Better link building strategy

The number and quality of links pointing to a website is a key factor that search engines take into account when ranking websites. It is challenging for business websites to build these inbound links, and in the past many have looked to submitting to ‘directory’ type websites, or building reciprocal links with others.

Google recently changed their quality guidelines to state that they discount the value of ‘unnatural’ links – and this has also been mentioned by Google’s head of webspam, Matt Cutts, when he discussed the search engine’s recent ‘Big Daddy’ update:

“The sites that fit ‘no pages in Big Daddy’ criteria were sites where our algorithms had very low trust in the in-links or the outlinks of that site. Examples that might cause that include excessive reciprocal links, linking to spammy neighbourhoods on the web, or link buying/selling.”

This could be seen as rhetoric – but our experience has been that although beneficial on other search engines, links from unrelated low status sites have little impact on Google. In light of this, here are some suggestions for ‘alternative’ link building strategies – many of which hark back to good ‘old fashioned’ marketing!

* Interesting content – consider setting up a news section, blog or newsletter on your website. If well promoted, your content could attract links from other sources in its own right. Writing which explores a niche, or is controversial, or which summarises disparate information such as a top 10 list or comparison often makes good ‘link bait’.

* Press releases – if you currently distribute press releases, you should also consider submitting these to a range of online press release websites. It is possible to optimise the release for search phrases, and include links back to your own site to build on the number of links coming into your site.

* Highly targeted links – rather than focusing on quantity, target a small range of potential link sites which rank well for your main target terms, but do not compete with your own site. Tailor your approach and consider offering payment to increase your chances of obtaining a link.

* Develop a useful tool and host it on your website – this can often attract links from other websites and repeat visits from the tool’s users.

* Vary your linking – consider using a variation of descriptions and link text for any links you request. This could help you target a wider range of search terms, as the search engines take this external ‘link text’ into account, plus the links may also look more ‘natural’ to the search engines.

Contact us now if you would like to discuss these suggestions in more detail or if you would like us to review or implement a link building strategy for your website.

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