Link Building - SEO

[Djfreema]

Hi,

Been looking into link building for a while to help with my site's SEO. Some of my competitors (according to msn & yahoo "link:XXXXXXXXX") have over 1,000 links with the majority having around 700 inbound links.

I realise that it is about quality rather than quantity in regards to link building therefore what do you think would be my best strategy in regards to link building:

1. Go after loads of links (+700) even pay companies on elance or freelancer websites to get them for me. Have little regard to make sure their closely matched to my site. This seems the method my competitors have taken.

2. Take my time and go look for sites with high PR (at least 5) and ask for reciprocal links. Take the time to look for quality directories and closely matched sites to link with.

3. Mix of both.

At the end of the day I will choose the method which is most productive in getting to near to the top of the search engines for my selected keywords.

Thanks,

Darrell

[multilingual]

The theory now is that reciprocal links cancel each other out. This certainly seems to be true based on some of my own research.

I would certainly look for relevant, one way links and this may well mean that you have to pay, but don't go buying 100s all at once or this will throw your site out.

Try to buy 10 a week, 20 a week or so. The theory is to keep it organic, ie how many people would genuinely link to your site in any given week based on your site's internet profile.

As for the PR; whilst it is better (in theory) to get a link from a PR5 or PR6 site, I would still suggest that you get links from sites that are relevant, despite their current PR rating.

I would put more emphasis on the content, than the page rank, and these sites will not e PR1 for ever, some of them will get a higher rank in a short space of time.

Also, if you are in the UK, and your customers are in the UK, then try and buy UK links, not ones from the USA.

Just a few of my own suggestions.

JB

[mattk]

Firstly, I'd look at who is linking to your competitors. This should give you a reasonable idea as to how you should structure your strategy.

If you are looking to build links for purely SEO purposes, then directory submission services are your friend. This will get you a reasonable boost in the short term but the links will be quantity, rather than quality.

I agree with Multilingual and would go as far as saying reciprocal links are frankly a waste of time and effort. However, buying quality, relevant one-way links is difficult, as why are people going to link to you for free? Therefore you may well have to put your hand in your pocket to buy links. This isn't a massive issue, as with the weak dollar you can buy links on US sites for pennies. Remember though, if you buy links on US sites, the traffic they generate is unlikely to convert into sales.

[george75]

This is what you need to do in my opinion.

1) Find out who is linking to your competitors
2) Place links to them on your links page
3) Write out a standard email, being polite and describing what you hoping to do. Tell them where they can find their link, and ask for a link in return. Change the following standard email fields: Webmasters name, URL of their links page where you would like them to place your link, URL of your links page.
4) Do this, for hours and hours per day. Tedious, but essential I am afraid.

George

[Pete Williams]

In terms of building PR then reciprocal linking probably is a waste of time, however, it is dependant on what you want to achieve. Having a "Directory" of links on your own site that are relevant to the content of your site gives your visitors something to visit for other than your main product(s). Try to keep the links related but not directly in competition (can be difficult but there are sites available).

In return your link on their site will drive traffic your way - I haven't had a look at your site but assume from the url that you are e-commerce based. By driving traffic from other sites, newsgroups and related forums it is going to hopefully increase your sales - what we all require!

I think reciprocal linking if done the right way with relevant content websites also offers great benefits.

Which ever approach you adopt will be time consuming