How to Get Backlinks to Your Blog


How to get backlinks still seems to mystify some. If you are new to blogging or have been doing it for awhile and are just figuring out the importance of backlinks, this post should help you out.

Some or all of these backlink tactics you may have heard of but I have placed them in order of what I feel is of importance. I hear bloggers buzzing about different types of SEO and marketing which actually might not be the best option for their blog because it can be time consuming or not the right thing to do at the present moment.

Read through the list and decided for yourself where you need to set priorities for building one way backlinks. Find what interests you. What can you automate or delegate.

What are Backlinks?
A super quicky. You gain page rank by being popular, which determines if you are higher up on a search engines front page or not. That is what you should strive for if your serious about traffic and SEO. The more backlinks you have the more popular you are in the eyes of search engines.

Add carefully selected keywords to this technique and you're simply unstoppable.

Backlinks guidelines:
  • Build links slowly. Too many backlinks too fast can get your blog penalized. An exact number? Who knows. Keep it simple and you'll have less to worry about.
  • Don't link to crappy sites that link to other crappy sites. (Thank you Gary at impNerd he layed down the law for me. Just don't freakin' do it.)
  • Link exchanges are okay as long as they are relevant to your blog. Don't overdo it and place the nofollow tag in the link. (See previous guideline.)
  • Don't expect your backlinks to show up the minute you create them. There are millions of sites and blogs doing the same thing you are and it takes time to populate info. Don't be discouraged if you do not see immediate results just keep building backlinks. Your efforts will catch up in the end.
  • Use keyword researched anchor text whenever possible if not every single time.
  • Not all backlinks are equal. Some will raise your page rank and some will absolutely screw with it. Some are just a plain ol' backlink which is fine. You need a balance of backlinks that add to your arsenal so just consider backlinks that benefit your PR to having more bang.
  • Have a good portion of backlinks that are relevent to your blog. Yes this is a hard and fast rule but never pass up an opportunity to drop a link on blogs that are not as relevant as long as they are not linking to other crazy sites.
In order of importance here is how to get backlinks:

Useful Content
Hands down this is the number one way to get backlinks. These are the posts that people backlink to, bookmark and pass around. They incorporate them into their posts, add them to link lists, save them for when they need them, email them to friends, send them out in newsletters or add them to their articles.

When you write useful posts you also get your post or blog, as I like to call it 'socialized'. You get Stumbled, Dugg, Del.icio.us'ed, Mixxed and Twittered, etc.

The best types of content are lists, benefits, tools and how to's. Interviews work well and facts v. myth type posts are also good. Example: '10 Backlinks Facts' or '5 Myths about Backlinks'. Another example ' 8 Reasons to Use Blah'. Fill in the blah.

Whatever you have researched or feel that you are somewhat specialized in it makes for usefulness.

Great content helps your reader either accomplish a task or changes their point of view. This is win-win. Readers benefit from the info and you have the potential for backlinks.

Forums
This is by far the easiest. Most forums allow multiple links in signatures and some forums are no-nofollow. That's a bonus. Add to the fact that you can add your own links to forum posts and it's practically backlink building on auto pilot. Don't get too spammy and don't forget to backlink to some of your favorite sites that contribute to the conversation. "Hi all. I used http://such-and-such"... You want others to do the same for you right? You'd better be doing it too! Double standards have a way of catching up with you sooner or later.

Social Bookmarking
I say social bookmarking is before social networking because you get it out of the way to go work on other things. Sites are constantly updating so let them do the work for you. While that is kicking in it's time to socialize.

Social Networking
Honestly people tend to think that social networking is not good for backlinks. Obviously if you find sites that have a no-nofollow policy that is a bonus. Again you can end up getting two or three backlinks from sites that are affiliated with each other. Plus there is the potential for traffic and if you created useful content in the first place it may get passed around.

Look for sites that encourage you to submit your own content. There are more than a few out there.

Comment Marketing
Why do I think commenting is high priority? It's very easy to do and not so time consuming once you set everything up. There is also the potential for traffic. Subscribe to blogs that are similar or of interests to yours and when you find yourself at a loss as what to do, go comment. Subscribe to your own comments so you can reply to questions faster. You can also backlink to your own site in the comments area.

