10 Link Building Strategies for Higher Search Engine Rankings
When it comes to search engine optimization, getting other websites to link to your website is the most important factor in achieving top search engine rankings. Here is a list of 10 link building strategies which you should be implementing for top search engine rankings (in no particular order):
1. Write quality articles – write quality articles that other websites will want to post on their websites and link to. The higher the quality of the article, the more one-way links you’ll get. The best articles to write are ‘how-to’ and informational articles. Stay away from self-promotion.
2. Start a WordPress blog – setup a WordPress blog on your website and post articles to it once per week. It’s a great way to build the size of your website, keep your website content fresh and get incoming links. Plus Google loves WordPress!
3. Syndicate your articles online – take the articles that you’ve posted to your blog and syndicate them on article directories such as Ezine Articles and Go Articles, so that other website owners can post them on their websites.
4. Submit your website to online directories – submit your website to free SEO friendly website directories for a quick way to start building one-way links to your website.
5. Submit your blog to blog directories – use RSS Submit software to submit your blog to blog directories. Use both the automatic and manual submission tools.
6. Exchange links with relevant websites – exchange links with high quality, relevant websites in your field. This can be extremely powerful, as long as you are very selective with whom you exchange links with.
7. Use social bookmarking – submit your blog posts and other high value content to social bookmarking sites such as Digg, Reddit and StumbleUpon. Aside from the one-way link you’ll get and the (short-term) top Google ranking, you can hit the ‘jackpot’ by getting to the first page of digg.com, where you’ll receive thousands of one-way links.
8. Syndicate press releases online – write newsworthy press releases and syndicate them online at press release syndication sites such as PRWeb. If the release is good enough, you can get a lot of one-way links to your site.
9. Post comments on industry blogs – post high value comments on other blogs in your industry to spark discussion. Even if the comments are ‘nofollowed’, you can still get links to your site from other bloggers that refer to your posts.
10. Link between your web pages – use contextual links in your website copy to link to other pages within your websites. Each of your pages should have some PageRank, so why not maximise it?
Do you have any other link building strategies?
Then post them in the comments section below.
Julia from Fast Blog Finder says:
Thank you for the article. It’s great and informative. It seems you described all known link building strategies.
May 16th, 2008 at 3:26 am
ben says:
it’s great
May 28th, 2008 at 9:55 pm
Search Engine Optimisation Consultant says:
Hey,
Great article,
You really cut to the core about what its all about.
Linking strategy is so often overlooked by small businesses.
May 28th, 2008 at 10:11 pm
Jason Fulton says:
Top article on link building. You touched on a few things i didn’t know about. Thanks for the info.
Regards
Jason
June 2nd, 2008 at 2:03 am
WEB DESIGNER PERTH says:
I’ve recently started following Google’s blog and although hints and tips are rarely explicit (people ask and get vagueish answers) link building – or making your site part of a relevant network of resources for searchers) – is imperative. Great article – concise and to the point.
June 4th, 2008 at 11:25 pm
Antondrive says:
I’m impressed! In addition to the above strategies, I have not seen a method on how to build a widget for your website. A widget is a little software application, like a game with a link to your website, that you distribute over the Web. Made popular by Facebook, widgets are now a hot new marketing tool that have been known to boost a site’s page views by more than 300 percent.
June 5th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
Christine says:
Thanks for the article!
It’s really informative and clear. =)
June 13th, 2008 at 10:21 am
Nick Grinberg says:
In regards to number 7 – http://www.socialmarker.com greatly reduces the time required to submit to all your social bookmarking sites.
June 14th, 2008 at 4:26 am
Heri on bestonlinelaptop.com says:
inspiring tips, enough clear for a beginner just like me.
ps: how to download both of free report above? i can’t get web design report yet.
thanks.
June 16th, 2008 at 11:38 am
Website Design Guy says:
Thanks for the article Alex – and thanks too to Nick for that link.
June 21st, 2008 at 8:07 pm
Nathan Sinnott says:
Great, easy to use beginners guide for link building strategies.
June 23rd, 2008 at 10:04 am
John says:
These are really concentrated ways to promote a business into a successful status.
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:23 pm
Scott says:
Great article. All the strategies given in are very useful and specially for the beginners in the online money making industry.
July 23rd, 2008 at 2:38 am
Mark says:
This too is very informative post, as getting a higher search engine rank is very much important for driving traffic on internet so this post would be very much helpful for every one to get high search engine rank.
July 23rd, 2008 at 2:46 am
Frank says:
Good Article Alex…but how do i improve my page rank.Thank you
August 15th, 2008 at 3:46 am
Free Computer Help says:
Hi there
I came across this site and because I was looking for an aussie SEO company. Your site really stands out with all this fantastic information!!!
I like the way you actually follow through with real examples..
September 3rd, 2008 at 12:22 pm
Cody Joyce says:
Hi, I’ve spent the last week on SEO for my new computer repair business and found that once google had re-spidered my new website.. i got a sale! and pretty much the top ranking for my targeted keywords.
