Link Building: Just Great Content, Blog Comments, and Guest Blog Posts?
-
I love SEOMoz. It has motivated me to dive way more into SEO.
I know all the shoulds. But what fascinates me about SEO is that shoulds don't always match up to what works.
I'm looking at Open Site Explorer, specifically my site. I see a lot of links I got naturally. By having awesome content.
So is there any point in emailing people asking htem to add my link? Or do I spend my time writing awesome content, sharing it on social media, and hoping someone comes across it and shares it?
I know blog commenting, when relevant, can bring me new visitors. I'm sure it helps SEO too.
Maybe I just need to reach out and write guest blog posts for grabbing some links?
Its just as Google wants it! OMG, how white hat. Is that it? or should I be even more active? I.E. emailing people and saying "hey, I have this awesome website, your readers would find it useful" sort of thing?
Love to hear your opinion!
-
Woot! Way to go!
-
Soooo... First off, thanks for your advice!
Second, maybe I'm lucky, but I wrote to a .edu site (a university), a professor built the site, and I wrote him saying I loved his resources, and that maybe he should add my site.
Well, he did! Wow, this morning! So that was cool. Let's see if a .edu helps rankings!
I may do some cold call emails, but I think in the long run you are right, reach out to people I know already.
Thank you for the responses! I will be using Q & A more... may do more Q than A at first though
-
Hi Don. And it works. Here's a thumbs up to get you one step towards that t-shirt
-
Hi Hilary, Dana gave some great advice. Thumbs up for her.
Great content will generate links, but there is nothing wrong with taking extra steps to get them. You may find that including a little closing statement at the end of your blog post will go a long way in the amount of links you get. In fact I do this regularly when helping people on the forums to entice them for a thumbs up (I want a t-shirt).
Hope this helps,
Don -
Hi Endlessrange, I love SEOMoz too! Pretty much I agree with everything you just said. Is cold-emailing people to try to get them to link to your site worth your time? No. But I'm willing to bet there are tons of people who you haven't emailed already, who you have some kind of connection with. Those people are definitely worth emailing. But, if you email, maybe a better approach would be to have something specific in mind. Maybe you want to announce something. Maybe you just want to share some information. If you email them, make sure something's in it for them, maybe something more than just a link back. Maybe you offer them a guest blog spot. Maybe you interview them. Maybe you send them a gift. I don't know, be creative.
I personally discard all emails from people who don't have an "in" with me. By "in" I mean, they know enough about me to use my first name, perhaps know someone I know, or know enough about me to know what I'm really interested in. They have to talk to me in my language, and they better not start their email with "Greetings dear friend."
That being said, just today I contacted 4 editors of industry-related Web publications with whom I have had prior business relationships with. I had a press release I thought they might be willing to post on their sites. All four of them said yes. All four said yes because they know if I say it's a press release it's really a press release, not a badly disguised piece of marketing drivel. I also never presume anything. I don't contact them expecting them to do anything for me. I ask them really really really nicely, and I accept the fact that they just might say no.
Do everything you mentioned and always be on the lookout for an opportunity to contact with someone new. Then, do some research and find out how you might already be connected to them (6 degrees of Kevin Bacon right?). Figure out where the connection is and then email them.
Good luck and make the most of Q & A. It's awesome!
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 in Person
Someone answered me on Google plus but just to confirm. If I have a pet shop in one city and ranking well local. But want to rank even better in the surrounding cities. Is it a good idea to go to different pet shops in different cities and asked to trade links and help each other out . Will that be beneficial for my pet shop or not?
Link Building | | LittleDog0 -
I have a real estate site. I want to beat Zillo and Trulia for local real estate searches. Any suggestions and also how do I get white hat backlinks( not just write great content stuff but good alternative ideas).
I need some tips on outranking giants in the real estate field for local search keywords. I need sources of back link sources (white hat) and some ideas to beat them in my backyard with my Real estate site. I have a great idx plugin and am ranking first page for address searches. I want to beat them for local long tail. Any ideas?
Link Building | | kpstreams0 -
Link building external trusted help out there?
Hi there guys and Girls, I am a newbie to the seo world but learning quickly. Unhappy with seo services offered for startups I have taken on the role myself for my website. I think so much of what can be learnt online here I can implement myself with a few hours of work each week. So my dilemma! I have lots of ideas of for content which i know will be valuable and I was considering outsourcing just for link building (the long haul work) The trouble is I am wary of who to use and if such service is out there? I have tried searching on o'desk and freelancer etc but I guess i am too frightened of spammy links or postings on irrelevant sites. I guess initially I am looking for someone who can help my link building campaign whilst I build up my own blogging contacts etc. Does anyone know if these types of services exist? and if any are recommended for small companies? Thanks Michelle
Link Building | | nutjobshell0 -
Link Building
Guest blogging, guest blogging, guest blogging. Since I started my career as a "brand manager" I've heard the term "guest blogging" at least a million times. So I've put a fair amount of energy into it and for a long time it worked beautifully, still is in many ways. However, in the last month or two nearly every blog I have contacted about guest blogging has said that "due to an increase in guest blogging request we are now charging a fee of x" so on and so forth. Doesn't paying for links put you at great risk for being deindexed? And can't bloggers get in trouble for this as well? Do they not know, not care or think it doesn't apply to them? And if it's a sponsored post, say I send them $100 of free product and pay them $100 to do it, isn't that just hiring someone to talk about my brand? Why would google punish me for that? Anyway around it? Thank you so much! I look forward to your suggestions/advice/criticism.
Link Building | | WNL0 -
Is it worth it to link to sites that link to you in guest posts?
Suppose you published a guest post on a quality site and you link to a previous guest post you have written for another site (which links to you). In theory you could send link juice to the page that links to you for a second order effect. Has anyone seen results from this tactic?
Link Building | | ProjectLabs0 -
Guest Post Label Devalue Links?
My link builders are doing an excellent job of creating well written articles with my links in the body of the text. However, most of them state it is a guest post at the top or bottom of the post. I also notice that the sites the articles are on frequently accept guest posts. 1. Does having the label "guest post" devalue the links at all? 2. Does the fact that the sites often allow for guest posts devalue the links?
Link Building | | TheDude0 -
Link Building
I've been hearing about going after niche directories, and my question is most of them have a ton of links on any given page. Is it even worth taking the time to approach these sites knowing they won't pass a lot of link juice?
Link Building | | azguy0 -
Learning link building
I want to learn from one of the best how to do real link building. I currently outsource this and just aren't sure if they're that good or not. Can you please let me know if Rand is doing any training or presentations on this in L.A or California this year? And if not him maybe someone else you can recommend who's good. Thanks much.
Link Building | | afranklin0