Getting One-way Inbound Links: the 5 Major Strategies
With search engines putting a damper on direct reciprocal links, the hunt for the elusive one-way inbound link is on.
As someone who works with small business website owners, I've heard just about every inbound-linking scheme there is. In the end, I've only seen five strategies that really work consistently for getting hundreds of links. Yet there's perennial interest in alternative linking strategies. Why? Perhaps because the five major effective strategies involve a certain amount of hard work, and for many people, SEO is an endless magic bean hunt. So, before looking at those five most effective strategies, let's look at some of the supposedly easier alternatives.
- Link farms never seem to die. The latest variations try to pass themselves off as viral marketing, but are really a sort of endless pyramid scheme: you link to me, so I link to someone else, who links to someone else, and on and on down the line. If you think this will work, let's just say I admire your ability to maintain a childlike innocence despite all the mean names I'm sure everyone calls you.
- Many one-way inbound linking strategies fall into the great-if-you-are-lucky-enough-to-get-it category, such as winning a web award or being featured on a high-PageRank website just for being so great.
- Other one-way incoming link strategies are in the this-will-take-forever-to-get-anywhere category, such as offering to provide testimonials to all your vendors in exchange for a link to your site. (Hint: If you can get more than twenty links that way, you probably need to simplify your supply line.)
Now, on to the five major ways of getting large numbers of one-way inbound links. Some are better than others, but they all have more potential than some of the more madcapped strategies. Of course, none is a good strategy all on its own. You have to understand all five strategies in order to really gain a distinct advantage in the one-way link hunt.
1. Waiting for Inbound Links
If you have good content you will eventually get one-way inbound links naturally, without asking. Organic, freely given links are an essential part of any SEO strategy. But you cannot rely on them, for two reasons:
2. Triangulating for Inbound Links
Search engines will have a tough time dampening reciprocal links if the reciprocation is not direct. To get links to one website you offer in exchange a link from another website you also control. This would seem to be a mostly foolproof way of defeating the link-dampening ambitions of Google and the rest. If you have more than one website, you probably are already employing this linking method. There are only a few drawbacks:
- You need to have more than one website. Stop laughing! There really are businesses that only have one website! In fact, they may be your clients someday.
- The work required to set up this kind of arrangement and verify compliance is not insignificant. The process cannot be automated to the same extent as direct one-to-one reciprocal linking.
- As with traditional reciprocal links, a very big drawback is that the links are mostly on "Resources" pages that are just lists of links. There's only a small chance of getting significant traffic from these links. Plus, any "Resource" page may well eventually become an easy target for link dampening, if that hasn't happened already.
3. Submitting for Incoming Links
They are the legendary fairy lands of SEO: PageRank-passing, no-fee-charging, non-corrupt and actually well-run directories of relevant links. Yes, they really do exist. An SEO friend tells me he knows 200 good ones just off the top of his head. Plus, there are other kinds of directories: directories of affiliate programs, of websites using a certain content management system, of websites whose owners are members of this or that group, of websites accepting PayPal, etc. etc.
Ah, a link in a PageRank-passing link directory: it's a good deal if you can get it. But let's say you do get links from all 200 such directories and a hundred more from the little niche directories--now what?
4. Paying for Inbound Links
Buying and selling text links on high-PageRank web pages has become big business. Buying good traffic-generating "clean" links is a great alternative to pay-per-click advertising, which confers no SEO benefit. But, there are a number of pitfalls of relying primarily on paid links for SEO:
5. Distributing Content All of the above four inbound-link-generating methods really do work. But it is the fifth method of getting one-way inbound links that is the most promising: distributing content
The idea is simple: you give other websites content to put on their sites in exchange for a link to your site, usually in an "author's resource box," an "about the author" paragraph at the end of the article.
The beauty of distributing content for links is that the links generally generate more traffic than links on a "resources" page. Plus, your article will pre-sell readers on the value of your site.
The downside, of course, is that it's no small amount of work to create original content and then distribute it to hundreds of website owners. But nothing good ever came easy. And on the internet, one-way inbound links are a very good thing.
In conclusion, there are a number of ways of getting one-way inbound links, and if you're smart, you'll use all of them.
