It is not complicated, is it?
1. Guest Posting: In this post I am going to list the top 5 link building methods that I used and had positive experiences and results with. By the way, this list refers to manual link building only that you, as the blog owner, can approach. User generated backlinks are a whole different story that is not covered in this post.
If done effectively, guest posting is a great way of link building and authority for your blog. I got huge jumps in the SERPs after posting articles on relevant websites and pointing a link or two towards my website.
Most of the blog owners (especially the established ones like Darren Rowse or Daniel Scocco) that accept guest posts have strict guidelines allowing only one or two backlinks at the end of the guest post in the author box. These still are very good links as long as they are do follow and the blog you are posting on has authority.
If you manage to have your link accepted inside the body of the guest post and maybe use a SEOed anchor text the results will be even better (anchor text importance should not be taken lightly). Depending on the number of visits your guest posts will get, the referral traffic can be significant as well.
2. Article Marketing
On one of my blog in a narrower niche I experienced amazing results after submitting 5 or 6 articles to EzineArticles. They allow you to place one link inside the body of the article (below the fold) and another one in the author bio.
The great thing about EzineArticles is that they allow you to pick any anchor text and the links are do follow. This would be my second choice of link building after guest posting.
3. Yahoo Answers
I always like to browse through Yahoo Answers and respond to questions or problems that people post. After you have answered a question, Yahoo allows you to insert a link in the Source box.
Even if the link is no follow I still consider this effective for SEO. Google still sees the backlinks quite fast are reports them in the Webmaster Tools stats.
I see a lot of referral traffic coming from Yahoo Answers.
4. Blog Commenting
Blog commenting is definitely something you need to include in your link building strategy. Even if most of the links you will get will be no follow, having a link in a relevant place will get you traffic.
Try to be the first one who places a comment you will get more from it.
5. Tweeting
Twitter works great if you have a great number of followers. SEO wise I did not noticed any significant change from using it but the referral traffic you can get from it is consistent.
Jane’s Note: Your links of Twitter count as backlinks too. Especially if you are an active tweeter and a good promoter of your own links, then all your links submitted on Twitter count as backlinks, even though they are no follow links. This works with URL shorteners too - Read this post of mine
301 Redirect for passing page rank | How about URL shorteners?
So, these are my top link building methods, I am not claiming that this list is chiseled in stone. Different things work may work for different type of websites, even if you’re using the best SEO consulting service, you can’t change this fact. But never indulge in black hat link building techniques like link exchange or buying backlinks.
Depending on the competition on you niche the results you notice from applying these techniques can vary a lot. The more competition in the niche, the more work you will have to put into SEO link building.
Cristian is an engineer by profession and part time blogger giving free tips on how to improve blogging skills, build traffic and monetizing websites. You can catch him blogging on Glorious Blogger or tweeting @gloriousblogger.
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Ricky says
Hi Cristian,
Great information about backlink building. Really learn much from your post. I have tried blog-commenting method recently and still investigate the efficiency of this method. Is there any technique in blog-commenting?
Regard,
Ricky
Hey Ricky,
Thanks for the first stop.
Cheers,
Jane.
great info here. very helpful for newbie like me. specially on yahoo answers and twitter thing. thanks
Thanks Ricky,
There are several techniques that can improve the efficiency of blog comments. Actually, I just wrote a 2 part series blog post on this topic last week. Firstly, you need to have your comments posted in relevant places, on other blogs in your niche that have high traffic and high authority.
Another very important thing is to be one of the first people that are commenting (like you did now!). The higher on the list your comment is the higher the referral traffic to your site will be. Also, SEO wise is better. Google gives more weight to links that are higher on the page.
Last but not least, make your comment stand out. Make it worth reading, add value to the discussion.
Hope this helps,
Bye
Ricky says
Hi Glorious Blogger,
Really thanks a lot for your detail explanation on how to write an efficient comment and some technique to build backlinks through commenting. I think becoming the first people to leave the comment is very effective and i will try to implement it afterward.
Regard,
Ricky
Nice post Cristian, blog commenting and article marketing are the main things I do for link building. But after the Panda update I reduced the time dedicating for article marketing.
You just missed one point, forums are a good source of backlinks. There are many high PR dofollow forums in the web which can be very useful in link building.
