What is the Approach to Link Building for a Business Blogger in 2009?

By Chris Frerecks • January 5th, 2009

If you haven’t heard, it’s likely the value of your blog page [or your website page] link structure will lessen to some degree versus newer methods of search engine page rank comparison. Namely, it’s signals surrounding personalization and actual content usage! Now keep in mind that whatever Google does with its algorithm is proprietary, so no one knows exactly what tomorrows’ search results will hold. 

In any event, link building remains a struggle between the search engines [who see a link as a vote to compare one page with similar pages] and site owners [who often use links to manipulate a comparison]. Site owners want to increase their rank for targeted key words and phrases in order to drive more traffic. Search engines would like to neutralize unnatural link building efforts so that they can accurately return the most relevant page results to their searching client.

In effect Google is evolving. It’s fighting to weed out the unnatural links, possibly lessening the rank of sites that engage in aggressive link building. Actual consumer interaction [i.e. page views, subscriptions, time spent, bounce rates, etc., etc.] with your content is going to become more and more the competitive gauge; however, this is NOT to suggest your links are unimportant! Regardless of how search is becoming more personalized, your links still count for something!

Understanding this, we thought we’d list some things worth understanding when it comes to links & link structure:

1. Produce Consistently Good Content – Are your pages or posts worth linking too? If so, links will occur naturally from other website and blog owners who appreciate your content. Apparently Google can tell the difference between natural and unnatural links, so [rather than doubt] who are we to question Google?

2. Get Links in Accurate Anchor Text – Whether 1) from other websites or blogs to your own or 2) from your own website or blog deeper into other pages of your own, links created in text that accurately describes the page it is linking or pointing too are favored. Again, if you want to rank for certain topics [i.e. advertorial blog solutions] it helps when links come in from phrases that accurately describe your page. While this is often out of your control, it doesn’t hurt to get proactive and ask those linking to you to use the proper anchor text!

3. Get Links from Similar Topic Focused Sites – We’ve written a bunch on how Google can evaluate your links, including whether or not they come from similar topic focused sites. For instance, it’s unlikely that if you’re a Highlands NC Realtor  the links you receive from your British friend with a Home Accessories Retail Blog will help too much.

4. Page Rank of Sites That Link Matters – We’ve often read that you want links from sites [and their pages] with established and/ or high page rank. Per no. 3 above, relevant and on topic websites or blogs!

5. Be Conservative with Links You Can Create - For instance, keep links back and forth from the same sites conservative. Hard to say what Google sees as gaming here, but we believe you can link to and from different sites [even betwixt your own!] so long as the links are truly relevant. For instance, if we’re writing about Real Estate Blog Solutions on Kinetic Knowledge, which focuses on the subject of business blog solutions & marketing as a whole, we should be OK to link to http://www.realestateblogsites.com safely; however, it’s simply NOT smart to abuse the practice… for logical reasons.

6. Use Sitemaps – Sitemaps give search engine spiders immediate information about a website or a blog’s content. They’re good for visitors and search engines alike so be sure you have one!

7. Register With Good Directories & Social Networks – Good is subjective, but registering with good directories & social networks can be a simple way to drive your own back links. Now a link from your profile in Facebook [for example] to your business website or blog may or may not be crawled… or even matter to Google; however and even if those links are ‘no follow’, they are likely to be followed by members of Facebook who may link to you themselves.

8. Leave Comments on Good Blogs [with Back Links] – Leaving comments on the blogs you often read offers the opportunity to link back to your site. While most good blogs are moderated, you’re likely visiting the blog for a good reason so why not add your thoughts via a comment?

9. Get Interviewed By Other Sites – Can you be interviewed by someone else and have it documented on their site or blog? How about the local online newspaper or a trade publication? If so, the site should link to you … and then the readers of the interview might also link to you.

10. Perseverance – It takes time to do this right, sustainably. Per the above, Google fights unnatural linking so those kind of short cuts may damage you permanently. Consistently sharing what you know, see, hear and have to offer with regards to a particular subject is the way to build things correctly! If you have good knowledge of a subject, there is an audience for you! Use common sense and a little elbow grease and you’ll do fine. We have clients all over North America that prove it everyday! 

Other than what’s been written, Google’s link evaluation is mostly unknown and it is ever-changing. It’s always best to assume Google’s engineers are thinking way ahead of you [as well as the average search engine optimization specialist.] In the end, focus your energy on good, on- topic and consistent content because it’s likely to be what other people and the Google algorithm will favor the most.

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Contributed by Chris Frerecks
chris@kineticknowledge.com


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