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
-
Link building strategy - my weak link!
Please help me understand link building. I've read the articles on Moz, but they seem vague to me. Specific questions: 1. How do I get my webpage on good quality sites? 2. Guest blogging? Good or not? 3. What about when people pick up one of our blog stories and publish it on their site with a link back? Is that bad now because it is duplicate content??? 4. Forum posts with a link in the signature? Good or not? 5. Directories - I get it that these are no longer good... are they severely negative? Should I take them down. 6. PR - Looks like this is bad... right??? 7. Youtube - any value? 8. Pinterst, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram? Any value to backlinks here? 9. What about sites like redit? 10. Anything else I should consider?
Link Building | | CalicoKitty20000 -
Link building service - linkfool
Hi, quick question - has anyone ever used link building service called linkfool ? I was on another reputable seo information site and linkfool showed up, i checked it out and at the bottom site was an seomoz logo to insinuate partnership of some sort. Anyway , if anyone has used this service, was it worth the investment
Link Building | | movingeverywhere0 -
How to link building 5days domain
i like to start give some backlinks to my brand new domain any advices for new domain ?
Link Building | | cutekid10 -
How much is a fair amount to pay for link building services?
It would be useful to get some feedback from those paying for SME/SMB website link building services re how much is a fair amount to pay and what you are getting for this.
Link Building | | Luia0 -
Link Building - I have asked this question but nobody has responded to me
Hi there, I have asked you guys this question already, but nobody has got back to me.. Can you tell me please how to best use your tools to build links to help with SEO? You seem to have a few tools for links, but which one is the best and how do i best use them..?? Can you alos provide me with some link building tips??? Please can you help and repsond, I would be very gratful.. Thanks Gareth
Link Building | | GAZ090 -
Best Link Building Practice
Are there any articles or tutorials here about how to build links? The only two methods I've been able to uncover are using OSE to analyze competitors backlinks and directory listings. I'm thinking there must be other ways.
Link Building | | waynekolenchuk0 -
Link building techniques
Hi there guys, 2011 will not doubt bring new changes to how Google look at links, I heard that there have been complaints because a lot of poor websites rank really high because of the vast amount of links they have acquired! Can any one please provide me some pointers for sucesful white hat link building tips? I would be very grateful!! Thanks guys G
Link Building | | GAZ090 -
Link building diagram
is there a simple chart or diagram that explains the linkbuilding process from start to finish? thank you, Vijay
Link Building | | vijayvasu0