Did you know that Search Engines such as Bing, Google, Yahoo, Aol etc use criteria to show pages? Yes, relevance is on the top of the list followed by Page ‘authority’. Authority refers to the quality of the content and the reputation/reliability of the publisher. The Search Algorithm uses the number of backlinks and the Backlinks Building Techniques used.
Image Courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
At times, typing the exact title of your post on a search engine like Google doesn’t mean the page will show on the first page. In fact, you will be surprised that most of the first-page results only match a keyword or two from the phrase you keyed in. This means the topic you wrote on is already covered by more reputable websites. Search engines will therefore show the pages based on authority.
An example:
I wrote an article on ‘first aid for the head injuries’. My backgrounds as medic means I’m conversant with most first aid techniques including the ones for head injuries. I didn’t have to do a lot of research when writing the post. However, my post didn’t make it to the first page when I typed the keyword phrase ‘First Aid For Head Injuries’. I had to type in the exact blog post title (Premium Tips On How To Perform First Aid For Head Injuries) into Google and Bing to see my post on the first page. (see the screenshots).
Bing Screenshot
Google Screenshot
This is what happened; my post may have the exact information but it is not an authority when it comes to health. Search engines trust older sites Wikipedia, About.com, Webmed, Mayo clinic and government health sites than my 8-month old blog. My page lacked the key ingredient the Search engines are looking for i.e. backlinks. Backlinks are online endorsements and the more you have them (from reputable sites) the better
What is a backlink?
You may be wondering what a backlink is and why it is important that you learn effective Backlinks Building Techniques. These are links on other websites that points back to your website. Let’s say you referred readers to another site by way of hyperlink then the hyperlink is what we call a backlink.
Backlinks, also known as incoming links, inbound links, inlinks, and inward links, are incoming links to a website or web page. In basic link terminology, a backlink is any link received by a web node (web page, directory, website, or top level domain) from another web node - Wikipedia
Types of backlink
There a two types of backlinks i.e. the one that passes link juice and the one that doesn’t not. The two links are a called Dofollow and Nofollow respectively.
Dofollow Links
Basically, Dofollow links allow the search engine bots to visit the linked site thus passing the link juice and affect the ranking of the linked site. Example:
href=’http://www.google.com/”>Google
Nofollow Links
These are backlinks, on the other hand include an attribute that instructs search engine bots not to visit the linked site. This means only human can visit the link and not the search bot. It also means, Nofollow links don’t pass any link juice and don’t help the linked site in any ranking. Example:
href=”http://www.bing.com/” rel=”nofollow”>Bing
Google Page Rank, Alexa Ranking and Moz Domain Authority Rank all use the number of quality backlinks as a ranking factor. That means, we cannot miss the chance to do backlinking the right way. Let’s now delve into the 10 Backlinks Building Techniques that won’t attract any penalty from major search engines:
1. Web Directory Submission
Submitting your site to a web directory is one of the Backlinks Building Techniques that has remained effective in the face of almost constant updates from major search engines such as Google. Well, you must know that the web has thousands of directories but not all are relevant to your site. Again, there are different types of directories meaning you must choose well.
First, there are free directories i.e. you pay nothing to get listed. Then there is the reciprocal linking i.e. you have to place the directory’s links (mostly in form of a widget or banner) on your site to get listed. There are premium web directories i.e. you pay monthly/yearly fee to be listed. Yet still there are hybrid directories where you can be listed freely, choose to add a reciprocal link on your site or simply paying to be listed.
All the above categories can either be niche based or general in their scope. Yes, a directory may only accept submissions in ‘Travel’ which means your site on ‘Blogging’ is not accepted. In some cases, a directory may only be accepting sites from particular regions e.g. California Blog Directory or India Bloggers. It is therefore pointless to add your site to such directories if you are not from the stated regions.
You should read a directory’s rules before adding your site. If you are dealing with a general directory then try and find the most relevant category to add your blog to. Web directories use categories to make them easy to navigate.