I was oscillating between twitter and forum posting for the #5 spot in my list. Twitter won.
Hi Cristian,
thanks for sharing your link building secrets. Pretty comprehensive list, I would say. Well, above all, we should always pay attention that our link building pattern looks natural.
Take care
Oliver
Hi Oliver,
I totally agree on the natural look of the backlinks aspect you brought into discussion. The wider your sources of links are the better. However, I doubt you will have problems with any search engine by using any of the 5 methods above.
It should be noted, there are several other sites just like yahoo Answers also.
Hi Dennis,
I’m sure there are, but I believe YA is the biggest.
Perhaps Glorious, but if you’re good at that sorta thing, you can probably do it fairly quickly, so why not hit others as well?
I have heard of and used all these methods except for Yahoo answers. I will have to look that up and make use of it. It seems like an excellent list that you posted, and since backlinks are so important, your post should help many people.
Lou Barba
Definitely try YA!
Cristian, aloha. Thx so much for this comprehensive list and, Jane, thx for the inclusion of your comments on tweeting and the 310 redirect post which I found to be quite helpful.
The only one of these methods I have not yet used is Yahoo Answers! Even though so many people I respect speak highly of it, for whatever reason I find I cannot get “excited” about taking the time to learn how to use it effectively.
Cristian, do you use MarketMeSuite as well?
Best wishes for a great weekend. Aloha. Janet
Thank you Janet,
I really enjoy using YA and it is pretty straight forward, you’ll get the hang of it in no time.
I don’t use MarketMeSuite.
Hi Janet & Christian,
I use Market Me Suite and it is a great tool to add to your back linking strategy. TrafficGenerationCafe.com has a great review of it.
The only challenge I have with Market Me Suite is that I don’t remember to use it daily. I need to get in the habit because it would simplify my social media and link building. I just need to get used to using a new program instead of my regular routine.
Fantastic post Christian. I really enjoyed it and I agree with all your link building methods. I have not tried Yahoo Answers yet, but it’s on the list of things I want to try.
Heather
Jesus Owen says
Google has added a new feature in the Google Webmaster Account where in you can link your account to the Google Analytics account and get more detailed statistics on the referral traffic and links. .As per Webmaster Tools Help .In addition to making it easy to visit your Analytics profile directly from Webmaster Tools youll also be able to access your Google Analytics Referring Sites report directly from the Links to your site page in Webmaster Tools.
Good advice. Have been thinking about submitting an article to EzineArticles for a while now. Maybe it’s time to do it instaed of just thinking about it.
Have noticed that Twitterfeed works better for me than any other way of submitting to Twitter. Not sure why.
Cristian,
These are all gems. What I still haven’t made my way over to use is Yahoo Answers for traffic gen. For some reason it always slips my mind as a “to try” when I have some free time. Thanks for the reminder.
You are welcomed Jon, let us know how it goes.
I have been using Yahoo answer a couple of weeks, and really like the system.
But I dont think the traffic is great, and I dont think the communety is as great as it could have been. I see few user uploading profile images, and a lot of users dont bother to rate a best answer.. Hopfully the traffic can be long term and even increase when the yahoo answer starts to rank for the question phrase..
Thanks for the comment,
It takes more time to see the results. After a few months of using it I started to see quite some referral traffic from it. Also, try to get your replies picked as Best Answer.
I think I started using it last summer for one of my sites (not religiously, but every now and then) and the referral traffic is constant coming every month.
Hi Jane,
I have used (am using) all of these methods for backlinking, with the exception of Yahoo Answers (it seems I am not alone here). Since I have limited time and need to work efficiently, how much does Yahoo Answers contribute to your overall backlinking strategy. Is it a major player?
I am curious what your feelings about article marketing are after the latest Google algorithm change?
Thanks!
I think you have some wrong understand that the link from Yahoo Answer is nothing with us. People using Yahoo Answer for just build their traffic website, the link is useless because no anchor text available and no-follow ext.
My experience with YA tells me the otherwise.
I would say the top way is producing great content people link to. Granted these methods all work in concert. Great content no one finds doesn’t do much good. It is true some are successful with strategies that involve getting links to lousy content. I just know for me the most important thing is great content and everything else is just about supporting that and getting some attention to the great content that then will drive traffic.
