Quantifying link building efforts

[NicB1]

Does anyone have a way to quantify the value of link building efforts?  I am trying to devote resources to improve our link building initiatives but is there any way to correlate it to page rank etc?   I know you can't tie it down directly but any rough gauge or studies in the past that people may be aware of?  Any thoughts on how you would tackle this question?

I need to demonstrate the value it provides in a slightly more scientific manner than saying "it just helps".

Thanks,
Nic

[Copstead]

If you really want to dig deep into your links, Tom Anthony wrote a great post and offers a great tool.  http://www.seomoz.org/blog/link-profile-tool-to-discover-linking-activity

We use it for every client to analyze and get a better understanding of their links on a monthly basis.

[Mark_Jay_Apsey_Jr.]

Nic-  One of the SEOMoz tools you have access to will provide you with some of the detail. Although it doesn't equate to a finite granular level like "how many leads did this link generate?" , it does give you an idea of the ranking of value of the link and a comparison to your competitors.

The best tool to quantify it is the open site explorer. When you use this tool you will be able to identify the links you have created and they will be scored with two primary categories: "domain authority" and "page authority". You know the higher the domain and page authority, the higher the value of the link. You also know what your competitors link values are because you can see them listed also.....bottom line is if yu can generate links that rank at the top of the link building that has bend one, you will be driving significant value. If you report on your mistrust and mozrank over a period of time, you will be able to show the difference in value generated from link building and you will be able to compare that to what your competitors are doing and have done. Ultimately this will turn into higher ranking for your keywords....

Hope this helps. Please make sure you leave the thumbs up if this answers your question.