Link Building Primer

Posted by: Marketing Guy Date posted: May 17th, 2006 Published in: Link Building, Marketing, Search Engine Optimisation

I’ve been getting more and more interested in link building of late so I’m going to carry out some research in the area and compile a report on the results to post here.  In the meantime here’s a few link building tips to start off with:

  • It is important to maintain a steady flow of link building over time rather than acquiring a large amount of links quickly.  A steady flow suggests organic growth, while a “link spike” suggests an artificial manipulation.
  • It is important to vary the sources of links and methods used to acquire them.  While success may be possible by using a single method of link building, it is likely that search engines will categorise websites and as such, categorise their outbound links.  From here it would be a simple process to identify common traits of inbound links in order to identify and remove spam.
  • The Google PageRank algorithm and the subsequent SEO obsession with it has lead to a very greedy approach to link building – webmasters are on the whole less willing to link out (from fear of “losing” PR) and are more likely attempt to acquire “more valuable” links.  This is the wrong approach as it is highly likely that search engines consider outbound links as a relevance factor for ranking.
  • Press Releases and articles (distributed to other sites en masse) have a low link value – largely duplicated content and predominately used with the SEO industry – it is naive to believe that search engines would place a great deal of value on links from these sites (although potentially there could be a short term boost to press releases due to the nature of the documents).
  • Simply copying the links your competitor has and doing the same will not have the same impact on your site as it did on his.  He acquired links over a period of time, you did not.  That said, it can be a good source of ideas.

I’d be interested in hearing from people with some tips to share on link building – I’ll be creating a static page for research when it’s underway and will happily link back to anyone who offers useful information or insight and give them credit in the research.

Email me at marketing.guy (at) fusednation.com.

Cheers

MG