Details to add in a directory
A quality web directory has human editors to go through each and every submission before it is approved. So, you must add all the information required and correctly do so. Here is an example of what most directories need:
Blog Title: Example Blog
Blog Url: http://www.example.com
Email: admin@example.com ( always use your domain email to avoid looking spammy)
Description: Say what your site is all about in as few words as possible. Be natural i.e. don’t copy Meta description of your site.
Keyword: Blogging, SEO, Blogger, WordPress etc. Just make sure the keywords are relevant to the content of your blog
Category: Internet, health, travel. Chose the one that captures the contents of your blog
Submission Type: Choose free, reciprocal or paid listing as you like
Always start by submitting your site to a regional directory. If you have a niche blog then look for niche directories and submit your link. You can then move to general directories. The main aim of this Backlinks Building Technique is to alert the online community of your presence.
Resources:
High Quality Free Web Directories
2. Adding to Bookmarking Sites
Have you stumbled on an interesting read online and wanted to save it for future reference? Well, keeping that link for reference at a later time is known as bookmarking. There are site that allow you to save links and make them available for others also. Bookmarking sites that allow other users to see your saved links are called Social Bookmarking Websites.
Social bookmarking websites are centralized online services which allow users to store and share Internet bookmarks. In a social bookmarking system, users save links to web pages that they want to remember and/or share. - Wikipedia
Why is a Social Bookmarking an effective Backlinks Building Technique? For starters, it saves your links either as Dofollow or Nofollow. Either way there will be a link referring back to your site for search bots and humans.
Some social bookmarking sites allow voting of links and even commenting. The more engagements a site gets on high-quality bookmarking sites like Stumbleupon, Reddit, Digg and Delicious the higher it is ranked by the search engines which can only mean more traffic.
How to Bookmark
While different sites have a different bookmarking processes, most of them if not all require registration. You need to create a profile either by filling in a form or signing up through Facebook, Twitter or Google. Once you register:
Sign into the bookmarking site
Search for ‘submit link’ or any tab similar to it
Provide the target URL plus any other required details (e.g. Tittle, Tags/Keywords, Description of what the link is all about etc.)
Choose the right category (if need be)
Submit the link.
You may want to install the bookmarklet or plugin from that site to simplify your bookmarking exercise. Again, bookmark as many pages from your blog as possible on as many sites as possible. There is a cache though; you must be active and interact with others or else your profile will be deleted due to inactivity. This means you will lose all your backlinks from these sites, which will make bookmarking a rather self-defeating Backlinks Building Technique.
Resource:
Top 50 bookmarking sites to use
3. Blog Commenting
I learnt about this technique sometime back when searching for effective ‘Backlinks Building Techniques’. At first, it looked very simple since I just had to drop a comment on a high page rank blog and leave links. So, I scoured the net for .edu and .gov blogs and started commenting to get the precious dofollow backlinks. To be honest, I didn’t even read what the blog was about but simply rushed through a few comments and came up with something of my ‘own’ to write.
I didn’t care about the intention of the blogger. I mean, the writer of the post didn’t expect spammy and irrelevant comments from people who only cared about backlinks. It is painful to write a unique blog and then get spammy comments like ‘what a wonderful post! ’great post, keep it up’ ‘I didn’t know about rocket science but now I do’ yada yada.
Sadly and regrettably that’s exactly what I did. It backfired in my face and my precious backlinks started to disappear. I later learnt that my comments were found worthless at best and deleted by moderators.
So, how should you go about blog commenting as a Backlinks Building Technique? Well, it is simple and still very effective. Here is how to do it right:
Read the entire post
Research the topic i.e. if your knowledge about the topic is limited
Put yourself in the authors shoe and ask what type of comments and links you would publish
Make sure you comment (s) add value to post. You may give a another angle to a point the blogger mentioned or provide an update to an outdated information on the blog
Don’t leave more than 2 comments on the same blog on the same day. You will appear spammy.
How to create link:
Not all blogs give backlinks so you must search for dofollow high page rank blogs or else your blog commenting will not achieve its goal as one of the effective Backlinks Building Techniques. This doesn’t mean that all your blog comments should aim at getting backlinks; you will be too selfish a blogger.
At times, I comment on blogs without expecting any favor in return but end up getting valuable traffic and comments in return.