I totally agree with you. As said in the first paragraph of my article, those 5 methods refer to manual link building methods only, not user generated backlinks.
These are really nice tips for link building, Jane
Well, I am not into link building stuff but I usually like to comment to build relationship with fellow bloggers. That helps better always
Thanks for the comment Shaan.
And I replied to your Yahoo email few days back with banner but got your email again about it. So, sent the same mail again to your Gmail one. If its not in the inbox then please check the Spam folder and let me know if you get it
Hi Jane,
Nice Post. Article Marketing & Guest Posting are most effective ways to build quality backlinks.
Another great way is - Social bookmarking sites. I’m using them and they are great way to generate quality links.
Anyways, Thanks for sharing this great post. Keep up the good work.
~Dev
Yes, bookmarking sites like reddit, digg also very effective, especially if you are sharing interesting information.
I absolutely loved this post, Jane! Thanks so much for making this so much clearer. I’ve just been implementing some SEO and had been thinking a lot about backlinks, so this post came at the perfect time for me! =)
I’m so glad that I’m on the right track. I’ve had some opportunities to guest post recently, regularly comment on other blogs and have just joined Quora. What’s your take on backlinks from Quora v. Yahoo Answers?
I really need to get my butt on Ezine Articles soon too! I have it on my to-do list for sure! =)
Thanks so much, Jane! =)
Very useful topic for discussion, because link building is extremely important for successful development of a blog and any online musiness. When promoting my blog I give a preference to such link development techniques as article marketing, blog posting, commenting topic related blogs, forum posting and social networking. Blog commenting is a very method when you promote blogs.
Hi, Cristian
Indeed all the points mentioned by you are really worth doing while getting backlinks to your site or blog. But personally for me the most effective are blog commenting, social bookmarking and twitter. Article submission is less effective than guest blogging so I will start this as well.
Sound Good! I would say it is natural ways of getting links. Links from natural ways will no doubt get more exposure on the internet and boost the credibility of our blog or site in the eyes of search engine resulting.
Akash says
Hi, Cristian,
Thanks for sharing good post, yahoo answers have generated a good traffic, recently stated a twitter account, haven’t done guest blogging till now would surly think of it..
Regards,
Akash
Definitely start to guest blog.
A. Hagan@Anchor text links says
And remember - always shoot for keyword rich anchor text when you are trying to get links. Figure out what you want your site to rank for, and then go for it! Any links help, but if you are trying to rank anchor text is instrumental.
Best of luck!
Andrew
That is a good point, but hard to achieve especially when guest posting. Don’t expect blog owners to allow you use SEO’d anchor texts all over.
Elina says
Just a comment; hubpages is also a good directory to write for them and leave links.
Yes, I’ve heard HB are good for SEO also, but haven’t tested yet.
I want to add my voice to Ezine articles and Yahoo answers. I am having a blast of traffic with them, especially for my niche sites. Love the list since I am using all of these for link building.
Glad to see you are seeing results with YA.
Yahoo answers is a very rich source from where you can drive traffic to your blog. very nice article.
I agree Atish. Thanks for dropping by :).
Good advice. I will try to do, so my blog can get a lot of traffic. To twitter so far I have not been able to get much traffic from there, maybe you can share your experience about it. Thanks.
Well, the best way is to get your post tweeted by people how have lots of followers. Try contacting them, make new friends, socialize.
Hi Cristian,
Some sound strategies. Other good ones to try are re-purposing content into video and posting on video sites, participating in forums, and submitting your blog to relevant directories.
As you mentioned, different strategies work better for different niches and individuals so it’s worth finding what works for you and then going hard at it…
Thanks for this nice, simple round up of blog backlink building.
All the best,
Jym
You care welcomed Jym. Unfortunately I haven’t got the change to measure the results of videos. That is on my “to do” list. Thanks for reminding me.
Bye,
An amazing article once again, very informative and well written. Will defo be coming back for more. Keep up the good work.
Glad you liked it. Thanks for dropping by.
Cheolsu@Orkut Login says
This is very helpful to build back-links for my blog. This is my first visit to your blog.
Thanks for the compliment and for the visit Cheolsu.
thanks for this information. I am trying to build my blog so I can monetize it more. I have been blogging for awhile and just now that I am learning this SEO and all kinds of internet stuff.