About the author Joel Walsh is the owner of UpMarket Content, where you can get a content distribution campaign managed from soup to nuts, and guaranteed to get you at least one hundred one-way inbound links for every three articles. Check out this guaranteed website promotion content distribution package: http://upmarketcontent.com/website-promotion-package.htm
Related Articles:
Link Exchange and Search Engines
There are many ways an online business can benefit through link exchange There is only one company who knows how to properly provide this type of service so you can succeed in the global marketplace today
15 Proven Ways For Link Building To Improve Search Engine Rank
Almost all webmasters know that incoming links are food for website. The website will rank high in the search engine result pages as long as they have great quality incoming links with related anchor text.
Link Building and Link Strategy for Increased Web Traffic
Toronto, ON November 26, 2007 ? There are millions of websites in cyberspace. The challenge becomes how to ensure that your website is found on search engines and is seen by potential customers.
Google Grants Links to SEMcares.com to Help Non-Profits with Volunteer Search Engine Marketing
The Official Google Grants Blog tells non-profits about SEMcares.com, the not-for-profit database that connects non-profits and volunteer search engine marketing providers.
Link Building To Improve Search Engine Rank
As the competition increasing every day so when you are planning to make business online then you need to optimize your site For this Search Engine Optimization or SEO is getting popular every day
SEO Link Building and Copywriting Service Relaunched by Search Engine Optimization Firm Brick Marketing
Brick Marketing has realized the importance of incorporating and combining link building into all aspects of online marketing for each of their clients. They have since re-launched their link building service for those interested in introducing online marketing in their business model.
Build Links, Increase Page Rank, Increase Traffic
Search Engines in the last couple of years are giving more weight to one way links with a similar theme, these links are a vote of trust and confidence for your website, they are so important that they help your site in the rankings of search engines. One search engine in particular uses link popularity, that search engine is Google. When you improve your link popularity it will eventually move your site up in the serps, this is the goals of every webmaster.
Buying Links - How To Make Sure That The Links You Buy Are Worth It
Before you start looking at links to buy you need to know that not all links for sale are worth it There are many things that you need to look at before you buy those links
Linking for Traffic: The Shift from Link Directories to Hyper-Targeted Linking
There's a stiff wind blowing in a new direction on the web. And you'd benefit from taking the time to notice the direction its headed.
Using Back Links to Get Top Search Engine Ranking
There are no hidden secrets on how to rank high with the major search engines. All that is needed is a basic understanding of how search engines work and a bit of know how.
Link Survey Version 1.6: Improve Search Engine Ranking by Learning About Competitors
AntsSoft today announced the release of Link Survey version 1.6, the first software in the world which can check link popularity of multiple relative websites, make comprehensive analysis, and generate a detailed report.
Is Exchanging Links Better Than One Way Links
When establishing links and exchanging links this helps your rankings with the search engines and builds on connecting with other business owners. When exchanging links with other webmasters you will need to give them your code and you will need to use their code on your site.
Smart Link's Local Submit Enhances SEO for Vertical Search Engines
Smart Link Web, a Michigan based (http://profiles.smartlinksolutions.com) leader in search engine optimization (SEO), now offers a method for small and local businesses to climb to the top of search engine rankings. This is in response to Google's recent change in its search results through the vertical search system. It introduces Smart Link Local Submit to give local and small scale businesses an edge in the field of online business. Unlike the traditional horizontal counterpart, vertical search results place local businesses above the normal organic results. Vertical searches are focused on the particular - and the online user is given ...
Increase Your Search Engine Ranking With Non-Reciprocal Link Building
You don?t need to be taught over and over that one of the most effective and powerful ways of obtaining the best position in search engines is through link building Because of this, there are already a lot of webmasters that would either send you an e-mail or drop you a call, requesting for a link exchange with you
Link Building: To Link, or Not to Link, That is the Question
Lately, there have been a lot of heated discussions regarding link building. Is it ethical to create a link building campaign? Does Google or any other search engine penalize for "link farms" (a bunch of non-related links created for the SOLE purpose of increasing search engine ratings)? Is the "link building era" over?Link FarmsMany webmasters claim that Google penalizes websites for link farms.
