Most people are aware that successful search engine optimisation campaigns are determined by effective link building strategies. Despite significant changes to the search landscape in recent months, with the introduction of personalized search and real-time results, the fact remains that inbound links from high-quality, trusted websites will help you to rank better on your target keywords. Unfortunately, the fact also remains that link building is, to be perfectly honest, a difficult, time-consuming and often very tedious activity. However, there are some great resources out there that can help take away some of the pain. These include:
Link Building Introduction Guides
If you’re new to search engine marketing and you’re looking for ideas on how to go about instigating your own link building campaign there are several excellent walk-throughs out there to get you started. California based SEO guru, Aaron Wall, offers one of the most linked-to, link building guides on the web: “How to Build Links Fast“. With over 5000 links pointing to this post, this article is proof itself that building useful, detailed content will generate you links. Other excellent introductions include Saad Kamal’s “Link-Building: A Complete Walk-through” and the Search Engine Roundtable’s “Blow Your Mind Link Building Techniques“; the latter’s unnecessary use of title hyperbole masks an excellent article.
Link Building Gurus
The majority of the established SEO “gurus” offer detailed resources, tools, advice and varying advanced strategies which you can find published on their websites or blogs. U.S based link building expert, Eric Ward, offers some great advice on his site. Multi-national organisations are known to consult Austrian based link marketer Christopher Cemper, who also offers some great advanced link analysis tools (see below). Debra Mastaler’s Link Spiel is packed full of engaging articles. Other recognized, “authorities” include Danny Sullivan’s Search Engine Land and Rand Fishkin’s SEOmoz.
Link Building Tools
Conducting successful SEO campaigns requires the use of efficient tools. Many SEO consultants use their own privately developed software, however there are some industry recognized tools that are worth investing in if you are new to search engine marketing and looking to conduct your own link building campaigns. SEO Powersuite and iBusiness Promoter’s link management tools are useful as “all-in-one” SEO packages. For browser based analysis it’s definately worth installing the SEO Toolbar, which offers a snapshot of page and domain link totals and much more besides. For advanced link analysis, Christopher Cemper’s Link Research Tools are highly recommended. Previously used privately by Christopher’s company, these tools are industry leading and offer an immense amount of detailed and valuable information, including analysis of common backlinks (comparing sites in your neighbourhood) and common outbound links (analysing where your competitor’s commonly link to). Ontolo’s link prospecting tools are also worth taking a look at here.
Networking and Events
Another way to generate inspiration for your link building campaigns is to network, attend the major search conferences and listen to the experts. AdTech and SEO Strategies and both worth signing up for. Several of the gurus named above discuss tactics on this open debate here.
Finally, you need to collate what you learn to determine the best strategy for building links. This will vary considerably from site to site, according to your niche, but if you follow best practice, stick to ethical methods and keep generating great content, you will eventually succeed in the search engines.