The SEO Tutorial: Link Building

The SEO Tutorial: Link Building
Written by Samuel in SEO

Search engines have always been the primary way of finding information on the internet. And once upon a time, these search engines were many and had names like Lycos, Altavista, and Hotbot. Furthermore, these engines all worked very similarly, listing their results based mostly on website content and keyword use. Of course, this made the results fairly easy to manipulate -- you only had to stuff more keywords in your meta tags and on your webpage. Then one day, a new search engine arose, one with the curious name of Google. Google decided that the current way of finding the best results was lacking. So they focused on a new technique: they began looking at the links that came into your website. Each link, they figured, was a "vote" for your site; the more people that "voted" for your site, the more likely it was that your site was useful and should be listed high in the results for the keywords that linked to it. Thus began the rise of Google, as webmasters tried a multiplicity of ways to get links to their site. A few years back, many sites could manipulate this new link aspect simply by trading links with hundreds of others. But as all smart companies do, Google adapted and nowadays, all links to your site are analyzed to find out what quality of "vote" each link is. In other words, the more quality links you get to your site, the better your site does. So with that in mind, let's consider two points: first, what makes a quality link, and second, how you get these links.


What makes a quality link
Here are a few key aspects of a good inbound link. Some of these aspects are out of your control, but you can still improve how people choose to link to you:

Good Anchor Text - This is the text that is used in linking to you. It is far better for someone to link to this site with the phrase Freelance Blog or Making Online Income rather than Wake Up Later. Remember, it's the text in the link that helps search engines determine what the destination page is really about. Variety of Anchor Text - You also want variety in your inbound links. If all the links to your site use the phrase Freelance Blog, the search engines could assume that either the phrase is simply your website's title and or that you "campaigned" for people to link to you all the same way. Therefore, you want the links you get to be natural, with one site linking to you as Great Freelance Blog, another using Blog With Online Income Tips, and so on. Authority of Linking Site - Although search engines count links to your site as "votes," not all votes are created equal. A link from Wikipedia.com carries a lot more authority than a link from Free-Links-And-More.com Relevancy of Linking Site - Just as authority of the linking site counts, so does relevancy. The best links to this site will come from other design/development or internet marketing sites. Links from personal blogs or free directories, not so much. Destination of Link - Just as you want the anchor text of links to be natural and diverse, you also want the destination of inbound links to vary. If you're truly producing great content, then you should be getting links to not only your homepage, but a multiplicity of inside pages as well. And when this happens, the search engines will smile upon you.

How to get quality links
So how do you get sites to link to you? Or rather, how do you get quality sites to link to you?

• Directory Links - This is the easiest way to get links, but perhaps the worst. Do not submit your site to 200 directories -- those links are usually worthless and associate your site with low-quality sites. However, submitting your site to a few quality directories is advised (you can sort of determine a site's quality by their Alexa rating). Directories like JoeAnt.com and BlogCatalog.com fall into this category of "free high-quality directories."
  
• Social Links - When you think you have a great piece of content, submit it to the socialsphere -- sites like Digg, Reddit, del.icio.us, StumpleUpon, and any smaller social sites you know of. Don't bank on hitting it big, but you never know, and furthermore, you will still get a little traffic. Also, on any forums or blogs you are active on, make sure your signature file has a link. Just don't become a forum/blog/comment spammer. It doesn't work, makes you and your site look bad, and takes away time from building good links.
  
• Ask for Links - If you have friends online (and most people do), why not ask for a link? Most people are kind enough to do so and it's rather easy. It gets a bit tougher when asking strangers for links, but if you have some sort of "social link" (members of the same forum, similar website focus, etc.), write a quick email asking for a link. If they like your content, they might link to you -- just don't ask them more than once and stay transparent (anything else is usually insulting).
  
• Pay for Links - In recent years, this has become a popular mode of link-building, although Google frowns upon it (and in a recent Page Rank update, has punished various websites for participating). So proceed with caution, but know that many people use this option. You just have to search for "paid text links" to find a slew of services and information. (There are exceptions to this rule: sites like Best of the Web and Yahoo provide paid listing/reviews that actually do help you in SEO.)
  
• Link Bait - The current buzzword of link-building, "link bait" is any content that gives people reason to link to you. What makes good link bait? Contests, free stuff, great articles (like "101 ways to _______"), or anything else people find worth linking to. Of course, make sure your great idea gets in front of people by utilizing the social websites and any contacts you might have in the industry.