Google’s Penguin update for fighting web spam was on 24th April 2012. It created a huge impact to many SEO companies and webmasters with respect to how they perform on-page and off-page search engine optimization moving forward. Ethical link building plays a very important role in off page activity as they relate to rankings. Any link building strategies can make or break a site in the search engines.
However, one of the most difficult and complex parts of search engine marketing is link building popularity. I emphasize this complex task because webmasters should have a good understanding of links and deep analysis of many linking factors including the anchor text. If you engage in link farms and paid link building strategies then you can easily find yourself booted out of a search engine. Rather, the search engines want links from authoritative sites, or links from sites that share the same focus as your site.
I’ve put together the most comprehensive list of link building strategies that can be helpful when building links for your website.
- Competitor Analysis – Start link building analysis of your competitor links and targeted keyword phrases. I recommend using Open Site Explorer, Link Diagnosis, Majestic SEO, Raven Tools and (last but not least) Link Research Tools. Not only you can find new linking opportunities within your industry, you can also monitor what your competitors are doing.
- Guest Posting – Guest posting helps you to build brand recognition and get you some good links. I would suggest that instead of focusing on writing 1-2 guest posts, put together a plan to write 20-50 guest posts with high quality content.
- Social Media/Business Profiles – Get involved on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ and share your content with similar industry audiences.
- Infographics– Do some research on the subject of info graphics and create content with great visualization and fresh content, so that many people can be exposed your work.
- Video Marketing – Publish videos on YouTube, Vimeo or other top video sites to promote and strategically rank your video content.
- Directory Listings – Submit your site in major directories e.g. Yahoo, ODP, BOTW etc. Whether you’re a global or local company your business must listed in local directories as well.
- Article Marketing – Do some research and submit your articles in only those sites where you can find real readership. E.g. if you have articles related to technology then you should check Techmeme leaderboard.
Prior to the Google Penguin update, anchor text was very critical to rankings. With this newest update, Google is looking for “natural” anchor text in content, so diversifying anchor text is key.
Another good read on the subject of link building, by Danny Sullivan, can be found by reading his article – Link Building Means Earning “Hard Links” Not “Easy Links” .
If you have a link building tip, please add this in the comment section below.