Ive been using many methods listed here, but it’s great to have a few more. Thanks
September 9th, 2008 at 10:04 pm
Deb says:
Good post – forum signature is also a good way to get link
Deb
October 27th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
Link Building says:
I note you didn’t talk about linking between your own multiple sites – although this isn’t the best form of link building, it still has benefits as long as the sites are relevant to each other.
Some say that hosting becomes important here though i.e. if all your sites have the same IP address and link to each other, then Google etc may discount the links somewhat.
November 8th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
Google SEO Guide says:
[...] in our experience, a link building strategy built on multiple pillars forms up to 95% of a solid SEO strategy. You can learn more [...]
November 16th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
Link Building says:
You have made an excellent effort to cover the wide spectrum to build links and move up the ranks , i guess you can add website reviews, forum signatures to the list .
November 25th, 2008 at 5:19 am
dejagib says:
This is a good list to work with. I wish you had explained #10 some more.
I think you left out 3-way linking, but maybe that is covered in #6.
November 26th, 2008 at 9:38 am
Anish Raj Malhotra says:
Great..Thanks for sharing with us…
November 28th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Sydney carpet cleaning says:
It’s a really good list it helped me alot, thank you guys.
December 30th, 2008 at 10:44 pm
Vineet Rajput says:
Thanks for sharing this great info, Surely link building is very effective method to get the traffic
January 3rd, 2009 at 3:43 am
Suresh says:
You have made an excellent message, It’s a really good list it helped me alot,
Thanks guyes
January 11th, 2009 at 9:05 pm
Mariana says:
great! Thank you!
January 19th, 2009 at 7:42 am
Mike says:
really informative article on link building strategies.. thanks for sharing.
January 28th, 2009 at 9:03 pm
seo grant says:
Its a great article enumerating the best things you must do to optimize a site thank for the info…have a nice day
March 25th, 2009 at 7:34 pm
Shabu Anower says:
I’d like to add one method:
Open free account in WordPress, blogspot and in others where you can publish article. Make sure that articles are unique and link your site by targeted keyword from those articles. You may consider adding your keyword in account name.
April 29th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
Ready Steady Print says:
Another great post.
Thanks again!
May 8th, 2009 at 10:19 am
Fish Tank Aquariums says:
Is there a good strategy to get backlinks from video sites like YouTube and Google Video. Obviously they have high PR and would be great links.
I know you can “advertise” your URL in the video, but I was wondering if you can get your URL hyperlinked in some way?
Deon.
May 11th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
Webdesigner says:
Very informative and very useful. It shows me, that I do it right…
May 12th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
Karen says:
Please don’t give away all my link building secrets!
I’m not big into blog promotion so the tips above and very useful for a potential client! thanks!
July 1st, 2009 at 10:31 am
Jump Higher says:
Very informative, I am finding it hard though to find a quality directory or article submitter as it takes too long manually.
July 12th, 2009 at 7:14 pm
SEO Experts Australia says:
Hey,
Very good post about link building and generating good back links.
Each every strategy is mentioned over here, which would help in increasing good link popularity and back links for any website.
New SEOs should read this article. This will help as lot.
Ruchir.
July 27th, 2009 at 8:27 pm
PPC Marketing Sydney says:
very interesting post. Thanks for the link to free directories – very useful.
August 13th, 2009 at 5:45 pm
Wordpress SEO Tips : : Web Profits says:
[...] Link building practices aside, here are some WordPress customisations that will assist your SEO rankings. [...]
September 11th, 2009 at 10:44 am
Karl Bowers says:
Hi Alex,
Nice post on backlinking, there are a few pointers here I need to implement so thanks for this
Regards
Karl
September 28th, 2009 at 11:33 pm
Patent Litigation says:
Each every strategy is mentioned over here, which would help in increasing good link popularity and back links for any website.
New SEOs should read this article. This will help us lot.
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:51 pm
Patent Litigation says:
Great info! Thanks
October 23rd, 2009 at 8:24 pm
Khoa says:
You’re missing a big secret step.
Step #11 – Kindly ask industry niche websites to be linked on their site. The more people you ask, the greater chances of you being added to a quality site.
Great article mate, keep up the great work!
October 24th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
robseo says:
yes right . love Google loves WordPress.So maximum time you post blog in wordpress.
October 26th, 2009 at 11:12 pm
Elizabeth says:
Very approachable and practicable article. I learnt really good stuff. Satisfied to spend time on reading it. Thank you it got very valuable suggestions.
December 20th, 2009 at 12:32 am
SEOguy says:
In search engine optimization (SEO), ‘off page’ factors have become more and more important as they relate to rankings. In particular, solid link popularity.
January 22nd, 2010 at 7:47 pm
Promo codes says:
Good starting point for SEOers. In addition to Nick’s link socialbooker link above, http://www.onlywire.com is also a great way of automating your social bookmarking.
