Beginners Guide to Link Baiting and Link Acquisition

Each 'inbound link' from one website to another, is a 'vote' by one webmaster for another. The greater the number of 'relevant' votes a website acquires, the higher up its positions in search engine rankings. So one of the most important jobs for webmasters, is to devise and implement a link building strategy. A strategy means just that - a long term committed and systematic plan to attract or 'bait', new link partners. There is no immediate quick fix. However, patience will be rewarded by an increase in website visitors, as a result of better rankings.

Before you can initiate link building, you need a website worth linking to in the first place! Your first task will be good all round website design. If you are planning to do the job yourself, you need to be reasonably IT literate, and willing to learn the basics of search engine optimisation. You may need to create dozens of unique and related articles, guides, news stories, blogs and product information in the first year. Writing content is a never ending task, because the 'freshness' of content and the 'ageing' of that content, are both powerful search engine ranking factors. There is no such thing as a top ranking 'six page' website. Many business owners can not understand why their brochure website wont rank. From day one, you should set your expectations realistically and accept that 'content is king'.

Only once your website is built, can you implement a continuous link building strategy. You will find that a superior quality website, naturally acquires 'inbound links' over time. You need to give this process a helping hand, by promoting the positive aspects and uniqueness of your web pages....

Relevant or 'related' links from 'authority websites', are valued highly by search engines. For instance, if you operate a motor spare parts website, the ideal 'one way' link, would come from a really well established motor manufacturers website. This is because there is a semantic relationship between the content or 'theme' of both sites. Conversely, if you start acquiring links from websites that have no relevancy, search engines may penalise or even ban your website for artificial manipulation. So focus on targeted quality links, not just a sheer volume of any old links. Ironically, the best type of 'on-topic link partners' are your direct competitors. This may seem a bit strange. Your key phrases list will help identify related market sectors, where non-threatening link partners are waiting.

Firstly, one of the most effective ways of link baiting is to give away free content, in exchange for a link back. This free content, could range from anything from an online calculator tool, free e-book, survey, industry report or an article. Many Webmasters are willing to credit third-party content. The more attractive the content you are giving away, the greater number and quality of links you will acquire. It also encourages you to create a 'buzz' about your own site, which will 'bait' webmasters to link with your site 'naturally'. For example, how many times have you seen a link pointing 'outbound' towards Wikipedia or the BBC? This happens because Webmasters are being helpful, by providing a link to a worthwhile reference source. To emulate this experience, you must aspire to focus on quality content.

Secondly, selectively submit your website, to the largest and most prestigious business directories in your market sector. Many of these will charge an annual or lifetime fee for inclusion. However, this represents a excellent return on investment, as you will get many click through's and quality links. Most will allow you to target the key phrases within categories. Most will allow you to choose your anchor text and description for deep linking purposes. There are literally thousands of general directories, utilising similar formats and scripts. Judge each submission on its merits. Limit the number of submissions to under 30 a year. Any more and it may look a bit spammy.

Thirdly, Create your own 'useful resources' pages on your website. This attracts other Webmasters to your site. They will start emailing you, requesting the possibility of exchanging links or content. The greater prominence and visibility you give your own resources section, the more relevance the link exchange request is likely to be. There are many commercial scripts to facilitate this process. If you do go down this route, avoid implementing automated submissions. It is sensible to add some unique text to your resources web pages, to differentiate them from millions of other bland and de-valued 'links pages'.

Fourthly, generate referral traffic using link exchange. Many argue the value of exchanging 'reciprocal links', purely for the sake of boosting 'link popularity' is dead. Certainly search engines have devalued such practices. However, what these advocates forget, is that links from quality sites, also produce large numbers of actual click throughs from genuinely interested people. This source of traffic helps to boost sales, as well as enhance statistical logs (indirectly boosting rankings). Be prepared to refuse or reject link exchange requests from inappropriate potential partners. They could end up actually hurting your chances of success. Try and recreate the link backs of your largest competitors. There are numerous many online SEO tools, to provide reports on the 'backlinks' of your competitors. This will give you a basis for your prospect list of potential link partners. You will notice that they have actively exchanged links in the past, with a website competitor similar to your own.

Fifth, write a noteworthy article for submission to a quality blog or forum. Do not submit these to Article Directories. These days, article marketing is viewed as duplicating content. Instead, only post your article to one website. Be highly selective and write a truly compelling article (in exchange for a link back of course). Focus on article quality, not article syndication to multiple sources.

Lastly, try and syndicate your website content to quality sites. What ever you syndicate - make sure it is original content! The purpose is to attract more traffic and create buzz. Give users a way to tell a friend virally. Link juice flows through personal recommendation of the content quality. Remember, no one is actually bothered about your plagiarised spin on news. So think creatively. Undertake your own unique survey, interview someone yourself, or write about issues no-one else has thought about. No-one said this would be easy! You must produce high-quality compelling content, on a regular basis and make it attractive - to persuade other Webmasters to want to use it on their website.

One note of caution. Always follow an ethical path! Read the published webmaster guidelines carefully Search engines penalise Webmasters, who artificially engineer search results. Never join any automated 'link farms', or try and buy links from dubious sources. Avoid outsourcing the link building process. Finding someone qualified and trustworthy is tricky. There are virtually no regulations or industry standards, in such a pioneering marketing discipline.

Good luck with your link building endeavours!