Finding the Best Links for your Website (My Recommendations Incl.)

[randfish]

There are four primary methods of getting links to your website for a major link-building campaign. Assuming that it takes several thousand unique C-Block IP address websites pointing to you to achieve top 10 rankings for competitive keywords, it is critical that SEOers have access to all of these.

Method #1 - Directories

Directories are the easiest links to build. You either pay or submit for free (or in some cases, reciprocate) and get a listing in the directory. The most popular and discussed of these is, of course, DMOZ, but hundreds of others exist and I believe that in a competitive campaign, every last little bugger should be submitted to. I have compiled a list of list of directories:

http://www.internet-search-engines-f...irectory.shtml
http://www.strongestlinks.com/directories.php
http://www.spheri.ca/directories.html
http://www.isedb.com/html/Web_Directories/
http://www.directory-pages.com/tier2.htm (use tier 3, 4, etc too)
http://www.directoryarchives.com/
http://www.andilinks.com/sea4.htm
http://www.allwebdirectories.com/
http://forums.seochat.com/printthread.php?t=11803 (an old forum thread with a list)
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showt...1&page=1&pp=10 (another thread)

Hopefully at some point, someone will create a truly comprehensive, easy-to-use list. If you do, I'll link to it with all my sites

Method #2 - Reciprocal Links

Finding reciprocal link partners can be quite a hassle, but the rewards are worthwhile. The belief that reciprocal links devalue sites is generally believed to be untrue, and while the link may not be as valuable as a one-way link, it is still a worthwhile part of a campaign. The following resources will help you find reciprocal link partners:

http://www.internet-search-engines-f...irectory.shtml (at the bottom of the page, run a search with multiple combinations of your terms to find pages that you can submit your site to - most of these tend to be reciprocal, but some are one-way!)

http://www.linkalizer.com/ (I have NOT looked into their practices, but they are pretty popular - if someone has more info about them, please post)

http://www.superlinks.com/ (Same Deal - popular but not reviewed by me)

Google - Yep, run a search with the following parameters (or modify them to your specs) - "add site" OR "add url" OR "submit site" "reciprocal" "your keywords" - remember that GG discounts after more than 10 terms, so you could try them one at a time, i.e. "add site" "yellow carpet crackers"

Link Exchange Forums - They exist at the major SEO forums (listed at http://www.seroundtable.com/ in the left hand column)

Method #3 - Buying Links

Although frowned upon, I see this as simple advertising using text links rather than banners. When buying links, I usually want to make sure it a place where I'm likely to get real user traffic from, instead of just a place I think Google will value highly. This thought process also makes it unlikely that any kind of penalty will be applied to you for 'buying irrelevant links'. Since many of my sites are low in the search engine results when they start out, the majority of the traffic comes from links like these!

No list of Resources - I DO NOT advocate buying links from link brokers. I recommend contacting relevant sites directly and talking to them ON THE PHONE. Many people will never be convinced you're serious through e-mail and won't respond. Find a phone number and dial. Real human beings love to hear about how you're going to pay them to press a few buttons.

How to find good links to buy - Take your top 10 search terms, go through the top 100 results at Yahoo!, MSN & Google. Record every site that isn't a direct competitor in a Excel spreadsheet with their number and then start dialing - just make sure you have a budget and a max spend for each site in mind before you start talking.


Method #4 - Getting Organic Links

Admittedly, this method is sometimes nearly impossible. BUT, (big but) if you have some incredible content, you can try a few methods to get people to link to it.

#1 - Craigslist - You can put up an ad at Craigslist with your URL. Since ads only last 15 days (sometimes less), it's basically useless for SEO, but it can give you a lot of exposure, and if you're pointing to stuff CL users love, they'll link to you in their blogs and sites.

#2 - Incredible Design - There are about 50-100 design portals that love to showcase amazing new designs and they can send a LOT of traffic your way. And these designers love to link to sites they think are cool. Start at http://www.randz.net/links.php (Full Disclosure - this is on my blog site) and look at the design links at the top. Then follow all the little icons you see at the bottom of the splash pages to dozens more.

#3 - Forums - promote your sites features at a forum where people who would want your content, tools, etc will visit. Since they are web saavy enough to be in a forum, they're also likely to have sites where they can link to you...

#4 - Blog, politics and discussion comments - If you piss someone (or many someones) off enough or impress them enough with witty reparte or what have you, they will click on your name, which many times will lead to your site. If they like (or totally hate) what's there, they may link directly to you.

That's all for now! I'm excited to see more peoples takes on these ideas.

[awall19]

I am not too big on #2 most of the time.

I am a huge fan of pissing people off though. fun and effective (of course that is not for everybody)

[I, Brian]

Ultimately, the good point of the list - there are various techniques for pushing site promotion. However, promotion takes hard work, and not everybody is as prepared to - or as able to - put the time in as they would like to think.

[CaptainKofu]

Originally Posted by I, Brian

promotion takes hard work, and not everybody is as prepared to - or as able to - put the time in as they would like to think.

Exactly....well stated.

[awall19]

another way to get links...run ads on other people's names...some of the links may be in the form of business partnerships, some of them may be in the form of people hating you...either way it is good business research and opens up doors to communication.

http://www.seobook.com/archives/000516.shtml

[Spiral]

This is quite handy, thanks for all these links. I'll try the "incredible design" category

[Buskerdoo]

Originally Posted by awall19

another way to get links...run ads on other people's names...some of the links may be in the form of business partnerships, some of them may be in the form of people hating you...either way it is good business research and opens up doors to communication.

http://www.seobook.com/archives/000516.shtml

This just cracked me up. As the saying goes, there is no such thing as bad PR.

I'll have to think about a way to incorporate this someday.

[awall19]

Originally Posted by Buskerdoo

This just cracked me up. As the saying goes, there is no such thing as bad PR.

I'll have to think about a way to incorporate this someday.

its not for everybody, but it works well if you do it good. I am not the best at it...but I have seen it work ok on a few usages.

[babu]

Good list. I have to update my list of directories and lot of submittion today.