Best practices in SEO continue to evolve, particularly in the area of link building. Which tactics do the “experts” believe will work best in 2011? What types of linkbait are most effective at attracting natural links? Where can you find non-obvious link sources to pursue? How much is a link worth? How can you optimize the internal link structure of a website?
Find the answers to these questions and more here in the best guides to SEO link building from the past year.
Link Building with the Experts – 2010 Edition by Outspoken Media
Rae Hoffman interviews 10 leading experts including Aaron Wall, Debra Mastaler and Rand Fishkin (and throws in her own thoughts) about their most productive SEO link building methods and theories.
18 Examples of Awesome Viral Linkbait by Acquisition Engine
Sean McColgan showcases examples of exceptionally creative and successful linkbait videos, infographics and widgets.
Link Building 101 – The Almost Complete Link Guide by Scott McLay
***** 5 Stars
Noting that “link exchange is dead, ad banners are no longer all about gaining referral traffic, and buying links is more dangerous than ever before,” Scott McLay offers an outstanding guide to link building strategies, considerations, methods and tools.
Baby Got Backlinks – Google Don’t Want None Unless You’ve Got Backlinks Hun by Creative Marketing Channel
***** 5 Stars
Catherine Lockey has compiled a list of nearly 50 types of potential link sources, ranging from the obvious (RSS feeds, directories, online profiles) to the less traveled (letters to the editor, speaking opportunities, contributing to charities that link to donors).
SEO Pro Tip: Use Google Blogs to Find Fresh, Relevant Blog Posts for Link-Building by ZDNet SEO Whistleblower
Stephen Chapman supplies a helpful guide to building contextually relevant links through blog comments.
How to Value Links? by Search Engine Watch
Jeremy Bencken cites data from multiple sources to quantify the importance of links (“a 93 percent correlation between links and traffic”) but notes that coming up with a “fair” ROI of link building remains challenging, and concludes with “When you make a list of all the link building strategies, content you will need to create, arm twisting, and promotion involved, the most important consideration is how compelling the website is.”
10 tips for developing a better Internal Link Architecture by Web SEO Analytics
Pointing out that “The link architecture/structure of a website is extremely important for the SEO because it affects the search engine crawling, the indexation and the PageRank distribution. Additionally the internal link structure affects the navigation, the user experience and the conversion rates, ” Vasilis Vryniotis provides 10 tips for developing a better link architecture.
4 Ways to Build Links Without Anchor Text by Search Engine Watch
Of course link building is critical for SEO, and of course anchor text links are some of the most valuable, but Kristi Hines identifies four other situations where links are also helpful, such as link building for branding: “Branding is becoming more important, especially if you think about the fact that A stands for Amazon and AOL, B stands for Bank of America and Best Buy, and so on when it comes to Google Instant results. Therefore, you’ll want to build links to the business/brand name so that the brand becomes more authoritative in search.”
Related Post
Best SEO Link Building Guides, Tips and Tools of 2010 (So Far)
Stephen Chapman says
January 5, 2011 at 4:22 pmHey there, Tom! Thanks so much for my inclusion in your guide here. You’ve got me listed amongst some truly great SEOs, so I’m really honored you found my content that helpful! For anyone who happens to see this, definitely don’t miss looking into the first and third links Tom references. Those are two of my absolute favorites from 2010 as well.
Thanks again and happy new year, Tom!
-Stephen
Scott McLay says
January 5, 2011 at 4:38 pmThanks for including my blog post within your list, it seems to be quite a popular one – keep an eye out for the 2011 version which I will be writing very shortly 🙂
Catherine Lockey says
January 5, 2011 at 5:19 pmI appreciate the kudos Tom but credit for the awesome list on my post goes to none other than the esteemed Lee Odden of TopRank.
Tom Pick says
January 5, 2011 at 6:01 pmThanks Catherine. Lee’s name will come up in a best-of social media post here in the next couple of weeks, so he won’t be left out!
Tom Pick says
January 5, 2011 at 6:10 pmHi Scott, excellent! I’m starting to bookmark posts already for my best of 2011 series.
Tom Pick says
January 5, 2011 at 6:13 pmThank you Stephen, great stuff. Link building is one of the most challenging aspects of the job for many SEOs, so it’s great to find helpful content like this I can pass along. Happy New Year to you as well!
Paul Coombes says
August 1, 2011 at 6:53 amCan any of you shed some light on the value of directory linkbuilding? There seems to be a lot of negative commment about this practice, yet it still seems to be effective
Tom Pick says
August 1, 2011 at 7:44 pmMy experience has been that links from quality directories (PR4 or higher) seem to help, lower PR directory links don’t seem to move the needle much. But I’d be interested in hearing feedback from others as well.
best electronic cigarettes and buy cheap cigarette usa says
September 22, 2011 at 5:29 amI have been that the list of quality directories (PR4 and above) seem to help reduce the PR directory links do not seem to move the needle much. But I would be interested to hear from others.
Box game says
April 12, 2012 at 5:16 amYour article is really interesting. The problem is that google has decided to be more aggressive, and we do not know the new criteria, the hunt is on. thank you so much for the information.
Greetings,
Christopher.
Tom Pick says
April 12, 2012 at 7:01 amTrue, but you’re commenting on a best of 2010 post. The updated version will be published next week. Stay tuned!