If you really want to give you web site a change of succeeding in the search engine rankings then you must focus a large part of your SEO campaign on building backlinks to your web site. This process can take anything from a weeks to months, although in reality it never really stops.
If you have a new web site then the best way to get it indexed quickly is with relevant back links. By relevant, I mean that the source of these back links comes from a web page that is topically relevant to your own. For example we have just launched a site at www.destination-lanzarote.com and we have contacted property owners and tourism web sites to seek back links to our web site from them.
As the Google guidelines explain:
“The best way to ensure Google finds your site, is for your pages to be linked from lots of pages on other sites. Google’s robots jump from page to page on the Web via hyperlinks, so the more sites that link to you, the more likely it is that we’ll find you quickly.”
There are a number of different ways that you can create backlinks and promote your web site. They don’t just have to come from 3rd party web sites.
For example, the following activities can help to build your backlink count:
- Write articles relevant to your website content and submit them to article directories. Article directories normally allow for at least 2 backlinks in a resource box
- Submit your web site to web directories, but make sure you post the links in relevant categories to give your link some relevance
- Trade links with other site owners, again making sure that the source page is relevant to your site
- Write a blog, or contribute to existing blogs
- Participate in forums that are relevant to the topic of your website and put a URL link in your signature
- Use social media channels such as Digg, Twitter and Delicious
Link building isn’t easy, not surprising when you realise the value of a good back link. It pays off to research and search the web for sites with relevant content. It may sounds like a time consuming exercise but with SEO there are no shortcuts.
It is also very important to consider the anchor text of your back links. You should always use your chosen keywords in your anchor text, and make sure they link back to a relevant page for that keyword (they don’t all have to go back to your homepage you know, deep links can be very useful). The anchor text is the text that appears to be clickable to site visitors, for example:
Ideally, your link building campaign should be spread out over time. This makes it appear like natural link growth to Google. If you do too much too soon it could be flagged as SPAM which could seriously harm the chances of your site ranking well.
This post was written by Ian Sheldon, an SEO Consultant and founder of UK SEO Company, eSoftware Solutions. If you are looking for help with your back link campaign then why not get in touch with us on 0845 838 8588 or email info@esoftware-solutions.com
