As you probably already know, the more websites that link to your website, the higher you’ll rank in search engines. Now there are a lot of shady ways to get backward links, such as buying text links from brokers or website owners. Or even worse, hacking old WordPress blogs and adding in links to your website.
I do NOT recommend that you do anything shady as it results in short term gains and in the long run you’ll have a good chance of getting caught and potentially being banned from one of the major search engines.
So instead of going with the short-term route, here are some legitimate ways you can build links so that you can boost your search engine traffic.
Link building tactic #1: Infographics
Mint.com is notoriously known for creating good infographics. If you aren’t sure what they are, infographics represent data in a visual format. For example, I created an infographic that represented the complexity of the U.S. tax system, which made the Digg homepage and sent around 20,000 visitors to Quick Sprout within 2 days.
As long as you put in a lot of time and effort into creating these graphics, you’ll have a good chance of going viral on the social web, resulting in thousands if not millions of new visitors to your site and more importantly gaining backlinks from authoritative sites.
And if you are like me and can’t create these visual pieces of content, you can always hire firms like Column Five and Infographic World.
Link building tactic #2: Quizzes
Mingle2 was the first site that really leveraged the power of quizzes and within a few months it ranked number 1 on Google for “online dating” and “free online dating”.
The way Mingle2 did this was by creating viral quizzes such as: “Would you eat your buddies in a blizzard”. At the end of the quiz there is a little badge that you can place on your website, which then links back to Mingle2.com with the keyword “free online dating” or “online dating”.
Link building tactic #3: Comics
Comics may seem a bit geeky to you, but they do very well on the social web. A site called The Oatmeal builds comics like “Why I’d rather be punched in the testicles than call tech support”. These comics aren’t filled with any factual data or anything like that, but they are really funny.
According to Yahoo Site Explorer that comic naturally pulled in over 3000 links. And if that doesn’t impress you, the site is also able to get over 20 million pageviews a month according to Google Analytics.
Link building tactic #4: Reviews
Just because creating good content isn’t sexy, it doesn’t mean it won’t build links. For example I wrote a review of the American Express Black Card a few years ago and it naturally built hundreds of links.
I didn’t solicit the links, but I created the most extensive review of that card on the Internet and since then sites like Mahalo and Wikipedia naturally started to link to it.
This not only caused that page to get a lot of backward links and rank high in Google, but it is still to this day the most popular blog post on Quick Sprout according to Google Analytics.
The key with writing reviews is to get in-depth and provide information that doesn’t exist in other places in it’s entirety. If you aren’t covering every aspect of the product or service you are reviewing, don’t bother creating reviews like this.
Link building tactic #5: Trends
Who doesn’t want to know what’s going to be hot? I know I do.
Smashing Magazine is known for writing very detailed blog posts, which is why it is one of the most popular sites on the web. One thing that they have been doing year after year is breaking down up and coming trends.
For example, their blog post on “Web design trends for 2009” is rich in content, contains tons of images, and most importantly is broken down into sections so that are easy to read. This caused that blog post to receive over 200 comments and close to 5000 backlinks. Not bad for a single piece of content.
Link building tactic #6: Lists
I know lists are old, but they still work. If you don’t believe me, just look at all of the “top 10 lists” that have made the Digg homepage. According to Digg, over 1300 top 10 lists have received over 500 diggs, which isn’t too shabby.
If you are going to create a list type of blog post, here are some things to keep in mind:
- A picture should be included with each list element.
- Who says they have to stop at 10… spice it up and create odd numbered lists such as 11 or 51.
- Just like everything else, the post needs to be detailed with little fluff.
- Get to the point and go into the lists. The biggest mistake most websites make with list posts is that they write big introductory paragraph instead of just going into the meat.
Link building tactic #7: How-to guides
How to guides are so successful in building backlinks that companies have been built around just that content type. Just look at sites like eHow, which has over 11 million backward links and is considered to be the 43rd most popular site in the US according to Alexa.
If you’re creating a how-to guide make sure you:
- Include pictures that show each step.
- Write depreciative content that breaks down each step (not everyone is as smart as you).
- And if possible, create a video showing the final product.
Conclusion
There are a lot of ways you can naturally increase your backward link count, you just have to be a bit creative. Sure, you can take the easy route of just buying text links, but going with the natural route is a more long term strategy that truly provides better results.
Whatever method you use, just make sure the content you are creating is related to your website. For example if you are going to go with the quiz route, make sure the quiz is 100% relevant to your website unlike the Mingle2 example I used above.
On a final note, here is a video with 5 more tips on building links from Google engineer, Matt Cutts.
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Mingle2 & The Oatmeal are the same guy, right? That guy appears to have backlinks down to a science…
Yep, it is the same guy. He doesn’t work with Mingle2 anymore.
Yea, dudes is pretty sick with linking and building buzz. Those are some hard markets to crack online.
That market in particular is very difficult so they have definitely done an amazing job.
Online dating is a truly tough nut, and to get to #1 for those keywords really says a lot for the inherent link building potential in quizzes. A properly thought out campaign leveraging this inherent power can be extremely successful.
Quizzes are definitely challenging since it’s so difficult to keep a reader engaged. They did by far one amazing job.
How do you make it a science? Can you point me to some resources?
I think the science is in”making it interesting” and making it easy to pass on (viral). People like to be entertained, and if you do that with a quiz or anything that you need someone to read or take action on it will hold their interest and attention long enough to take what ever action you want them to take. That’s what we call making it sticky.
Interesting + Reason why + Easy to pass on = Successful Campaign
But like everything you will have to test it.
Yes exactly. Not everything will work for everyone. Sometimes having 1 of the techniques laid above will work better than you doing all of them.
Look at other blogs successful in your niche and have your quiz content related.
This is something that so many “more” people need to do that they just overlook. Look at what the competition is ALREADY having success doing and do something similar.
The competition will be taken advantage of this, now it’s your turn.
People that do overlook this are either crazy or lazy.
Competition is successful purchasing costly back links. They are rich capitalists.. I am not. But yeah.. this post did inspire me that money can be compensated by being creative. Thanks for that.
Just focus on writing quality content and than start applying these techniques.
Nice summary Neil.
I did a Cartoon on my blog about how a website gets onto Google. Explains a pretty boring and technical concept like SEO in a comical way via SouthPark cartoons. Worked well for a boost of traffic via the viral element of it as well as a good start for some backlinks. Let me know what you think of it…it’s a quick read.
Will also be doing more of the lists, as those are definitely popular although a bit played out these days.
Awesome summary
I did not know that making cartoons help in more traffic. Sound exciting and cool!
That’s a very clever idea! I think doing stuff like that is very unique and will lead to a lot of backlinks for your site.
Nice one Jon! I went to your blog page http://www.imjontucker.com/google-marketing/ and must say that I like your South Park’ish take on what Google is all about. Keep up the good work!
I agree its funny. If you spruced up the way you presented it, it would probably have a good shot on digg.
Column 5 is exactly the type of design firm I’ve been looking for. Thanks!
If somebody mentions ‘content’, the first thing I think about is words on a page, but that kind of content has been done to death. Time to get creative I feel!
I am still all about the content, but I do feel that I need to start adding some more life to some of my content. Even just some video, or something that will be more interesting and attention grabbing.
Yes it is time to be creative. People will constantly need to find new ways to be creative in order to grow.
Yea… plus I think that I will be able to create a better bond and liking with my visitors. I am going to start a video campaign next week & put a poll back on my site (short quiz). It’s on baby.
Perfect! Let us know how it goes!
I will for sure. Hopefully I can get some time to put together the plan this weekend… Got any tips let me know
Just follow the steps I wrote verbatim and make it happen.
Will do Neil…thanks
perfect!
Neil,
You have done it again. What a great list of tactics for link building. I really enjoyed seeing your examples and the impact that they have made. Those sure sparked some ideas for me to try. I thought the cartoons were hilarious and quite a technique for gaining viewers and popularity. Thanks for delivering as you always do.
I’m glad I was able to stimulate your mind! It’s ideas like these which will drastically help you grow your site.
Great tips! I never really thought about the impact that infographics have as far as linkbuilding goes, but you’re right on.
This article is now posted to Sphinn:
http://sphinn.com/story/144939
Thanks for submitting it. I just voted on it.
I just gave it a Sphinn too, currently there are 16 Shunners and no de-Spunners….
Thanks Net Age!
Do these things really help? I know some entrepreneurs who have hired people to do just this.
If you have the money to do it sure, but if you don’t (and most people don’t) then follow these strategies.
Great Post Neil, just in time for my linkbuilding strategy, great list. Thanks,
Perfect
! Now take action and make it happen. Be sure to track your results.
Best tips about link building.
It is different and based on proof rather than theory.
Liked on Neil, You are good as always.
It is different because we constantly need to grow and evolve in order to attract more and more traffic in this saturated industry.
Nice summary Neil. At SearchFest in Portland, John Andrews went into detail on some of these methods, there’s really still plenty of opportunity for building links, may just require more work than before.
It does require more work, especially since so many people out there are doing things… creativity is a must!
Man, I was looking for a firm to create infographics for my blog! Been using some of your strategies on your list like how-to guides and list posts and it seems to work really well.
I think infographics are going to get popular VERY fast so I’d suggest you take advantage of it quickly.
The infograph is a great idea. Nothing captures the complexity of something like a well done picture. I need to look into those two firms you recommended.
Keep up the great posts
Yes you definitely should! Infographs are VERY powerful right now. Take a look at digg and you’ll see many of the front page posts with those in place.
Yes, every day I see atleast 1 infographic in technology section of digg…It would be very tough to attract people with infographics in near future..!
Yes… exactly why you should jump on it quickly. The good news is that there are many types of infographs and it just comes down to you coming up with something unique.
Thanks for the shout out Neil; greatly appreciated.
If anyone has any questions what so ever about getting infographics created for their site, don’t hesitate to contact me; even if it’s just to get some info for yourself and go with someone else. I love finding ways to help people create the types of visualizations that will help their brand get out there.
Looking forward to talking with you guys. Take care.
-Justin
justin@infographicworld.com
Thanks for the comment Justin!
Did you mention blog commenting?
Most blogs nofollow comment links, so they won’t help with search engine rankings.
How about commenting on blogs (as stated in the post above) and using a signature in forums in your niche?
Its funny how people just jump to say great post without adding their own tidbits.
Signature forum links work, but they aren’t too effective these days. Creating link bait is far more effective and it scales a lot better.
@Kevin, this article is about natural links. Posting with signature or commenting on other blogs (even if they are dofollow) isn’t a “natural” way of getting backlinks.
@Neil, another great article
Yes… creativity is very important during these times.
Matt Cuts is so fun to listen. He explains very well all his tutorials. Thank you for your tips. These are very important tactics if you want to build your rank.
@Catalin: True, I thought the same thing. He is great on camera and with his explanations. Very well prepared and with great flow.
Yes he is. He does a great job at explaining what you need to do to gain as much traffic as possible right now.
I much preferred watching his video than reading his blog… What he talks about is waaaay more interesting that way.
lol… sometimes people do better with videos than writing.
For me, I know I don’t have to worry about grammar and all that jazz. I can just be me and let it flow. You have any plans for adding some video of you Neil?
Maybe in the future, no plans right now.
Thanks for the great stuff. I like the trend ideal and might write some articles about industry trends.
Good you should. Maybe you should make the trends into an infograph
Great post as always! All these tactics works only when we are able to perform great with social media ! Neil, do we need to have big number of friends on Digg or some thing to hit the first page?
No, a big number of friends isn’t necessary… you just need to some high quality content!
Would suggest people be careful with tactic #2, especially in light of the post by Matt here:
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/widgetbait-gone-wild
“This was the first communication we’d heard from Google that adding a keyword-rich link from a widget to our own site was an ultra-mega-Google-NO-NO.
We promptly changed the links in our widget code from this:
Created by OnePlusYou – Free Online Dating
To this
Created by OnePlusYou”
Yep, which is why I mentioned in the conclusion that your quizzes need to be relevant. As long as they are related to your website, you should be fine.
I’ll try this quizzes thing and I’ll see if it help my traffic increase.
Let us know what your results are.
Hi Neil, I just created a blog and I’ll be starting this campaign. I’ll inform you as soon as possible.
That’s exciting!! Good luck and keep us posted.
Yep… I suppose my point was more “don’t only make sure it’s relevant” though, more a “be careful of using anchor text that might be considered manipulative”. Like OnePlusYou changing their anchor text from “Free Online dating” to “OnePlusYou”.
Yes it’s very critical to play around with that. Keep testing and track your results.
Hey Neil,
Why are you giving away all my tricks??….
Stew
lol… people would have found out about these techniques sooner or later
great writeup Neil. I never made the front page of Digg but I have a question. Isnt it that you need to have close contacts there with the top users to have higher chances of getting into the front page? I mean, if Im just like starting today (with digg) and trying to digg my best posts, it wouldnt make sense right?
It takes a lot of time, effort, and energy to be able to have “digg power” I suggest you connect with other digg members to see what they do.
Neil, can you please write a post on How to be successful on Digg ?
Actually, I would be quite interested in that too. I have some things in mind, like find already popular stories and try to mimic something similar, that related to your niche, but you the man when it comes to this so I’d like to hear what you have to say
I posted an article written by shoemoney who covered just that. Hopefully it helps a little bit.
Take a look at what shoemoney wrote:
http://www.shoemoney.com/2010/03/17/my-secret-to-dominating-digg-com-years-ago/
Thanks for the link. Just read the article… Clever. Just like running other marketing campaign that you have to adjust the landing page for users or for Google relevancy. Like it.
Yes because it’ll determine how long someone stays on your site.
Exactly… if they will get interested or involved at all. It’s funny how we make such quick decisions about whether or not we are going to stay on a web site or not. In this case two pictures got them to stay and then got them to take action by digging the story. Like it.
Yeah, people just unfortunately make rash decisions.
Neil -
Great stuff as usual.
For me, interestingly, the three things that have pulled the most traffic and backlinks fall into many of the categories above (and each got well over 100 retweets):
1. Video Interview with Seth Godin
2. 10 Big Marketing Predictions For 2010 (Guy Kawasaki liked it passed it on)
3. Various lists including 35 Unique Entrepreneurs Changing The Business World & The Top 20 Entrepreneur Blogs You Must Subscribe To (Quicksprout was on there)
Great advice as usual. Looking forward to chatting Friday.
It’s really a combination of all of that which will result in more traffic. Keep track of what works and then focus in taking it to the next level.
Thank you very much for mentioning Column Five. We really appreciate it. It has been really interesting to see how linkbaiting has evolved over the past few years. I remember the first time we wrote a post that hit big on Digg and it was so addicting to try to replicate that effect, but for a long time not much we wrote could quite match the success of our Top Ten Stephen Hawking Quotes with a picture of LEGO Stephen Hawking. It is really exciting to see content creators and companies pushing the envelope and utilizing old formats in new ways ie infographics. It is interesting to look back on how rarely ‘infographic’ was used in Digg submissions back in 2007 and most of 2008 http://digg.com/search/page35?s=infographic+%2Bp&sort=newest yet of course they were regularly implemented in newspapers and magazines for decades and in other formats dating back centuries. The big challenge as some of the fascination with the ‘novelty’ of the medium itself fades as certain approaches become saturated will be to continuously generate new ideas and to be fast enough to be journalistic and break news in a visually pleasing way. You just need a robot to automate creativity, and you’re all set!
You need to be constantly thinking of new and unique ideas in order to survive in this market. ABC… always be changing
Hi Neil,
Thanks for that Infographics tip. I always liked reading information in these infographics and I have seen many of such stories with infographics on front page of Digg and Reddit.
You’ll begin to see a lot more, especially after this post so I suggest you get in on the band wagon asap!
Hi Neil, thanks for sharing this new linkbuilding techniques! They’re really look effective.
They are… it’s proven. Just get on it as soon as possible since more and more people are going to jump on these ideas.
The purpose of having backlinks as an element of page rank algorithm is that people will want to link to pages that have quality content.
Exactly, thanks for sharing that! People will naturally link to you thereby creating more and more pagerank power.
Thanks for sharing such great information. Will definitely try them one by one.
Try as many of these techniques as you can as they all work. Then test like crazy! Amplify the techniques that you find most effective.
All these techniques combined will help you a lot. It is always better to try more than only one way in order to succeed so that you can what works best for you.
There is more than 1 way to make money
. Keep pushing at it and never give up.
Have quality content. If you can provide something legitimately useful or outclass the others in your field, it WILL get noticed and it WILL get spread across the internet like wildfire. Useful content is priceless.
In a world where content is abundant, unique content, like you said, will go viral almost all the time.
Yesterday I was wondering when I would see a new post and VOILA a new post. Now I’m wondering when J.Lo is gonna come to my house…..Stay Tuned!!! Great Post!!!
lol… that would be great wouldn’t it!?
lol…lmao… yes, yes, that would be great
i would start to wonder about that, but then my wife would slap me upside the head 
Everyone’s wife would slap them in the head lol
Yeah right I know. That’s ok she know that I think she’s hot, and my little college sweetheart. I am only 30, but I am having my 11th anniversary on July 22 this year. That’s crazy. Time flies.
Wow, good for you!! Congrats on going as long as you have.
Thanks. It’s been a fun time. Ups… Downs… And lots of Love to make it. Can’t wait to see how the next 10 years go. Hopefully we can take a lot more vacations
…It’s the cooking Neil lol… she can cook like a champ. The best!!!
hahah, well that’s always a great win!
This is a great piece. Very out of the box and not your usual link building tactics. Thanks for sharing.
All the best,
Ricky Ahuja
Since link bait is ever changing, you always need to be finding new ways of growing.
I hardly come across a list post wherein I agree with ALL the points mentioned. This is one of them. All the points mentioned here are flawless. Great post like most others on Quick Sprout.
Thanks Manish, I’m happy to hear that. Use the techniques and let us know how it works out for you.
Awesome post, to be frank I was expecting such a post from you since sometime. Infographic and many others are entirely new to me and really spend lot of time in creating backlinks.
It was a blog in the making
You’ll begin to see many more infographs after this post to so get on it!!!
I am surely waiting for it. I was thinking of making one but could you suggest me the software that would be the good for creating infographs I have few ideas but I want an easy to learn software to create it.
I don’t of the software, but you may just want to contact the people I mentioned above.
Could you please suggest the cheapest way to create more backlinks? One more suggestion, is it good to go after cheaper way or one should spend money and see the result in some time.
As Neil said, you can buy links, but that would be shady and could probably get you caught and banned. But if you do the stuff above, then you will get natural links. Links that money could never buy you anyway. If you need quick links, for non competitive niches articles still work great. Just put your anchor text in the about me.
I wouldn’t ever recommend you take on the shady approaches as everyone eventually gets caught
Thanks for the suggestions. Probably I would have to read more about the backlinks and understand its concept, because only then I would be able to give someone the task of doing so and so thing to creak more backlinks. If I do it myself, I think I would take infinite time.
It’s a difficult task to take on, but not complicated. Ultimately it’s where you want to spend most of your time.
The ways I suggest are the cheapest way to do…. you can either do it yourself or pay someone to do it. Remember, it takes time…
Good article, even though the post image has stolen part of my logo!
A lot of link building tactics sound easy, until you try putting them into practice. Time and dedication is required.
Time and patience are a must. Doing things in a rush won’t get you very far.
There are no over night successes… it takes a very long time to make it successful.
lol, that wasn’t my intent. They do sound easy but most people won’t put in the time, effort, and energy to do it.
Thanks for this information Neil. I’m going to make a list of the top 11 dating comics that have featured Matt Cuts right now! Or maybe I’ll just stare at Analytics for a few more hours. Great job!
lol…yeah you can do either or, but we know one will help you get more traffic !
Great post as always, Neil. I have had the most success with list posts. I’ve also tried the “how-to” route many times with no real success.
list posts almost always do well as long as there’s unique content.
Great tips. I enjoyed the video.
I have to say #2 sounded spammy, and I almost didn’t keep reading. If I were you, I wouldn’t have waited until the conclusion to discourage the off topic links.
Thanks @Matt Burgess – your link was very informative.
It’s not spammy unless you create it to be spammy. They are powerful so long as you use high quality and useful content.
Thanks for the post Neil; very great timing as I was browsing the internet and gathering/researching a SEO game plan for my startup. I love your SEO posts; most are better than the ones found at seobook, seomoz, etc.
- James F.
Thanks james, I appreciate that.
Neil, this is an excellent article. I have read tons of these types of articles that really do not provide creative ways of creating “link bait.”
These are very creative and I can see how they would cause people to link, almost subconsciously.
Good job. THIS is the type of stuff I subscribe for.
I would like to think that these are the most up to date techniques… although during these times, I would jump on these tactics asap as everyone will take them to make them outdated. Keep being creative…it’s necessary.
Nice read and I agree with getting a viral one-way back link bait created…
read mine coming next, create Energy from Air
Create back links from google, yahoo, msn and the top page rank websites…
do your research and target keywords that have people searching for them…
It takes a lot of hard work to get it right… there’s never an overnight success in this industry.
Hey Neil! Thanks for generating this list. Link-building is something I’ve been thinking about quite a bit lately. I have three quick questions:
1. What about press releases to generate backlinks?
2. Is submitting articles to article directories a bad idea?
3. Do you consider link exchanges to be grey/black hat SEO?
I’m curious to hear your answers. Maybe you could make a follow-up post with “7′ish Methods for Generating Backlinks that are Illegitimate”.
@Nick: Press releases are great. You can get targeted anchor links from tons of different “authority” sources. Articles are still bread-n-butter. Especially for deep linking and non-competitive niches. Sometimes they need a boost though so that the articles that are linking to you have solid PR.
1. Press releases build links, but it isn’t an effective tactic.
2. This isn’t bad either, but it doesn’t work as well as it used to.
3. I consider them grey.
It’s interesting that you consider them grey Neil. I guess I never thought of it that way if you really are finding a great angle & hook (or news story) about your site or product. Hmmmm, will have to have a thinky now that you say that.
But you are right in saying that they don’t work as great as they use to for SEO anyhow. They still work to help to provide some ok base links. I would not use this as my only traffic method or way of getting links though.
It should never be your ONLY way to get traffic. Always keep your mind open for creative and new ways to bring people over.
Thanks for the replies, Neil and Mr./Mrs. Edwards! I appreciate the direct responses.
No problem, hopefully they help
@Nick… just Kenney is cool Nick. You’re welcome. It’s how we learn more and get better faster. Hopefully they help.
Fail forward fast.
These link bait methods are hard but achievable. I will try the “comics” one and post a comment once i see how good it does.
Wish me luck please.
Thanks for posting.
They are hard, but nothing is easy in this industry. A creative idea is what it takes to get a lot of traffic during these times.
Hey Neil,
Great post! I have a question for you though. What if your site isn’t necessarily a blog, but a web application? This applicaiton is great, but there aren’t regular posts, and because it is ajax based, there is really only one page, the home page. Any suggestions for getting something like that to go viral?
I would suggest you create a blog for the web application and start writing relevant blog posts to the app.
It really does come back to the basic whitehat SEO principal – create good content.
That’s one thing that’s always necessary. Mix good content with a creative idea and you’re on your way to the top.
Thanks Neil. I find this incredibly useful. Thanks
Glad you found it useful Ayodeji !!
I know the white hat but what is black hat? please help me
blackhat seo are tactics people use that go against what search engines allow.
…and “grey” hat is what we call somewhere in between the both. but i think that it’s either black or white. right or wrong. but that’s just me
lol, yeah it is! That’s what gray scales all about… uncertainty
Those are all great ways to get links. Getting the best links takes time and effort into the blog post… I sure it does not hurt that you have so many readers…. A normal guy off the street with 3-10 readers will get nowhere in social networking websites… So I guess to doing all those things building friendships and networking out your stuff can make it really viral.
It takes many many many months in order to achieve a significant amount of backlinks…remember… it takes time
Really helpful tips Neil
I like to apply for my customers.
Thanks
Good, you definitely should!!!
I gotta say, I never ever post comments on blogs but this one deserved a comment. Most link building articles out there focus on the information you know already and is kinda repetitive. This article offered a fresh look and different ideas. Good job, Neil.
In an ever changing industry, creative marketing is key. A combination of good content and creative ideas will take you to the top.
that’s how Neil does it. this is one of only three blogs that i ever check out regularly and really the only one i comment on because he always responds and there is a cool community here. you can actually have a convo. and his info is always off the hook. and different than what i am working on. allows me to branch out in knowledge without having to go to a ton of other places. Neil is well connected so when you learn from him you are learning and picking up tips that would generally cost you a lot of money…. a lot. look at the cost of those seminars… $1,000-$25,000 plus.
very true, thanks for the plug. What I teach on quicksprout is exactly what I use to teach my clients…. no difference.
Couldn’t agree more with you. I have already tasted success with lists and how-to posts. Looks like its time try infographics! Great post Neil!
Perfect… let us know how it works out for you. Be on your toes and you’ll be on the right track. Creative ideas are necessary.
Waaazzupp Neil, it’s Kenney. I know it’s been forever since I have been around, but I am back…lol. Hope you’re doing good. This was a heck of a great post. Honestly there are only about 3 blogs that I like to read and you’re is one. The rest are a waste of time. (at least to me). Anyway, it just so happens that I was just doing some more research on getting links and decide to pop in and you just did a post on SEO. Perfect. I like all of your suggestions and points. Some are harder than, others and unpredictable, but great tips none the less. I thought your infographic was amazing. Guess I missed that post. Really freakin cool.
I love it how the timing is just right
Even though some of the tactics are hard, they can yield you a ton of traffic.
Yea, but I am working on a project that I should finish by the beginning of next month, then I am going to pick one of these tactics above and test it.
If I only had to choose one, for a fitness type site for women, which one should I test first?
That’s awesome! Let us know how it works out for you.
Oh yeah, one last thing, the I like the trends blogging. It’s been a pretty cool type of blogging that I have been playing with and it works like crazy with the right title. I also try (obviously) to tie in the trend with my the topic of my site.
Good for you! Keep practicing these techniques and you’ll be on the right track. Implement, test, and then amplify the techniques that work.
May I know , what is trend blogging? Never heard of it!
Thanks
Paul.
You go to sites like Google Trends, look up what’s hot, and you blog on it. If you do this, you should start getting more traffic and some of those visitors will link to your site.
And you can even expand that to blogging about any hot trend… Yahoo News, Yahoo Buzz, Lycos top 50 or Seasonal Trends and “Future Trends” like Neil mentioned above… stuff like that.
Exactly! That’s the type of open mind you need to legitimately build a successful site.
Oh I see, so in the day of dog-eat-dog what is the best way to do, black hat or white hat? or I can combine the two?
Avoid the black hat tactics as they can get you banned from search engines. That’s the last thing you want since there are little to no ways to fix it.
Ahm Oh I see. Sir Neil is spamming is belong to black hat?
Where else can it belong? Spamming is something that everybody hates except the spammer
Well said.
Yes, you never ever want to spam.
Making a tool also results in some great links…like Shoemoney tools for webmasters etc..So , I think making a really useful tool attracts natural links.
Yes most definitely. If you can provide the public with something useful like Shoemoney tools, you’ll easily be able to create back links.
I love shoemoney tools, but now I try to look a new method, what about info links? in making money?
What do you mean by info links?
First visit to your site … don’t recall how I stumbled upon it.
Are you thesis1.6 based? That could well be it, if you are.
Reads like you really know your stuff, judging from your SEO Backlinks article and the comments below.
I’m wanting to morph into the online world, primarily so I can roam and work from anywhere; and decide for myself when to work–whether that’s for 2 hrs a day or a week or two of 10 -12 hr days.
Ad Agency/Publishing/Printing background, and I’m so done with it after 20+ years and little to show for it.
Willing to spend a lot of time–need to determine niche before leaping in– art gallery.print production.minimalism. ?? Time will tell.
Making the leap in Mid-April … expect a few scraped knees like when I first learned to ride a two wheeler, but sure I’ll get past that …especially if I take note of ‘how to’ from people like you.
Thanks so much for your sharing attitude.
All good things
Good for you in taking the leap into something new. Just know that it’ll take a lot of hard work and dedication to see something even remotely close to success. Good luck!
Good suggestions. I’m curious how such things typically begin to go viral. Does one need a critical mass of regular readers already, to read it and start spreading it, or can a good piece of link bait go viral on its own through search engine hits and then being spread by those who found it via a search engine?
No…. you don’t need critical mass of readers. All it takes is one reader who sends it out to their group and so on and so forth. Having a mass of readers does help this process.
My kind of post – Stumbled! Backlinks are what drive the internet, and diversifying your link building efforts as far as possible is key to ultimate online succes.
Since search engines rank sites on back links, naturally it only makes sense for bloggers to learn how they work.
Another great post Neil!
I liked that info graphic you had a while back on the complexity of the US tax sytems and saw another a bit after that on a sort of mind map for building a successful web presence with an authority site.
It does seem to work for natural linking building.
Thanks.
Yeah it does… Infographs are a great way to speed up the process.
Thinking outside of the box is one place I struggle when building links to my sites. Great post Neil, I added 3 of those ideas to my “To Do” list for April.
Fortunately, you’re not alone. Thinking outside of your box is a difficult thing to do. Keep pushing and you’ll make it happen.
Oh I see now I know why I’m so down in link building
lol… don’t beat yourself up over it. Try these methods out and let me know how you do.
I love the idea of infographics … thanks!
Link baiting confuses me. If I create a neat info-graphic on the “history of plumbing and plumbers,” that page may very well rank number one on the SERPS. But that page doesn’t make me money! I want to rank number one for “New York emergency plumber.” So how does the “great content” page help my sales page rank higher?
My sales page is not link worthy – it’s simply information you need when you are searching for a local plumber.
So, how does link-bait page A help sales-page B?
Do I look to gain PR with A and transfer that PR via internal links?
Or, does getting links to a variety of pages increase your trust & authority?
PS. I’m not really a plumber.
Great question Brian! It really made me to think, waiting for Neil to answer this question. If I get tons of links to one page via link bait does google share its love to the whole site or it only cares that page?
Thanks
Paul.
Yep, linkbait helps with your overall sites ranking.
If you create a unique infographic on plumbing and it gets a ton of links, the overall authority of your site increases. And as it keeps on increasing, your rankings for “page B” will go up.
One way to do this is to link “page A”, the infographic page, to “page B”.
Hey Neil,I think you did a very good job posting this.I must admit this was my first infographic touch.I see it all the time all over the sites I visit,but never pay attention.Of course,that will change now:)
Lol, yeah it probably will be changing soon enough. People are catching on to the concept of one.
Hi Neil, do you think adding polls and ratings to website can increase user activities, thus will come back again? thank you
Sure… so long as they are relevant to what you’re writing about.
Great content is a problem if you don’t know how to write in English. For me it’s a serious case, i would write a blog but i’m lacking the skills to write. My mother language is Estonian and i speak english pretty well, but not that well that i could write a blog.
Basically what i understand is that i have to start taking some literature classes in English
Birk
Since you have already figured out your problem… you should quickly take action with that idea.
An Excellent, no non-sense post that goes beyond the usual. This article proves how doing some research and providing real value is the no. 1 reason why people will link to you. Add to the above list a “directory of resources”and you’ve covered the gamut. Like they say “link-build it and they’ll come!” Thanks Neil.
Hey… it always comes back to the …. creative, unique, and compelling content.
Glad you found it useful.
Video content is also a great way to build back links. Think Blendtec’s “will it blend” campaign or Vincent Ferrari trying to cancel his AOL account YouTube video. These folks got TONs of back links to videos embedded on their sites. Also other people can embed your videos on their site and promote your content!
It’s a really great way to do it. You just need to have the right type of video that would help create the effect you’re looking for.
Its a great list i think and will help most of us bloggers. Thanks for the great post and have a great reader ship…
Glad you found it useful. Let me know how it works for you.
An incredible resource anybody looking at link-building. I was completely unaware of the quizes tip: it’s totally awesome, and a great way to get some viral link-juice.
Thanks for the list.
They can work really well for you… if you do it the right way.
Hi Neil, always you are giving something different information, this time also. Your post is really amazing. Few of your points need to remind while build link structure.
A few of them are old, but they are important to build a successful site.
Nice tips. Though applying all of them on a single website is very tough but can be applied to different set of website.
Content/blog website can go for Infographics, Quizzes, How to guide
E-commerce – reviews, Lists
Don’t worry about applying everything, because it can be overwhelming. Apply and test. Then use what works for you.
I agree with you Neil. Now a days many people go in wrong way to get backlinks. Ultimately they get banned from google, and get negative pr.
Your 7 ways of building backlinks is really good. I always read your article for this kind of information.
Thanks Insta Solutions. The black hat techniques are easier to catch now than they were before. Go with what works and over time you’ll have a powerful PR’d site.
Great post,
The list tactic, works best for my blog. i also implement the infograpics and comic tactics. You’ve also given me new solutions, like the – how to and review tactics. You are an inspiration.
Good! You’ll definitely see an impact of traffic on your site. Remember, it takes time so don’t expect something overnight.
First timer to your blog and I love how clean and how easy it is to navigate through it. I may be new here, but I’ve seen you on guest posts before on other authoritative blogs. I wish I had checked out your blog sooner however, because you have some killer SEO content and your style of writing is great.
This and many other posts I’ve read here, are excellent. You gave many references and methods that I’ve not heard about or explained so well, as on this post. Thanks for the very helpful posts!
Thanks, it took me several designs before I came up with something people found extremely user friendly. Good luck on applying those techniques.
Hi Neil, I just want to ask how many percent does your visitor increase after using top commentator plugin?
thank you
I don’t have the exact percentage, but my guess would be 2 to 3% max.
Neil this is only way to come on first page, is there any other way. because sometime backlink get really on your nerve. i am find it very difficult to do that.
Sorry, no there aren’t any other ways. Building backlinks is how you get it done.
Finally I found this site. This information are very useful to me. Thanks for the information are really learned a lot in your article.
Glad you finally found it! Now take action and let me know how it goes.
@neil patel yep you are right building links is the way to do it, and the fastest you get it done the better
Yes, but just remember it does take time.
I’ve been trying to find an article like this for quite some time. My employer has me researching SEO, and I’ve been most uninformed on back links. I gained a lot of great advice from this article (most gratefully about what NOT to do), and most of all learned that there really are no shortcuts to building back links. I can move forward in the right direction. Thanks!
Oh than this must have been perfect for you! Let me know how it goes.
Neil is it okay if you will elaborate more about link bait? It really confuse me..:(
Here is the definition: Any content or feature within a website that somehow baits viewers to place links to it from other websites.
Thanks Neil for answering this question, because I also want to know what this thing is, so i guess the key here is to write a very good article.
Hopefully I was able to do that for you.
I have found that “how-to” articles work best for me – and my information site. I have never considered infographs, so thanks for sharing that bit of info.
That’ll definitely be a good thing for you.
I found this site while trying to build backlinks, but I can honestly say that it’s a great site and I will be coming back regularly. Your point about infographics is so true. My company has started incorporating them and we have done extremely well on a number of SM sites.
Perfect. I think it’s a very very good idea to get on that stuff right away.
These are some tactics that I haven’t read before. Def. some “out of the box” thinking. I really like your first one about infographics, and that’s something I may try in the near future.
It’s very creative and looking like what’s working with the mass crowd. Take action on it asap!
The infographics information is genius. Going to use that one myself for an upcoming project…Heck, I link to those when I find ‘em!
Thanks for that.
Perfect. Let us know when you get it finished.
I optimizer, and therefore your article I had on the soul
particularly liked the fifth tactic … I had successfully applied in practice, although it requires a certain dexterity
That’s great, now you need to put the other ones in action.
I’ll try! thanks
Perfect, can’t wait!
Hi Neil
237 comments! guess you practice what you preach.
I’m not doing so badly for backlinks, I comment on lots of blogs and try to take part in the blogging community.
I notice that Matt Cutts mentions starting a blog, so most of us are at least partly there.
lol, yeah, we’re all in the same boat.
Thank you for your backlink article. I am trying to get backlinks to my website, this will help a lot.
Perfect timing! Let me know how it goes.
Which one do you think is most important out of these Neil? I know all 7 are important but which ones works best for you?
Vik, trust me on this, do 1-7. It doesn’t matter which one is most important… just do it all
I agree Neil, these 7 tips are worth trying and adding to my list of linkbuilding techniques
Absolutely! These are great techniques to get started with your SEO or to take it to the next level.
I have come across other posts on this topic, and I have to say yours is the most informative and helpful. Thanks, Neil.
Perfect! Thanks Melisa, glad it was powerful info for you!
Great content is a problem if you don’t know how to write in English. For me it’s a serious case, i would write a blog but i’m lacking the skills to write. My mother language is Estonian and i speak english pretty well, but not that well that i could write a blog.
I think you should practice writing in English and read blogs on how to write effectively.
Some ideas I have never thought. Thanks for sharing. Link building takes more creative ideas these days than it used to a few years ago. Buzz always makes a lot of good links, but it is not always so easy to create a buzz in all markets.
Yes it definitely required a lot more work on your part, but the good news is that most people won’t do it.
Neil, if you only had to choose one link building method, which one would you choose? I`m just curious
To be honest, all of them are important. If you really are serious about building a successful website, you would just follow this plan verbatim.
You’ll be amazed by the answer, provide quality unique rich content on your site. The main reason people “naturally” link to your site is because your providing valuable, useful or entertaining information that they want to share on their website or web page.
Exactly… if you can bring powerful value and content, people will naturally be compelled to come back and promote you.
Hi Neil,
I am totally newbie in SEO field. Debt-Management is my first site. I always try to get some tips & guidance from the experts like you.I had bookmark this post & following the tips one by one.
Waiting for more tips or guidance from you for the newbie like me.
Good for you on getting started! You’ll love what I have to offer in the future.
This post is really superb!
Thanks to Matt, he really opened few of the untouched doors which are important to consider and follow while we plan SEO for websites & specially building – back links. Thanks.
Thanks Swarup! These are methods that are currently working for many people so it just makes sense to do what works.
Backlinks are so important in these days doing SEO. Building backlinks steady over a period of time will lead to success with serp ranking. I really liked your tip on doing graphs for traffic. That was a great share.
These are just new(er) and creative methods to helping you rank more effectively.
Maybe I can add 1 more way i.e create unique and creative images… It works well if your images is really interesting.
Unique content and interesting images is always the most important thing you can do to build successful website.
Building backlinks is a pain in the you know what, i just pay a company 20$ for 1000 directory submissions and over half get aproved in 1 day. Have you done this neil. I know you dont buy backlinks but i mean come on this is a steal lol.
It maybe a “good deal” but the quality of those backlinks may be so terrible that it works as a disadvantage. Think about it… $20 for 1,000… wouldn’t everyone do it?
Leave comments on other people’s blogs. Just make sure you pick high pagerank blogs and blogs that are similar to your blog’s content.
These are excellent tips on getting organic links. One of our blog’s most popular posts was a list like you suggested, “10 Link Building Ideas To Improve Your Web Presence” (http://blog.lookuppage.com/2009/05/10-link-building-ideas-to-improve-your-web-presence.html) in addition to giving people link building ideas … it got us a lot of back links.
Thanks for the great tips, once again …
Thanks for sharing that. Yes it’s interesting but funny how it equals back links.
I’ve already tried quizzes and yes it turned out effective. I’m planning to start my how to guide in my site I’m just thinking of stuff that I will post.
Thanks,
Vins
Congrats on the quiz getting you results. That’s something I’ll be implementing too. I’m thinking about doing a link building quiz.
Wow this is great especially for newbies like me. It sound’s difficult but I think its worth trying. I hope I cant get lots of backlinks and get good rank from google. Thanks for sharing!
It is difficult but if you spend the time, it’ll be worth it.
Both Google and people love lists, They are a great way to make things easier for not only your visitors but the search engines as well.
Lists are always easy for people to come, read, and get out.
Quizzes is a funny site. Usually I will skip this kind of boaring quiz but this website grab my attention and I think it is creative. There are a lot of build links tactic that I never hear it before, for example like use tactic 3: comic or the infographics. I am using ehow to build link, image in the article is a good idea for me, I think I should try it. Well done!
There are several ways as listed above… try a few of them out and see what works for you.
I’m the one who try to build up my back link as much as possible. Try harder to build up those link in clean way to promote my website in the long run. This article is very useful. Thank you for great info.
Absolutely.. it takes time to do it but once you do… you’ll get results.
I had no idea that the type of content on your site would bring it up or down. I guess this is obvious, but what if you have an article directory? There could be content on just about anything. Does this hurt your URL ranking?
Tried most of those and I can’t wait to try the cartoon angle. Thanks for posting and clearly this well written piece shows that good content will bring a lot of link love.
Glad you found it useful, so just now put it into action.
This is really excellent. Many of these may not work that well for small businesses like myself, but the lists and how to guides are a great idea that I will have to try.
It will work for anyone trying to increase their web traffic.
Thank you for this great post. I have been struggling with google rankings for a while and am going to give this a try.
Thanks for the insights. My blog “business-fundas” is a pretty new one and I was wondering how to create backlinks. Thanks
Well, start writing great and amazing articles and you’ll naturally be able to do so. Also, follow the guide I wrote above.
btw does having backlinks to home page help more than backlinks to specific articles?
no, just to your webpage in general is important.
hmmm what about sponsoring blogs?
Ultimately it won’t work… for the long term.
building backlinks is a pain if you know what im talking about. It would be alot easier if it could be automatic if you know what im talking about. Just work hard hopefuly it works out
It can be a paid which is why it’s smart of you to do it… most people won’t go through the trouble of doing it so you’ll be that much ahead of the competition.
What about getting links from local library or the chamber of commerce?
If your site is related to those types of sites, then yes its a great idea!
thanks for your effforts to give information to the bloggers, but i couldn’t understand how we can build baclinks with the use of quizzes.
People will see the interesting quizzes than post it on their site…. again it’s difficult to do unless you come up with something unique and different.
These are quite good unconventional ways of building backlinks. It’s nice to learn new creative and legit ways. I like these ideas.
Yes, there are many ways to do it, I just decided to give some people some options on different things you can do.
You’ve got great ideas there. I never thought that “infographics” is such a wonderful one. I will probably kind of try it in the future. I was just caught with it. Excellent!
Infographs have been working really for many people, so you need to be careful because they are just so many out there.
Great article and I know how difficult it was to get good links from Free Online Dating, I had to work with those guys too except one of my main keywords was “Singles” and that was nightmare of a task.
I can imagine the industry is extremely completive.
Do you think article websites work well to build backlinks?
Well it depends with the content of the article.
No. It may actually be beneficial if your posts get indexed. So make good posts with relevant keywords. However, avoid spamming the discussions with your links. Keep them in your profile.
Anything you do in excess can potentially hurt your blog. My best piece of advice is to test a few techniques out.
This is what I want. Any other ideas to increase backlinks?
My website page rank down from 3 t0 1. So I dying to increase it.
Well focus on what I’m telling you to do… remember, it takes time. It doesn’t happen over night.
Focus on these items first…. and master them.
lol lots of comments to read. I guess it’s always good to know people listen to you. Quiz idea looks promising, you just have to figure it out on yourself before giving up.
The infographics idea is one that I hadn’t heard of before. That one has my mind wandering in a few different directions with possibilities.
When it really comes down to it, it boils down to honest, hard work; giving visitors to your site something that is engaging and build your site and reputation the slow old-fashioned way.
Yes, slow and steady wins the race. The illegal techniques may help you rank faster now, but it’ll screw you up in the long run.
The infographics idea is great! Very good idea for those who need to see things visually.
Yes, exactly! However, it’s becoming more and more common… so if you were to do it, it would have to be pretty unique
another great one. too bad i can’t draw comics
)
Every time I sit down to write a post I ask myself:
“What can I write about that people will love and feel compelled to share?”
Once I found my answer, it all seems to be easy from there. The search engine optimization seems to flow naturally as I type with my own voice – not overloading the post with keywords.
I listen to my blog readers and give them posts they love to read and share with others. This pulls in the all important backlinks.
You’re doing a fantastic job here on the blog, plenty of comments coming and and backlinks all around. Keep up the great work (love the design btw – very sleek).
Thanks Murlu, the blog was basically voted and fine tuned by my readers over 4 separate redesigns. http://www.quicksprout.com/2010/02/25/what-i-learned-about-you-through-4-redesigns/
this post just changed my way of thinking about building link..learned a lot from it..surely going to follow the steps
Perfect, let me know how it goes and share with me your results.
Nice post Neil! it give me some new ideas about building backlinks. I just see backlinks for your site in backlinkwatch[dot]com, i can’t believe it is about 78793. By the way for which keyword you’r optimizing ur site? Because most of them links ur site with anchor link “QuickSprout”!
My backlink strategy is commenting. Your tips are upscale and on a higher level. It seems difficult to achieve but possible
It is difficult and time consuming but it can definitely be done!
The big thing right now is xrummer. My friend had it run all day and commented on 3000 blogs. 4 backlinks! Weak Stuff lol
commenting is not as great as a technique as some of the other options that are available.
People like to be entertained, and if you do that with a quiz or anything that you need someone to read or take action on it will hold their interest and attention long enough to take what ever action you want them to take
Building a solid quiz or survey is challenging, but if done right, it can help you drastically.
Nice list, thanks, i decided to write a blog exactly about this topic, its in german but actually everyone should get what its about: backlinks for free. Visit me.
Thanks for sharing that!
Great post, you have some good examples hier to follow. Thanks!
Very simple and it works perfectly!
Hi Neil
Very informative as always, however one thing bothers me. We are always told (and to be fair, this was my understanding as well) that short term link boosting strategies are not good and that the engines will find out what you are up to and take action.
Yet, I see major sites do this all the time and nothing is done about it. It’s like Google has one rule for them and one rule for everybody else and it’s about time that there was a level playing field.
That’s really the power 1 has when they have everything so monopolized.
I think gaining backlinks is not only important but getting high PR is important and it should be ethical and should not be considered as black hat technique.
Well it’s necessary to become successful in any online adventure.
Okay.. I am a newbie for this SEO, and this is one of the best way to earn money online. Now, my master told me to build a better link building.. So now, I start to serf in the internet to gather information’s regarding for this. But, there were a lot of them to be follow. So, I ask my master if what is the best way to have it right.. He said that “it is better to learn that asking”. So, I drop here and the post is explaining briefly. So, I really think that this post will going to complete and to fulfill what I need to do.. Thank you for this, and I really hope that this is it…
Well follow the advice and then come back with any questions you have.
You have done it again Neil…
Top post, I’ll have to bookmark it and follow the links when I have more time.
You do this to me all the time, top value information
Thanks, glad you found it helpful.
I especially liked the part about ‘top lists’ im glad you went into a little extra detail on how to write a good ‘top lists’ blog post. Your tips are absolutely going to help me. cheers.
Awesome, let me know how it works out for you.
Another great post
I’m glad the linkbuilding tips were all ethical and you are right, this is something that anyone can do. At long last it also appears that Google has finally woken up to the fact that paid text links are bad and that really levels the playing field out for everyone.
They have to a certain extent, but I’ve seen lots of my competitors with obvious paid backlinks and top rankings.
Yeah it happens more often than not, but they eventually get caught.
You never want to be in a position where you come across negatively to something that can be such a great source to your business.
Comics and lists have been the most successful for me.
That’s awesome, consider trying out some of the other avenues.
Thanks for this awesome information, this is really helpful for me as a beginner. I keep on experimenting but still there’s nothing happened, I will try this tips of yours.
It takes time… it never happens just like that.
Neil, your SEO articles are awesome. Simple and effective. Thanks for the content and the way you put out the content more importantly.
Hi neil, Your articles are very simple to read and understand. Where do you get this data from?Do you browse internet?Can you share the source like you talked about the comic part.How do you know that they got more than 20 million page views a month?
thanks in advance
Its’ really just knowledge I’ve gained over the years.
Hi neil, Your articles are very simple to read and understand. Where do you get this data from?Do you browse internet?Can you share the source like you talked about the comic part.How do you know that they got more than 20 million page views a month?
Your articles are very simple to read and understand. Where do you get this data from?Do you browse internet?
you should put some more ways that say how can we get links for our site. promoting a list is best one i think.
-Chetan