Effective Link Building Practices

Link building is the process of building backlinks to your site. The more backlinks (links from other sites to your site) a site has, the higher it ranks on the search engines. Link building therefore is a mission of all money making webmasters.

Link building methods have changed from time to time and a specific method that worked yesterday may not work today. This is due to changes in the industry over time and in some cases extreme abuse. If a specific link building method has been abused too much, then that method will not work anymore.

It is therefore very important to know which link building method works today so that you can spend your time in a most productive way.

There are many link building methods out there today that work with some working better than others. Below are some of the today’s popular links building methods:

Article Submission. If you are reading this article, then you know that you can publish your own article in article directories. Not only do you gain backlinks to your site from your published articles (see bottom of this article), you will get some traffic as a bonus. Think of you reading this article. There might be many reading your published articles as well.

Directory Submission. Directory submission used to work lot better before, but it is still a popular link building method that still works if done properly. How many directories are out there as of this date is anyone’s guess but one thing is certain: that most of the directories aren’t worth submitting to. Google considers a Yahoo Directory link as a quality backlink so if you can afford and justify the cost, it is worth submitting to Yahoo Directory.

Social Bookmarking. Social bookmarking worked like charm only a few months ago. If bookmarked on authority and quality bookmarking sites like Digg, Mixx, Propeller, etc, then you can still make good use of social bookmarking. Other than backlinks, social bookmarking also offers you some bonus traffic depending on where you submit to. If you can manage to put together or collect a good bookmarking site list, then social bookmarking can still be a useful link building method.

Blog Commenting. This is a link building method where lots of spamming has already been done so to make the best of it, you need to work a little harder here. It is best to find quality blogs related to your own category and make on-topic relevant comments. Not only do your comments add value to the blogpost, you now have a greater chance of getting your comment approved and your comments have greater chance of staying on those blogposts.

Press Releases. Submitting to press release sites can get you some backlinks as well. It is however hard to put together a list of good press release sites that are worth submitting to. If a good list can be managed, then this method can offer some quality relevant backlinks as well.

Social Media and Web 2.0 Pages. Social media and Web 2.0 links are very popular these days because they work great. They offer quality, relevant contextual backlinks that Google and other major search engines love. There are lots of other link building methods out there, but if you can utilize the above ones to their fullest potential, there is no need for any other methods.

Comparison Search Tools

Last year, I saw a few,  new comparison search tools over the internet. I not quite sure; but maybe; there is something inspired programmers to develop new tools and sites to let us compare search results. Well, take a look at this comparison search tools:

Search3
One of the simpler tools, and probably the one with the cleanest interface, Search3 does what it name suggests: It lets you compare the results of three separate search sites in a single page. There are two options, web search (shown below) or image search. On the web search side, you can choose three sites from Google, Yahoo, Bing, Twitter, and eBay. On the image side, you can choose three from Google, Yahoo, Bing, and Flickr.

Googawho?
More traditional in its look, Googawho? also offers more search engine choices and some additional tools that other comparison search tools are lacking. It pulls the actual search results pages from the sites you’re comparing into frames so you see the full set of results — including universal/blended results and even paid search ads.

Panabee
The most sophisticated and useful of the comparison tools I’m looking at today, Panabee offers the traditional two-frame comparison that many sites offer. But what sets Panabee apart is the breadth of sites you can compare and the ability to customize it via a “Favorites” tab that appears at the top of each frame.

Maps Compare
The last comparison search tool on the list is also the most unique. Rather than comparing web search or image results, Maps Compare lets you compare the map search results of four sites on a single page: Google Maps, Yahoo Maps, Bing Maps, and Google Earth.

Being Content Creation Beast

You’re targeting the right keywords. You’ve got links pointing back to your site. All the SEO basics seem to be covered. Now what? How do you get that extra bit of traffic? Listen to Charles Lumpkin as he discuss why it is importrant to become a content creation beast:

How To Deal With Duplicate Content

Duplicate content is a term used in the field of search engine optimization to describe content that appears on more than one web page, even on different web sites. When multiple pages contain essentially the same content, search engines such as Google prefer to only display one of those pages in their search results.

Based on Google’s definition of duplicate content:

Duplicate content generally refers to substantive blocks of content within or across domains that either completely match other content or are appreciably similar. Most of the time when we see this, it’s unintentional or at least not malicious in origin: forums that generate both regular and stripped-down mobile-targeted pages, store items shown (and — worse yet — linked) via multiple distinct URLs, and so on. In some cases, content is duplicated across domains in an attempt to manipulate search engine rankings or garner more traffic via popular or long-tail queries. (1)

Now, how you are going to deal with duplicate content? Here is a video-tutorial from SEOMoz CEO; Rand Fishkin; about on how to deal with duplicate content:

SEOmoz Whiteboard Friday – Dealing with Duplicate Content.

