Follow the Leader for Inbound Links
Much has been written about the vital significance of link building in the SEO process. Not only has just about every superstar internet marketer written one or thirty pieces on the topic but even a few of us here at Blue Traffic have chimed in. Back in January Marc wrote an absolutely riveting blog post on getting external links for free in case you missed it, and I’m sure a few others can be found in our archives as well.
What I aim to discuss in this blog post isn’t why link building is significant or how to create viral content that will naturally invite an onslaught of inbound links from intrigued visitors, but how and where to find valuable opportunities for inbound links.
The oldest trick in the book generally becomes the oldest because the trick has survived the test of time. This is particularly true in the search engine optimization world, where a host of effective techniques continue to prove useful even as the industry evolves and new methods are developed.
Like in any field, whether it be sports or business or some other broad arena, there are typically a handful of innovators and an army of followers. When trying to build links to your website, don’t be afraid to follow the proven leaders, for doing so will save you a great deal of search time. If someone has already laid a clear path, then there’s no need to wander aimlessly through the woods. You follow?
Identify the websites that dominate the search engine rankings for the keywords and phrases you hope to rank for, and then see who is linking to them. Odds are some of those websites will want to link to your site as well. To do so, simply search “link:www.website.com”. For exact phrases that one particular page of a site ranks for, search “link:www.website.com/keyphrase –site:www.website.com” This will return a list of links that are pointed directly to that page.
Depending on the competitiveness of the phrase and the number of players in the market, the number of inbound links could be in the tens or hundreds of thousands. While you likely won’t be able to secure links from the majority of these sources, a number of great opportunities will present themselves. Just keep an open eye and be prepared to scout out interesting prospects. A great way to recognize sources that could be willing to link to your site is to check the link sources of the top five websites that rank for your targeted phrases. You should find a few repeat sources, and those are the ones that give you the best opportunity to garner links from.
And for the advanced SEO mind looking to take this method to the next level, Glen Allsopp offers a fantastic tip in his guest post on SEOmoz, where he encourages you to see who is linking to highly profitable websites for sale on Flippa.com. As Allsopp points out, if someone can get a number of valuable links pointing to a website in 2-3 months, enough links to sell that site for five figures, that person probably knows a thing or two that can help you as well. Happy hunting.
