Useful note of off page link building to improve in SEO

What Is Link Building?

Link Building is the process of creating and/or facilitating inbound links to a given website. In SEO-speak, link building can be described as building relevant links to a website in an effort to rank that site for specific terms while also building trust, value and equity to that website.

Search engines utilize various information about inbound links to your website in order to make certain assumptions about your website - what your website is about and how much to trust it. Some of the things they look at:

• To a search engine, the more people that link to a page, the more noteworthy it must be. Therefore, more links equal more trust over time.
• It's not enough just to get a high volume of links to your website, you're going to need links from highly reputable sources (i.e. high PageRank, etc) if you want to solidify your trust within the search engines.
• Think about it. If your website has absolutely no text, titles, or any other information, how will a search engine be able to make any assumptions as to what your website is about? Anchor text. They keywords that people use to link to your website will help search engines understand your site's themes and can be a valuable way to establish high rankings for certain phrases.

So What Is Google PageRank

PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page's value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves "important" weigh more heavily and help to make other pages "important".

In other words, a PageRank results from a "ballot" among all the other pages on the World Wide Web about how important a page is. A hyperlink to a page counts as a vote of support. The PageRank of a page is defined recursively and depends on the number and PageRank metric of all pages that link to it ("incoming links"). A page that is linked to by many pages with high PageRank receives a high rank itself. If there are no links to a web page there is no support for that page.

Building Links Naturally

A few types of natural links:

• One-Way Links - Simple enough. These are links from Site A back to Site B. These are far more valuable from an SEO perspective. The way search engines see it, if someone links to you without receiving anything in return, then the web page or content MUST be of some value.
• Reciprocal Links - This is when website A and website B agree to link to each other. Many natural links occur this way, and it can be mutually beneficial to both parties when the websites are related in some way (same topic, etc).

A few short tips for building natural links:

·         Be Link-worthy. Develop content that people like, develop content that people trust, make it easy to link to. Give people a reason to "buzz" around your website/brand, and give them a reason to link to you. I believe this is called "link-baiting".

·         Ask for them. You'd be surprised how many people will link to you if you simply ask them to, but don't be an ass about it!

·         Do Link Exchanges. Reciprocal links can be good ways to get high-quality backlinks to your website. Don't discount the value of a good old link exchange. However, keep in mind that it is better if you're linking to websites that are similar in topic, and that are also of high-authority.

·         Comment on blogs and in forums. Although some blogs still utilize "nofollow" tags on outbound comment links, it is not a trend that I foresee continuing as long as comment spam protection keeps improving. Therefore, I recommend leaving high-quality insightful comments on other blogs, which will create a backlink and could entice blog owners to link back to your site in the future. Also, you have a far better chance of acquiring a back link if you've contributed something to someone else's blog first.

·         Link Out. Don't be afraid to link out, and don't hoard links. If linking out helps your website's visitors, then search engines will trust you more. In addition, linking out to somebody may increase the likelihood that they'll link back to you.

·         Write a Guest Post. Writing guest posts can be a great way to build quality backlinks, especially if you're guest posting on a popular blog. It's a really great way to gain some valuable exposure and backlink opportunities.

Website Submission

Submitting your website to various niche, local, and general directories can be a great way to accumulate high-quality backlinks, and some great sources for referral traffic. In addition, taking advantage of several content syndication services can also serve to help build additional high-quality backlinks.

General Directories

These directories (again) can serve as another group high-quality backlinks ("vote") that will create more trust for your website over time. I recommend have a nice presence in these more general directories if possible.

• DMOZ. One the the web's oldest human-edited directories.
• Craigslist. Not a directory, but you can post information and links which can lead to lots of traffic.
• IPL2. Another very old and respected general directory.
• Rate It All. Social ratings and review directory for consumers.
• JoeAnt. Well respected general directory.
• The Good Web Guide. A UK consumer review directory.

Niche Directories

Niche directories are valuable as they may be more closely related to your site's theme, while still maintaining the trust of a high-authority website (if you pick them right). Some examples of niche directories include:

• Dining Guide. A directory specific to restaurants.
• Hotel Guide. A directory specific to Hotels.
• Dexigner. A directory for designers.

For Blogs
If you have a blog, there are some additional directories and options that may be open to you from a link building perspective. Here are a few that I've found useful:

• AllTop. Aggregator of blogs from many different sources; covers a wide variety of topics.
• Blog Catalog. A high-quality blog directory.
• MakeZine. Aggregator of technology-related blogs.
• BlogTopList. Another directory specific to blogs.
• Today. User-generated blog directory.
• Technorati. One of the most highly-trusted blog directory.

Content Syndication & Hubs

If you have a blog with lots of articles or Whitepapers or PDF's that aren't online, content syndication and/or hubs may be a good way to build high-quality backlinks to your website. Here are some common places where people can submit their articles or unpublished content to acquire backlinks:

• Digg. User submitted content from around the web.

• Ezine Articles. Article submission and archival.

• Mixx. Popular aggregator of user-submitted content.

• Reddit. Another aggregator of user-submitted content.

• Sphinn. Aggregator of content related to the technology industry.

• Squidoo. Create lense hubs to publish content.

• Hubpages. Another hub in which to publish content.

Social Media as a Link Building Tool

Many people claim that social media links hold no value because they are usually accompanied by the "nofollow" link attribute. While this may be true, certain aspecs of social media can bring a TON of value to your link building campaign.

• Social Media Profiles. Having profiles on websites like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn can be among some of the most high-quality backlinks you'll be able to acquire. These websites are very trustworthy, therefore they are prime real estate for you to add a link back to your website.

• Buzz. In a nutshell, social media can create buzz around your brand, which in turn can make your brand go viral, which typically leads to backlinks. Simple enough.

• Recurring traffic and exposure. Just like all of the other sources, whether some of the links are "nofollow" or not, they are a good source of recurring traffic. If this recurring traffic based likes your content - then they're likely to link to it. More exposure usually equals more links, which is a good thing.

Social Bookmarking

Social bookmarking sites offer another great chance to gain high-quality backlinks, and takes it a step further with the ability to generate buzz. This is similar to what can be seen within the social media world, which is often an effective way for backlinks to happen more naturally (but quickly).

Some popular social bookmarking websites include:

• Delicious. Simple but effective site for managing your bookmarks.

• StumbleUpon. Social bookmarking site in which users stumble through various websites.

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