What makes a good back link profile ?
-
Hi
Now forgive me as I know this question has been asked on this and other sites thousands of times over, but since the recent algorithm changes to Google what would you consider to be
- A good backlink profile for a regional window, doors and conservatories firm
For example looking at a leading SEO firm in the UK and in detail at one of their clients – the backlink profile for a team of 40, is nothing better than an experienced freelancer could achieve.
For example they are mainly directory listings, css design galleries or comments on blogs not relevant to the target site
What should this contain, but please bear in mind there is no budget to develop games, widgets to gain viral back links
Most peoples responses are just great quality content, which although the correct answer they do not go into any detail on what form this should take, where it should reside, how people will find it etc
I was thinking of the following
Web Directories - if yes - which ones should I target and which ones to avoid (UK)
Competitions - Is this a good means of gaining backlinks from the likes of loquax, prizefinder etc - or is it just a short term boost
Forums - Answer questions on the likes of DIYNOT with the web address in my signature response
Suppliers - Get a link from suppliers and the likes of Fensa
Local Search - Yelp, Qype etc
Social Media posts - Facebook, Google+ and Twitter
any thing else I have missed?
-
Morning,
Yep, the first step I would take is suppliers, contractors, partners etc etc. Basically anyone you have a business connection with that has a website. A lot of these will simply be happy to do this as a favour, some will want something in return such a reciprocal link (if it makes sense, go for it). Some you might need to be a little smarter with and play a bit of hustle to get. One great way we got in with a couple of software companies we were using was to offer a glowing testimonal for their website. It was win/win, they got a great review, we got a great link.
When it comes to thinking of suppliers and partners, really be creative. Think about every aspect of your business, right down to the cleaners/caterers. If they have a website you want to be on there.
In terms of directories, I would generally say avoid, however there are a few big national ones that pass value, and depending on your resource there are usually a few websites and directories that curate lists of local businesses. For me, the big key when decided whether to use a directory or not is down to whether their results are indexed and ranking. Follow the directory through to an obscure business page (e.g outdoor supplies > gardening > landscape gardening > turf suppliers) pick on of the business on their and search for their name. If the directory isn't showing up in the first few pages, it's really not worth being on.
Regarding competitions; one benefit is the competition websites themselves, however the real win comes from the entrants. The blogging community are very active with competitions, and if you can think of a campaign that is particularly fun, engaging or has a kick ass prize, then you will see a lot of links coming from the blogosphere.
The other option (and in my opinion the quickest way of getting quality links) is through Blogger and Webmaster outreach. Make a list of 100 target sites and approach them. The good old days of simply asking for a link a sadly gone, but there are plenty of ways you can reach out that will result in a link (offer a guest post, offer an interview, form a partnership etc etc). It can be time consuming, although you can make this scalable and see lots of high quality links flying in fast.
Like you mentioned the answer you're going to get from a lot of people is 'make great content' which is pretty vague in itself. The logic behind it is if your site hosts great content, then it will naturally attract links and social shares across the web. There are many ways of doing this, from writing consistently good posts around your industry, to making infographics or videos with the intention of going viral. As a long term strategy, it's a great approach, but it is something that will need a lot of thought, time and often investment.
Best of luck.
David
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
-
Does Dofollow links from forumn profiles, blog comments, business directories or article directories etc have any impact?
Hi guys, So looking at my competitors in my city a lot of the people ranking on 2nd, 3rd pages and so forth have little or no quality backlinks, instead, their links are all from business directories, forum profiles and blog comments. I saw google employees saying easy to create links hold very little value and it's easy for the algorithm to distinguish been easy to obtain backlinks and difficult ones. From what I see on my competition backlink profiles, they may not get them to the front page but they do get them to pages, two three and four. I was wondering if creating say 20-30 easy links per week and also focus on obtaining high-quality backlinks. Would they be any penalties for 20-30 easy to make links a week from Google? Cheers
Link Building | | sydneygardening0 -
Would it be a valid "link building' strategy to pay youtube video owners, to link to our company website in the decription of a certain video. ( For popular video's that are relevant )
I was wondering if it would it be a valid "link building' strategy to pay / work out a deal with youtube video owners, to link to our company website in the decription of a certain video they posted? ( For popular video's that are relevant to our business. ) Anyone have any thoughts on this? Thanks in advance! Steven
Link Building | | RockyMountainFlyboard0 -
Links from sites with iffy link profiles?
So the site http://www.cadenas.de/ appears to have good decent scores from the various Moz ranks, but when I check out the site in OSE there are a lot of really sketchy links that jump out, online pharmacy/drug type links. I should also add that the negative links are seemingly going to a weird blog deep in the site and only appear when I select all links to the root domain in OSE. Everything about the site appears very legitimate except for the link profile which has me nervous. Would you guys pursue a link from this site?
Link Building | | CJ50 -
Is link exchange a reliable source to get back links?
I read a latest post on seomoz that _“Do not buy or exchange link with anyone who contacts you. This is completely against Google's policies and if they were to find out, you could be penalized." So I went through Google's ''Link Schemes'' and found that ''Excessive link exchanging ("Link to me and I'll link to you")'' can negatively impact a site's ranking . _ So is it the ''excessive'' link exchanging that can cause a negative impact? Exchanging links with good quality, cached sites (without excessive doing) can do good or bad? Can anyone please explain to me in detail?
Link Building | | semvibe0 -
Good venues to post articles and generate link juice.
I have a website (www.allianceconcretepumps.com) and am stuggling a bit to get rankings for particular key words. I have lots of great content I could post, in hopes to recieve some links. Can anyone recomend a good location for me to post articles about: Concrete Pump Trucks, Sales, Maintenance, Parts, Safety etc. Thanks for any advice! Dave
Link Building | | APICDA0 -
Do image links with no alt tags pass link value?
"... an image link with no alt tag is useless to search engines..." according to a Nov 2007 seomoz blog post. Is this still the case in 2011? I ask because I'm about to obtain a banner link on a high-traffic site (chiefly for the clickthrough value) but I notice the site uses neither "title" nor "alt" tags.
Link Building | | Jeepster0 -
Do-Follow link from Linkedin/Facebook/Twitter/About/Google Profile, how to:
Tell us, a technician method of building do-follow link on high quality social websites. Thanks
Link Building | | leadsprofi0 -
What percentage of my links should be directory links
I feel a lot of my link building might be a bit heavy on the directory links side. Should I limit the percentage amount of links as a part of my overall link profile? If yes what percentage of links is ok to be directory links?
Link Building | | iSenseWebSolutions0