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18 Link Building Techniques

By on August 22, 2011

What’s the best Link Building Techniques for your website?  Who knows?  It comes down to personal preference as much as any other factor, so pick out the one that you think you are best at and stick with it.  In the long run, it will be more beneficial for you to master one method of backlinking tactics before moving onto the next.

Pick out a few of these link building techniques, find one you like the most, and become an expert at it.  This list will still be here when you’re ready to master another one :P

Ben’s Link Building Techniques

1. Article Marketing

Despite the Panda update, article marketing has and always will be an one of the effective link building techniques to use.  The only reason people ever fail with article marketing (for SEO) is that they write for the article directories and search engines.  If you write killer content for people, other webmasters will find it and publish it on their sites giving you much stronger backlinks.  Here are a few of the top article directories:

www.ezinearticles.com – PR 6

www.articlecity.com – PR 6

www.articledashboard.com – PR 5

www.ideamarketers.com – PR 5

www.goarticles.com – PR 3link building techniques

2. Blog Commenting

Blog commenting is another great way to build links to your site.  You can get high PR backlinks with blog commenting and also build your reputation in your niche at the same time.  Here’s a free program for finding blog pages to comment on:

http://www.commentkahuna.com/

Another great resource for finding blog pages with more SEO value is www.dropmylink.com.

You can build a list of dofollow blogs to comment on and also network with others in your niche at the same time.

3. Forum Posting

Forum posting is on of those Link Building Techniques better suited to indexing links.  If you add a link in your signature on a popular forum and make a post it will get the page you’re sig links to indexed VERY quickly.  You can find a popular forum in just about any niche here: http://www.big-boards.com/

Another example is to visit the Warrior forum and ad a link in your signature there. This is a great place to learn as well as get a backlink.

4. Web 2.0 Blogs

Web 2.0 blogs can be a good place to post content linking back to your site.  A lot of SEOs opt to use free blogs as hubs for riskier links.  In other words, they will traffic mass amounts of links through their web 2.0 properties which then in turn link to their money site.  This way they don’t risk getting sandboxed or doing a wild “Google Dance” because there aren’t tons of links being built directly to their main website.  Some call this a link wheel. Here are the most popular platforms for free blogs:

www.wordpress.com

www.Blogger.com

www.weebly.com

www.squidoo.com

www.HubPages.com

5. Press Releases

Press releases can get your site a lot of exposure very quickly.  Unlike article marketing, they need to be somewhat timely and based on a recent event.  If you take the time to learn the ins and outs of press releases you can always be prepared to create an effective PR whenever something news worthy captures your attention.  Here are some sites that will distribute your press release for free:

www.prlog.org – PR 6

www.Webnewswire.com – PR 5

www.clickpress.com – PR 5

www.1888pressrelease.com – PR 5

www.pressmethod.com – PR 4

www.prurgent.com – PR 4

www.freepressrelease.com – PR 3

6. Profile Backlinks

Rather than neglect to include profile links, I decided to add it but warn against them.  Profile links are junk backlinks and not really worth the time.  Some marketers still report success with them, but they are usually competing for very uncompetitive search terms.  Also, if you’ve ever wondered why they became so popular, think about it from a service provider’s perspective.  Unlike articles or even blog comments, no real content is needed.  They are very easy to blast out or collect and sell as packets.

7. Website Directories

There’s all sorts of commotion in the SEO world about whether or not listing your website in directories is still effective.  To take a moderate approach on the subject: listing in some is helpful, but avoid software or services that place your site in hundreds of directories.  Here are a few of the most popular directories to list your site in:

www.dmoz.org- PR 8

www.dir.yahoo.com – PR 8

www.vlib.org – PR 8

www.botw.org – PR 7

www.zeal.com – PR 6

www.HotVsNot.com – PR 6

www.rdirectory.net – PR 5

www.directoryworld.net – PR 5

8. Blog Carnivals

A blog carnival is a collection of blog posts on a specific subject collected and combined from many different blogs.  They can be a good way to get links and consistent traffic to your website.  You can visit www.blogcarnival.com to get started with blog carnivals.

