Updated - Farewell LinkMoses, Hello Link Building Q&A

Regular readers know I've been building links since the launch of TheTitanicJustSank.com, or close to it. This wasn't by design. I just had the bad/good luck to lose my advertising job at the right time; Early nineties. I needed something new to do, I went to grad school, and the Internet fell into my lap. The full story of the early years of ericward.com is yet to be written, but I hope to get to it this Summer.

The whole LinkMoses shtick was also an accident. A few years ago someone at a conference made fun that I was still link building, like it was a disease. So I made lemonade out of the joke and turned it into a few thousand new inbound links. Don't mess with a link builder...

I've never intended to be an expert at anything, and the only reason I know so much about link building is that I had the sense or stupidity to stay focused on just that one skill as the web exploded around me. I could have done a thousand different things, but I stayed the link building course. I passed up a $1.3 million buyout offer from BCentral. I ignored Overtures from Overture. I didn't move to San Francisco, Seattle, or New York like everyone thought I should. I stayed right here in my garage office. I didn't write a book when the publishing houses called. Instead I kept doing what I liked. Studied web sites and links. Watched how content gets known, linked, found, by who, when, and where. I did a few industry shows back when just us geeks went. Back when real talent like Danny Sullivan was working his rear off at his kitchen table for just a couple hundred appreciative readers. Somehow my business strategy resulted in other authors writing about me in their books. Again, accidently successful. I was and remain to this day very happy doing what I do. I hope to continue being a content publicist/link builder for many more years.

For several reasons I'm a bit reflective right now. I'm also worn down a bit due to criticism, some deserved and some not, from folks who have have taken issue with my contributions to several link building expert articles. They say I don't give up any secrets. I don't provide worthwhile advice. My answers to link value factors questions are too vague.

Fair enough. This month I begin Link Building Best Practices - Q&A With Eric Ward.

I'll take questions from all comers and turn the best of them into posts where I provide my opinion on what the best practice should be for that particular topic. Send them to lbquestion@ericward.com. I don't pretend for one moment to believe that my best practices should be your best practices. I'm just using this avenue as a way to provide very specific advice and opinion developed over the course of building links for 1,000+ new and old sites from 1994 til today. Here's the link to the Link Building Best Practices RSS feed

Link well friends!

Eric Ward

Anchor Text Best Practices - Update 8-24-09

I've contributed to several Link Value Factors type articles, including SEOmoz's and Wiep's, and was glad to be included by Rae Hoffman in her awesome Link Development Experts Group Interview. I always have a tough time providing the kinds of answers that would be useful without being so long as to put people to sleep. I can't sum up my own best practices for something like link anchor text in a few words. But I can try to do so here. If it bores you then think of my words as a cure for insomnia.

Here are several anchor text BPs that I hope do a better job of explaining the challenge and nuance of link text.

1). The most trustworthy pages will NEVER let you control your own anchor text, and it is obnoxious to ask. Case in point. See the below site.



Here's how they link out...

The Queen of Trees
Website for a program that looks at the relationship between a Kenyan fig tree and the wasps that pollinate its flowers. Includes background about fig trees in general and about sycomore figs trees in Kenya, a photo essay on sycomore figs and fig wasps, video clips, and related essays and links. From the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) show Nature.
URL: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/queenoftrees/
Added to LII: 2006-06-08

If you were the link builder for the site being linked to above, of course you'd be thrilled if the above link instead had words like Kenyan fig tree or wasps or pollinate flowers. But that's not going to happen, because every content editor has their own fairly evident method for how they link to other sites.

Asking someone who has put a lot of time and effort into finding great sites to change the protocol they use for outlinks, just for you and your site, is not very polite nor effective. Be happy you got a link at all. This doesn't mean you cannot ever get the exact anchor text you want, but let's be real. Anyone willing to grant you that kind of control over what's essentially part of their content must not have too stringent a requirement for what they call "content". As Groucho Marx once said, "I would not join any club that would have someone like me for a member." If Groucho were a link builder today, he'd say "Any site willing to give me a link plus whatever anchor text I ask for is not a site I'd want a link from in the first place".

2). As much as you might want to include HTML code in the email you send to the target site editor, don't. Why? Same as above. And don't you love it when you get email from someone you don't know telling you what to do?

"Dear webmaster, please add the below code to your website..."

Any site that will do that for another site based on receiving that type of instruction is nuts.

3). The fastest way to create a suspicious looking inbound anchor text profile is to pay too much attention to it. There are some sites that rotate the anchor text using random generation tools in hopes of approximating a natural looking anchor profile. Yes, and Burt Reynold's plastic surgeon is approximating the way Burt looked when he was thirty. See for yourself.

Yep. No doubt about it...perfectly natural...

4). Start with your own on-site anchor text first. By that I mean the anchor text YOU use to link to YOUR OWN PAGES from your own pages. This is especially true for sites that are already ranking fairly well. Here's an example that illustrates the power of on site anchor text.

Do this Google allinanchor search: allinanchor: link bait strategy

Of Google's 27,300 results, the first page listed is mine. See below.

Results 1 - 10 of about 27,300 for allinanchor: link bait strategy.

Expert Link Bait Consulting and Link Bait Content Strategy Plan...
Eric Ward . com - My approach to link bait is based on nearly 15 years of successful link building and publicity generation for timely or new content. I use my experience to perform a link bait analysis/audit of any existing linkbait in your niche, to determine what role link baiting can play in your online marketing strategy. I then work with you by phone to concept the types of linkbait/content you can create for the best strategic effect. www.ericward.com/linkbait-services.html- 21k -Cached - Similar pages

Here's the kicker. That page from my site ranks first out of 27,300 pages, but there is only one (that's 1) page linking to that page, and it's from my own site's homepage. Let that sink in. No other sites or pages are linking to my page using that anchor text, except my own, and Google has plenty of other pages they could rank ahead of me, but they don't. The primary conclusion I draw from this is Google has a great deal of trust for the anchor text I use to point to my own pages. It's true that the trust I speak of comes from the overall collection of inbound links I've earned over the years in the first place, but the point lost in this is once you have such trust, don't ignore it as a driver of rankings for...yourself.

Over a year ago I wrote a related piece for Danny Sullivan at Search Engine Land called Are You In The Circle Of Link Trust? The point of that column?

"In the course of seeking new links and publicity for new content on an existing site, don't ignore your already trustworthy content as a driver of reputation for the new content. If you are in the enviable position of already having high rankings, if you're in the circle of link trust, leverage it"

5). There is no perfect percentage for keyword anchored vs. non-keyword anchored backlinks. People want to hear me say something definitive like you should try to keep your off site inbound keyword anchored backlink profile to no more than 20% of your overall IBLP. If that makes you happy, go for it.

I wonder what percentage of Adobe Acrobat's backlinks say "click here" in the anchor text? Looks like more than 20%

NOTE: To ask a link building related question, click the Comments link below, or the Post a Comment form at the bottom of any individual post.

To request a private Link Building Strategy Session, Analytics, and Blueprint read more here.

Yahoo Directory Paid Link Best Practices?

If your site is listed in the Yahoo directory, and you didn't pay for it or you got in back before they charged the review fee, then IMO you leave it alone. Make no changes and enjoy the free ride. I have two Yahoo directory links for two of my sites, both grandfathered because they are ancient. If I was asked by Yahoo to start paying for those two, I'd probably drop them both. On the other hand, there are instances where I do recommend paying the review fee. A new site in a very competitive topic may want to pay, because commercial sites already listed in the Yahoo Directory to can then also receive enhanced placement (for another fee) in certain commercial categories in the directory. Read more about the Yahoo Sponsored Listing options here. FYI, tried this program out a few years ago and in my case chose to stop after three months.

-Eric

What are the best practices for submitting to directories?

It will depend on whether you mean directories like Yahoo or directories like the hundreds listed around the web that nobody ever heard of and nobody ever uses? Seriously, when was the last time someone looking for a new bicycle started their search at link-a-pa-looza.biz? How about never?

The best practices for directory link building depend on several factors all driven by the site you are seeking links for. If you are seeking links for a brand new site at a brand new domain launching for the very first time, then you have nothing to lose and a few decent links to gain by submitting to the many non-descript directories available. Just don't expect much. Now, if the site you are seeking links for is CNN.com, then there is zero value in submitting to directories. So, what I tell clients is to think of their web site as existing on a continuum. On the far right are sites that are well known already, that have many good links, that rank well. On the far left are new sites with no links at all. Where does your site reside on such a continuum? The more your site falls to the left side, the more those directory links might be worth chasing. The more your site is falls to the right side, meaning it's already established and pretty well linked, the less likely it is that directory links -even Yahoo- will help you, and the best practice would be to ignore general directories altogether. I have a site that ranks 1st, 2nd, or 3rd for my most important search terms, and I am not listed in any directories other than Yahoo and DMOZ. You will never convince me that all that stands in the way of bumping my 14 year old well linked site up to position one is a few new links from marginal non-subject-specific directories.

-Eric

Link Building Best Practice Labels, Tags, and Categories

Link Building and content publicity takes place in many ways and in many venues. For example, it's in vogue right now to talk about "link bait", and link bait itself has evolved to the point where some people have strong feelings about best practices just for link bait. Link bait best practices will be different than backlink analysis best practices, which will be different from social media link building best practices, which will be different than .edu link seeking best practices. Thus a "best practices list" for link building needs to encompass as many of these venues and approaches as possible. I'll use the built in functionality of this blog software to assign keyword "labels" for each post. That way as time passes if you only want to read posts about a specific subject, you can do so.

How The Link Building Best Practices Q and A Works

First Post - April 2, 2008, by Eric Ward

To ask a link building related question, either use the POST A COMMENT link at the bottom of any post, or email it to lbbp@ericward.com. Feel free to post as anonymous, and ask me anything you want about link building or content publicity. I moderate these questions so you wont have to read 8 million questions about how to rank first at Google for viagra.

I'll take your questions and turn them into posts where I provide my opinion on what the best practice should be for that particular topic. I don't pretend for one moment to believe that my best practices should be your best practices. I'm just using this avenue as a way to provide very specific advice and opinion developed over the course of building links for 1,000+ new and old sites from 1994 til today.

Empirical data is used infrequently to support my answers and opinions, and double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled studies were not conducted. I base my answers and best practice advice on what I see has worked (or not) for me.

I'm not doing this in place of my paid consulting and training, so if your question is about a specific web site or a sensitive subject that requires significant time and research for me to thoroughly answer, you might be better off trying my fee based service here.