Links are the single most important factor in developing a high page ranking and one of the most vital factors in achieving page one rankings in the search engine results pages. Truly, their SEO value cannot be overstated.
So do you have a strategy for creating links to your blog? If not, there is no time like the present to develop it and get started performing the tasks necessary to achieve your goal of high page rank and good SEO. Take a look at these tips for creating a Blog Linking strategy for various types of links.
Start With What You Have – Internal Links
The easiest way to build links is to create them between your pages, or between your own website and blog. Links between pages on your blog are both natural and easy to create by simply referencing an archived post when you write new content.
If you have a website in addition to your blog, make sure each page includes a link to your blog URL. Simple, yet very effective and by giving visitors something to click on, they’ll stay on your site longer, and maybe buy something or opt-in to your newsletter.
Posting On Other Blogs – Inbound Links
Next, do an internet search for blogs with content related to yours. Determine if they are “dofollow” or “nofollow”. Dofollow blogs are a greater value, but nofollow blogs can also be effective. If in doubt, take a look at the page source screen and perform a search for the term nofollow. If you don’t find it in the page source code, chances are it will allow following of posted links.
Now all you have to do is write a comment in response to one of the blog posts. Most comment boxes include space for your name, email address, and website URL. This is how your link gets created. Do be aware that this could be considered an art form – many people have difficulty getting their comments approved or past the spam filters. It takes time and patience to build links through blog posting, but the results are well worth it.
Ask For Some Love – Link Exchanges
The links of highest value are those from sites with the highest page rankings. If you can’t seem to get your comments approved, try contacting the site owner and asking for a link exchange. This gives you an inbound link and the reciprocating site an outbound link. You might get turned down, but you’ll never know unless you ask.
Show Love For Other Sites – Outbound Links
Don’t limit your outbound links to only your own website; find some blogs you enjoy, or subscribe to, and give them some love while helping your own page’s SEO with outbound links. The higher the site’s pagerank, the better it is for your own search engine marketing purposes.
Your Blog Linking Strategy
Now that you’ve got a good grasp on the techniques involved in building links, devise a Blog Linking strategy to make it happen. Perhaps you could take one day per week to build links of each type listed here. Monday is the day for posting new blog content with at least one internal link, Tuesday is reserved for commenting on others’ blogs with a goal of at least 10 approved, Wednesday is designated as the day to ask for an exchange with a minimum of one other blog, and Thursday is when you add a new outbound link to your site.
Keep to your Blog Linking schedule each week for a few months and you will gain a lot of SEO benefit in a relatively short period of time.
See you at the top of Google!
Sean Rasmussen
SEO Australia Pacific
AussieSEO.com © 2007 - 2010
Sean – thank you so much for this information! It is such an important point, but yet not one that is widely advertised. After 1 1/2 years in business I had learned that linking was important, but did not realise just how important it is to page ranking. Thank you thank you thank you! (I have already passed this information on to two of my business colleagues whom I know will find it useful, and started my linking strategy as soon as I finished reading this post!)
Hi Nadine,
Great to hear have benefited from this post. You will find your site going up the rankings in no time if you work on your link building strategy with consistency.
Regards – Sean
Excellent post, but you have missed out on another potential backlink goldmine:
Forums.
A nice, keyword-rich forum signature is a good way of getting you backlinks – and what’s more, interacting with people on forums is a great way to entice readers.
.-= Andrew Nattan (Unmemorable Title SEO & Copywriting Blog)´s last blog ..Trial by Twitter – Jan Moir Feels the Brunt of a Social Media Backlash =-.
Hi Andrew,
Great point, thanks for bringing that up! Forums are a great place for not only backlinks, but also for social networking, building your online persona and just for plain fun
. I go into more detail on the advantage of using forums on my other blog at http://seanseo.com/internet-marketing/community-forums/ for those interested.
Regards – Sean
Thanks Sean, I’ll definitely take a look.
.-= Andrew Nattan (Unmemorable Title SEO & Copywriting Blog)´s last blog ..Trial by Twitter – Jan Moir Feels the Brunt of a Social Media Backlash =-.
Thank you for the ideas, I still consider myself new to blogging but I am trying to improve my viewers. This info will definitely help.
.-= carol´s last blog ..HORROR IN HAITI =-.
Glad it is of help to you Carol. All the best with your blogging.
Regards – Sean
Thanks a ton Sean. I was searching on Internet for good article about Link strategy and found your one very straight forward and simple to follow. As my blog is new and do have a OK page rank and good traffic but I wanted to make some strategy for link exchange so that I can get more traffic in coming month or so. I will surely try to follow your instructions for a week and hoping thing will move in right direction.
