Build Links with Bloggers

[ypl]

Hi!

A few days ago, someone asked about how to ask links from bloggers and we got good answers, specially from Egol.

But, I do want to add to that question: after conducting research on each blogger and make sure they have good quality content,

1. how would you factor in their page rank, visitors, page view and social media info?

2. if they don't have much traffic, with PR3 (we are PR4), which means we can't count on too much traffic from them, but, will backlink from such places deemed as quality link by Google?  I do  understand the higher number in PR and traffic is better, but, in our case, they don't come by often.  Is it still worthwhile to do the lower sites?

[donford]

I don't have any hard numbers as what is too much, so I can't speak to that.

My approach to building backlinks is try and act like a user of my site. Go to sites that have blogs, or forums that discuss your industry and add links where appropriate. For new sites, I try to build a link a day. For established sites, I try and get a link a week. If your users are engaging, you should encourage them with your content to help build the links for you.

Maybe I have a little to much faith in Search Engines, but it is their job to know when a site is relevant to a specific query. You do your part on creating a good user experience on your site and your customers / consumers should be reacting to it positively by speaking about it on forums, blogs, and social media, these are also known indicators to search engines about the value of your specific page or site in regards to the topic being discussed.

Google has been cracking down on link networks, link rings, spam sites and the like. For a long time sites were manipulating the natural back links by buying or exchanging links with each other. This you can understand Google must take seriously with people's livelihood at stake.

If you're a new site, then spend some extra time getting the word out about your site. If you're established, time maybe better spent improving content, adding cool tools or features and making your users want to link to it for you.

[ypl]

I really appreciate your long and detailed answer.  That does crystalize the issue for me.  I will go on and collect PR 2 above sites with relevant and quality content.

If I were to do 10 product review, 10 giveaway, and 10 guest blog with 10 sites each, that would make 30 blog links, what else should I being doing and and how many links total on a monthly basis that would look natural to Google?  In general, if you'd be kind enough, what should I consider for link velocity and link profile?  We are thinking to publish some PR and social bookmarking, but, with the latter, how many is natural?

[LoveFitness]

I would also use Seomoz's toolbar to gain further insight into the blogs metrics-such Domain Authority and linking Root Domains.

If you are still unsure just run the site through opensite explorer and investigate the links they have to make sure their back link profile doesn't contain anything spammy or untoward looking.

[donford]

Hello ypl,

You asked:

1. how would you factor in their page rank, visitors, page view and social media info?

2. if they don't have much traffic, with PR3 (we are PR4), which means we can't count on too much traffic from them, but, will backlink from such places deemed as quality link by Google?  I do  understand the higher number in PR and traffic is better, but, in our case, they don't come by often.  Is it still worthwhile to do the lower sites?

The 3 things I am conscience of when getting a backlink from any source are as follows:

1. Is the site or the particular content on their site being discussed relevant to your site? Meaning you don't want to ask a blog site that specifically talks about politics linking to your site if you sell bicycles. If the site blogs about a wide range of topics it certainly would be acceptable to get a link from a post that is discussing bicycles. There is a caveat to this, and that is it is perfectly acceptable for a few links from non-relevant sites or articles to link to you. I mention this so folks may understand links that are coming from non-related sites or topics can negatively impact your site if they are in the majority.

2. What is their pagerank and how many other external links are on the page where you will appear? If your site is have a PR4 page they want to link to and they are PR 0/1 I would be a little standoffish. However PR 2 or 3, certainly appropriate.  All things equal it would take about 600 PR3 links to push you from 4 to 5. Throw a couple 4's or 5's in there and that number goes down. (ref:: http://curiouslittleperson.com/backlinks-for-google-pagerank/) .

The second part is how many other external links are you looking at. If you are offered a spot on a wall of links even if the PR is 4 or 5, the juice passed to each one is watered down. I find it most appropriate to be on a page where there are at most 5 other external links. This really depends on the amount of content on the page, for example http://www.instructables.com/ writers often articulate very well on how to build a gizmo from scratch, these articles can be quite long and sometimes are paginated. If you sell a product they use and purchase from you, you may end up on a list detailing the parts needed on page 1 of the article along with 10 other companies, or they may link to  you in article with anchor text. The latter is better of course.

3. Does the site look like a site that you would appreciate a link from? What I'm really getting at here is does look to spammy, allow in-appropriate ads (xxx),  look like a dynamic smattering of content, or hasn't updated content since Clinton's first term? I will go on to finish answering your second question in that, even if the site doesn't see a lot of traffic, if you get 2 or 3 visits from them and they turn into customers the link was well worth it for that alone. There is something to said about quality rather then quantity.

The short answer is yes a pr3 link to pr4 is great and actually about what you should expect. Don't get caught up to much with traffic, while it is important it isn't the end all of the value of the link. In general if the site is well laid out, not spammy and will offer you anchor text rich backlink and the site or article is relevant to your page or domain then certainly take it.