Are you an SEO Specialist (or a wannabe SEO) who is struggling to find that connection between off-page SEO and search rankings? This article on back linking strategies for 2016 is for you!
Now, there has been a lot of debate on link building. Very often, the question is “Does it matter at all? I know several sites which have good rankings even though they have hardly any off page activity”. Well our experience suggests that it does and we will cover why subsequently.
Still, even if back linking does matter, we still face the following questions as to what back linking strategies to use:
1) There are a number of classified directories where we can create links. But will this do any good or will it be harmful to my rankings? Should I purchase a premium listing or would it be a waste of money?
2) I’ve checked the backlinks of my competitors and there are several who seem to have acquired good rankings by commenting in irrelevant blogs. Should I do the same or is it not worth the risk?
3) My site is PR 3. If I acquire a link from a PR 2 site, would that be harmful to my rankings?
4) Should I go in for press releases? I am not sure because of the high cost involved!
5) What about article submission sites? I’ve heard they don’t count anymore so am I wasting my time creating blogs there?
6) Which forums are best to create high quality back links?
7) What about social bookmarking and other social media sites?
To answer these questions, let’s delve deeper into why backlinks came into existence as an SEO factor.
The original reason for giving credit to backlinks was the theory that “If a reputed website links to you, it does so because of the relevance of your site to the subject. Therefore, if your site is linked, that means it is relevant and deserves a good ranking”.
No one knows the exact formula on the exact impact backlinks make since this is a closely guarded secret and we are sure Google often changes algorithms whenever they decide they have a better idea. So more than the exact theoretical impact, my personal experiences with link building have taught me to look at this from a completely practical approach.
As we said before, backlinks do matter and they will matter more when they come from relevant sites and look natural. And yes, while we endeavor to acquire natural links as far as possible, there are some tricks in the trade which help you achieve some really good back links. Over a period of time, our research and observations have meant that there are some kinds of links that have worked really well. I don’t want to go by a fixed pattern or state a claim that classifieds are no good or irrelevant blog commenting is harmful; the point is to share with you some practical results we have seen on link building strategies and help you achieve the rankings you need for your business growth.
Here are the tips and examples which would cover the questions above
#1. Classified Directories: These are mostly avoidable for SEO and paid listings are unnecessary unless you really believe potential customers would search for your service in that directory. However, for the purpose of generating a follow backlink, here is one which has my vote and green signal: R-TT is a reliable do-follow link directory and it is completely FREE! Submit your URL along with a unique description here –> www.directory.r-tt.com/Submit_Site/
#2. Blog Commenting: Random blog commenting is an absolute no-no. You may have come across articles with 100+ comments, tempting you to add your own. All such comments have only one purpose – to paste links. Avoid these by all means! Yet, do make use of blogs when you see the topic is relevant to your link and contains some already existent natural comments. Put in your own genuine response with a link that doesn’t look like it’s advertising. If the comment box allows you to enter a URL, please go ahead and add it! Note however, that such backlinks have a minor impact on rankings.
#3. Getting links from lower PR sites: If the site looks credible and natural to you, go ahead and take the link. The low PR will not matter. After all, don’t we all keep linking to Wikipedia? And, Wikipedia has still stayed on the top, right?
#4. Press releases: Yes, you should go in for these if you can afford them and they have the potential to generate several natural links if picked by a journalist and published in an epaper or magazine. My personal favorite is www.prnewswire.com
#5. Article submission sites: Contrary to common opinion, there are still a few credible article submission sites where you can still create articles. Most offer no follow links but these are worth it too so go ahead with article submissions. Do make sure you limit yourself to a reputed ones only like:
www.ezinearticles.com
www.articlesbase.com
#6. Forums: Yes, these do work. Make sure you update your personal information with your website URL or add the website to your signature. You can then comment on ongoing topics with some relevant answers. Here are my favorite forums:
www.studiopress.com
www.warriorforum.com
www.freehostforum.com
www.ewebdiscussion.com
#7. Social Media: Here are some really good examples of where to get high value backlinks from:
In addition to Facebook, Twitter, Google +, LinkedIn that we are already familiar with – There are a number of social media & link sharing sites where you can create accounts and save links. Make sure you have accounts in all of these:
Update your main URL in the account settings or provide a link in the profile description if it permits. Google+ does allow you to put in a link in the profile description, so make use of that. You should also create article posts where available like LinkedIn Pulse. Though it is debatable whether this will shoot up your rankings, it adds to your online presence and the www acquires another link to your website after all!
Other Quick & Useful Back linking Strategies:
Here is my personal, current and valuable list of back linking sites:
1) www.dpreview.com : Just create an account and make sure you enter your URL in the profile settings
2) Job sites/ internship sites: Create job postings in internship sites. This leads to a lot of natural traffic to your website and also provides natural high PR backlinks. E.g. www.careesma.in and www.internshala.com are popular in India.
3) www.genius.com : Same deal. Just create an account and paste links in the description. No HTML is needed here.
4) http://advertise.bingads.microsoft.com : This is an excellent source of a back link. The only catch is you need to appear for and clear the online Bing Adwords exam and you can add the link in your company profile description. It’s worth the effort since this gives you a natural and highly relevant link from microsoft.com.
5) https://kdp.amazon.com/ : Amazon provides you an opportunity to be a Kindle publisher for free. Even if you do not have anything to publish, you can still create a KDP account, go to the community and enter your URL in the settings. Ask a few questions in the community or answer some and you are all set to have a link from amazon.com !
6) https://discussions.apple.com/welcome This is Apple’s discussion forum where you can get a link through the personal profile section.
7) https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/community/forums/html/public?lang=en Same principle as above. Get a high value link from IBM through their community forum.
8) http://www.socialmediatoday.com/ Create an account, update your profile and enjoy a high value backlink!
9) Website Design feedback sites. You can submit your URLs here for review and receive feedback on design and other aspects. You will need to critique other sites too to gain credits. Go with http://www.criticue.com
10) http://viesearch.com/ Same tactic! Just create an account.
Hope this article on back linking strategies for 2016 has helped clear your doubts on backlinks. Please test out these links & let me know the results they gave to your website rankings through the comment box below. Also feel free to add your own set of reliable back links!