A link is a link is a link, right?
I’ve been told that over and over again. By people who don’t have their websites anywhere close to the first page of any search engine. That should’ve been their clue.
SEO link building is a bit more complex that just throwing a bunch of links to your site and hoping for the best.
It’s extremely important to have a good mix of links, coming from different kinds of websites, pointing to different pages.
Below are the 10 guidelines you’ll benefit from sticking to when doing SEO link building:
1. Natural Anchor Text
What do I mean by “natural”? It should look like the links were build by users, not for SEO sake.
Don’t use the same anchor text in all your links; vary it by throwing in a useless word here and there and yes, do a few “click here” anchors as well.
2. Good Neighborhoods
Don’t link to adult, gambling, pharmaceutical, etc. sites. They are generally considered spammy and wont’ get your link building any points. Avoid link exchanges as well.
3. Gradual SEO Link Building
That means that you should not throw a thousand links to your site the very first day. That’s a huge red light and it WILL get you banned by Google.
As tempting as it might be, take your time. I’d say as a general guideline, you can get anywhere from 300 to 600 links your first month and increase your SEO link building after that initial “courtship” period.
4. Links from Varied PR Pages
Don’t make it a point to get all your links for PR 5+ pages. As you can imagine, that kind of SEO link building looks unnatural.
5. Links from Related Pages
Many SEOs will argue with me on this one (actually, some will argue with me on all of them - that’s the nature of SEO).
However, I think you’ll do well sticking with this one. Get most of your links from related pages/websites.
I am not saying that you shouldn’t get them from unrelated, but high-quality websites; you definitely should. But links from related pages might have more weight and with all other factors being equal just might be what pushes your website to the top.
6. Links from Both Established and New Sites
Natural SEO link building should have both of those kinds of links.
7. Should Not Be Temporary
If you employ a link building company or use subscription software and pay a monthly fee for SEO link building services, then your links are only good for as long you are paying for them. As soon as you stop, your links will disappear.
It’s been speculated that this can even be a factor of the Google Sandbox filter.
My personal opinion: save your money. There are plenty of ways to get permanent links that are absolutely free - i.e. done by you.
8. No appearance of Paid Linking
Don’t ever pay for your links. If you have banner advertisements on other sites, make sure you add a NoFollow attribute to those links (rel=”nofollow”).
Having words like “sponsors“, “advertisement“, and such around your links is not a good idea either.
9. Pay Attention to Deep Linking
Don’t ever link to your home page only. It’s extremely important that most of your anchor text links go to your internal pages - that’s called deep linking. The more quality links you have to your internal pages, the more trust your home page will gain as well.
Word on SEO link building to your home page: it’s much more natural to link to your home page with URL as opposed to with an anchor text link. That’s what a user would do when mentioning your site somewhere. So make sure at least 60-70% of your links (my number) are just URL links.
10. Directory Listings
It’s good to be listed in directories, but don’t let the majority of your links come from them. This strategy should be an addition to your quality link building campaign, not a replacement for it.
Let me bring your attention to one more very important aspect of SEO link building mixology.
Your links should come from a variety of media sites.
In other words, employ all of the following venues to maximize your results:
- social networking site
- social bookmarking sites
- blogging (your own blog, blog commenting, guest posting)
- video marketing
- article marketing
- press releases
- forums
- RSS syndication
SEO Link Building Marketing Takeaway
As a final word on SEO link building: remember that 90% of your search engine placement will depend on your links. If you are hoping to get listed in Google or any other search engine, you HAVE TO learn more about link mixology.
The good news is that this aspect of SEO is entirely under your control, absolutely free, and will bring the most leveraged long-term results of any other marketing strategy out there.
Happy SEO link building!
You are right: you don’t have to comment or retweet, but do it anyway; I love hearing from you!
Deepak
Great Article Ana !
Much appreciated, Deepak.
Please inform me as per your article on Trackbacks to if it is a good idea to accept trackbacks from a company who’s product lines are not related to my art works for example and theirs is sports apparel?
Thanks in advance,
Kenneth C Young
I choose not to publish trackbacks at all, Kenneth, but if you do choose to do it, then I’d stay away from lower-quality, spammy-looking, as well as unrelated websites.
Many years ago I started a site and only used directory submissions and I did it all with a automoator. Needless to say three months after I started the site it disappeared from the Google rankings.
This was a lesson that I had to learn the hard way.
Learning from our experience is the most painful, yet the most effective way to learn; that’s for sure, Kevin.
Another top quality post. I have learned more from you in the last few days thatn anyone else has taught me. Its a long slow process as I am a one man band, running a business as well a just building a website, but I’m sure I will get there
Thanks for the kind words, Debbie.
Hi Ana,
Thanks so much for all the great advice and insights.
