This is Part Two of a two-part series. Part One looked at the basics of links, noting three simple things to consider about linking.
In Part Two, we will look at three simple steps to create an action plan to obtain more links from better sources. We'll again reach out to linking expert Debra Mastaler of Alliance-Link for her commentary and insight.
Links Are Signals
As we covered in Part One, links become signals for people and search engines to know when your site is offering specific, relevant information. They are like small bonds of trust, pathways encouraging web users to travel and explore.
The basic, steady goals of link-building are to learn where your links (and opportunities) are, do your best to control what the links say (anchor text), and reaching-out to get more of the best ones. Using these simple foundations, you can create a recurring action plan to build links.
3 Steps to Take Link-Building Action
- Review existing link sources and identify potential new ones – To see who is linking to a site, you can use online tools to analyze the backlinks. Popular backlink analyzers include SEOBook's Back Link Analyzer software (http://tools.seobook.com/backlink-analyzer/), and SEOMoz's Open Site Explorer which are both available for free online. Once you identify the incoming links, you can visit the sites where the links are posted and see how they are written. You should perform this analysis on both your own site and the sites of competitors within your niche. Your competitors might be linked from places where you could also appear, so knowing more about what is working for them could be advantageous. In addition, there might be other sites in your niche from which a link would be very beneficial. You can set up a Google Alert for notifying you of activity around a specific set of keyphrases. This can help you identify potential link sources to contact as news in your niche is breaking. You can also use SEOBook's Hub Finder (http://training.seobook.com/hubfinder) to identify niche-specific sites with linking potential. Identifying unique sources for links will help you stay competitive – your goal can be to find places not used by your competition.
- Editorially control anchor text (when possible) – once you have seen where the links are, it is important to see what the links say. Anchor text is a measure of valuation attributed to the linked site by the search engines. If you can control what the linked text says, you can focus more power for selected keyphrases. Depending on where and how the link appears, you might be able to reach out to the site owner and adjust the anchor text to be more strategic. If you are placing new links (as in an online directory or in an article publishing site), you’ll want to use focused, but diversified anchor text. Blending variations of your keyphrases on a diverse set of sites is generally a stronger tactic than using the same anchor text for every effort.
- Reach out to identified sources – Once you have identified new places that might be able to offer your site a valuable link, you need to reach out to the site owners to get placed. Some sources – like article publishing sites or directories – might only require an account to be created to start submitting. However, there are many opportunities in any niche with blogs and other related sites that offer rich possibilities for linking. You might be able to do a guest post on a related blog. You might be able to have a respected author review your product or services. You might be able to connect to a news source as a source for information. There are as many opportunities to connect as there are powerful websites in your niche, so be creative.
Placing Versus Receiving Links
Intentionally placing links to your site using specific anchor text on strong, related sites is a smart move. This would include using directory listings and article marketing sites.
However, Mastaler points out: “Even better than ‘placing’ a link is to receive one. Editorially receiving contextually relevant links is considered link-building gold.”
Mastaler continues: “People tend to link to what they like and/or respect, so creating quality content should be the goal of any webmaster looking to build algorithmic and brand authority. By increasing the depth, quality and context of the content they offer, site owners increase the number of times trusted, relevant sites will link to them.”
To make link-building as simplified as possible:
- Create unique, link-worthy content on your site – mandatory for finding success
- Review existing and potential link sources
- Identify the anchor text of your incoming links and control it when possible
- Reach-out to identified sources with attractive offers (for them) to link to you
Debra Mastaler is President of Alliance-Link, a link building training firm based in Northern Virginia.
THIS IS NOT INVESTMENT, TAX OR LEGAL ADVICE. Consult with a financial advisor, accountant or attorney before making important decisions in these areas.
