Thursday, August 19, 2010

Link-building the hard way

If you want to build inbound links the right way then it usually means doing it the hard way - there are no shortcuts to the top. If an SEO company boasts it has a magic formula then it is likely to be scamming you, so be careful. The best links are those that appear because the quality of your content leads to someone referencing it on their website, forum or blog - no effort there. However these links are not easily obtained so you need to get organised, do your research and start building manually or find a good SEO company to help.

An excellent way to start targeted link building is to check out your competitors. Using relevant search terms, see which sites come up on the first page, then find out where their links come from. Be wary of creating lots of links too quickly though - the most effective way to climb the ratings is gradually, particularly if your site is new. A few quality links from websites with relevant content are more valuable than myriads of poor quality links.

When you are building links, use as many strategies as possible. Links should carry anchor text that varies, and you should link to different pages on your site, not just the homepage. You can also register your site with appropriate directories, submit material to article directories and use press releases and other linkable content such as videos. Anything that increases traffic to your site will increase inbound links and if you're patient you will reap the rewards.

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