Press Releases
PR's are immediate and depending on the site you can either get link juice or they will allow more than one link to your site. Keyword them correctly and they will be high up in the SERPs if not in the top 3 spots. Send out press releases on a regular basis to keep people up to date on your blog. Next to a great blog post spend your time writing up press releases.

Internal Links
&
Blog Directories
This is a toss up in my opinion. Some people swear by directories but I find that if you are going to do it, it's something to either pay to have someone else to do it or something you do from time to time. Doing the research on a regular basis can be a drag and time consuming. Try and do it all in one shot if you can. Here is a tip, do it quarterly.

I'm so old school I believe the best way to market is to have someone else talk about you rather than direct advertising. In this case that can actually be a more practical backlink at someone elses' expense.

Internal links are great because you are already blogging and writing posts so you don't have to go far for the backlink. (See 'comment marketing'.) Make sure your internal links are no-nofollow. I put it low on the totem pole because it seems that if it is over used you could get slapped for it. Please someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Links Swaps & Exchanges
&
Guest Posting/Carnivals
Or as I like to call it OPBs = Other Peoples Blogs.

Again another toss up. I've got a white hat heart and a black hat mind. Both tactics are debatable so use them at your own discretion.

Links exchanges are best in the form of banners and you can be blatant about adding them to a blog roll as long as they are relevant to your site and aren't attached to anything crappy. If you exchange links with just about anyone, it's a total crap shoot for a lot of reasons.

Blogrolls are for your buds or your own sites and not anyone else.

Another form of link exchange is guest posting. Again I say debatable because you may get backlinks and traffic but sometimes your useful content is better used for yourself unless there is come cash involved. Then who cares right? Ha ha. Yes I am a total believer in selling out too.

If you have good content they will write about you and backlink anyway. If you are going to use this method, offer your articles and let the blog masters pick and choose. Be leary of those who ask you to post for free unless they check out or you know them.

Ezines & Article Directories
Am I crazy to put this at the bottom of the list? Probably but I would say unless you are a whiz with keywords this is very time consuming and the rules are changing as we blog.

Ezines are better than article directories because if you provide great content someone is bound to add it to one of their articles or blog anyway.

You can have multiple backlinks to your sites from article directories and people use your content and then there is another backlink, but that is for people who are serious about content. Most are not.

Save your valuable keyword researched information for your own blog. If you just want to write and become an authority then it wouldn't hurt to add some links to your site and not have to dread over SEO. Some directories allow duplicate content because they just want more pages for CPM clicks and to have a variety of searches to win the hearts of paying advertisers. Tons of articles benefit mostly the directory, as they are always looking for free content.

Over time you will get traffic if that is your goal for article marketing. So add articles over time and include your backlinks.

Unless you have a system down, article marketing is better left for affiliate marketing or bloggers who want to be known as writers, and writers who want to be considered experts.

This is the end my friend.

If you want more specifics please see my tools area over to the right which I've been updating as I find helpful blog posts.

Please comment especially if you disagree with any of the info provided in this post. This is my opinion as far as priorities go. I get a lot of questions asking about SEO and some bloggers are working backwards or not implementing backlinks at all and that is going to get them nowhere quick. Or at least somewhere that they really don't want to be at all even quicker!

For your amusement: There is only one researched keyword, used once and only one backlink in this post.

Photo: existentist


Comments

  1. Thanks for the details about article marketing as backlink source

    ReplyDelete
  2. Very useful tips, I tried the comment marketing this week and now my comments are getting flagged as spam, I hope it doesn't happen this time!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for the useful tips. Just started out in blogging by setting up a recipe site for my wife, and now learning about promoting it.
    Radiance Recipes

    ReplyDelete
  4. @Seonewbie article marketing can be good. Keep in mind keywords are a big part of gaming that system.