February 10th, 2010 at 2:25 pm
Sharemate says:
Above article gives good exposure to the starters. good tips. thanks
February 25th, 2010 at 5:56 pm
kavin says:
Thanks for sharing tips……….
February 25th, 2010 at 6:59 pm
Mike says:
I must say,I do enjoy the 10 tips to link building here provided. thank you as this will definitely clear some my my myths.
March 3rd, 2010 at 2:56 pm
Henry says:
Great help, always enjoy seeing peoples different tips to link building
March 21st, 2010 at 2:43 am
Michael says:
Nice comprehensive list of suggestions which should be a great starting point.
May 1st, 2010 at 8:20 pm
Aldo says:
Good suggestions on SEO for beginners. It will help me in starting with link building.
May 5th, 2010 at 5:53 pm
kmadhav says:
A good article on explaining all little but important things of link building for good rankings. I must say very good work….
But in now days how Google give value to directory submissions. Is it worth it or waste of time, labour and money.
kindly solve this query.
@kmadhav
May 11th, 2010 at 2:50 pm
Parkerposey says:
I’m impressed! In addition to the above strategies, I have not seen a method on how to build a widget for your website. A widget is a little software application, like a game with a link to your website, that you distribute over the Web. Made popular by Facebook, widgets are now a hot new marketing tool that have been known to boost a site’s page views by more than 300 percent.
May 20th, 2010 at 4:18 pm
7 Website Optimization Tips For Top SEO Rankings says:
[...] Optimize Your Internal Links – when most people think about link building they think about getting other sites to link to them (which is critical). But many people forget [...]
May 25th, 2010 at 11:22 am
Alex says:
Great info, thanks for sharing!
June 22nd, 2010 at 10:57 pm
Spider Office Chairs says:
@Alex Cleanthous
I read your full post but, I have some mind bubbles with blog comment & forum post.
Blog Comment: Can I submit my blog comment in different category blogs. For example, My website is focusing Home Decor products. So, I will target home decor related blogs. But, some how, There are many other blogs with good Google page rank. So, Will I submit my comment on different category blogs?
Forum Post: I have read one article on different class C IP. I have participate in 3 forums on daily basis. I also put my signature with hyperlink. But, I discussed with many SEO experts & they said me that, multiple post with same signature will not help you to get higher rank in search engine. So, How can I solve out this kind of issue for Forum post?
June 23rd, 2010 at 5:29 pm
Rick Adlam says:
Great concise article on getting links to your website that help rankings [and drive traffic].
I suspect most of your readers won’t actually do as you suggest, as most stuff online about linking is old and mostly fluff. The difference is in the small stuff you mentioned.
I did a few of the things you recommend a few weeks ago and my sites adsense income went over $100 per hour for a few hours. [Usually about that much a week]. I did something magic and haven’t discovered what it was that created the massive surge in traffic. [Or maybe I did figure it out but I am not saying.]
June 26th, 2010 at 4:34 pm
Brisbane Orthotics says:
Hi, I don’t understand one of the points.
“Post comments on industry blogs – post high value comments on other blogs in your industry to spark discussion. Even if the comments are ‘nofollowed’, you can still get links to your site from other bloggers that refer to your posts.”
How does this work? What part of what someone wrote would be do-follow on a no-follow site? Thanks STeph
June 30th, 2010 at 9:58 pm
A Web Designer says:
I’ve been researching SEO for some time, and would have to say that by far gaining backlinks from High Page Rank (PR) websites outperform a lot of optimizing factors you can do. I would even say that it is the TOP SEO technique to increase your google ranking.
July 5th, 2010 at 1:37 am
Alex Cleanthous says:
Hi Steph,
To answer your question…
If you post an article to a blog and the link in the comment is nofollowed, it won’t pass much SEO value. But, if you can make the comment really valuable, and you link to your own site which has an article that is really high impact, the blogger might reference your site in their next article.
The success of this strategy requires you to really participate in the blogosphere.
Alex
July 7th, 2010 at 10:59 am
Gold coast fishing charters says:
Good article, im trying to implement some of these ideas, very time consuming though
August 3rd, 2010 at 11:23 am
Podiatrist Brisbane says:
Here’s a neat trick I discovered yesterday. To get your business address to show up as a big place mark on the google map local search result, plant your map page reference around to get links. Here is mine as an example.
http://maps.google.com.au/maps/place?cid=8169661941936343168&hl=en&gl=au
August 5th, 2010 at 2:08 pm
Col says:
I’ll definately try your ideas.
August 5th, 2010 at 4:49 pm
Marketer Matt says:
It seems that most of the methods listed here seem to get minimal links back to a site (unless they go viral) and most end up giving PR 0 links right? Does anyone do link trades, link buying, or any other types of link building that help jump start the process? Any thoughts Alex?
August 13th, 2010 at 3:59 am
au pair says:
the Strategies are really good. thx for your artic.
August 30th, 2010 at 9:03 am