My Link Building Strategy Good or Bad?
-
Okay I am new to SEO and I have read a few SEO beginner guides and have been practicing SEO over time now. I am trying to do SEO for a new clients site that is a completely new site with no MR and MT and here is my current link building strategy. Can you please review my link building plan and help me out with suggestions and corrections
1. Directory Submissions- From what I understand since the new google penguin updates this isn't as effective of a method but I am trying get high PR directory list, but a lot of them require paid standard submission reviews, otherwise it takes 2-3 months
2. Local Directory Submissions- Such as yelp, angee's list, whitepages, and other local directories.
3. Social Bookmarking- submit links to social bookmarking sites with target keyword(s) as anchor
4. Article Writing & Submission: create articles and submit to high pr article directories with different article titles and also wanted to see different submissions I can make with each article
5. Press Releases- submit to high pagerank press release directories, also wanted to see how many submissions is generally the rule of thumb for press releases.
6. Blog Outreach for Product Reviews: Submit products to blogs with PR 2+ to get review and backlinks
7. Forum Profile Creation- create forum profiles and engage in topics with signature with a link, I understand that since the penguin update this isn't something I should emphasis on
8. Blog Commenting- comment on relevant blogs that have dofollow links and nofollow links for link diversity
9. Guest Blogging- Write unique content and outreach to related blogs for guest posting opportunities
10. .edu & .gov links- How do I gain .edu & .gov links I have read several articles and I am having a hard time understanding this concept, would commenting on .edu & .gov blogs and profiles be an effective method or the correct method for gaining these types of links?
-
Jeepster, that I can't say for sure. As an editor, I go for what is trusted by my readers.
-
Hi Keri & Chris
Thanks for the replies.
What I'm trying to ascertain is: is a link in the body of a post more trusted by search engines than one in an author bio at the bottom of it? -
Yes, you're right, there are very few legitimate opportunities to get a link back to your site from within the body a guest blog post. However, if a resource existed on the author's site that supported the blog post and there were no other appropriate resources, would that be a case where such a link would be acceptable?
-
It can make a difference to to a picky editor who is reviewing your guest post. I can't tell you how many YouMoz submissions start out with "I was talking with my coworkers at my seo company [link drop] about xyz". Both SEOmoz and the author would get called out if we published the YouMoz post like that. Those types of links get removed and the author is invited to put them in their bio.
-
Jeepster, these days, forget the back link and go for the authorship markup from your bio or author page to your G+ account--especially if it's not a high quality blog your guest post is on, 'cause they're going to get dinged eventually and those back links will be worthless. If they don't do authorship, you may think about getting the post published elsewhere. If they're a quality blog (all posts are on-topic and they've got an active readership) it could go either way as to which is better--authorship or back link.
If you have to go with the link, go with a branded term from your bio.
-
Quick Q Chris, given that I found your answer at the top of this thread one of the most informative I've read in a while:
Guest blogging: does it make a difference whether the link back to my site is embedded in the article itself as opposed to in an author bio at the bottom?
Thanks -
I know you said "at least 500 words", but make sure all of your articles don't have the same (or very close) word count.
This is a pattern that's likely pretty obvious to Google as there's a countless number of "SEO companies" selling 500 word articles.
In other words, a blog naturally is going to have posts with varying word counts.
-
Yep.
-
Okay so stay away from any directories that other sites are using targeted keyword anchor text, So when posting links on the directories I should avoid using keyword anchors instead use the client's site or brand name correct?
-
Getting there. Stay away from directories where others are using targeted anchor text.
-
thank you so much for your input and the clarification on my whole link building plan. I revised my link building strategy, so can you please take a look at it and let me know if it is better or worse
-
Okay based on some more reading and your guys inputs here is my revised plan for the link building campaign, the client is in the cell phone accessories field and most of the keywords are high competition
Directory Submissions (Budget=$300/ 1st mo)- Directory submissions using target anchor texts including paid directory submissions including highly authoritative directories such as yahoo and BOTW
Local Directory Submissions- Submit site with targeted anchor texts to local directories such as angee’s list, yelp, yahoo, whitepages, etc.