Get Help In Building Links With Social Influencers

Social influencers are individuals who have influence over your online target audience and placed the most powerful and credible links on the internet. Often, these are bloggers, editors, industry experts who tend to like you and help your promote your stuff by mentioning your business to his or her numerous social media followers. In many cases, that’s the magic touch a business needs to step up to the next level.

Social media sites can be a great source for identifying these key individuals. They act as a virtual trade show, streamlining your ability to “meet” and build a relationship, and win them over to actually promote your ideas to their audience(s). If you’re in the sports industry, it’s kind of like having Michael Phelps or Tiger Woods (for example) say good things about you. When this happens, you will have many new relationships, followers and links to your site. Here are some of the keys to build relationships with social influencers online:

1. Know what the influencer likes or wants before you introduce yourself. The fastest way to get ignored by the influencer is to try to sell them your idea before they even know who you are. (Think spam filters). Instead, get involved in the group and listen to what’s being said. If it’s appropriate, provide interesting, thought-provoking comments or responses. Some influencers aren’t a bit shy and will tell you flat-out what they are looking for. If you possess what the influencer is looking for, it’s time to make your introduction.

2. Introduce yourself by letting them know that you have something they might want and then give some details in a respectful way. Remember: you want to pique their interest, not bury them in details. If they’re interested, you’ll know it soon enough.

3. Wait for their response. If they don’t respond in a reasonable timeframe, find another way to introduce yourself: phone calls often work, but it’s best to speak face-to-face.

4. At this point, it’s assumed that you really do have what they want and that the influencer will act on it immediately. Otherwise, it’s back to step one again; in some cases, it’s over for your shot with that influencer.

Chinese Hacker Attacks: Target Google Gmail Accounts

A sophisticated attack targeting the corporate infrastructures of up to 33 Silicon Valley tech firms is believed to have originated in China and may be an attempt by Chinese government agents to track down Chinese human rights activists, according to a disclosure issued Tuesday by search engine giant Google.

In the announcement, Google said a “highly sophisticated and targeted attack” resulted in the theft of intellectual property from its systems. The company said it planned to enter talks with the Chinese government and would stop censoring its search results in the country. Google has been in a battle with Chinese search engine Baidu. Google was criticized in 2006 when it entered the Chinese market and began censoring some search engine results, blocking websites owned by Chinese human rights activists. Google said it may pull its operations out of China altogether.

According to Google, two Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists were hacked and it believed the goal of the Gmail attacks was to gather information against people that it deemed a threat. The company said it would notify the other tech firms that have been targeted in the wave of attacks.

“We have discovered that the accounts of dozens of U.S.-, China- and Europe-based Gmail users who are advocates of human rights in China appear to have been routinely accessed by third parties,” Google said in a post on the Official Google Blog. “These accounts have not been accessed through any security breach at Google, but most likely via phishing scams or malware placed on the users’ computers.”

Read the full story here.

Rules of Engagement For Social Media Optimization Campaign

Ongoing content creation, tagging and bookmarking, attracting inbound links by being a resource for your audience – these are essential elements for pushing your website higher in the search engines’ listings. Social media optimization leverages a new set of tools to accomplish the same goal as SEO: more exposure for your site on Google, Yahoo, and Bing. The challenge is knowing how to use these tools effectively.

If you want to boost your exposure in the search engines’ listings, consider social media optimization a priority. There are several rules of engagement for launching and executing a social media optimisation campaign. If you ignore them, your SMO efforts will be far less effective than otherwise.

Rule No.1: You should do everything possible to encourage your audience to link to your site. Integrating a blog is valuable because your content can continually be updated, attracting loyal readers. Encourage readers to bookmark, tag and “Tweet” your blog posts by installing a button plug-in.

Rule No.2: Link liberally as a resource for your visitors. Social media optimization is dependent on assisting others achieve what they’re trying to do. Once you engage your audience, help them find the resources they need by linking to them. Eventually, your site will become regarded as a resource hub, which will help you attract inbound links. That’s a vital component of SEO.

Rule No.3: You must be able to identify your market. Social media optimization relies upon the connections you establish with niche communities. You need to target them properly in order to generate content and engage them. This is true whether you’re engaging them through YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, or your blog.

