Basic Link Building Methods
Basic Link Building Methods
For Site Admins and Webmasters, your job requires that you focus more on on-page optimization. However, you also need to undergo training in off-page activities for you to understand how your website is being accessed by web users and from where.
For Link Builders and Writers, your job requires that you focus on link development, website promotion and content development. It is important that you learn the basic link building methods being used by SEO specialists. In addition to that you also need to learn about content development and social media marketing channels for your website promotion.
The following are some basic link building methods that can contribute effectively to your website’s optimization:
Free URL Submissions to Web Directories
Besides crawler-based search engines, there are also internet directories that provide categorized listings of websites. They are often edited and maintained by humans which slows down the process of link building. From the first submission to the approval date, this may take 4 to 6 weeks for free listings. For paid listings your link will be visible after 24 to 48 hours depending on the package rate and the quality of site.
Here are good free URL submission services to use. You can choose either of the three. if you want to submit the easy way you can use the instant submit sites like AddPro and FreeWebSubmission. However, the disadvantage of using such sites is that you won’t have any assurance that your submissions have been received in good order.
With manual submissions, although it will take time and energy on your part, you are at least assured that your submissions are successfully queued for consideration. One point to remember, however, is that both instant submissions either manual or with the use of software will still not give you the desired number of links you’d need to reach your quota.
AddPro.com requires that you embed a reciprocal link on your site. Reciprocal linking means you must place a text link or image link on your blog or site before they place your link at their site.
How to place a reciprocal link inside your blog:
Step 1: If you are already logged in to your blog and you are viewing your blog’s homepage, click on the Customize tab on the upper right hand corner of the page. If you’re on the blog’s Dashboard pls click on the Layouts tab.
You will be led to the Page Elements page.
Step 2: Click on the Add a Page Element link on the sidebar. A pop window will appear with a list of page elements to add.
Step 3: Choose the HTML/Javascript page element. A new window will appear with blank spaces above and below. The first space is for a title or name for the element, and the next space is for the codes to be pasted there. Copy the code given at the AddPro site and paste the code.
Click here for the AddPro.com submission page.
Here are the list of search engines and directories to which AddPro submits to:
Abacho, Acoon, Surfgopher, Aewi, Google, Burf, Cipinet, Jayde, Walhello, Entireweb, Towersearch, WotBox, ExactSeek, FindOnce, Fybersearch, Splatsearch, ScrubTheWeb, and Searchit. There are no Page Rank data available. To find their PR you must visit each site and check.
FreeWebSubmission.com gives you more search engines and directories to submit to in one go. There is a list on their submission page with the Alexa Rank and Google Page Rank of each search engine or directory.
Click here to submit using FreeWebSubmission.
Manual Submissions
For a longer list of web directories, you can go to www.seocompany.ca/directory/free-directories.html. Scroll down the page and you will find a listing of both free and paid directories with their corresponding Page Ranks.
You can choose any of the listed directories based on their high Page Rank.
The requirements for this task is to submit your blog’s URL to at least twenty (20) directories and search engines in two hours. You have to list these search engines or directories that you submitted to using a spreadsheet. Please click on the next link to download the spreadsheet file to be used for reporting your URL submission task.
url_submission_progress_report
The first four rows require that you fill in the name of your blog, its URL, its short description and the keywords associated with it. You need these basic information to copy and paste into the submission forms. Here is an example of a submission page:
Next you have to fill in the required data in the columns from left to right:
- date when you submitted the URL (first column)
- the name (not the URL) of the search engine or directory (second column)
- status of the submission (whether it’s pending or has been approved immediately)
NOTE: You will only know the submission has been approved once the link exists in the directory. The email you receive is just a confirmation that your submission has been received and is being queued for evaluation.
The last two columns are not necessary for now. They must be filled in once the link is in place at the directory you submitted to.
Once you have reached the required 15 submissions please stop and save your spreadsheet under your folder. Rename this file as
URL_submission_YourFirstName.ods
This file will be checked for authenticity and your speed of submission within one hour of this activity will be observed.
Free Article Submissions (most important for Link Builders and Writers)
For Link Builders and Writers, article submissions are the most effective link building method you will ever use in your SEO strategy. This method will increase the Page Rank of your site and drive targeted traffic to your site.
For Site Admins and Webmasters, this method is most important because you will be distributing content found on your website. Your main concern here is the issue of duplicate content. To avoid this, you must make sure the articles being written for your site are different from the ones written for submissions to free article directories.
NOTE: For Site Admins and Webmasters, please skip this portion and move into Social Bookmarking, Blog Commenting and Forum Posting. Thanks!
Articles are often submitted to free article directories. These repositories of free content allow bloggers and webmasters to republish these articles as long as the links found inside the articles or in the About The Author area are retained.
The more sites publishing your articles with links in them, the more sites or pages are linking towards your blog or site. And the more links pointing to your site or blog the higher your Page Rank will become.
To start submitting, prepare your About The Author text first. Write in a third-party perspective. For example:
Mr. So-and-So is a blogger who loves music and movies. He likes to read thrillers written by John Grisham. He also plays the guitar and loves to jam with friends.
This description must include a link back to your blog using your name as anchor text. Create a link by using HTML like this:
<a href=”http://mrsoso.blogspot.com/”>Mr. So-and-So</a>
Replace http://mrsoso.blogspot.com/ with the URL of your blog and Mr. So-and-So with your name.
This description of your self needs to be pasted into the Resource Box for articles. This will serve as a reference for readers of your articles. If they become interested in knowing more about your blog or site they can click on the link and will be led to your site or blog. This in effect drives traffic to your site or blog.
Then create a 2 to 3 sentence summary for one of your articles. Select only one article to submit, one which you think is best among the three you have written.
Once you have these data (About the Author description, keywords, summary, and the article itself) in place you are ready to submit to free article directories. Remember these points:
- You must sign up for each directory. This means you need to check your email for the verification link.
- You must copy and paste as fast as you can because this activity will only take two hours to complete. You must reach at least ten (10) article directories to submit to.
Just like with the URL submission activity you must download the spreadsheet file to use in documenting your submissions. Click on the next link for this file:
article_submission_progress_report
Please save it under your folder with the following format:
article_submission_YourFirstName.ods
Go To Next Page: Social Bookmarking, Blog Commenting and Forum Posting
