Link Building Guide: Step By Step
Link building – can’t live with it, can’t live without it. It takes time, effort, massive amounts of patience and creativity – but it is the stuff of which high rankings are made. So where do you start?
We’ve put together a long list of ideas culled from blog writers all over the SEO industry. Not every idea will work for every site, but you should be able to find a good number that you can put into practice. The first half of this guide has ideas for general linkbuilding, appropriate to any industry and topic, and the second half has particular ideas for products, blogs, videos, contests, etc.
(Note: this list was made a while ago for internal use, and so we didn’t keep track of the sources. Now that we’re sharing it for the public benefit of all the linkbuilders out there, we’d like to give attribution, so if you see any tip that came from a blog post of yours, please contact us and let us know.)
Happy link building!
Leveraging Existing Relationships
If your site has a list of “partner” sites, add their URLs to their listings and ask them to specify yours on their “partners” page.
For ecommerce/service sites, ask customers/clients to give links – especially if they write to say they are satisfied.
Who are your brand evangelists? Ask them for a link. How do you find them? One hint: use Google Alerts for your brand name to see if people are talking about you anyway on the web. If you see someone speaking glowingly about your brand, cultivate a relationship with them. Show them that you appreciate their appreciation. Eventually you can ask them for a link.
Create a widget of the following sort that customers can put on their site:
“Show off your YourCompany.com pride by
posting this badge on your Facebook page, blog, or personal web site.
Plus… you’ll receive a 5% off your next purchase voucher for every
purchase your friends make via your badge (Terms). It’s our way of
saying thank you for introducing us to your friends.”
This takes work to create the widget that would enable tracking of
referral orders and someone to be on top of making sure the vouchers
are sent to the correct people, but it might be worth the effort in
links and the boost in sales.What are the most important industry related websites and blogs in your niche? Look in your LinkedIn connections and Twitter followers and those of some of your colleagues, and look for the owners of/writers on these websites. If you find a match, use that connection and turn it into a link.
Check referring sites in Analytics and ask them to update anchor text.
Check referring sites in Analytics and send them a thank-you note for referrals (good PR for future).
Search for your website URL and see if there are sites that mention you without linking to you. Thank them for mentioning you and ask them to add a link for the benefit of their visitors. Use search queries:
- http://www.sitename.com
- www.sitename.com
- sitename.com
- sitename
- IT support
- web design / hosting
- telephony
- email service provider / email marketing company
- legal advice
- HR / recruitment
- coaching / business advice
- property services (including landlords / tenants)
- PR
- advertising
- software provider(s) – particularly industry software
- accountancy / audit
- training (again, particularly industry training)
- printing / graphic design
- food / drink / hospitality
- hardware / office furniture / computer equipment suppliers
- cleaning company
- industry suppliers (depending on the client’s industry)
- conference organizers (either for their own seminars etc. or whose conferences you attend)
- artwork providers (local artists or galleries), florists etc.
Creating Relationships
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Connect to influencers in your niche and connect. Use WeFollow.com to get a list of influential people in your niche. Follow these people. Keep track of the subjects they tweet about and retweet them. Check their websites to learn more about them and their interests. Start interacting with these influencers – slowly – don’t come on too strong. Eventually, create and tweet content that after all your research you are pretty sure they’ll be interested in. If they are, they will likely tweet and link to your content.Pitch a story about your industry with quotes from you/your CEO to make it easy for a reporter to use. Use www.helpareporter.com site to get daily updates of reporters looking for sources for their stories.
If you have actual location(s), get links from your local chamber of commerce and area information sites (even large chains can build locations pages).
If there is a site you would like to get a link from, and you see there is a piece of content – blog post, research report, infographic – that they would want on their site, create that content for them and offer it to them (with a link to yourself as creator of the content).
Using Directories
Keep a list of directories, separated into free and paid directories, niches, ordered by whatever system you prefer of ranking page strength (Page Rank, SEOMoz Page Authority and Domain Authority, etc.). When you are link building, go through your list of directories – register in all applicable.Using Forums
Search for keyword+forum. If the forum enables signatures, add links to your signature. Post regularly. If it does not allow signatures, post regularly and on occasion throw in a relevant link from your website. (You can even get ideas for content from these forums.)
Find “footprints” of do-follow blogs and forums you run across (text on their template which would appear on other blogs using the same template – e.g. “Most users ever online was”, which finds forums powered by vBulletin) and search for that text + keyword.
To find do-follow blogs on your topic, use:
keyword inurl:ifollow*.gif
(This finds a “U Comment – I Follow” banner.)
As you look for forums, make sure to keep a running list of all forums you come across with relevant details: topic, whether the links are follow or no-follow, whether it enables signature links. Also keep track of any usernames and passwords for forums and the signature link for each. Then, when you need to link build for a new site, you can go over your list, pick out forums that are relevant to the new site’s niche, and start building on them.
