OK. I'm being lazy this month. Actually, I
am taking the opportunity to showcase a member of our team, web master
Kerry Mann. Kerry wrote this informative article to help increase your
search results while building a linking strategy.
For a long time SEO was heavily focused on “on-page” factors (title tags,
body copy, headings, etc). These factors are still critical, but people
are starting to realize that you can’t dominate rankings with these
factors alone. Links are key.
Inbounds links are one of the most important SEO factors. Search engines
view links as votes. But it’s not just about the number of votes. It’s
also about the quality. High value links from relevant websites send a
strong signal (vote) to the search engines. People will naturally link to
great content- but what are some other ways to build links? Here is a list
to consider.
1. Build useful tools or widgets that others will talk about and link.
Widgets need to be relevant to your business. That’s why lenders offer
mortgage calculator widgets, dieting sites offer body mass index
calculators, etc. Submit any widgets you create to widget directories.
2. Offer badges or awards or hold contests. Sometimes even the smallest of
contests can result in large numbers of links. It’s also a good idea to
apply for awards, i.e. Best of the Web. Even if the awarding site does not
link back to your site, news of winning awards can often be good, linkable
content that attracts local media and consequently, local links.
3. Issue online press releases. Always start with something worth
announcing, of course. Boring news gets little results no matter how well
it’s optimized. It’s important to focus on a specific topic. Too much
information and focusing on too many keywords will dilute the message for
both news search engines and readers. Keep in mind that important keywords
need to be near the top of the document with the most important keyword
phrases first. Distribute the release via a wire service. If you
distribute the same release through more than one wire service on the same
day, it is very likely that the news search engines will filter out the
duplicates.
4. Blog Lists - Build definitive lists or resources, like “Top 10 ….” .
Make sure there is a hook before you apply the bait. Endless lists and
links can produce undesired results if over done.
5. Build reciprocal links as a regular business practice. Just don’t
overdo it. A little moderation is required when it comes to reciprocal
links.
6. Guest blog on relevant sites in your industry. Comment on the blogs of
others in your industry.
7. Interview industry personalities, and post video and text versions to
your blog. Readers will often find reason to link to something they’ve
said.
8. Submit your site to quality directories.
9. Write “how to” guides.
10. Examine your philanthropy efforts and make sure causes you support
back link to you.
11. Speak at industry events or local business especially if you know they
offer link profiles on their sites.
12. Carefully select your friends on social media (eg. Digg, StumbleUpon,
Delicious). If they work for media (eg. newspapers, magazines, radio
stations, etc.) cater the content to their apparent interests.
13. Maintain profiles and form groups on relevant social media sites such
as FaceBook, StumbleUpon, LinkedIn and Twitter. Make lots of friends, be
active in the community and provide fans with “insider information.”
14. Provide answers via questions at Yahoo! Answers or Linked In. Be a
valuable contributor to the overall community.
15. Submit to all of the free Directories such as Best Directory,
LinkCentre, WestWeb Directory, World Site Index. Simple, but effective.
16. Create profiles on Slideshare and Slideboom and upload your PPT
presentations. Add your website link to your profiles.
And if you need any further advice, don’t hesitate to contact
Kerry.
