Link Building Question
-
Hello,
Here is my situation - i'm number 10 for a moderate keyword and i want to rank higher .
Using the Open Site Explorer i studied the links of 12 competitors and noticed the following :
There are only 2 sites that are doing 100% white hat - one of them is on first page only because has a big,big domain autority, the other because is a brand name.
The rest of my competitors are on first page using directory submissions (i discovered 200+ directories - and not counting those that are not indexed.), buying links (for ex check these 2 :http://www.dentistsburbank.com/links , http://www.dentistinaustin.com/links/ - there are 50+ more sites like this), spam forums and article submissions.
For my site i tried to get only quality links, tried link bait, quality articles - etc(and this for more that 18 months). Unfortunately it seems that my efforts are not enough(seems that links from military.com are not enough to beat 200 low quality directories) and i want to ask the community what should i do.
Shall i invest in directory submissions (it will cost around $1500) ? If not in directories in what shall i invest the money ? Are there any companies able to create successful link baits ?
Shall i report the paid links hoping that Google will take action ?
Any other ideas
-
What about reporting the "black links" - did anyone had success doing that ?
-
Yes probably i need to get quantity and match them on number of c blocks (the only metric i;m behind)
-
I agree, directory submissions should cost no where near that, and the effort and cost far outway the benifits IMHO. Anyway, just a thought on the paid directories you mention - costs can be cut further if you do go down this route by applying to become an editor of a directoy such as Joeant , if accepeted, you can then get a free listing!
-
Good point and absolutely a must, though once you exhaust all that and have already a good content strategy and your competitors are still kicking your butt - what then?
Internally we go technical, big backlink profile analysis, do the maths and go hard and creative on links. It's kind of like brute force in some respect however within 2-3 months you're going up after many months of stagnation.
I see this all the time in highly competitive industries (e.g. insurance, flights...etc).
There have been cases though where we have seen quality beat quantities (in extreme differences)... still a bit of a mystery to me if I am to be completely honest.
-
The question that I always ask when a local service or retail site is involved is.... have you gotten all of the local and industry links that are available?
These include:
-- chamber of commerce and local service organizations (membership in these can be valuable for business reasons but their website often has a link to their members)
-- local business listings
-- your landlord's website
-- websites of your suppliers and service providers (do a testimonial for them)
-- trade associations for your industry (write an article for them)
-- med schools, law schools etc. often links to websites successful graduates
-- local charities often link to companies who support them (friends of the library, habitat, religious groups, little league boosters)
-- local business initiatives (tourism association, "buy local", downtown merchant association)
-- local online newspaper (advertise, write an article or column)
-- trade association publications (advertise, write an article or column)
-- local and state license boards
Go out searching for local websites. Although they might not be "dental" sites they are often very relevant for the name of your community. You can also draw up a charitable organization budget that will support your business in other ways.
Lots of people are amazed when they learn how many local links are possible.
-
Yeah I think you might be looking to hard at directories if the cost is that high... I wouldn't spend half that on them myself. You'll probably find that most of those directories aren't worth the dosh.
-
If your competition is getting quantities of links and beating you while your your best content effort cannot level up... that might be what you need to do - get as many new c-block links using all means possible apart from buying links and spam (I cannot recommend those).
Article submission and directories are not my favorite activity and I do not believe in it - however there is ample evidence that sheer quantities can win.
The answer I gave you is simplified as I have not analysed your and your competitor's links in details (anchor text, authority, numbers, velocity...etc).
-
I agree is not spam(Directory submissions)- and the cost is real - i made a list with url and cost per submissions and i'm getting close to 2k so far.
-
Directory submissions are not black hat... and they needn't cost you anywhere near that. There's a bunch of good directories out there, free ones that are fairly decent too. The only ones you should pay for in my opinion are BOTW, Yahoo Dir, and JoeAnt. But I wouldn't even bother with them, I never do... just go for some very relevant free ones that aren't spammy
What did you do for your link bait, and how did you promote it?
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
-
Out-of-season link building
Hi all, We have a couple of seasonal websites (Artificial Christmas trees). Now, its fairly easy to develop good content that people are interested in when the season is approaching, and even easier mid season. However, this somewhat stalls when everyone has had their fill of Christmas, between Jan and Sept. So, my question is, how would you suggest an approach to link building for a seasonal ecommerce site such as this? Obviously my aim is to develop links now, so when September comes, the site is up there. Thank you 🙂
Link Building | | Webrevolve0 -
Link Building - Drawing a blank
I've been trying to get backlinks for one website for the past 2 weeks and it's proving almost impossible. Initially I drew up a list of websites that would be suitable to have a link on and tried e-mailing a contact on each. However, it doesn't seem to be going anywhere. Most are coming back saying I can add some content but they will charge. However, we don't have a budget. I've analysed competitor backlinks and they didn't reveal anything interesting. The website doesn't have a Twitter account. So I can't look for links that way. Another problem is that the website has a very niche audience and probably not the most active online. Does anyone have any other tips that would help?
Link Building | | AAttias0 -
When link building is returning little success, what is a good plan b?
I know that in an ideal world you would be able to create an amazing site with great content that every one would link to. But what if you're not able to so this, what if you the market you're in is very competitive and you're struggling to find good link partners. I know I can submit to directories and article/press sites but surely this isn't enough to get me any where near my desired goal! I guess I'm asking: is gaining reciprocal links the be and end all of Serps, am I missing any other SEO techniques to get my site higher up the rankings?
Link Building | | newdaymedia0 -
Can someone recommend a proven link building company?
Hi there. Can someone please recommend a link building company? Can somebody recommend a tried and trusted linking building company that they have used and have really good results from? There are so many link builidng companies out there all promising they can deliver X,Y AND Z! Please help if anyone can recommend a company has am going roun in cricles! Thanks guys Gareth
Link Building | | GAZ090 -
Clarification needed regarding link building
We are working on a SEO project for a client with a bilingual site. We have already started with the link building task for the English domain. However, for the Arabic domain the URLs for the inner pages are not yet finalized and it would take around 2 months to do so. I would like to know whether we could start with link building for the main Arabic domain although the inner pages URLs are not yet finalized?
Link Building | | Francis_GlobalMediaInsight0 -
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 -
Very simple Link question: Ziggy Marley homepage
Newbie here: My client is Zion rootswear. They need links, bad. They have friends in high rank places, this is good. Ziggy Marley has a link to them on his homepage: Gear: Zion Rootswear this takes the user to the website when clicked QUESTION Should I have the ziggy team change it to www.zionrootswear.com? Ill assume this is obvious, yes they should....more juice...right? I need an expert opinion. Thanks Mozzers.
Link Building | | Giggy0 -
Link building software
Does anyone know of any software that will build links if I enter the URL in? I know this sounds silly but I had to ask... I know ontolo is good to discover which links you need based on a key word and I know the SEOmoz tools do the same. My question is that is there any software that you can then enter all the links you have found and acquire them, Thank you for your answers. I really appreciate it. Vijay
Link Building | | vijayvasu0