Blog Outreach for reviews- Contact niche blogs and relevant blogs with at least PR 2+ to do product reviews
Blog Giveaways- Create and promote a giveaway on various different related blogs and websites
Article writing/ Submission- Create 4-5 unique articles with 1-2 keyword’s target in each article of at least 500 words. High quality articles that can be used on high quality sites instead of article directories
Guest Posting- create 2-3 guest posts that can be used to distribute to high quality blogs and sites that offer guest posting
1 Press Release- Create a press release and distribute to high quality press release sites
-
It's hard to give specific input without knowing the client. A link building strategy, like all SEO, is something that needs to be tailored to the client. On the whole, however, with articles it's really is about quality and legitimacy.
If you write quality articles that have meaningful and useful content, then you have a better chance of getting them published on sites that will provide high link value. If you're just gaming the system and writing solely for the sake of links, then you're going to be limited to low-quality sites, which won't do a whole lot for the client.
-
Thank you for the input I really appreciate it, also what are your opinions on Article writing and methods of distributions
-
Arash,
Go to this really cool site that organizes every Matt Cutts video according the questions they answer it's called The Short Cutts, and match your 10 points above against the video topics in the link building catergory. Then watch this video, and then read through these posts. Then you'll want to work on revisions to your list. It's hard work but you can do it.
-
That's quite a lengthy plan. I have no idea what the budget is, but if it isn't large I think it would be best to narrow this down to one or two methods and build from there.
Despite all the negative attention directories have been getting lately, there is still value in them. Your idea of only targeting high quality ones is good, but also make sure they are relevant (either in their total focus or at least have a very relevant category). Having to pay is a given and should be part of your budget. This can be a good, (relatively) quick-result first step if done properly.
Comments on any site, including .edu & .gov, aren't the best first line of attack. Their SEO value is very limited and it takes many to amount to anything. I'm not convinced they every really do amount to anything from a strictly SEO point of view.
Press releases also get a lot of guff, but if there's something legit to announce, then that should definitely be explored. It's all about how much real value the PR brings to readers.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Link Types For Link Building
Hi i have a SEO agency we work with who are building quality guest post links for us, however they are also building forum, profile, blog comments
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | spyaccounts14
and directory based links. 60% of their links they are building are high quality, relevant guest posts while the other 40% are the other link types. The 40% seem to be relevant directories, forums, blog comments, etc. They said they build other link types because it diversifies the link building and profile rather then just building high quality guest posts. As just building one link type can leave a footprint. What are your thoughts on this? Cheers.0 -
Affiliate Links Dilemma
Hello everyone. Our e-commerce website virtualsheetmusic.com has several hundreds affiliate incoming links, and many of them are "follow" links. I thought to redirect all incoming affiliate links to a "intermediate" page excluded by the robots.txt file in order to avoid any possible "commercial links" penalty from Google, but I now face a dilemma... most of our best referral links are affiliate links, by excluding those links from our back link profile could give us a big hit in terms of rankings. How would you solve this dilemma? What would you suggest doing in this sort of cases?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | fablau0 -
Internal Linking - Can You Over Do It?
Hi, One of the sites I'm working on has a forum with thousands of pages, amongst thousands of other pages. These pages produce lots of organic search traffic... 200,000 per month. We're using a bit of custom code to link relevant words and phrases from various discussion threads to hopefully related discussion pages. This generates thousands of links and up to 8 in-context links per page. A page could have anywhere from 200 to 3000 words in one to 50+ comments. Generally, a page with 200 words would have fewer of these automatically generated links, just because there are fewer terms naturally on the page. Is there any possible problem with this, including but not limited to some kind of internal anchor text spam or anything else? We do it to knit together pages for link juice and hopefully user experience... giving them another page to go to. The pages we link to are all our pages that produce or we hope to produce organic search traffic from. Thanks! ....Darcy
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | 945010 -
Is it possible to have good SEO without links and with only quality content?