Good luck with your project. I have one tip for you: patience.
Yahoo Answers is something few people use, to their disadvantage, because the method can bring a lot of traffic and returning readers. However, it can be considered time consuming and, well… you do need to have some general knowledge to be able to answer a wider range or questions.
Just narrow it down to your niche.
I Think Blog Commenting works great. I haven’t used Yahoo Answer yet. You can also include Directory Submission, it also gets huge backlinks if done effectively.
I don’t use directory submissions that much anymore, so I can’t say if it’s good or bad, but my feeling is that it does not carry that much weight anymore.
I don’t use directory submissions that much anymore, so I can’t say if it’s good or bad, but my feeling is that it does not carry that much weight.
Yahoo Answers is still un untapped territory for me, i keep delaying the moment when i’ll buy 10 or 20 accounts and start a serious campaign on Yahoo. However… i have doubts about its efficiency, i can’t think of any other reason why i haven’t done it already.
Hey Martin,
Depending on the way you approach YA can have poor to very good results. My recommendation is to target only questions that you or your website really have a solution for.
Great advice, i can already imagine the work load need to achieve those “very good results” you mention.
But i’ll give it a try, i don’t really need great result in the beginning, just to see something moving in that area.
Let us know how it goes.
Ajinkya Patwardhan says
Excellent because most informative article about building backlinks. These sound strategies will definitely help the bloggers.
Thanks for the kind words. I’m glad to help.
waseem says
I was searching about this for a long time. Most of the website suggest me to use auto commentor. Do it is safe and really works.
Nice article…didn’t think of yahoo answers as a seo tool. Thanks!
As I said, I noticed an increase in rankings for one of my micro niche websites after using YA. The referral traffic is also good.
Wow - great work you did here.
I also think that twitter is a great seo tool and should be used.
Santap
Thanks for the kind words mate.
Hi, nice suggestions of building backlinks. How about link exchange do you consider it an effective way of building backlinks?
These are all great tips, I knew of a couple already but I have to admit that there were a couple on there I hadn’t thought of!! Thanks for the advice
Natasha
Hey Christian,
I believe all twitter links are no-follow, so seo wise twitter is useless. If you have a lot of followers you can of course get a lot of traffic though.
Nice post Cristian.
I think YA is one method that most people have problem with and that’s because most people start posting links in their answers as soon as they register with the site. You have to be patience and establish yourself first(especially in the eyes of the moderators- who to be honest aren’t really doing a good job any way).
Another tip would be to provide answer on different topics and not just related to your niche. And not inserting links into all of your answers is another way to keep your link up forever, along with genuinely contributing and helping others.
I also see that guest posting, article marketing and blog commenting are the best ways to get backlinks to your site. As far as yahoo answer is concerned, it is nofollow but you get traffic from the site and of course tweeting the post can give you traffic and sales as well. Thanks for sharing the awesome ideas.
Nice post Cristian, blog commenting and article marketing are the main things I do for link building.
I have used most of these methods with great success Christian.
Possibly the only one I haven’t used a lot is the Yahoo answers….. perhaps a new strategy for 2012.
When using this strategy you also get to flex your expertise.
Andrew McDonald says
Thanks for the useful commentary on this. Its useful to hear tips on backlinks from someone with proper knowledge
Much appreciated
Jen says
I don’t have a twitter yet! I’m just starting and learning a lot from your blog. I use Google plus and this is the only way for now I can build links. Is Facebook good for link building? I have a facebook account.
Hi this was very helpful especially the bit on twitter I hadn’t got that far yet so for that clarification on twitter.
Thanks lee
Hi I knew there was a reason I wanted to come back to this post. It was niggerling at me and I have just gone through your posts to find this one. It was ezinearticles. I couldn’t remember what it was called.
For that info thanks lee
Hi just a bit of info I tried to sign up to ezinearticles on my I pad. Ended up very frustrating. I went through the form only takes a minute or two. But then it wouldn’t let me move the circle across to the correct number to confirm I wasn’t a scammer . Really frustrating had to go on my pc and start again. I suppose I am whining ove rnothing about my I pad really.
I will stop now thanks lee
Ron Carter says
This was a fantastic article. I appreciate your helpful tips on building real backlinks. I will try ezine articles right of the bat.
Thanks