As Google continues to roll out update after update, it appears that the days of black hat SEO are slowly coming to an end. The quantity of backlinks pointing to a site is slowly becoming irrelevant. And in its place, there’s a new focus on both quality and relevancy.
It follows that if you want to rank in Google, you need to take a much more measured and focused approach towards backlink building. Fail to do so and it’s only a matter of time before you are penalized.
Here are eight simple tips for building backlinks that are likely to help, rather than hinder, your attempts to get on the first page of Google.
Stop Taking Shortcuts
First off, there’s the small matter of shortcuts, you have to stop taking them. The best backlinks take time to build and they’re not created using automation. They’re also not purchased by the thousand on fiverr.com.
The days of lazy internet marketers turning a profit are well and truly over. If you want to rank, short cuts need to be replaced with hard work and careful planning. These days, poorly thought out SEO campaigns will harm your site before they help it.
Use a Wide Variety of Sources
Your backlinks should be both no follow and do follow. They should come from both high PR and low PR sources. Focus on web directories one week and article directories the next.
The point is to mix things up as much as possible. The more variety in your backlinks, the more natural they are going to look. And the more natural they look, the less likely you are to be penalized.
Use Varied Anchor Text
One of the most common causes of Google penalties right now is duplicate anchor text. The reason for this is simple, when backlinks are created organically i.e. by someone other than you, the odds of them all having identical anchor text are slim to none.
Your primary keywords should be used no more than twenty percent of the time. There’s no rule that says you can’t simply use phrases such as “click here”.
Have Patience
These days, another easy way to find yourself getting penalized is to simply build too many backlinks too soon. Patience has therefore never been more important.
If your site is new, limit yourself to building a hundred backlinks per month. This mightn’t seem like a lot but provided you focus on quality over quantity, a hundred backlinks is more than enough to get noticed by Google.
Be Relevant
Rather than obsessing over page rank and domain authority, obsess over relevancy. Build backlinks on sites, blogs and forums that are genuinely relevant to your niche. They look significantly more natural and therefore carry significantly more weight. Comment on relevant blogs, become an active member of relevant forums and answer relevant questions on Q and A sites. This will greatly help you in building relevant links.
Copy Your Competitors
The most challenging aspect of building relevant backlinks is simply finding the right places to build them. Instead of searching Google, why not just ask your competitors where they got theirs?
Make a list of the top ten sites ranking for your target keywords andhttp://opensiteexplorer.com will do the rest. You might be surprised by how easy it is to rank when you’re literally given the instructions on how to do so.
Stick to Respectable Sources
Think long and hard about who you want your site to be associated with. Backlinks built on websites that are regularly targeted by spammers are no longer going to help you.
Web and article directories can still be a valuable source of backlinks but only if you stick to the human edited variety. The same logic applies to blog commenting, if a blogger doesn’t take the time to manually approve his comment sections, don’t leave a comment.
Don’t Build Them All Yourself
Finally, there’s the small matter of link bait content, it’s never been more important.
It doesn’t matter how many updates Google releases, link bait is always going to be powerful. And the reason for this is simple, it leads to 100% natural backlinks.
Ask yourself what your target demographic is really looking for and provide it. Don’t underestimate the power of a single piece of link bait content to attract natural backlinks for years to come
It follows that if you want to rank in Google, you need to take a much more measured and focused approach towards backlink building. Fail to do so and it’s only a matter of time before you are penalized.
Here are eight simple tips for building backlinks that are likely to help, rather than hinder, your attempts to get on the first page of Google.
Stop Taking Shortcuts
First off, there’s the small matter of shortcuts, you have to stop taking them. The best backlinks take time to build and they’re not created using automation. They’re also not purchased by the thousand on fiverr.com.
The days of lazy internet marketers turning a profit are well and truly over. If you want to rank, short cuts need to be replaced with hard work and careful planning. These days, poorly thought out SEO campaigns will harm your site before they help it.
Use a Wide Variety of Sources
Your backlinks should be both no follow and do follow. They should come from both high PR and low PR sources. Focus on web directories one week and article directories the next.
The point is to mix things up as much as possible. The more variety in your backlinks, the more natural they are going to look. And the more natural they look, the less likely you are to be penalized.
Use Varied Anchor Text
One of the most common causes of Google penalties right now is duplicate anchor text. The reason for this is simple, when backlinks are created organically i.e. by someone other than you, the odds of them all having identical anchor text are slim to none.
Your primary keywords should be used no more than twenty percent of the time. There’s no rule that says you can’t simply use phrases such as “click here”.
Have Patience
These days, another easy way to find yourself getting penalized is to simply build too many backlinks too soon. Patience has therefore never been more important.
If your site is new, limit yourself to building a hundred backlinks per month. This mightn’t seem like a lot but provided you focus on quality over quantity, a hundred backlinks is more than enough to get noticed by Google.
Be Relevant
Rather than obsessing over page rank and domain authority, obsess over relevancy. Build backlinks on sites, blogs and forums that are genuinely relevant to your niche. They look significantly more natural and therefore carry significantly more weight. Comment on relevant blogs, become an active member of relevant forums and answer relevant questions on Q and A sites. This will greatly help you in building relevant links.
Copy Your Competitors
The most challenging aspect of building relevant backlinks is simply finding the right places to build them. Instead of searching Google, why not just ask your competitors where they got theirs?
Make a list of the top ten sites ranking for your target keywords andhttp://opensiteexplorer.com will do the rest. You might be surprised by how easy it is to rank when you’re literally given the instructions on how to do so.
Stick to Respectable Sources
Think long and hard about who you want your site to be associated with. Backlinks built on websites that are regularly targeted by spammers are no longer going to help you.
Web and article directories can still be a valuable source of backlinks but only if you stick to the human edited variety. The same logic applies to blog commenting, if a blogger doesn’t take the time to manually approve his comment sections, don’t leave a comment.
Don’t Build Them All Yourself
Finally, there’s the small matter of link bait content, it’s never been more important.
It doesn’t matter how many updates Google releases, link bait is always going to be powerful. And the reason for this is simple, it leads to 100% natural backlinks.
Ask yourself what your target demographic is really looking for and provide it. Don’t underestimate the power of a single piece of link bait content to attract natural backlinks for years to come
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