If there is a ranking factor that most people are familiar with, it is link building. However, if there is one SEO component that many people do wrongly, it is also link building. You can waste a lot of time and money with little results to show (if any). In fact, you can actually get penalized for all your efforts. Therefore, it is very important that you have a strategy that both achieves the result you want and keeps you safe from the search engines.
Know What Search Engines Are Looking For
What are search engines looking for when it comes to link building? Ideally, they are looking for editorial links that happened all on their own. That is, links to your site because the other webmaster loves what you have on your site and so decides to link to it. However, we all know that anyone who waits for this to happen will have to wait for a very long time (Of course, that is unless your site has a very special angle to it that makes it go viral). But for the rest of us, there is need to go out there and work to get those links in.
So what should you do? Search engines want those links to happen naturally and you can’t afford to wait forever for that to happen. Well, the simple answer is to mimic natural link profiles (At least, what the search engines consider as natural). So What Can You Do To Achieve A Natural Link Profile That Gets Results?
Now that we have got an overview of what you have to do to get those top rankings, how do you go about them? Here are tips that will help:
1. Start Guest Blogging
Guest blogging allows you to get a link back to your site from sites where your articles are accepted. The good thing about guest blogging is that it leads to a surge of traffic to your site. This isn’t just good for the traffic; it’s good for the consequential effects of that traffic. People who click from your guest post to your site will definitely have made a connection with you. If they loved your guest post, they are most likely to love articles on your site (Unless you were so stupid to submit great content as guest posts but publish trash on your site). This will lead to social activity which is a very strong factor that search engines take into account these days. All those bookmarks, likes, tweets, retweets, reblogs, pins and all will help create what people refer to as social signals. Now since your post is on a pretty established blog, you get transference of some of its authority. Apart from the fact that this will lead to even more activities on your site, it will make it a direct destination for a number of those initial visitors (If your stuff was quite good).
One more thing, the link you get in your byline is a very powerful link. The more popular the blog is, the more powerful the link will be. To give you an idea, a link from a popular blog is like an endorsement from a popular TV personality. The more popular and accepted the personality is, the more effective the endorsement.
2. Start Your Own Network or MiniNet
Contrary to what anyone might have told you, link networks work. If anything, the way Google goes about trying to sniff them out should give you a clue that they are very effective. If they aren’t, why would they bother with all the scare tactics and press about networks NO longer working? However, be careful to stay under the radar if you decide to use a network for your link building. You need to ensure you make use of networks that are clearly private. Preferably, start your own network or miniNET. Make sure the properties that make up your network are so diversified that you do NOT leave a traceable footprint. The technique that works post-Penguin is to make sure you actually build real sites that have real monetization. Make sure you fill them with top quality content and make sure you have content that is tightly focused on an industry. Here’s an example:
You can start a finance network since it is a pretty broad market (and that’s a good thing). Such a network can easily cater for niches like car insurance (plus all the other niches in insurance), credit card niches, mortgage niches and so on. It is quite easy for you to write content that connects easily from one niche to the other. Apart from the fact that this will make your network more Google-proof, it will help you make more money. However, this is quite expensive and will require considerable time and cash investment to build. But that’s why it is so effective. Many people wouldn’t have the means, time or inclination to build theirs or, if they do, they won’t bother to build an effective one. Invest in this after taking the time to understand how to avoid leaving any footprints. For the long life of your network, never open it to the general public. Once a network goes public, it’s just a matter of time before Big G finds it and wreaks its havoc.
3. Syndicate Your Content Far And Near
Write articles for directories. In line with our strategy, make sure it is top quality content. Pick the top ten directories and submit to them. Then repurpose those articles into videos and submit them to video sites like Youtube. Go ahead and convert them to PDF files and submit them to document sharing sites. Make slides out of them and have them on sites that support slides.
Next, make sure you give them social love. Your content is top quality so don’t be shy to let everyone know about it. Do this with every article you write and you’ll soon drive massive traffic and links to your site.
Because you have used only top quality content on all those sites no one can accuse you of spamming because you are actually giving value. And because you are giving value people will do all the social stuff for you (That is, in addition to linking back to your site). Now if this sounds like hard work, it is. But that’s why it produces results that last for a long time. People don’t like hard work. Therefore, techniques like this work for a long time. If it’s too easy, everyone will do it and it will soon lose its effectiveness.
