Link-Building Ideas | Top ten linking techniques & strategies

Link Building is an important part of website marketing – in fact, perhaps THE most important.
The number of links to your site, called link popularity, is used by most search engines, including Google, Yahoo and Bing to rate the importance of your website, and thereby decide where to rank your website. It is therefore important to be sure that you are getting the best possible link building solutions for your website. There are a number of other things that can and should be done to improve your presence, but link building remains the most important, and probably will be for a long time to come.

This list of 10 link building ideas should help you understand it more clearly, and leave you able to make the right choices

10 Link Building Tips

1. Choose your link text carefully

If your SEO is progressing as it should, then you will by now, have a clear idea of the search term that you want to target for link building. Give special consideration to the title of your link text, and make sure that the description you use is readable, and interesting. A long, list of keywords will not further your cause – with search engines or potential visitors. Using the identical link text over and over can be tedious, and also appears mechanical within search engines. Try to alternate the text, without changing the message or the keywords. It can make your links appear far more natural.

2. Study the opposition

Have a look and see where they get their links. There may well be sites you can apply to for links, and there will certainly be ideas for other sites to investigate

3. What have you got to offer

While you need links to your site, never overlook that sites linking to yours will need something worth linking to. Have a good, hard look at your site and its content and ask yourself “Would I link to this site?”
Any changes and improvements will not only improve your “linkability”, but also the overall appeal of your site to visitors.

4. Consider very carefully all link request to your site

If you are inundated with request for links, then you should be flattered. Yours is a site others want to be associated with. However, in order to keep it that way you should be very discerning about who you do link to. Reciprocal links no longer carry the weight they might once have done, so think carefully before agreeing to any.

5. Quality matters

The more links, the better? Not quite! In some cases, 10 carefully chosen links can add more value than 100 random links. Generally, links from older sites, with a good page rank, and preferably a related industry will be seen as more important than a more general link. Be wary though, of only of submitting to directories with a high page rank, as this can sometimes appear unnatural to search engines. Links to site with a good mix of page ranks from high to low is the best approach.

6. Where to look for links

Don’t limit yourself to related businesses and directories. Link building includes using:

• Directories – usually organized by category, DMOZ is the king of these
• Press Releases-can be really useful when you have something new to promote. PRWEB is the most successful of these
• Article Directories-similar to press releases, but for more general information
• Social Bookmarks-very much like your website bookmarks or favourite, social bookmarks allow you to share your bookmark content, and is a useful SEO tool
• Blog Comment-Commenting on blogs will get your site noticed, but don’t forget to link back to your site. Also, remember to choose blogs read by your target market rather than your competitors
• Social Media-Twitter, Facebook et al. Can produce results, but does require some time commitment
• Internal Links-Don’t forget your own sites. If you have more than one, make sure they link to one another

7. Consider Deep Linking

We often don’t think any further than links to our home page, and we really should. Deep linking to other pages within your website can produce excellent results, and allow you to really focus your links

8. Track your links

Keep track of which sites you have applied to for links. Try to keep track of which sites actually link to you. It is important to know that your link building is working. Keeping track of your links and your rankings will give you a clear idea of what progress is being made. There is software than can be bought for this purpose, or if an SEO company is doing link building for you, they should be able to provide this information. Otherwise simply check the search engines.

9. Don’t get tunnel vision

Links are vital, but never lose sight of why you are link building. Beware links for the sake of links. Link building can become a challenge purely for its own sake, and you may find yourself wanting more and more and more. Keep your link-building in context. It is there as part of your SEO arsenal, to drive traffic to your site, in order to generate business.

10. Remember, it does get easier

As your site gets older and accumulates links, it will obviously become easier to attract more and better links. Link building is ongoing, and should be viewed as a regular part of your general website maintenance rather than a one off flurry of activity. There are software packages that automate the linking process, but if you do use them, use them sparingly. Link building is a slog, and there is no easy magical way of making it happen. Is tedious as it can be, manually creating the links is the best way to approach link building.

Link building is an important part of SEO, and you may want to employ an SEO company to do it for you. If you do, remember to check their credentials. If they’re not getting rankings for their own site then can you be sure they can help you? MfP Website Marketing are happy to discuss your link building needs, and even if you choose to do your own link building feel we can offer some solid advice. We are human, friendly, and English-speaking