In your travels across the web, you will run across “abandoned” forums and message boards (read: no one is moderating them). Keep a running list and when you are link building for a particular site, pick a few forums and throw some “ads” up. (Note: once more people discover any particular forum and hundreds of links start coming out of it, it most likely becomes less effective.)
Using Articles
Write articles and put them on article sites. Put links with relevant anchor text in the body of article and in the author bio.
Getting Links to Others That are Broken
Search “website no longer available”, “website closed” and “page no longer updated” + keyword and tell linking sites that their link goes to site that is no longer available but they could link to you.Find resource pages for your topic and see if there are errors (broken links, etc. – you can use Xenu). Inform webmaster, and eventually ask for link in return for help.
Using Embeddable Links
Create a widget which will give a link when embedded.Create a quiz with a badge displaying the visitor’s results that gives a link when displayed.
Using Search Operators
Use SEO Solo link finder tool: http://www.soloseo.com/tools/linkSearch.htmlUse SEOMoz Juicy Link Finder Tool: http://www.seomoz.org/link-finder
Use the following search queries (read: put this into a Google search and see what comes up – note: some of these were included in the link tools above) to find potential link targets:
- keyword “add url” / “add * url”
- keyword “add site” / “add * site”
- keyword “add website” / “add *website”
- keyword “submit url” / “submit * url”
- keyword “submit site” / “submit *site”
- keyword “submit website” / “submit * website”
- keyword “suggest url” / “suggest * url”
- keyword “suggest site” / “suggest site”
- keyword “suggest website” / “suggest * website”
- keyword “recommended links”
- keyword “recommended sites”
- keyword “favorite links”
- keyword “favorite sites”
- keyword bookmarks
- “list * keyword * sites”
- “add comment” keyword / “add * comment”
- “post comment” keyword / “post * comment”
- keyword “leave a comment” / “leave * comment”
- keyword “no comments”
- keyword “powered by wordpress”
- keyword “notify me of follow-up comments”
- keyword “wiki” (site:.edu)
- keyword forum / keyword forums
- keyword discussion boards
- keyword members
- keyword join
- keyword “advertiser testimonials”
- keyword “related URLs” / “* related URLs”
- keyword “related sites” / “* related sites”
- “public library” “useful links” keyword site:.gov
- “favorite keyword sites” library –clientwebsite site:.edu
- “best keyword” site:.edu OR site:.org
- keyword resources public library site:.us
- keyword site:.edu
- inurl:tag / inurl:tags
- inurl:blog / inurl:blogs
- inurl:forum / inurl:forums
- inurl:add-link / inurl:submit-link
By Sponsoring/Donating
- keyword sponsors
- keyword sponsorship
- keyword sponsor charity
- keyword benefactors
- keyword donate
- keyword donations
- keyword donors
- keyword inurl:sponsors/advertise
- keyword inurl:sponsor/advertise
- keyword intitle:sponsors/advertise
- “in kind donations” list
- “in kind donors” list
- marathon inurl:sponsors (if you sell running shoes)
Through Job Vacancies and Student Discounts
If you have job vacancies in your business, use:
- jobs degree site:.edu+ variations (ac.uk, ac.il)
- careers degree site:.edu
- careers advice site:.edu
- career opportunities site:.edu
- job finding site
- job placement site
- employment site
- student discount partners site:.edu + variations
- student discounts site:.edu
By Guest Blogging
Use MyBlogGuest.com to find opportunities for guest posting. Put your links in your bio first (don’t be spammy) and then when you develop relationship, you can drop one or two in text also.Other helpful search queries:
- keyword “guest blogger” OR “guest post” OR “guest article” OR “guest column”
- keyword “become a contributor” OR “contribute to this site”
- keyword “write for us” OR “write for me”
- keyword inurl:category/guest
Using Competitive Intelligence
To find email addresses for link contacts, use:- site:[companywebsite.com] + [name] + email
- site:[companywebsite.com] + [name] + contact
- site:[personalblog.com] + [name] + email
- site:[personalblog.com] + [name] + contact
Check the backlink profiles of link-building companies (using a tool like Open Site Explorer).
For Products to Sell or Give Away:
- submit * review
- get * reviewed
- allintitle:get * reviewed
- reviews inurl:submit
- review keyword
- reviews keyword
- reviews blog keyword
- intitle:potential places that would advertise it
- intitle:keyword tools
- intitle:free keyword tools
- intitle:list of free keyword tools
- intitle:list of keyword tools
- pr welcome
- pr friendly
- pr contact
- pr info
- “cyber Monday” keyword
- “black Friday” keyword
- “best/good deals” keyword
- find your hard to find item
- how to find your hard to find item
- locate your hard to find item
- gifts for your target market
- keyword gift guide
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