9. Video Marketing

Video marketing is more effective as a means of promotion and traffic than for backlinks.  Here are the most popular video sharing websites.

www.Youtube.com – PR 9

www.vimeo.com – PR 9

dailymotion.com – PR 7

www.metacafe.com – PR 7

The best way to garner further SEO benefits from video is to embed the video on your site as well and encourage other people to embed the video and link back.  This way people will post your video and you will get links.  Also, it’s a good time to mention that you should brand all of your videos so if someone uses it and doesn’t link back you still have obvious ownership and traffic potential from the video.

10. Document Directories

Document directories are another source that doesn’t produce very effective backlinks but can be great for consistent traffic.  You will only get “nofollow” links from the following directories, but people will read and download your docs leading them back to your site.

www.scribd.com – PR 8

www.docstoc.com – PR 8

www.slideshare.net – PR 8

www.docshare.com – PR 5

Those are the most popular directories, and some of your documents will even show up in the SERPs due to the authority these sites hold.

11. Software Directories

If you have any software to give away or even an article to turn into a pad file, you can take advantage of software directories and the backlinks they provide:

www.brothersoft.com – PR 8

www.download.com – PR 8

www.sourceforge.net – PR 8

www.softpedia.com – PR 7

www.winsite.com – PR 6

www.softwarevault.com – PR 5

12. Yahoo! Answers

You won’t get to make links right away with Yahoo Answers since level 1 participants don’t get hyperlinks.  However, once you get to level 2 through answering questions, getting selected as the best answer, and just logging in, you will have opportunity to post links to your site.  These are “nofollow” links, but I like to think they might pass some level of trust or SEO value since it takes a commitment to be able to post them in the first place.  Once again, regardless of the SEO value, Yahoo Answers is a good traffic source for two reasons.  It will send you internal traffic and it also ranks very well in the SERPs so you could easily end up with a best answer sitting on page one of the SERPs.

13. Guest Blogging

Guest blogging is a great way to get loads of targeted traffic and powerful one-way backlinks.  The links you get will be in a space only edited by the webmaster which makes a difference, and they will also be dofollow with anchor text.  It’s best to study the current posts and community on a blog before posting.  Make sure you take the time to craft a well-written, unique, and relevant piece of content to post that highlights your own talents as a blogger/writer.

Here are two sites that are very helpful for finding blogs in your niche to write for:

www.myblogguest.com (See the free blogging book)

www.bloggerlinkup.com

14. RSS/Blog Submission

RSS/blog submission is a decent source of backlinks, but is limited in it’s use.  Submitting your blog once to many of these directories is a good idea, but there is little point in resubmitting or spamming submissions.  Here are some directories you can submit to:

www.bloglines.com – PR 9

www.plazoo.com – PR 6

www.icerocket.com – PR 6

www.blogcatalog.com – PR 6

www.bloghop.com – PR 6

www.portal.eatonweb.com – PR 6

www.blogged.com – PR 6

www.bloggapedia.com – PR 6

15. Google Knol

A lot of bloggers and marketers are entirely unaware of Google knol.  Basically, you can use it like another web 2.0 site for posting content and linking back to your website:

http://knol.google.com/k – PR 7

16. Social Bookmarks

Social bookmarks won’t get your site ranking at the top of the SERPs alone, but they are a good way to notify the search engines of new content and get a quick splash of visitors to a webpage.  You can use free tools like OnlyWire or Pixelpipe to automate your social bookmarking tasks.

17. Social Media Link Building Techniques

Google has stated that they are looking at social signals now when ranking webpages and has also introduced its own Google Plus button.  Getting your content tweeted by someone with a lot of Twitter followers or a lot of people in general could actually increase the ranking of your webpage in the search engine results.  Make sure to share links on Twitter and Facebook to get more visitors to your site and build backlinks. Using Social media buttons on your website is one of those must have link building techniques.

