SEO Link building from zero in a practical world
-
Hi, I'm a web developer with good knowledge of SEO friendly web development etc.
When it comes to link building Im not quite sure where to start. I have read heaps of articles about building links, but can you guys please tell me how to start building links from 'zero' in a practice world? Im not even sure whether I have anyone who can link to my website or my client's website either
Thanks heaps.
-
Hi Alice, Thanks for the tips. One question though, how do I draw the line between high quality links and low quality links, If you could give me some tips? Thanks.
-
Valuable tips are shared here, fellow SEOMOZers! It also worth adding some other ideas:
-
build your authentic profiles in the social web (create Facebook, Twitter, G+ profile) and foster the communication with your clients and suppliers (if relevant). Listen to them, follow them, share their content and promote their content. By doing this, you should manage to "sell" your content in a better way as you will have a community that you converse with you. Make sure that you regularly check for those people who influence the others and craft a strategy to attract them on your side (it depends on your website topic + whether it is B2B or B2C). Social media activities not only help you expand your reach among your most relevant prospects, but also aid you generate positive social signals which search engines pay attention to.
-
if your client does not run a startup company, then it's time to look back and find those people who shared the content, who tried to establish a conversation and outreach to them with something hot that you have right now for your company/product
-
don't forget your customers, once you've acquired them, always get back to find out what they like about your product and how they use it. Make a contest, a giveaway or simply support a community that is relevant to your website and is committed to giving to the others. You will show that you care about growing communities and by supporting non-commercial initiatives, you will show the genuine human nature of your company. Don't simply acquire, but give and you will receive even more.
I would like to also highlight what Matt has said, just make sure that your links are diversified, don't use the same anchors all over again. Additionally, it's important to monitor and watch our for suspicious spikes in your links (add links gradually over the time and conduct an audit for negative SEO, caused by a competitor...)
- Even though this is directly related to your question, I just want to quickly remind you not to overlook the power of good interlinking. Start establishing a good internal structure for your website first and then proceed with the link building process.
Excited about this discussion, it's nice to follow new tips and exchange knowledge after the latest G updates.
Cheers
-
-
Some good tips here to get you going. The key is to try and keep your link profile as natural as possible while concentrating on quality. Its not easy...
I would be careful about doing too many directories to start with, maybe pick 3 or 4 at the most. When your link profile gets better you can then come back and maybe do a few more.
A nice press release saying you have a new website would work fine too. Get it distributed around the web and this should build a couple of links. Again, don't go OTT with press releases, keep them to a minimum but it will give you a decent start.
-
I have taken this from a similar question I answered not long ago...
"I will try and keep this as basic as possible so if you need me to elaborate, please ask.
The best way to start (and often a step that people forget completely) is to approach company's who you already have had dealings with. Try some of the following:
Accountants, Solicitors, Suppliers, Friends, Local Newspapers, Customers, Marketing Company's, Software Company's... Any business that you have dealt with. It could be a plumber who fitted the kitchen, the builder who built the building, a welder who made your gate... Anything!
Chances are, these websites wont be that relevant to your market (and maybe not even very good) but they are always an important place to start.
Be creativewhen approaching them though - chances are they won't just want to link to you for no reason. Maybe write them an article for their blog or news section on their website. Maybe write a testimonial saying how pleased you are with them or their service and link back to your site within the testimonial.
Next on the list is to ask your website designer for a link (if you have one). If he/she is proud of the work they carried out, they would happily add your website to their portfolio on their own website and link to your site.
If you had a logo designed and think it looks pretty sexy, show it off! There are lots of logo directories that will have your logo on their site with a link back to your site.
I would also try a couple of good quality directories (ensure they are manually edited directories and don't look like link farms). Remember though, don't do too many directories - especially not to start with!
From here I would recommend writing a press release and getting it published around the web. Obviously the first press release should be titled something along the lines of "New Website Open For Business".
After the press release, ask a couple of friends (or even better - customers) to write a review of your website on a review site. Once you get a couple they start looking legit but don't go over the top!
This should get you hopefully a few links. From here-on you should start picking up skills and learning more about how to get better links and optimise more efficiently.
I would recommend that throughout this whole stage; every single one of your links uses branded anchor text (or naked anchor text). What I mean by this is use yourdomain.com or click here etc).
Hopefully this helps?"
-
Hi Ud U, Kevin's recommendations are all excellent.
I would add that building relationships with quality, relevant sites is a good long term strategy. For example, one of my clients offers pub tours. On my client's site we created a profile page for each of the pubs on the tour and contacted the pubs for input. The majority of them then linked to these profile pages without us even requesting it. We also got links from tourism sites and travel blogs.
