Inbound linkbuilding

Search engine optimisation doesn’t just happen.  It takes a lot of hard work and dedication.  Link building is a very time consuming, but rewarding area of SEO.

Now, as we have mentioned in other articles, this process has evolved.  It isn’t about linking to large numbers of any old websites for the sake of it (something which used to jump you up the SERPS a few years ago).  Instead, it’s a carefully thought out procedure which can include a few different approaches.  Here are a few of them:

Reciprocal links

An agreement where you place a link on your website in exchange for a backlink from another website.  This can be done with your partners/clients or friends.  The website you are linking to should be ‘white hat’ (optimised to comply with the search engines) and should ideally have good PageRank.  Otherwise, its not really worthwhile.  Don’t link to a SPAM site, even if it’s a friends!

See who the competition is linked to

Run your competitors URL through Yahoo site explorer.  This gives you the opportunity to see all of the backlinks that connect to their site.  You can then go onto a few of these sites and see if there is any opportunity for you to gain links from them.

Use social media

There are a huge amount of social media websites available for free.  For more information please see our social media article. 

Links from social media websites are liked by Google, and if your social media pages are popular, you should be able to generate a good amount of traffic through this strategy.

Submit your site to directories

You should submit your site to directories.  This gives you the opportunity to gain a backlink with your chosen keywords.  The obvious choice is Dmoz which is the Open Directory.  Most websites and search engines read from the Open Directory and most importantly the Google Directory is created from the data included in the Open Directory.  Yahoo directory is also recommended but comes at a recurring annual fee of $299.

Comment on blogs

This is a really good strategy which is now undertaken by all serious online marketers.  Essentially you have to find a blog which specialises in your sector.  You then have to choose an article to comment on.  Post your comment, and gain a backlink to your website.

You need to devise a valid comment, which gives constructive feedback on the article.  You can choose to write your comment either for PageRank or for blatant advertising of your site.  Most would choose PageRank as a reason, as your comment will be more subtle and therefore less likely to be removed.

I would always run the link for the blog article through a PageRank checker just to ensure that you are commenting on a page with good PageRank.  For instance – www.austeritybill.co.uk might have a PageRank of 6.  But an article they have just written which has the url – www.austeritybill.co.uk/article1 might have a PageRank of 0, however that will improve in the future if on a reputable blog.

Professional bodies

Most professional websites, such as governmental or university sites, have a very high PageRank.  A link from a site of this stature can only be beneficial.  If your company is governed by a professional body, try and get a link from its website.

Internal links

Ensure that your website is optimised properly by including internal links between your pages.  Linking pages internally is looked upon favourably by Google.  It also helps to spread PageRank throughout the pages on your website.