytics of website ranking varies from one search engine to another and hence you might have a different ranking on Yahoo as compared to Google. If you have a travel firm and are offering travel packages then linking to iexplore.com can get you more rankings than if you link to hundreds of unknown travel or other websites.

While linking to a website, you need to focus on certain aspects like:
1.    The website you are linking to should be related to your industry or business
2.    The website should have keyword optimized and high quality content
3.    The website should have high internet traffic
4.    The website should have a high PageRank on Google, Yahoo, and MSN

Consider all these factors while choosing your linking partner. You need to remember that Quality of links will always stand you in good stead. The better the linking, the higher the visibility, the faster your business will grow!

Sign up for SEOintelligence and boost your rankings immediately!

‘Siloing’ is the solution offered towards this kind of link dilution, which is sometimes referred to as unfocused linking (I know I don’t make this up). Siloing can resolve the poor linking problem and help you to achieve a high rank on search engines for specific as well as general keywords/specific keyword phrases – basically you get the best of both worlds. This is done mainly by using a themed vertical page construction or linking. The best way to achieve high ranks for keywords is by incorporating silos right into the website structure.

There are mainly two types of silos and they are:
1. Virtual silos
2. Directory based silos

Both the ‘virtual’ and ‘directory’ based silos are capable of creating a keyword theme using linking, but they achieve this method using very different methodologies. The ‘virtual silos’ are capable of creating content as well as subject relationships by cross-linking them so that a theme can be created. On the other hand, a directory based silo will create a relationship through linking different directories to a group.

If you use the directory silo method then it will build relationships between different pages by grouping similar-content pages under one directory and the directory theme will be then tied to the main directory structure (simple and most common). Most directory structures will need a minimum of five content pages that will support the topic that your directory is trying to address. One thing that you need to remember is that all directory silos will need to be extremely well structured as well as organized.

The only way to ensure that your directory silo has been implemented correctly; you will need to group similar-content into different directories. To understand it better, let us take an example of salami and cheese. You will need to create a separate directory for each of the themes, which are one for salami and one for cheese. You will have subsequent pages in the directory that are content rich in order to support your overall directory theme. Now if there are two types of cheese: feta cheese and Parmigiano reggiano then both the different types of cheese will be categorized under the main cheese page. We can extrapolate this idea with Salami, and build out pages based on type: Genoa, Hard, Soppreseta etc…see it’s easy and I’m getting hungry.

On the other hand, you can create a virtual silo theme through linking. In a virtual silo environment the page names are unimportant because the relationship between the pages might not necessarily be in under the same silo. The silo will always be defined by each of the pages it is linked to. Thus in a virtual silo, you are basically creating a theme that is based on links vis-à-vis a directory structure in directory silo.

Try SEOintelligence and use our Keyword Manager and Categorization features to easily create and manage your own optimized Keyword silos!

office.com
www.office.com
office.com/index.html
www.office.com/index.html
https://office.com/index.html
https://office.com

Now there are some servers that use the mod_dir, which is capable of creating additional issues through redirecting a domain without using the trailing slash to a domain using a trailing slash. Hence office.com will be redirected to office.com/. This is quite a rare occurrence but still it can become an important issue. Most experts would say that you need to always make it a point to add trailing slash in any link that you want to use for the purpose of link building. In fact, this is also the right way of linking to a website.

Canonical stands for Authoritative Path and this is how the search engines are able to understand that the pages belong to your website. Since most of the times, you will be dealing with robots hence, you have to take some extra precautions because robots aren’t programmed to think and so, can’t think at all.

If one of the robots notices a page that has anywhere from 2 to 5 different paths then it will mark them as additional pages and not the main page. There is a high probability that the search engine spider might get confused seeing so many paths and hence might even duplicate all your pages and in the process place importance on an unimportant webpage. The fact of the matter is that it will end up putting priority on the index.html page instead of your domain. This is exactly the reason why you need to have a proper home page link like “http://www.office.com/” or even “/” but never use something like /index.xxx.

Canonical issues exist in different forms and create problems although these problems are not a regular occurrence thanks to different sitemap programs as well as the increase in awareness factor.

Duplicate Content Issues

This is another major issue and is related to Canonical issues. If you use the same contact form with several dynamic variables then duplicate pages will be created. So your form might look like contact.asp?id=New York or even as contact.asp?id=Florida. This basically means that Google will see the page in different ways and might end up treating it as spam.

There is a simple fix for the duplicate content issue and it can be done by… using a rel=”nofollow” tag or even by banning any contact.php wildcards within the file robots.txt. Off late, this has become quite a common task on most of the dynamic sites. This fix is required because without the fix, there can be a canonical trigger since the paths become duplicated. Another option is to add a SSL (secure sockets layer) certificate to your site. These are some of the ways of removing the potential threat of canonical issues as well as that of duplicate content problems

To understand different duplicate content issues and to have a error free website, you can get the SEOi free trial account and take the product tour.