.-= Ekawaaz´s last blog ..FATWA: Airport body scanners violate Islamic law, The Fiqh Council of North America =-.
Hi Ekawaaz
Great to hear you found the article easy to follow, I try to make everything as straight forward as possible. I am sure you will notice improvement on your site rankings and traffic once you develop and action a linking strategy. All the best.
Regards – Sean
thanks for your information your information might be very helpful for the SEO peoples. with your information anyone can get the good ranking thanks for your information.
Hi Buromobel
Every little bit of SEO you can apply both on and off page will assist in increasing rankings. Glad you liked the article.
Regards – Sean
Hi Sean,
I love your blog linking strategy. This will bring some order to my chaos. So far, I’ve been doing some of it each day without a real plan. It’s like something will catch my attention on Facebook or Twitter and I’ll be off to read the blog and maybe leave a comment.
It makes much more sense to target a specific technique of building links each day. I think it will be much more effective than what I’m currently doing.
.-= Jazz Salinger´s last blog ..Learn and Earn – It’s a Marathon Not a Sprint =-.
Hi Sean
Wow and a billion thanks for this one too. Everything I am reading in this comp is so crucial to IM success. I am amazed at how you have amassed so much information in the last few years!
Keeping on the subject, link building is something that I have not understood and not done yet, that is until now. It is a must and yet how many people know about this? I am especially grateful for this article. It is all making sense for me, the internal links, love-link exchange (there is hope for me yet!) seriously though, I can really see the enormous value in creating links.
Thankyou so much for the blog linking strategy, that’s priceless!
I so love this competition – it is the “dream course of internet marketing”. Awesome!
Blessings
Elly
.-= Elly´s last blog .. =-.
Hello Sean,
Great post. What I love is how you give the information for us to take on board….Need to add your Blog Linking Strategy to my “to do” list!!! I like how it outlines what to do each day, and they way it will soon become a routine
Cheers
Lisa Wood.
.-= Lisa Wood´s last blog ..Image Is Everything =-.
I find it’s great to have a routine that you can stick to on a daily basis Lisa. Glad you enjoyed the article
I missed this before – ‘on website pages – put a link to your blog’. Duh!! I have the reverse done, but not this!
I like the idea of separating out the various chores too – that way it is more efficient and focused.
Tried to add this before, but it wouldn’t take.
Sean have added 4 of your sites to my blogroll
You’re a legend Peter, thanks mate
Your are welcome to return the favour anytime LOL
That’s a good idea, Peter. But, I think it’s going to be a while before any of our sites are worthy of being in a sidebar on one of Sean’s blogs. Then again he may have a PR0 blog lurking around somewhere.
.-= Jazz Salinger´s last blog ..Internet Marketing Success – Make It Happen =-.
I don’t know about that Jazz. Sean did say on the webinar, that when he has time after the comp, he will look at requests. And, as he also noted above it can’t hurt to ask.
I do think that we should link to each other – 3 way link ideas too.
When I get more time I’ll see what I can do. And you are right Peter, if you never ask, you never know
I also missed adding my blog link to my website pages. I don’t even think about internal links. I will certainly be fixing this.
.-= Jackie Stenhouse´s last blog ..Anxiety Separation in Children =-.
Hey, thanks for the advice, I’m definitely going to implement it! Quick question though, I heard that Google doesn’t look fondly on link exchanging? Is that a yes/no answer or is it ok to link exchange as long as its between blogs or websites with similar interests? Just trying to clear that up!
Thanks again!
.-= Laura´s last blog ..Criminal Records- Canadian Pardons and Nexus Card Applications =-.
Doing so on a small scale and with other quality relevant blogs should not create any issues Laura. Automated link exchange services or software (for example) are the types of things to stay away from
Thanks for getting back to me! There are so many link scamming websites out there that I’ve just been avoiding it in general, but I won’t be afraid to anymore:D
.-= Laura´s last blog ..Criminal Records- Canadian Pardons and Nexus Card Applications =-.
Thanks for the good information. It’s practical and something that I can start applying today.
.-= Debra´s last blog ..A 7 Day Tour Of Ephesians- =-.
Sean, thanks for the great advice and for organizing it in an easy-to-follow manner. I’m a humor writer with a new humor blog, and thanks to you I now understand the importance of linking, and commenting on other’s posts. I do have one question for you. To leave a comment on a post, as i’m doing here, I’m required to enter my website. Was I right to include the URL, or next time should I just write out the name of my blog? Thanks in advance!