The result was good quality content for my client's customers to read; a good set of longtail optimised pages; and over 30 relevant, high quality links. The bottom line is that building relationships with relevant sites (and I mean genuine relationships rather than some sort of linking partner) and quality content generation really can work for all parties involved.
Good luck.
-
It depends on the target website & your linking goals. An ecommerce website selling tires to Northern America is going to have different needs than a plumber in Chicago, IL.
As for some actionable answers, here are some fundamental links with examples:
- Business profiles such as aboutus.org
- Directory sites such as botw.com & crunchbase.com
- Vertical search engines like yelp.com & lawyers.com
- Informational sites like wikipedia.org
- Communities like forum.bodybuilding.com & homeowner-talk.com
- See this post for more ideas: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/inbound-marketing-is-taking-off
Those fundamentals won't get you very far. They'll help the spiders notice you.
The links that matter are going to take some work to find. They are going to be highly relevant directories, curated lists, forum/wiki communities, major trusted publications, etc. The links that matter will drive relevant traffic to your website. They will be earned by relationships, quality contributions and outreach.
Here's something to help frame your thought process & strategy: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/the-6-month-link-building-plan-for-an-established-website
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Can affiliate links benefit or hurt my seo?
I have just signed up with a company to do affiliate marketing for my site. I am now in the process of reaching out to publishers and seeing who will publish my link on their site. Is there any benefit in terms of seo for having these links, and can there be any potential downside to these links as well?
Link Building | | whiteonlySEO0 -
Anyone have experience with AdTaxi for link building services?
Recently a client of ours received a proposal from a local newspaper for search related services, including link building. I believe the name of the company the paper is working with for some of these services is AdTaxi, which i had not heard of before. Anyone have experience with these guys from a link building standpoint? I know that here we are more "do it yourselfers" and for the most part, we handle all of the on-page and technical SEO for our client's sites, but link building as a dedicated service isn't something we have the resources to offer so I'm just looking to do some research. Thank you! -William
Link Building | | AudigyGroupDigital0 -
Suggestions needed on link building campaign...
Getting links has become very difficult task for me. Recently i have started a website on Depression and Anxiety. My campaign steps: 1)Hired a doctor to write stuff on my website. 2)After that we did 100 more articles for article marketing. 3)Submitted content to top article directories.. All links to only 1 anchor (domainname.com). I haven't promoted my domain with main anchor anywhere. DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO 😞 Can anyone suggest me some link building methods so that i can do Good SEO for my new site?
Link Building | | artemmin0 -
Link building from keyword domains
Hi all, I am currently working on link building to our site http://www.betxpert.com which has a number of keywords I am targeting. I have become aware that domains with the keywords are available. We (in Danish) target the phrase "ekpert tips" and the domain www.eksperttips.dk is available. Would it be a good thing for us, to register this domain and do one of the following things: a) DNS forward traffic to our main site b) Build a small blog with minor content and linking to the main site with text links with the tekst "ekspert tips"? c) Simply do nothing, save the money and spend it otherwise... Hope someone can give me a sound advice. Best regards, Rasmus
Link Building | | rasmusbang0 -
Link Building Methods
Hi, If i hire a SEO company, what kind of links they will build for me. If anyone own a seo company can you let me know.My question is if i create a new website, what kind of link building techniques should i use other than, articles, press releases, social bookmarking, directories. As i am competiting with very tough competition. I have analyzed my competitors and they bought sitewides which are paid ones. Without paid ones i think it is is very hard for me to get into the competition. Can someone discuss more link building methods also. Awaiting for your responce. Regards.
Link Building | | Dex32320 -
How to Build Links without content?
Apart from Directory submission Local niche specific directory submission Community engagement Niche specific blog commenting Can I know the other ways of Link Building when we don't have content.
Link Building | | Jaymoo0 -
Link Building strategy between domains I own?
I am in the somewhat unique position of owning and administering around 300 websites that each have their own unique domain names. We have a corporate website and then many individual websites for hospitals and nursing centers that we operate. My question is how would you recommend using these sites to build good incoming links between all the sites? Should I take every opportunity to find as many places to link from each site to all the other sites that are owned? Is there anything I should avoid that Google would penalize me for or discount the links all together? Sorry this is a such as long question... but wasn't sure where to start. Thanks!
Link Building | | KHCreative0 -
Link building software
Does anyone know of any software that will build links if I enter the URL in? I know this sounds silly but I had to ask... I know ontolo is good to discover which links you need based on a key word and I know the SEOmoz tools do the same. My question is that is there any software that you can then enter all the links you have found and acquire them, Thank you for your answers. I really appreciate it. Vijay
Link Building | | vijayvasu0