What are the most valuable links a new website can get?

[DGSEO]

When you are starting an SEO project for a new website (or an old one with few or worthless links) where to you start?  What are your basic "get the link building started" link sources?

[KeriMorgret]

Just wanted to leave a quick note saying that SEOmoz has upgraded our Link Directory! You can view a post Cyrus wrote with more information about the directory update and link building via directories at http://www.seomoz.org/blog/seo-link-directory-best-practices

[UPform5]

For me I think the most valuable links are:

1. one way links from relevant websites (blogs, forums, etc)

2. one way links from social bookmarks and being re-tweeted!

^_^

[Getz.pro]

May I start with a few links?

http://guides.seomoz.org/chapter-7-growing-popularity-and-links

http://www.seomoz.org/article/advanced-link-building

http://www.seobook.com/archives/001792.shtml

http://searchengineland.com/smart-links-can-make-your-seo-sing-48544

Now for my rant : )

What is your site about? Is it local in nature? With these questions answered, you have a good place to start. If your site is GEO limited, say in a State or City, then look into forums, blogs, and sites dealing in those locations. Getting links from local sites really helps Google see that your site is local to that area.

If your site is about photography (my personal love) then find relevant sites and get links from them. Perhaps you can reply to blog post with a link to your site in your signature area. (warning: if your post are just 'visit me', then you may be banned from the site. Have something important to add).

I really like reaching out into the local community as these people should be more receptive to you because they may know you or at least have some connection to you being neighbors.

You can also start getting links from directories as these are easy and cheap, but not often great authority.

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/whiteboard-friday-sitewide-reciprocal-and-directory-links

http://www.seomoz.org/directories

If I can get the time, I am going to compile and post my directory link research.

General rules:

Look for sites that are relevant, have high PA, and allow for custom anchor text.

Blogging and Guest Blogging are great also. People love to link to great content so blog away. Give a different slat to your content or include information others do not have. If your site is not popular yet, guest blog for others which will allow for links back to your site. Of course you want to market these blog post by putting them on Facebook and Twitter.

I hope this answered your question.

[DGSEO]

Thanks for your reply, Mike.  I've been monitoring HARO for a couple weeks now and I haven't found any requests that work for my clients.  I love the idea though and will continue to watch for opportunities.

We're working on a wikipedia page currently (already blew it with them once for creating a page with content that was too self-promoting - lesson learned).

I posted a question a couple days ago about getting local DMOZ listings and was reminded that this is easier said than done.  I was able to get DMOZ listings easily up until about 3 years ago when the whole organization seems to have fallen asleep.

[scanlin]

dmoz.org is a good place. Human edited. Submission process takes a while.

wikipedia.com if you have a relevant site to some article listed there.

industry-specific sites relevant to your site.

A few links from each of: article marketing, social bookmarking, guest blogging, forum posting (even a few no-follows is okay; looks natural).

I've been responding to HARO requests with good luck (www.helpareporter.com). Journalists post stories they're working on and you can respond as a relevant source (if you are relevant). Major media outlets use it. I've gotten several PR6+ sites to link to me because I was quoted in some story one of their journalists was working on. It's time consuming to create meaningful responses to their inquiries, and there is no guarantee they'll use anything you send them, but if they do it'll probably result in a high quality link.