Is it possible to have good SEO without links and with only quality content? Have you any experience?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Alex_Moravek2 -
How do I tell if competitor's links are good?
One strategy I have seen recommended over and over is to look at your competitor's back links and see if any could be relevant for your site and worth pursuing. My question is how do I evaluate a link and not end up pursuing some penalized site? I would guess checking for Google index is a good idea since some of the webmasters may not be aware they are penalized. Is it DA and whether they are indexed alone? Many sites I have seen have DA in the teens but are legitimate in our industry. Should they not be considered due to low DA? Also I see links from directories on many competitor sites. Seems a controversial subject, but assuming the directory is industry specific, is it OK? Thanks in advance!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Chris6610 -
How to build a linking architecture in the most effective way?
Hi there, I'm creating a new website and I would like to start it in the best possible way. Content is the last of my problems, so is back links and social media. But I would appreciate your advice from an architectural point of view. In my current sites I've been struggling organizing menus, categories and internal links in an SEO friendly way. I just haven't got it yet 🙂 how to create an architecture that is both userfriendly and SEO optimized. Could someone please give me some tips or point me to a recent article to build a SEO optimized website architecture? How many menus in a page?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Ltsmz
Keywords in the menu?
keywords in submenu?
Menu linking to categories or specific articles?
How many internal links?
permalinks with /category/ or /post-name/
menu in footer?
category including keyword?
categories in sidebar?
how many links is too many?
if in a page I have 101 links and nofollow 100 of them, does it count like if I have 1 link for SEO? Basically all things related to setting up a linking architecture in a website to optimize organic traffic. Thanks
Fabio0 -
Question about WhiteHat Quality Link Building Technique!
Hello, I am using Opensite Explorer as well as Link Builder from wordtracker to find good links which either link to my competitors or either links pointing to top 20 sites in my niche keyword. Then my team follow each link and find Directory Links Forum Profile Links Bookmark Links PR / Article Sites Links Guest Blog Post Sites Links... Then we make links manually to those sites for our websites as well. Is this a good whitehat strategy for long term good SEO, i believe opensiteexplorer's high page authority links shall worth in a long run. Also I timely post article to my blog and then distribute it to my twitter as well as run few social bookmarks on my article posted on my blog. I want to know community that am i doing SEO for link building in right way or any suggestion there from honorable SEOMOz Members. I know content is key however we are an ecommerece sites mostly thus we need to timely create backlinks as well to stay in competition. I will wait for feedback of honorable community if we are on right direction for SEO or not?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | andishm0 -
Bad neighborhood linking - anyone can share experience how significant it can impact rankings?
SEOMoz community, If you have followed our latest Q&A posts you know by now that we have been suffering since the last 8 months from a severe Google penalty we are still trying to resolve. Our international portfolio of sports properties has suffered significant ranking losses across the board. While we have been tediously trying to troubleshoot the problem for a while now we might be up to a hot lead now. We realized that one of the properties outside of our key properties, but are site that our key properties are heavily linking to (+100 outgoing links per property) seems to have received a significant Google penalty in a sense that it has been completely delisted from the Google index and lost all its PageRank (Pr4) While we are buffed to see such sort of delisting, we are hopeful that this might be the core of our experienced issues in the past i.e. that our key properties have been devalued due to heavy linking to a bad neighborhood site. My question two the community are two-fold: Can anyone share any experience if it is indeed considered possible that a high number of external links to one bad neighboorhood domain can cause significant ranking drops in the rank from being top 3 ranked to be ranked at around a 140 for a competetive key word? The busted site has a large set of high quality external links. If we swap domains is there any way to port over any link juice or will the penalty be passed along? If that is the case I assume the best approach would be to reach out to all the link authorities and have tem link to the new domain instead of the busted site? Thanks /Thomas
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | tomypro0