Rule No.4: Integrate tracking tools to monitor and measure the success of your social media optimization campaign. Track mentions of your site and company. Watch your site’s progress in the natural listings for your main keywords. Generate linking reports showing inbound links pointing to your domain and specific pages. Tracking your metrics is crucial in order to determine whether your SMO campaign is effective.

Social Media Optimization: Influencing Your Search Engine Marketing

Social Media Optimization (SMO) is one of the important ingredients within your SEO and SEM campaigns. Before, social networking sites (like Friendster, Multiply, My Space, Hi5, etc.) were not much more than an oddity. Nowaday, many of them have received highly fair ranking authority from the major search engines. If you are not leveraging these sites to increase your exposure and communicate with your niche consumer, your search engine positions are vulnerable to your competitors. Now, let us describe the current influence of Social Media Optimization on search engine marketing.

Search engine marketing has always relied upon exposure in the search engines to drive targeted traffic. For many years, gaining that exposure was based solely upon the development of your site and generating links pointing to your site. Both are still important today. However, social media optimization has shifted the landscape of search engine marketing. Google once maintained several disparate search platforms for blogs, videos, news, and similar types of “social” content. Each functioned as a separate search engine with its own set of organic listings.

Just a few years ago, Google blended the listings from each platform into a system called Universal Search. Yahoo and Bing have since incorporated similar systems. Universal Search is now used as the primary index. That means blogs, videos, and news have been incorporated into the natural listings, pushing many sites off the first page. This is one of the reasons social media optimization has become a critical piece of search. Another factor that has influenced search marketing is the increased ranking authority given to Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, and similar sites. These too, have quickly gained control of a significant amount of search territory

Social media optimization preserves your current natural listings while helping you to gain even more search exposure. By using blogs, videos, and social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook, you can capture a greater number of organic positions.

Maximizing The Power Of Social Bookmarking Sites

With all of the hype on social media and the explosion of many social networking sites, social bookmarking has become a big method to boost your SEO efforts. Lots of people use social bookmarking now not simply because for interesting stories or big news headlines, but its also very effective to use to give your own website or blog a nice boost in rankings and traffic.

Most people have the misconception that when doing social bookmarking for SEO reasons they simply use keywords as their titles, an example would be “SEO Explorer…” This is not a good idea because your bookmark’s look like spam and does not fully describe what the bookmark is about. An better example would be to use something like “SEO Explorer – Search Engine Optimization Tips and Tutorial”, or “Search Engine Optimization Tips and Tutorial” which is more relevant to the bookmark. If you use this method, you not only ensure your bookmark will not be deleted but also you will also get more exposure and possibly direct traffic from that particular social boomarking site.

Another mistake some people make is not making a description for their bookmark that is relevant to their bookmark. When making the description simply describe the specific URL you are promoting in 2-3 sentences. Another thing you need to do is put some effort in your social networking profile, its best to make your profile public and fill out all the details about yourself and upload a picture of yourself. This will really help when people look at your bookmark and can see that you take effort in your social bookmarking and you are simply not doing it for extra backlinks.

You can even use social bookmarks for your own website, if you have hundred’s of inner pages on your website you can bookmark every single one of them. If you do this it is a great way to get pagerank to your inner pages and also increase the amount of traffic you will receive.

Hope this bookmarking tips will help you maximize your bookmarking power, time, and resources.

Social Bookmarking: Is It a Good Source of Traffic?

Social bookmarking articles and webpages does really bring and increase traffic, but there is a big word of caution in using social bookmarking excessively. Search engines are very powerful that they have algorithms to check how many social bookmark links are pointing to your overall site, through how many accounts and also the number of other links other than social bookmarks (like comments in a bookmark). They also check if the accounts being used to bookmark your article are not just pointing to one or two sites.

Like blog comment spam, social bookmark spam is a huge problem. We know that the maximum traffic to an article or  website comes through search engines and not through social bookmarks. The last thing you want to do is to compromise your standing with search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing. Therefore,  using social bookmarking in moderation is fine but there is marking when self-bookmarking will exceed the redline of search engines. It is best to get links pointing back to the article from multiple sources like discussion forums, other articles, bookmarks and directories.

You should give an option to your readers to social bookmark your articles using their own accounts. This will help getting links from several different accounts, but you will not be punished because those accounts point to many other sites as well. You will likely get links from different parts of the world and it will likely not harm your article or site in any way. Traffic from social bookmarks anyway tends to die out in a couple of weeks anyway but traffic coming through search engines keep coming for a long time.

There is no way to judge what exactly other people do in social bookmarking sites, but trying shortcuts just to get more traffic will surely never works. It’s best to write good content and the web traffic will naturally flow your way.