Guide to Link Building Pt.4
27 October 2006Link Development Strategies 1
Google has made progress in removing manipulative means for improving rankings through link development. While webmasters previously had a number of opportunities to game the PageRank system, today success in link development is based mostly in maximizing online visibility and building online relationships within a given industry . The strategies we will be outlining below are the current best practices for improving search engine rankings through link development and are entirely ‘white hat’ – meaning they are limited to techniques that improve ranking without the risk of ranking penalties.
Reciprocal Link Exchanges
In the early 2000’s link exchanges were the #1 strategy for obtaining top Google rankings. Since that time however they have been largely deprecated by new link ranking algorithms and currently they provide little to no benefit. PageRank was originally designed as a way of measuring links as ‘votes’ for the linked website. Reciprocal link exchanges (where webmasters ‘trade’ links to one another’s sites) run counter to the purpose of PageRank and Google has found a number of ways to actively filter them from the index.
Strategy: Focus instead on obtaining ‘one-way’ links from sites by any means possible.
Directory Submissions
Submitting your website URL to online directories as a strategy to build PageRank saw its peak effectiveness in 2003-2004, however it can still deliver some benefit if incorporated as part of a broader link development campaign. You’ll need to carefully evaluate your directory choices before submission to avoid associating your URL with ‘bad seed’ type websites.
Two tools that are very useful for reviewing directories are the SEOMoz Page Strength Tool and the SEO for Firefox Plugin. The SEOMoz tool pulls together data from over a dozen sources to provide a single “Page Strength” score that gives a good indication of the value of a given page. Aim for directory pages that have a score of at least 3.5. The SEO for Firefox plugin provides a breakdown of similar information to that contained in the Page Strength tool, but displays the information directly in Google and Yahoo search engine result pages. This makes it very convenient for filtering through large numbers of potential topical directory or link request sources (search query = + directory).
Strategy: Once you’ve selected your list of good quality directories it’s time to submit the site. Quality directories typically charge a one-time fee of $10-$50 for submission, top-quality directories such as Yahoo and Business.com charge recurring fees as high as $299/year and $150/year respectively. Avoid free directory submissions unless they come from a reputable site with a very high Page Strength score (such as DMOZ.org) since these free directories are often filled with ‘bad seed’ type websites.
Directory submissions should be performed slowly over a long period of time, nothing says ‘link manipulation’ to Google like 200 new directory links appearing over a 2 day period. Limit yourself to 20-30 directory links maximum and spread these submissions over a 4-8 week period.
When submitting your website you’ll typically be asked to list the site name, description, and URL. Do NOT use the same site name and description for every directory you submit to – instead write out at least six variants of your name and description and try to rotate between these when completing directory submission forms. This gives your directory links a more natural appearance and reduces the risk of them being discounted by Google. Also as we mentioned before, try to spread out your directory submissions over as long a time frame as possible as this will likely improve their effectiveness with Google.
Online Press Releases
Publishing press releases online is a good strategy for building additional inlinks to a website. Online distributors such as PRWeb offer paid press release distribution services that are designed to build online visibility and can sometimes generate small amounts of PageRank as well.
Strategy: When writing the press release make sure to follow accepted journalism standards and make efforts to incorporate your target keywords (1031 exchange, qualified intermediary, etc) into the release copy and title wherever possible. Once the press release is complete submit it to PRWeb’s Expanded PRWeb & eMediawire Distribution (currently $169) to insure maximum distribution. A typical press release distributed in this manner should generate a few inbound links and modest direct traffic, but results can be significantly greater if the release gets picked up by a major media outlet.
