Accumulating Backlinks
The title of my first article was Google PageRank
and How to Get It. I thought I answered the "how to get it" question by indicating in the chart that
accompanied that article how many backlinks, or inbound links (IBL), are needed from various PageRank (PR) level
sites to achieve a desired PR. For instance the chart indicated that you can achieve a PR6 with either 101 links
from PR5 pages or one link from a PR8 page. However, several readers wrote me and said that I had not answered
the "how to get it" question. What they wanted was an explanation, or tutorial, on how to accumulate the necessary
number of backlinks. This article will attempt to explain the various techniques that can be used to accumulate
backlinks.
Internal Backlinks and Navigation
Backlinks are normally thought of as links from outside or external sites. However it must be remembered that
Google also counts internal links or navigational links within the site as part of the PR calculation. So let's
take a minute and deal with that first.
Google uses a program known as the googlebot to crawl, or read, web page content. The most important thing to
remember about internal navigation is that the googlebot must be able to read and follow the links. The googlebot
cannot do this if the links are exclusively javascript or some other non-html scripting or programming language.
The best links for the googlebot are straightforward text links. Images can be used as links, but alt tags should
always be used in conjunction with these image links. If you are simply in love with the mouse over, drop down
navigation that you can program with javascript then you must also supply the googlebot with text links that it
can read.
This is normally done by placing simple text links across the bottom of each page, or on large sites with many
interior pages or sections, by the use of a site map.
Assuming that the googlebot can find and follow a link to every internal page, how do we maximize the PageRank
that is generated by these pages? Normally our initial concern is to transfer as much PR as possible to our home
page. The way that this is done is to make sure that there is a Google readable link on every page pointing back
to the home page. If you use a site map there should also be a text link on every page pointing to the site map.
I haven't got the space to go into all the other nuances of internal linking, but rather than try to link to every
page from the home page, it is best to link only to the major category pages. The category pages will then link to
all of the individual pages in their category and these third level pages will all link back to their category page
as well as the home page and site map as mentioned above. This general hierarchical structure will transfer the
highest PR possible to the home page and site map, and the next highest level of PR to the category pages.
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How to Get External Backlinks
Finally we arrive at the part of the article the readers were really asking for. There are an unlimited number
of ways to accumulate IBL or backlinks. Here are the four most common ways:
List your site in as many Directories as possible. Engage in a reciprocal linking campaign. Buy backlinks. Write
newsletters or articles and get them published on other sites or in your own blog. Some purists advocate a fifth
way of accumulating links. They maintain that if your page has enough outstanding content that people will put up
links as a service to their viewers without asking for, or demanding, a link back in return. That is certainly
possible for some types of sites, but is not generally a viable method for competitive commercial web sites.
Submit to Directories
There are many directories, both paid submission and free, where you can submit your site. The most famous is
probably the DMOZ directory, however be prepared for a long wait to get into this directory. Many of the other
directories like GoGuides, Joeant, Gimpsy and the brand new Bluefind will charge you about $40 as a submission
fee. Then of course there is Yahoo which will charge you $300 just to review your site with no guarantee of
inclusion.
Depending on your market place and demographics there may be many regional, local or industry specific directories
available. Some are free and others have a nominal inclusion fee.
Reciprocal Links
Let's deal with the objection that some people have to reciprocal links. Some "experts" claim that Google devalues
reciprocal links. I don't believe this, but rather than attempt to tell you why I would rather refer you to
this article written by a leading link building
expert.
So how can you find people who are willing to exchange links with you? One of the simplest ways is to search in
Google for your prime keywords. Then do a "search within results" for all the pages that contain "add your URL"
or "add your link". The other variation on this is to do a link: search on the top 10 or 20 pages. This will show
you all the pages that link to these sites. You can then contact the webmasters of these sites and ask them to
exchange links with you.
If you are really serious about reciprocal linking you may want to use some software that will help you organize
and monitor your links. As part of managing a reciprocal linking program you need constantly to be checking for
dead links from your site, and to verify that all the reciprocal links from other sites are up and running. The
software I use for this purpose is LinksManager.
Buy Backlinks
There are a number of sites that will sell you links. Some people are horrified at this thought, but I see no
difference between buying links and online advertising. If you pay to have a banner displayed on a busy web site,
you are also buying a link.
It is possible to buy individual links, or to buy what are known as "run of the site" links. These are
normally text links from every page on the site. An entire industry has grown up around link buying. There is an
auction site dedicated exclusively to buying and selling links and there are several link brokers and re-sellers
on the Internet.
Anchor Text
To get the maximum return for your investment make sure that you use your prime keyword phrases as anchor text in
all your IBL. This practice should even be employed with internal links. Try and exchange links with sites that
are related in content and theme to your own site. This may mean that you will have to link to your competitors
on some occasions.
Articles, Newsletters etc.
If you want to have links from relevant and related pages without linking to a competitor the easiest way to
accomplish this is to write an article, or a series of articles, about your industry or market niche, and link to
your site from these. There are many people who are looking for, and will publish, good articles.
SiteProNews is one example of this. I also publish a collection of
articles in my InfoPool, and am always looking for new articles and good content.
Link Building is Hard Work
There is no free lunch when it comes to link building. With the possible exception of purchasing links, accumulating
and managing an aggressive linking campaign is continuous hard work. However, experience has shown that if you want
to place well in the SERPs for competitive search terms you really have no other choice.
Addendum:
Since I wrote this article I have become aware of two exciting new linking opportunities.
The first is a free Ad Network designed and operated by Shawn at DigitalPoint, the home of so many excellent
SEO tools. The Ad Network is a network of web site owners who are displaying banners and text links for each
other in available space on their web sites. If you are interested in investigating and using this interesting
link exchange service here is a link to the
Ad Network.
The other service is a paid service out of England offered by BriteCorp. For 39.95 British pounds per month
(approximately $70 US) Brian of BriteCorp will create 50 new links a day for you. This is a approximately 1,500
per month or 10,000 over six months.
Brian has offered this special promotional code to readers of this article: Code:"brite200/1" For complete
information follow this link to
BriteCorp and be sure to use the promotional code.
About The Author
Bob Wakfer is the owner of Computer Partners and a long time student and
practitioner of SEO. Computer Partners offers web site design, hosting and search engine optimization for its
clients. If you would like to discuss any of these services with Bob you can email him at
bob@compar.com.
