The Google Gods (in our heads)Â Speak to Us about Link Building.
Brandon Cornett has a nice article called “The 10 Commandments of Link Building” I just read on ISEdb.
Brandon also gives a nice tip under #6 “Thou shalt be creative”
…Then it dawned on me. There were hundreds, possibly thousands of websites out there looking for the kind of content I could provide, but not knowing where to look. So I began searching phrases like “home buying articles” and making a list of websites that provided this content.
Next, I emailed these sites one by one and invited them to use any of the 100+ articles I had written on the subject. All I asked was that they keep the author’s note with hyperlink. By being proactive with my article publishing, I earned more than 30 new and highly relevant links! When you combine quality content or a unique website with strong imagination, your link opportunities are limitless.
Read all 10 of Linking Commandments here:
Eric Ward also recently gave us LinkMoses Linking Commandments – Part 1 that’s worth a look.
But I should note that in Eric’s eyes, I’ve been known to be a whore according to number II:
II – Those who link in exchange for gold are link whores.*
(*linking in exchange for a return link may be marginally slutty)
Ok…I’ve graduated from being slutty to being a whore at times.
Damn…and looks like I might be guilty of a few more of Eric’s…..including #VI:
VI – Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s links.*
(*or if thou doest, only those from high trust TLDs, and shame upon thee, who asks thy child for a link from child’s .edu site)
Hey, if I’m paying for my kids education, you can bet he’s giving me ftp to his .edu space 😉
Here’s 10 Jim Quick Link Commandments (and 5 bonus Commandments) off the top of my head:
1. Know what your site is related to (broad thinking phrases)
2. Search for pages that are resources and that have earned backlinks themselves
3. Give something of value (content or otherwise)Â in excange for citations or advertising.
4. Get your citation within the content area of the page, with words on each side of your link.
5. Never publish the same exact citation or sentence on more than 1 site.
6. Never publish a bunch of links on 1 site – unless you don’t mind that Google thinks they are related and you’re not scared of the neighborood it shows.
7. Never publish your link on a clear cut “Links Pages” that was only created for link deals.
8. Never respond to people seeking to trade links with you – don’t deal with SEO link trader sites.
9. Don’t buy ton’s of over-the-radar links – unless you don’t mind your site being flagged.
10. Don’t forget that the best link in the world is a “natural link” that comes through never having to ask someone to link to you, but occurs naturally. Think RESOURCE for best long term results.
Bonus 5:
11. Give trusted co-citation (additional links) on pages when you can.
12. Get Presell Pages on related sites when you can.
13. Get links from older sites when you can – Getting a link from a site that’s been around since 1994 is worth a ton more than getting a link from a site that started in 2005.
14. Get links from sites that don’t know anything about SEO
15. Get links from sites that have lots of trusted backlinks (.edu’s and .gov’s are 2 examples)
Can you add any? What does the Google God say to you?
20 Responses
Nice list! Very concise. I’m still new to this SEO stuff and will give it a shot.
-kennedy
I’m confused. Doesn’t inviting other sites to publish your articles constitute dupicate content? In other words, if I have an article that I’ve written on my site and another site owner puts that identical article on their site, don’t one or both of us risk being penalized for duplicate content?
not penalized…..but yes, most would not count and be put in supplimental results if pages were duplicate content. That’s why presell pages can be better than press releases or article sites that just publish articles that have been published elsewhere. For a presell page you’d write your own text for each site it goes on.
What about Social Bookmarking sites. What are the advice there?
If you guys like the info in the article, maybe you could help and digg the article ? 🙂
Jim, I like the #3… You’re iiiinnnn on this man 😛
Jim,
You did think RESOURCE with your post… another “HOWTO” list that I can only recommend to all friends, partners and clients.
Cheers,
pre sell page man
“not penalized…..but yes, most would not count and be put in supplemental results if pages were duplicate content.”
Don’t supplemental pages effect the whole website ? What’s the use of posting the article if the page is to go supplemental?
Thanks for plugging my article Jim. I’m glad you enjoyed it (10 Commandments of Link Building). I put a lot of effort into my articles to make them “anti-fluff” and genuinely helpful. I’m glad to know some people notice.
And thanks for publishing such a helpful blog. I’ve actually been a “lurker” type of reader for some time now.
Take care.
-Brandon
Presell pages are cool. And a great opportunity to get some deep links instead of having hundreds of homepage only links.
Hey Jim, great post. I especially like the last 3 commandments. Actually I like them all. This is a great review right before you go out and do some link building. I actually never thought about looking at domain age when linking. I completely forget these things but thanks for the reminder! Take care
Very good site!
My website is about one year old. It was in page three in Google for the most relevant keywords and constantly improving but suddenly disappeared, although it is still listed.
I guess it could be because of the number of new links to web directories (between 25?-30? or 50?) that I added in a short period of time or because the site has not been updated for three months.
What do I do to fix the problem? What do I do with the links that I have already acquired? And how long do you have to wait for a site to start circulating well again?
Thank you!
Great List… Very Informative… Thanks — will practice it surely…
Thanks Jim for compiling and analysing great stuff!
Carolina i am having same trouble as you, 1 minute my site is 4th then it just went in a puff of smoke… I was told it may have something to do with the google adsence program, ultimately to get us involved with it so they continue making money while we chase top positions. It would be nice if thier was more info about this situation, problem is everyone has a difference of opinion which helps no one in the long run.
I feel that there is to much mistery about seo and link building that only those in the know know how to get top and stay top.
well, if just someone could tell me why Google love price comparison sites but hates duplicate content. I mean nextag, shopper etc. contains just content from other sites so I really can’t understand why google loves them so much. Would be great if someone could tell me why.
The Google God Says “Thou Shalt Not Post on Blog Comments from Last Year for Back links”. No, in all honesty all of the point made above still ring true in December of 07.
Great stuff, when it works, it really works. No need to change anything.
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