A quick question for you that relates to your point about article marketing (and which you talk about specifically on your Step by Step Traffic Generation page):
I have an Ezine article that’s been published which has a page rank n/a, even though Ezine has a PR of 7 (or is it 8?). Do you think Google recognizes greater value than the n/a PR would indicate, or do I need to do more to promote that page to get its ranking up? (it’s been up since July)
Thank you again for sharing all your wisdom!
Michael
As I am sure you know, Google doesn’t display current PR for any given page, Michael. However, in Ezine case, I am fairly certain that your article will remain PR n/a unless you build some links to it.
Got it, Ana. Thank you very much for the clarification.
Vittles
Before I’ve found this post, I wasn’t aware about this “Link Mixology”. Is using keyword as anchor text not relevant anymore as before?
Not, they are definitely still in play.
However, you should use only about 40% of exact-match keywords; the rest should be broad match or entirely off topic, like “click here”.
Most people promote their home pages instead of deep linking, so you are not alone.
Memoirs of a Single Dad
My brain has been like an SEO sponge lately. It seems like there are as many theories on SEO as there are people with websites. The only true way to know is to do the investigation yourself. Or kidnap a Google engineer.
You are absolutely right. SEO is a lot about knowledge, but also about logic, common sense, and testing.
I’d say we do agree on a lot of points though.
Ana, thanks for the tips! I have a lot of homework to do! :-p Honestly I never really thought about deep linking and blogging. I’ve also gotten tired of paying link building companies. Blog post here i come!
Link building is not that difficult and actually a lot of fun, Oliver. I wish I had more time for it - that’d be a fun job to have. 🙂
Thanks for the great advice about linking. I am just learning how to manage my website and reading your explanation and answers to the comments is giving me much needed insight. I look forward to reading more.
You are so very welcome, Leah.
I still remember how overwhelming it was to start brand new with a new site. One bite at a time!
Hi Ana, I have a request! Can you write a post on Anchor Text? I heard that it’s one of the key factors of SEO! All posts on Anchor Text Optimization was too difficult to understand! �
Ryan
Deep linking is something I just started learning about the past few months and I started to really see a pattern with my competition getting high rankings because of their deep links. I think utilizing commenting on commentluv blogs and making sure I link directly to posts has really given me a boost and shift in strategy for promoting my blog in general rather than just shooting every link to my home page.
That’s exactly what deep linking is all about, Ryan.
Many bloggers I know just link to their home page with all kinds of keywords not realizing they are doing more damage than good this way.
Plus the fact that deep linking is entirely under YOUR control makes it a winner.
Ana
Thanks Ana, I like the tip about deep linking and I will be sure to try it out.
NP, Wade - glad you stopped by!
Ana
Ana,
Always appreciate your expertise and insight. I had no idea about the deep linking vs url, so my links are url heavy. Thank you. I’ll start digging deeper!
Warmest regards,
Dr Barry Marks
You are so welcome, Barry; glad I could help.
Happy New Year!
Ana
many, many thanks for these tips — I am in the slow process of link building on my site and this quick and dirty guide is going to be invaluable.
Anytime, Michael - keep coming back for more!
Happy New Year!
Ana
Ana,
Great tips! I’m using the learn as I go approach to SEO and I’ve been taking the wrong approach for a few of these bullet points. Looks like I’m going to have to switch it up a bit and take your advice. Almost all of these are tips I have yet to see anywhere else.
Very unique article and very helpful as well. Bookmarked and checking out some of your other posts.
Thanks
Hello Ryan,
If you think the methods you are using are not working well for you, then it’s about time to try another one.
Thanks for the bookmarked,
Ana
Hello there Ana 🙂
Nice topic! I’ve been doing SEO services for almost 1 year now. All of your strategies are correct but there’s one thing that I would like to ask and clarify from you, why is it that “Link Exchange” is not good in building links? For example, your peer in exchanging has a higher PR but then he still wants to have an exchange to your lower PR site? isn’t that a great benefit to you? Thanks!
Good question, Jeff.
Basically what link exchanges do is offer reciprocal linking that is definitely frowned upon by Google. Reason: they are obviously too easily manipulated.
Check out this article I just read on reciprocal linking - I definitely agree with every word of it.
http://www.dkssystems.com/unique-link-value-for-reciprocal-links.html
Hope this helps.
I have been mainly concentrating on directories to start my link building with forums, social networks and blogs starting to creep into my routine - thankyou for point no.10. Thankyou for these other suggestions of places I can go to build my link building hot pot 🙂
Jayne
Found you through - Twitter! - don’t know if you recall (I’m not on there as much as I’d like) and glad to have found you again (Tia/Dev): reason being you’re an awesome writer.
Your tips are spot on. Thanks for the link building tips - makes me feel like I’m not the sole nut on the planet who thinks forum spamming is what it is.
Fake meat, high in nitrates.