Ask any search engine optimizer and he would tell you with a straight face that the SEO industry is one that is extremely dynamic because of Google’s persistence in improving page ranking and indexing formula. As a result of this dynamic nature of the SEO environment, almost every search engine optimizer has come to a place where the link building strategy in question has come to a standstill. For situations where link building strategies have become stagnant, the following are some tips that are sure to get them rolling all over again.
1. Hyperlinks:
Although a very basic point, sometimes search engine optimizers tend to skip them or neglect them. The words inherent in the concerned hyperlink are very crucial to the whole link building campaign. The reason why hyperlinks play such a major role is simply that they fetch better weight when considered in the page ranking formula of major search engines.
2. Content provider:
Link building means that you need your link on other pages in relevant situations. Therefore, what you need to do in a content providing link building strategy or situation is to provide people with the kind of content that they feel would be worth forwarding to other people. The direct result of this is that you get people sharing your articles and videos with their friends, some of whom will, in turn, do the same. It has also been noticed that certain controversial content can incite a lot of publicity and traffic for a page, which would lead to more visitors and impressions amongst the target audience.
3. Competition link hijacking:
This is one of the most common link building strategies these days. Most online businesses try to find out the kind of backward links that their competitors have and then try to get the same for themselves as well. This is especially useful for new businesses because it allows them to get to the level of their competitors sooner.
4. Variable anchor text:
The search engines have become more sensitive to user behavioral dynamics and search engine optimizers’ gimmicks. Using identical anchor text is a technique that is nothing but a method to con the search engine bots. Although this technique used to be useful in the earlier days, it has been a while since the norms changed. Now, in order to get good results from these types of link building strategies, you should use variable anchor text or, at least, make sure that your anchor text alternates and gets shuffled.
5. Link baiting:
With the advent of the newer and smarter ‘reasonable surfer’ concept from Google, link baiting has become one of the most potent link building strategy known to search engine optimizers today. The reason for this is simply that link baiting is an entirely transparent and legal process. Link baiting is very much like providing content, except with a twist. There are primarily five different types of ‘hooks’ or methods used in link baiting. These are the news hooks, the resource hook, the humor hook, the contrary hook and the attack hook. Although many search engine optimizers and bloggers would seem to suggest that the contrary and attack hooks are useful, the majority say that they need to be used in a controlled manner. A link building strategy is designed to create a long term following, which is why rubbing people the wrong way for too long would be counterproductive.
6. Relevant directory submissions:
Directory submissions are very well known for the kind of traffic and page ranking that they can generate. However, the true results of directory submissions will only be visible if you use the right directories and directory pages. In different words, the directory pages should correspond to your area of concern or be as close to it as possible. The best way to find such directories is to conduct a search with directory name and the relevant anchor text together.
7. Building trust:
Google is well known for its elaborate ranking formula which they are always trying to tweak to create the concept of the ‘reasonable surfer’ algorithmically. As any experienced search engine optimizer would tell you, there exists a concept known as the circle of trust in SEO jargon which, basically, means how much Google trusts content from a particular domain or even a person. Investing time and effort in getting into this circle of trust is something that can make a huge difference for a website. Also, if you already have an established website then you can use it to promote other websites and if you are in the circle of trust then you will find it easier to do so.
8. Expired or discontinued pages:
The efficiency and the cost effectiveness of link building strategies like this one are really staggering once you take them both into account simultaneously. This technique looks at using expired and discontinued pages for creating backward links to your website. The reason that this method is so useful is that there are many pages online that have discontinued their service, and some of these pages even hold extremely high page rankings. Furthermore, as these pages have discontinued, your chances of getting backward links on them improve drastically. Also, you can mine these websites for linked pages which would also be beneficial for your link, if used properly. It should be noted that this method is completely white hat and legal.
9. Using twitter and similar networking sites:
Twitter is the mainstay of the social networking circles and this makes it prime for search engine optimizers. Using twitter in your link building strategies would require a certain amount of innovation from you. The method focuses on using locals or even nationals who have had experiences with issues in the industry you function in to create blog posts for you and then encouraging them to share it with their friends. A typical example would be to use a ticket booking and the resulting experience, if you are a booking website or an agent.
Link building strategies are extremely complex in nature. However, you can use this characteristic of a link building strategy to your advantage by thinking up new and innovative techniques of using this complexity as is evident from the techniques mentioned above.
