It is a fact that you need a good link popularity to get high positions for your website in Google as well as in other search engines. Link popularity is not the single factor that defines if your pages take any of the top positions in search engines (for instance, Google states it considers 200 indicators in the process it ranges the websites), but links are one of the most important.
Link building process is never ending. You can’t stop working at your links after generating a considerable amount. The engines get smarter: they neglect reciprocal links and forum signatures, they pay attention to the age of the incoming link and its quality, they follow the trend how your website generates new links over the time…
What are the common techniques to build your link popularity at this time?
1. Get one way links from authority websites. The most valuable type of links. You have no many choices here: you have to buy links. Some webmasters consider .edu and .gov links more valuable than for example .com links. So, pay special attention to this kind of websites while working at your link popularity.
2. Get reciprocals. Google says it does not count them, but every bit helps.
3. Submit to directories – there are hundreds and hundreds out there: of different quality and value. Dmoz.org is the most valuable of free directories. There are lists of blog directories if you run a blog. It is rumored that Google drops outgoing links from directories and does not crawl them deep.
4. Article syndication. Write articles and submit them to article directories that allow you to leave a hyperlink to your website. As in case with general directories it is rumored that Google will not count these links in the future.
5. Press releases. Try to find angles to issue press releases on a monthly basis. From my experience, it is a hard task.
6. Link baits. A buzz word at this time. Create a tool or generate content that will result in natural linking to your website. Samples: top 10 lists, charts and graphs, free tools, contests, etc.
7. Expired or expiring domains. Search for expired domains and buy them. Using 301 redirect forward the link popularity the resource generated in the past to your website. It is not 100% method. Google is a domain registrar and there is a high degree of probability that it gets the information about the domain owner change. In this case Google can send your newly acquired domain to sandbox.
8. Forum signatures. Google does not count them, but what about Yahoo! and MSN? In addition, it is a good source of traffic if you are active at the forums that are in line with your website.
Not all methods are equal – some are likely to be more efficient for this or that type of the website and for this or that type of search engine.
In fact, I can’t think of any other ways to get links. There are some variants, but they fit into any of the above seven ways. We see that Google (it is not a secret that this very search engine sends most traffic to websites) is very good at discovering artificial links. Google representatives state that they can detect if a one way link from a website is paid or natural. I think they pay attention to the words adv, sponsorship and similar words that surround your link. The only type of links Google likes is natural links. If you review the above list the only technique that is aimed at generating one way links is link bait – the hard way. You can’t create a significant amount of link baits.
Summary: Search engines get smarter and webmasters have fewer and fewer options to promote their websites. In my opinion, SEO as a kind of service will disappear within 1-2 years. And most independent publishers will go out of business as they will not be able to compete for rankings with large websites. Sad, but true. Or do you think we have a chance?
[tags]link popularity, link building, affiliate marketing, google, seo, link bait, web 2.0, domains, press releases[/tags]
