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SEO Search Engine Optimization and Linking Strategy

Link Building Strategy

Having lots of links to your site (providing they are the right type) will bring you traffic for 2 simple reasons: -

• People will see your link on other sites and will click through to your website
• The profile of your site increases in importance and receives a higher ranking from search engines, consequently the position on the search engine results page will be higher

If you understand this then you will also understand that having an effective back linking strategy is extremely important for the success of your website or blog.

There are a number of linking strategies you can adopt and these range from simply contacting sites that operate in the same arena as you and asking for a link to posting multiple articles that refer back to your site.

Of course there are other ways of getting good quality links as well and a few rules of thumb to take into account, so first lets look at a complete list of options for getting links to your site: -

• Reciprocal linking with relevant sites – ideally this will be via a minimum of a 3 way route and not a direct ‘you link to mine and I will link to yours’ route
• Writing and posting articles to article directories, you are typically allowed 2 links back to your site in the resources section
• Writing and publishing press releases, similar in scenario to articles
• Joining forum discussions on your topic of interest and leaving your URL as part of your signature on any posts or comments you make
• Answering questions on your subject using facilities like Yahoo Answers or Answerbag
• Leaving comments on blogs that post on the same topic as your blog or website
• Posting to social bookmarking sites and directories
• Utilising free website domains to create related websites e.g. HubPages or Squidoo

Strictly speaking you are not supposed to use any of these mediums purely for self promotion, but if for example, you post an answer on Yahoo and use your website as a source for the information because it genuinely is a site where the relevant information is located, then why should there be a problem. Likewise if you adhere to the terms and conditions laid out by services such as HubPages or Squidoo, again why should there be a problem.

Out of the above linking strategies you may want to consider which method is most effective and gives the most bang for your buck.

In my opinion a very strong contender is ‘writing and posting articles’ and here is the reason why.

When you publish an article you are offering the information up for adoption, in other words people can take and post your information on their website or blog. There is a condition on this however and that is that they keep the article intact, including the resource section which of course is where there are links back to your website. So potentially writing a good article could result in multiple links back to your website, consequently raising the profile and importance of your website

There are a couple of things you shouldn’t do, first of all don’t be tempted into plagiarizing someone elses information to create articles, free websites or any other material you want to publish. Write your own articles and create your own content, in the long run this will benefit your Internet presence and you will ultimately be recognised as an expert in your field.

When exchanging links with other sites try to avoid helping out a direct competitor by giving them a link, you may actually find you lose visitors this way as they head off to the competitors site. So try and link to sites that compliment your site and do not directly compete.

Also you may have noticed in the diagram above that I have colored the linking strategy options red, there is one I have not discussed yet and that is outgoing links without a link back to you.

These are the types of links that give you credibility, you are referencing a resource that can help your visitors if they cannot find what they want on your site. By linking one way to high quality external websites (not too many) you are demonstrating that you are prepared to serve your visitors and help them find exactly what they need. You can also do this of course by having relevant pay per click adverts on your site to compliment your other outgoing links. Also worth noting that the 3 way linking strategy I mentioned earlier looks very much like an outgoing link with no back link.

Finally as a reminder, when you are creating all these links remember to tie them into your keyword strategy i.e. any links you add to articles, other websites, press releases etc. should be descriptive of the service, product or information you are offering and the subject being discussed should be relevant to the subject on your website or blog.