SEO Link Building

Search Engine Link Building Ideas

To the search engines, it’s a popularity contest out there. Hanging around the right crowd will get you more clout in the views of the search engines. This means from a organic search perspective, if you are related to the right mix of popular websites, the higher your ranking.

Below is a short list of ideas and techniques we use and suggest you can you do on your own to become popular in the search engines eyes.

• Build a fan of Backlinks - Contact Friends, Colleagues, Past Employers etc. One of the easiest ways to start building links is to talk to people you already know. Scratch their back with a reciprocal link, dinner or you can even guilt trip them about that time you babysat their dog when they were on vacation. You’ll be surprised how many links you can get this way.
• Analyze Your Current Backlinks - Look at who is already linking to you. Contact them and suggest they link to new, related sections of your website.
• Analyze Your Competitor’s Backlinks - Look at who is linking to your competition. Try to establish links in the same way your competitor has already succeeded.
• Industry Related Directories - Submit your pages to directories directly related to your industry. Searching Google for something like “real estate directory” will bring up a big list of directories related to that industry. Almost every industry has a variety of related directories.
• Local Directories -  Do you service a local market? Submitting your website to local business directories or local business organizations like your chamber of commerce are a great way to get more exposure and build backlinks.
• Create New, High Quality Website Content - The best but slowest form of link building is to build unique, compelling content. If people like what you offer they will naturally link to your website. Blogging is a great place to start.
• Write Articles - Write articles and syndicate them and most defiantly make sure you have a link back to your own website.
• Give Something Away - People love free stuff. You could give away a free PDF guide, a set of free tools etc., as long as this doesn’t undermine your core business model. People link to websites that give things away for free.
• Purchase Links - We do not recommend buying links but let’s face it, many websites purchase or rent links. As long as the link looks natural and doesn’t have any link farm or spam indicators, search engines will have a tough time determining you have purchased the link in question.
• Swap Links - Swapping links with another website is the oldest form of link building. A form that has been abused to the point that most website owners will not even respond to your request these days. Nonetheless it is still worth a try.
• Give Testimonials - Find related products/services and give testimonials. A lot of the time these websites will link to your website alongside your quote.
• Post to Forums - Forums are a great way to interact with your peers. Linking to your website within posts and your signature is a quick way to get a handful of quick links. It is important not to spam a forum. The negative press will far outweigh any kind of linking benefit.
• Comment on Blogs - Commenting on Blogs will not directly affect your rankings. However, the people reading your comments will. If you take the time to write insightful comments, other readers may visit and link to your website.
• Install a Share Widget - Integrating a share widget with your website allows your visitors to easily recommend your pages to friends and associates. Using a service like AddThis enables sharing with all the major social networks/bookmarking sites.
• Participate in Social Networks - A good place to start is Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

• Cincinnati Search Engine Optimization
• Keyword Phrase Research
• Page Title Optimization
• Body Text Optimization Technique
• URL Optimization
• SEO Link Building
• Backlink Optimization Techniques