Onto creating a link, there are different blog comment forms depending on the comment system a blog uses. Most blogs use Disqus, Others use Google Comment System yet others use Facebook comment systems.
WordPress Comment System, Commentluv and its Intensedebate version for blogger platform are the best place to comment on. Commentluv enabled blogs will live a link to your latest post below every comment you make. It is super-fast way to create backlinks
Screenshot of a Commentluv Enabled Blog Comment Box
Resources:
Which Comment System is the best
List of High PR Commentluv Enabled Blogs
Once you have read the post and done the necessary research on a topic, it is time to place your comment. Start by adding your name, then email (use an active email address because some blogs may want an email confirmation) and a website.
What about the platforms that have no provision for websites and addresses? Can you still use blog commenting as a Backlinks Building Technique? Well, manually add your link in the comment as an anchor text. Always make sure that the link you are referring readers to is related to the post you are commenting on.
Additional Tips
How to find relevant blogs
Search Google, Bing, Yahoo or Yandex for “dofollow blog” e.g. dofollow technology blog.
Search for related topics and comment on the blog
Use Blog Commenting Software to locate dofollow blogs.
Try Google Search Operator to locate blogs with special comment plugins like Commentluv. For example you can type ‘Technologyintext:Commentluv’on Google
Use Drop My LinkUse Drop My Link to find .edu and .gov blogs.
Use Fast Blog Finder Software to find dofollow blogs.
Resources
Top Dofollow .edu blogs to comment on
Top Dofollow .gov blogs to get backlinks from
Remember; do unto others as you would have them do to you. So, leave value-adding comments on other blogs and you will get the same on your blog. By the way, don’t forget to moderate comments on your blog especially those from first-time commentators because there hundreds of blogger out there aware that comment is among the effective Backlinks Building Techniques.
4. Forum Signature Linking
The simplest definition of an Internet forum is an online discussion site. People with same interests meet online to exchange views on a topic. From insects to space aeronautics, there is just a forum for any topic you can imagine.
A forum is organized in categories, subcategories, sub-forums and threads. A thread is where you can start a discussion. A thread is also known as a ‘post’ and can be edited or deleted by the member who posted it or moderator. Responses and replies are what constitute conversation in forums.
The procedure is that someone starts a thread under a particular category and fellow forum members join the conversation by posting replies. This can go up to hundreds of comments in busy forums.
While some forums can allow you to post anonymously (without registration), others only give the power to start a thread or post a reply to registered members. So, how do you turn your forum posting to Backlinks Building Technique? Well, place it in Your Forum Signature.
All most all forums allow members to create a signature i.e. a line that appears below every thread and posts a member makes on the forum. It is the forum’s way of giving each user a chance to share their resources. It is in the signature that you place a link to your website or a to relevant page on your blog. Most forums allow dofollow links at the Signature. So, ensure your anchor text is optimized to generate more clicks.
General Forum Etiquettes
Be active. Remember it is a forum so it makes no sense to join, start a thread and disappear into thin air. Always act on responses your thread generates as well as contributing on threads started by others too.
Never add manual links on your posts unless it is a reference to your question. In fact never promote your blog in the posts and comments. It won’t take long before the moderators realize you are spamming the system and ban you
Only post meaningful and relevant threads. It pays to read existing posts under the category you intend to post on so that your contribution doesn’t look weird.
Never ask questions that your signature anchor text purport to address. For instance, don’t ask what the best Backlinks Building Techniques are when your signature says you are a ‘veteran SEO expert’. If that doesn’t seem illogical to you it will to other forum members!
Don’t post more than 3 threads on a forum in away. Your efforts will look spammy. One relevant and detailed reply or thought provoking thread is enough for a day, if you asked me. That way you look natural and will earn the moderators’ trust to enable you post more threads in the future..
Finding the right forums
Use special search engines such as Omgili, BoardReader etc
Google Search Operator to get the right forum for your niche. For example, you can type 'SEO intext:vbulletin' to find SEO forums
Just scour Bing, Yandex, Aol, Google and Yahoo for SEO forums
Resources:
High PR Dofollow Forums To Join
5. Submitting Articles To Directories
Submitting articles to highly ranked article directories is one of the best Backlinks Building Techniques out there. While there are concerns about the weight of the backlinks you get from these directories, it is worth trying.