    @VM I watched the dog vid on your site the other day it was too cool! You're good to comment. :)

    @Anjay no thank you for dropping a link to the cooking site. I cook a lot of vegetarian (and non-veg.) so thanks again. I'm glad the info was helpful.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Backlinks are pretty important. Yahoo and Google credit them a little different. You will find you get more backlinks from yahoo than google.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Very useful article to me, regarding my poor link popularity, i hope i can improve this, thanks for sharing

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great post. Most people dont realize how important backlinks are. Also good to point out the authority of the backlink site that it is coming from.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Can you post a list of blog directories if you have it?

    ReplyDelete
  9. excuse my ignorance but I don't get back links at all? good post tho. I don't get all the technical stuff!~ha
    hb

    ReplyDelete
  10. This specific topic is discussed on a regular basis on internet but still it is better for newbie's to collect as much information as possible to improve their site traffic. Must say a good post.

    ReplyDelete
  11. @seo6nik go to this link for Blog Directories:

    Blog Tools by PR

    @harleyblues no worries a lot of people don't. There is so much info on the web it can bee tough to digest a lot of it. If you need more help with backlinks let me know. :)

    @web tools Thank you for the compliment and yes this is a topic that gets a lot of attention and some people are still catching on.

    I never posted about it before because I thought the topic was widely known. Now I'm listening to what people want to learn about and posting it. Thanks again.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Good tips. People should definitely understand both the positive and negative impact of backlinks...

    ReplyDelete
  13. Some good ideas. I still think that a lot of the effort needs to be put into good content and then some of the other ideas kind of look after themselves.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Thanks for the great information...I'm newbie about the backlink i also found much kind of information regarding to get backlink but i got something new here...thanks

    ReplyDelete
  15. Posting on "do follow" forums and putting links in signature is a very good way of getting permanent back links that helps in SEO.

    ReplyDelete
  16. To HarleyBlues This is a good post; one thing that may help explain the importance of a back link is to make a back link with your chosen keyword in it. For example, if you are promoting the keyword "apple pie recipe" be sure you have that phrase in the link itself, and that link sends people directly to your page about an apple pie recipe. Which you have already optimized for the keyword. ; )

    Hope this helps.

    ReplyDelete
  17. All the techniques you shared are really good to acquire free backlinks but remember to check if the source if do follow or no follow specially on blog comments

    ReplyDelete
  18. Using forums is better for me. Make an attractive siggy. Write a thread . Discuss something useful for everybody.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Thanks for the tip about commenting. I'm just putting it into practice.

    ReplyDelete
  20. wow thats was brilliant..... thx man.... i will do the same...

    ReplyDelete
  21. you have provided great backlink strategies which is really useful

    ReplyDelete
  22. Backlink is powerful SEO marketing. I'm starting it for my blog. Traffic is uprising. Thank you for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Thanks for this, very interesting, I'll have to give this a go when I get the time :)

    ReplyDelete
  24. Really great Article. This blog is really a well good guide to go ahead in the internet marketing world. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Thanks for the information for seo marketing it s very intersting

    ReplyDelete
  26. very useful information it can truly benefit anyone that is looking for ways to build backlinks to a website

    ReplyDelete
  27. I believe Google actually gives higher priority to link popularity nowadays as opposed to page rank (I have just proved this with one of my own websites) but many people think that the green bar is the most influential factor.

    Also, although Google says to concentrate on getting quality links, I think people interpret this as high PR links and I don't believe that to be the case. Gettings many links from low PR pages is just as effective in my opinion.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Thanks for genuine ideas! You can add as well that the quality of your backlinks are better than their quantity!

    ReplyDelete
  29. I personally only ever try and get one or two backlinks from any domain. Althought the search engines show the multiple link count from each domain, I don't think they count multiple links from one domain towards SERPS. I maybe wrong but that's my own opinion.

    ReplyDelete
  30. I find Yahoo is really good at updating backlinks very quickly and a good place for checking recently acquired backlinks.

    ReplyDelete
  31. I have 5 backlinks when I check it with Google search engine. But I have 38 backlinks when I check it with Yahoo search engine. Why?

    ReplyDelete
  32. Slow and steady wins the race. I only check my backlink results once per week. Just like my adsense and clickbank. LOL. Ok I check those everyday.

    The key is not to make 3 links and try to prove that they are found my google. Just build a little each day and soon you will see results.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment