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.
What are some of your best practices for submitting to directories? Since they have been devalued by Google, do you still use them?
ReplyDeleteIs the $300 yahoo link is worth it? If not, why not?
ReplyDeleteWhat can we as business owners do to best leverage link building as a means of improving our search visibility?
ReplyDeleteHow can we sucessfully obtain links without soliciting for them?
What can we do right now to improve our link building efforts in terms of improving search visibility?
What signs do you look for to determine what a good link is?
Would you suggest obtaining links to improve your position int he search results?
what is the most accurate method of analyzing back links from competitors? Should I even bother?
Thank-you,
Steven
Hi Eric
ReplyDeleteSome of my sites are to "left" as you would say and would probably benefit from inclusion in directories. But which ones are worth it?
Getting in dmoz is so hit and miss of course. Yahoo is no doubt sound (though expensive) but what others are worth it ...botw, joeant ?
Could you suggest others?
What are the best practices for using sponsored themes to gain links?
ReplyDeleteGreat new concept. I enjoy your work. My questions are:
ReplyDeleteDo Digg and Stumbles help? Is good ole fashioned link trade emails back in vogue?
Thanks for your time.
Do you ever recommend the use of NOFOLLOW on links within your own site, to de-emphasize certain pages. I read about this on SEOMoz, and it seems counter-intuitive to me.
ReplyDeleteHi I was doing link building distributing clients articles, we prepare on purpose, with no more 5 links in the document including resource box, but actually before 3 months I see google take them to the top but before a week google return them to the same position when we started, is a credible tactic distributing articles or I must have to return to directory and link interchange links tactics thanks
ReplyDeletejorge jalvarado@posicionarte.net
Hey Eric,
ReplyDeleteAwesome stuff. I can't seem to stop reading up on your opinions and practices for link building.
What is your general time line for a follow up to secure a link an another site? What about if the site had the link, but went to a broken landing page, when should you follow up after initial contact to get that fixed?
I'd love to see another post, so that's why I'll drop a comment here?
ReplyDeleteHow about a Best Practices for contacting potential targets? I know it's been done several times, but I'm sure you're able to share some great insights ;)
Simple question - as somebody who has an e-commerce site wanted higher rankings, what should I hire somebody to do on a daily basis to get more links?
ReplyDeleteHi eric,
ReplyDeleteGood stuff. But can you let us know what are some best practices of link building and some new ways of link building.
Thanks
I've taken a new site from 1 backlinks to 350 in five months of hard work. I've done the basics: submitted to niche and free mainstream directories, posted in forums, exchanged some links, and requested some links. What can I do next?
ReplyDeleteHow to manage a cost - effective link building campaign? What are the most important aspects to have in mind, most in these difficult times, if you are spending money in a link building campaign, you want to know that the money you spent is worth it. Thanks.
ReplyDeletecan u anyone tell me clearly what are benefits in link building services
ReplyDeleteHi Eric,
ReplyDeleteI have a celebrity gossip blog. i am finding it very hard to build links for the site. I had approached some the very popular gossip blogs such as splashnewsonline.com and many more but not receiving any response from them. it would be nice if you could give me some suggestion about how I could build links for my celebrity gossip blog. Please contact me at mailadreana@gmail.com
Hello Eric,
ReplyDeleteSoon our public site pages (http) will be redirecting to secured site pages (https).
To avoid duplicate content, through the robot.txt and Google webmaster tool we will be excluding the secured site from being indexed.
However, I'm concerned about how other sites will link to us when the URL in the browser box will have an https address.
In other words, how will having a secured site affect our link building strategy?
Thanks, JP
Hi Eric,
ReplyDeleteIn terms of anchor text what is the best approach? Obviously anchor text isn't everything as there are many other factors that determine a quality link, but in terms of the anchor text if you wanted to rank well for "vacation rentals florida" and "holiday homes florida" would anchor text such as "vacation rentals and holiday homes florida" give weight to both search terms?
Or is it only advisable to target the exact terms as the anchor text?
I personally think that the algorithm and backlink approach is flawed and that its possible that Google and other search engines may place less emphasis on anchor text(if not already) due to manipulation and place more emphasis on other signals.
When websites rank really well for a search term and have 70% of their anchor text as "keyword" this is just so un-natural and is so open to abuse which is the case.
Just my crazy thoughts!!
Hi Eric, great blog.
ReplyDeleteI would like to know if it is best to have link bait sent to bloggers so they post it, or have a link back to your site?
Thanks.
NH
Quick question: Is there any type of penalty for submitting the same article to multiple article site?
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, if an article is original and full of outstanding information, it is best to post it on your own site first, and then wait for it to be crawled by the engines. Think of this as a signal of authorship for the bots. If after doing this, you then submit the article(s) elsewhere, at least the originating source
ReplyDeletehas been identified by the engines.
Aside from this, I think 99% of article marketing strategies are pointless. Have a look at he below link
http://snipurl.com/exgsx
The mass of junk this creates is useless to the engines.
If you were Google, why would you trust any article,
unless it lived on the creator's own site?
There are better ways to push content.
Eric
What are the best linking strategies for someone that has a blog built around a specific platform in direct sales?
ReplyDeleteHow do you determine if the content is good enough for you to be willing to create a linking campaign?
thank you
Anonymous asked...
ReplyDeleteQ..."What are the best linking strategies for someone that has a blog built around a specific platform in direct sales?"
A...
It will depend on three things, first, what platform, second what is it you are selling, and third, how competitive is the niche you are in. If you tell me you are an affiliate selling diet pills, I'll tell you to give up. If you tell me you are selling unique dietary supplements designed just for sled dogs in cold climates, I'll tell you you can succeed.
Q...
How do you determine if the content is good enough for you to be willing to create a linking campaign?"
A...
I begin by looking through the site to see what it offers that's truly unique or unusual or special, and then seeing what other sites are in that space, along the backlink portfolios each competitor has. Based on the degree of potency the competitors have I can make a decision as to whether or not my approach will be effective or not.
Eric,
ReplyDeleteWhere should I start linking building for my new career site(static)(generic .com domian)? I have beautiful content of around 300 pages and adding slowly(the long tail). Home page already ranks well, top 5.
category pages (sections) are so difficult to rank, that said I did not build links. Where shd I start?
what links shd I build?
1) shd I buy some old directory links?
2) shd I blast original content in article directories ?
3) shd I do social media marketing?
4) shd I approach career sites with some money for links?
5) shd I do general blog comments, bookmarks,forum posts etc
I have studied compititors links, which seem impossible to get.
Give me your expert suggestion.
Thanks
To BReddy...
ReplyDeletePer your comment above, if your site is fairly new, and homepage already ranks that well for a search term/phrase that is important to you, then first allow me to compliment you. Well done. The Career vertical is competitive, so your content must be excellent, as must be the links you have been able to attract/earn.
Of the five ideas you presented, IMO only a couple make sense, and even those would need to be used in a very ethical manner. For example, links from other career sites sounds great, but paying for them could be dangerous, depending on your approach and motivations. Directory Links? I'd say they will have no value to you unless you mean curated career links guides/lists/directories, like this example (http://www.maine.gov/msl/services/reference/web/career.htm) .
For all sites in pursuit of links, the specific link building tactical choices should vary based on many, many factors.
I wish you continued success.
-Eric