Good link building has always been an important factor of SEO but what defines Good link building?
When I 1st stated SEO back in 2001/ 2002 I heard a phrase that has always remained with me.
The best links are the links that are the hardest to obtain
This thought still remains with me when working on link building campaigns
To me the art of link building is not just about obtaining links it is also about building up relationships with like minded webmasters.
Some of the best links I have to this day are as a result of chatting on newsgroups, exchanging numerous emails, being prepared to help others out, and generally networking.
A number of these good quality links have been obtained as a result of studying the SERPS for related keywords, assessing the quality of websites, profiling owners and webmasters and being prepared to link to them if it is a benefit to the visitors to my websites.
Some may think, “why link to a site that doesn’t return the favour” Two main reasons.
1. Benefits my visitors – If it benefits the users to my website, it improves the quality of my website.
2. Friendly referrer tagging - More friendly, and legitimate version of referrer spamming. Let the owner of the website you are interested in connecting with know about you via his own stats.
This tends to work best with lower traffic niche sites where the chances are higher that the webmaster will notice your website referring traffic in their stats.
Friendly referrer tagging was often the 1st stage of the process of my art of link building and it wasn’t unusual for me to set up links like this at least 3 months before even trying to make contact with the webmaster.
One reason I give when asked why I do this is Ice Breaking.
The reason being, when I eventually contact the webmaster concerned the title of my email includes my website and the fact that the webmaster may have seen my site in his stats gives me that little advantage that may make him read the email rather than just junk it.
The initial email isn’t your typical,
“Hi, I saw your website, I think it is great, do you want to exchange links, here is my link code”
Having previously researched the website, (preferably finding owners or webmasters name) I then write a personalised email for each website.
I tell them a little about myself and my website, what I do and don’t sell, where I sell it and reassure them that although we provide similar products/services we are not in direct competition and may compliment each other.
I tend to play down mentioning linking to each other in the initial email and instead try to establish if there are any ways we could help each other.
i.e.
If they sell a product which may benefit my visitors I can provide brief info on it and direct people to them.
If they operate in a different part of the world (county even) to me I can send these people their way.
If they provide services similar to mine (that I don’t do) I can send people looking for these services their way.
The whole essence of the email and further contact isn’t about exchanging links on each others links pages, but is more about connecting and providing useful traffic to each others websites.
Why Link builders hinder the art of link building
Unfortunately as the realisation of the importance of back links grew, more people would try to obtain as many links as possible, as quickly as possible, howether possible, resulting in endless spam link request email which made webmasters cynical about any link request or anything even looking like a link request.
These spam link requests have made the art of link building harder as even a genuite attempt to network and connect can easily just be classed as spam by many people and junked.
The problem is that, like so many things, everyone wants lots of links to their websites, especially from high Page Rank pages, but they don’t want to do the work that genuine links call for. Instead, they fall for disreputable techniques or “magic” software that will build links for them “automatically”, i.e. without having to do the work of building genuine relationships with other site owners in the same general niche but not directly competing.
This is a very thought-provoking article which underlines the importance of building natural links, even if it means dedication and hard work over a long period.
Thanks,
Sorry it drifted a bit towards the end, I kept getting distracted by cold callers, the telephone equivalent of spam emails
I’ve always tried to combine natural link building with general online networking and treat the backlinks as a bonus.
For instance, if I sell a product here in the UK and notice visitors coming from the USA, rather than waste this traffic I will try to find someone in the US to send it to, hopefully build a new connection and hope that they send UK traffic my way. Off course the way to divert traffic is via links so the result of this arrangement is it also improves each others backlinks.
I’ve always said to be good at SEO you need the right mindset, you need to enjoy the GAME and be prepared to put the time in.
Unfortunately, most people don’t appreciate what’s involved and just want quick results as cheap as possible. I’m seldom surprised anymore when people enquire about SEO services, have a budget that just about covers a few phone calls a week, and think they will be ranked top 5 in Google for competitive phrases within a fortnight.
Off course it’s not helped by all the false promises the snake oil salesmen spin
Boy am I glad I only do SEO for my own sites and a few select clients.