SEO Link Building with Web Content Secrets
by Joel Walsh
http://www.upmarketseo.com
It's the timeless question: how do you get other sites to
link to you? The most commonly discussed ways are reciprocal
linking (swapping links) and buying links. Yet there's
another important tool for building links that should be a
part of your toolbox: distributing content in exchange for
one-way inbound links.
Comparison with Other Linking Methods
Reciprocal Linking: The big advantage of content
distribution over swapping links is that the links built are
one-way, and therefore presumably more valuable. Of course,
reciprocal links still have value, but relying primarily on
them might hamper your SEO efforts.
Indirect Reciprocal Links: I link my site A to your site,
so you link your site to my site B. The problems are that
this can be a lot of work, and also, Google can detect
indirect links if you do it more than once with the same
group of sites, which might make your linking arrangements
look like a link farm.
Paid Links: The problem with paid links is 1) the costs
add up; 2) search engines are getting better and better at
discounting paid links. According to Matt Cutts' blog, "I
wouldn't be surprised if search engines begin to take
stronger action against link buying in the near
future...link-selling sites can lose their ability to give
reputation (e.g. PageRank and anchortext)."
Kinds of Content to Distribute
Articles. This is the essential kind of content
distribution, to the point that many people consider content
distribution simple as "article marketing." However, you're
missing out on a few other sources of links if you only do
articles.
News blurbs. A lot of news-style sites will only reprint
pieces of a couple of paragraphs. The good news is that
often enough the whole point of these news blurbs is to
include links to other sites, in a sort of "look what we've
found" kind of way, a la Slashdot.org
Press Releases. There are some sites that aggressively
reprint press releases. A press release is like an article,
only in a very specific press release format, and frankly
that's not that enjoyable to read. I don't know why some
sites are so head-over-heels over press releases, but, hey,
that's their business. The good news is that even if you
can't write and don't want to hire a writer, press releases
(at least basic ones) are pretty easy to do.
T
ools, games and other webware. Sites with popular tools,
software, Flash games and other webware often let other
sites use it in exchange for a link. The big potential
downside is technical support.
Images. Images, especially charts and photographs, are
important forms of content on the web. If you have great
images on your site and people ask you to use them on their
sites, require a backlink in exchange. The problem with
images is that they are so easily stolen. Stolen words can
be uncovered with a web search. You could try to watermark
images with a copyright symbol, URL, and the link
requirement. But in the process you'd make the image much
less desirable.
Web design templates. These have been freely distributed
for a long time. Yet they are even more easily stolen than
images. Also, if you embed a link in the footer of a web
template, what you'll get back are sitewide links, which are
often thought to be filtered out in search engines.
Maximizing Content Distribution Links' Effectiveness: Anchor
Text
Anchor text. You need optimized anchor text to rank high for
any competitive keyword. That means you need your target
keyword in the anchor text, and very importantly, variants
of the target keyword (too many links with the exact same
anchor text may be filtered). The problem is that some sites
by default don't let you choose the anchor text of the link
to your site. So you need to: 1) look for sites that do
reprint content with optimized anchor text; 2) specifically
ask for your target anchor text to be used. Also, do keep in
mind that a true natural linking structure will require you
to have a number of links that are not
anchor-text-optimized, typically with the URL as the anchor
text.
How to Find Sites
Finding sites to submit content is the biggest challenge.
You can start by asking around to any other webmasters you
already have a relationship with. Next, web-search. The
classic method is "submit article" + [keyword]. Most of the
sites you find this way won't be good candidates, which is
why this can be a bit labor-intensive. I use offshore labor
for this step, as well as a program that will sort and store
all the search results into a spreadsheet; otherwise it
might not be worth it. Then again, the same would be true
for finding reciprocal linking partners.
Ethical Issues & Best Practices
Golden rule: remember that there's a human being who has to
approve your article for submission.
- Read and adhere to all submission guidelines.
- Avoid automation. There's almost always some detail of
submission that requires a human eye: a multitude of html
formatting requirements, changing site themes, etc.
- Don't submit by email unless specifically instructed.
Using a contact form prevents possible sp@m accusations.
- Only approach websites that request content submissions.
- Don't misrepresent reprint content as original.
- Don't submit the same content too often. After about two
hundred reprints, a lot of people will be seeing the same
thing over and over again and possibly complaining.
In short, as SEO gets more competitive, having more and more
linking methods at your disposal gets more and more
important. Don't overlook this important tool.
About the author: Contact Joel Walsh, a search engine
copywriter and professional seo for a quote on llink
building campaign services:
http://www.upmarketseo.com
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