subject: Backlinking For SEO [print this page] Backlinking For SEO Backlinking For SEO
Why Build Inbound Links?
When search engines spiders visit your site, they take into consideration the number of websites that link to your site, as well as the types of websites that link to your site.
But what makes a link a high quality link?
A high quality link to your site is one that will include one or more of your site's keywords in the anchor text. (The anchor text of a link is the actual part of the link that is clicked and takes the person doing the clicking to your website). The reason a link with the keyword in the anchor text is given more weight than links without your keywords in the anchor text is that it appears that the links are coming from sites with related information when the keywords are found within the anchor text. So, for example, if you are promoting a dog training product called "Sit And Beg Today". When you want to get your visitor to visit your sales page, use anchor text "sit and beg now" using html. This becomes
Sit And Beg Today
Never use Click Here Unless you want to rank for the keyword "Click Here"
It is always preferable to have links from high profile authority sites which are relevant to your niche. A website that has many incoming links, from sites with no relevance to the subject matter of the site, will not be as strong, in terms of SEO, as a website with just a few backlinks containing your keywords in the anchor text.
Blogs are a fantastic source for backlinks and this section of the report will explain how to get best benefit from blogs. We will discuss the types of blogs you should aim for and the pitfalls you need to avoid if you want your links to stick.
The links in the backlinks packet enclosed with this report were found using the methods described next.
Harvesting Links
You can use Google to search for sites with identifiable "footprints". By "footprint" I mean a string of text, such as "Built Using...", or "Powered by...", which is included in a blog (usually in the footer) by the software used to build the blog. For example, if you look at a Wordpress blog, you will see in the footer "Powered by Wordpress".
This is the footprint for a Wordpress-built blog. Other softwares such as CMS, Joomla, Drupal, vbulletin, SWF have their own footprint text.
We can do a normal Google Search for our target footprint. So, for example, if you type "Powered by vbulletin" into the Google search bar you will see there are 190 million results. This for just one software! You should have also seen more suggested search terms eg "Powered by vbulletin version 3.8.6".
As we saw above, the Google Search for "Powered by vbulletin" yielded 190 million results. While that is impressive, we need to whittle that number down and find those blogs which will provide us a quality backlink.
For quality backlinks we want high PageRank (PR). I look for sites with PR of at least 3. We also want to link from blogs in which profiles and comments are publically viewable, i.e. they are dofollow blogs.
First, you need to use the free Firefox browser. You can get it here: Firefox
Next you need to install two Firefox plugins NoDoFollow and SEO4Firefox.
Now you want to switch on these plugins:
For NoDoFollow go to "Tools" on the browser and click on "NoDoFollow".
For SEO4Firefox click on the SEO icon on the bottom right of your browser. It will change from grey to coloured.
Our first filter will be to analyse our Google Search results by Page Rank. Enter your target footprint into the Google Search Box. The PR value should be shown in the SEO4 Firefox browser. If they are not shown, make sure that the PR function is enabled. You do this by right-clicking on the SEO icon and selecting "Options"; set "PR" to automatic. You can now visually inspect your search results for PR. When you find a site with a PR of 3 or over you can move on to the next step in determining whether the site will give you a good backlink.
We are now going to visit the site and see whether it satisfies our criteria.
The first link to click is the "Register" field. If new registration is closed, move on to your next site. If you are able to register, move on to the next step...
... Go into the site/forum and find any member and click on their username. If you are asked to login before you can view their profile, move onto your next site. I you are taken to the member's profile, you have hit paydirt!! Profiles are publically viewable and you can move on to the next step...
...Look at the member's profile. Does their profile include any URLs or clickable links? You may need to visit more members' profiles to investigate a little further.
Look at a few forum posts or blog comments; do signatures include clickable links? If signatures are clickable, you may be able to get yourself a backlink without ever having to post.
If you have found outbound links you can move on to the next step...
...You now want to discover whether these links are followed. This is where the NoDoFollow plugin comes into play. If links are nofollow, they will be highlighted pink. If they are dofollow the will be highlighted bluish purple.
If the links you found are dofollow BAM!!! You are in business. You are on a site which allows publically viewable profiles. This means that the links can be picked up by search engine spiders and your link can be indexed. Therefore, you will pick up link juice and credit for a backlink from a high PR site. Let's go on and build that link...
...Now you need to be patient here. Don't go mad throwing in dozens of irrelevant links. You want to create a profile which seems valid and you want to create links that stick. Forums and blogs are moderated and the mods will delete profiles, posts, comments etc. if people are suspected of spamming. Firstly think of a username, register and click on the link in your confirmation email, if needs be.
Now fill in the required information to set up your Profile.
Look for fields for "your website", "your home page", "your URL" etc. There may be an "About Me" box in which you might be able to enter your link in html or bb code.
You might be able to edit your signature and include a link in here.