There are articles submission directories that even allow you to earn some passive income from advertisement. Sites like Hubpages and Squidoo accept unique posts but also pay you some amount for your efforts.
How to submit an article
Register in a directory
Write or pay someone to write a unique article on a topic you understand too well and one that is covered extensively on your site/blog. Serious article directories don’t accept rewrites or articles that are already published elsewhere
Ensure the article is of recommended word length (usually from 400 up to 1200 depending on the directory)
Optimize the article for keywords to improve its ranking on search results
Coin a catchy title (Maximum of 70 characters or at most 8 words and written in Tittle Case)
Come up with an enticing description of your article ( in 1 or 2 short paragraphs)
Write a simple Author Bio and include a link to your site using an optimized anchor text
Submit the article under the right category and provide any other detail they may require.
Depending with the article directory rules, your article may be published immediately or take time to do so. This Backlinks Building Technique may also require premium membership to be effective on some directories. Otherwise, it is free and simple in most article directories.
Resource:
Top Article Directories To Use For Backlink
6. Using Competitor Back-Link Analysis
At times, you can simply find out where the competing websites get their backlinks. This is known as Competitor Backlink Analysis. Using special online tools (see the list below) you can identify where similar blogs or sites are linked. You can then build links from those sources too.
Examples of Online Backlink Checkers
Ahref
Open Site Explorer
Bleckko
Majestic SEO
SEO Spy Glass
Some of the sites listed above have trial membership with limited results and functionality. So, this Backlinks Building Technique means you have to part with some cash to be effective. The good thing is, it is worth every penny
Resource:
Guide To Effective Competitive Backlink Analysis
7. Creating Profile Backlinks
Almost every social media allows you to create a profile, right? Instead of filling these profiles with some fake information, why don’t you use then as one of the Backlinks Building Techniques? I mean, you can add a link to your site/blog and thus get high ranking backlink even if it is just a nofollow link. Optimize your bio to make profile views click on your link for more.
Resource:
Top Sites To Create Profile Backlinks
8. Writing Press Release
Press Release is not outdated as many may think. It is still an effective Backlinks Building Technique if done right. The main thing is to write your press release in a way that it will rank better for your keyword.
Why a press release?
Press release informs your audience and also generates backlinks. The method is good for website owners and may not be a very effective Backlinks Building Technique for blogs. Here are the reasons you need a press release:
It will get you backlinks from news sites which improve your ranking for a given keyword
Your site will be more visible on search engines
Better Ranking for your site in Google News and Yahoo News etc
How To Write A Good Press Release
Press release is not like a normal article, it requires professionalism and communication skills to draft. In fact, public relations skills are needed when writing a press release. Here are what constitutes a great press release:
A title optimized for the main keyword – Avoid unnecessary words on the title to give the keyword weight
Keyword in the first sentence of the first paragraph (also known as the summary)
A body with 200+ words, written in easy to understand language with the main keyword appearing once for every 100 words. Don’t forget to fully optimize the multimedia and images in the body
Linked to a relevant page on your site/blog
Has the main keyword as an anchor text
Resource:
Qualities Of A Good Press Release
Top Places To Submit Your Press Release
9. Member Association Links
Are you a member of an association or blogging community? If you are then chances are they are listing your site and thus giving a backlink. Check and contact the site managers if you are listed on the group or association’s site.
10. Hire a SEO Company
Well, you may not have the time to apply all the Backlinks Building Techniques. So, you can hire a reputable SEO firm to do the job for you. When hiring, ensure you hire the right people for the job and not just any SEO company.
Tip:
Search the web for 'Top Backlink Services Companies' and you are halfway there.
It is my hope that this tutorial has been helpful in your Backlinks Building Endeavors and that the Backlinks Building Techniques described above will give results. The basic ingredients, at least according to me, are patience and consistency. That’s how you succeed online
I’d appreciate your contribution to this tutorial by way of comments or contacting me through the contact form. Feel free to add other Backlinks Building Techniques I may have not included or more insight on any of the techniques discussed.