18. CSS Galleries

This lucky last of the link building techniques is rarely talked about, but for good reason.  It’s a bit difficult to use since most of us just have premade template for our sites or use common themes for our WP blogs.  If you have designed your site’s CSS or if it is custom, you should definitely consider adding your website to one of these sites for some more free backlinks.

www.cssdrive.com – PR 9

www.cssbeauty.com – PR 6

www.unmatchedstyle.com – PR 6

www.webcreme.com – PR 6

 

One thing all of the above link building techniques have in common is that they can be done for free.  This means you don’t have to nail it on your first try.  Your first press release might flop, but you will gain new insight through the experience that you can apply to subsequent submissions and it hasn’t cost you anything.  All it takes is a little initiative and some virtual elbow grease ;)

(NOTE: I have added the PR of the homepage for sites as a simple metric for understanding the overall authority of the website.  I do not mean to confuse the idea that you will get PR for a new article on Ezine, for example, because the homepage has a PR of 6)

Have you got any Link Building Techniques to add to this list?

About Ben

191 Comments

  1. Jamalbeaddy

    May 16, 2013 at 5:38 pm

    Oh its a great thing for me because these link building steps are great useful to me, because i want to build the back links for my website. thnx

    Reply

  2. vishvast

    May 3, 2013 at 10:10 am

    Hello Ben
    I thing, for Social Bookmark its not too tough to make a link building because I ve tried it and the result was not so good. And for Google Thanks before for your good tips.will help me a lot
    vishvast recently posted..Free download battlefield 3 wallpapers

    Reply

  3. Sudipto

    April 3, 2013 at 7:08 am

    Hey Ben,
    Nice post and Yes, building links is very crucial factor in blogging I think commenting on other blog and by guest posting is the best way to make links with other blog. Thanks for sharing This useful tips.
    Sudipto recently posted..Best Love Stories Of All Time

    Reply

  4. Googma Sansar

    March 13, 2013 at 9:56 am

    Thank you for sharing excellent link building guide. it is really helpful to building links. i will replicate all these ideas.
    Googma Sansar recently posted..The Effective Ways to Web Optimization

    Reply

  5. Lee

    March 11, 2013 at 4:26 pm

    Hi
    What do you think of Pinterest as a link building place. Do you get a link everytime someone pins one of your images or re pins. Or is that not how it works.??????

    Await reply lee
    Lee recently posted..Cheapest insurance for young drivers

    Reply

  6. Riki

    February 21, 2013 at 2:40 pm

    Hello Ben, I thing, for Social Bookmark it\’s not too tough to make a link building because I\’ve tried it and the result was not so good. And for Google knol been discontinued from May, 2012Thanks before for your good tips.
    Riki recently posted..Maclaren Volo Stroller

    Reply

  7. wasim

    February 18, 2013 at 9:22 am

    i expected a little more on bookmakring sites. But still they are helpful i think and didnt know about all those other techniques you mentioned thanks alot
    wasim recently posted..Yeah !!! You can workout at home !!!

    Reply

  8. Jack Jackson

    February 12, 2013 at 3:31 pm

    Sometime when you visited any webpage by clicking a link and you find a lot of useful resources that make you happy, i feel like this, i read this article entirely, dear you describe a massive collection to link building techniques, sharing this with community a wonderful thing, that’s why i appreciate you. thanks
    Jack Jackson recently posted..Jang Sunday Jobs

    Reply

  9. Manisha Singh

    February 7, 2013 at 7:50 am

    Good information about “link building techniques”,by killing post,guest post and by creating good relationship with audience you can create much traffic to your blog and links.
    Thanks.
    Manisha Singh recently posted..SEO: URL Optimization

    Reply

  10. Mark

    January 29, 2013 at 12:39 pm

    Hi,

    Great article. I have never heard of http://knol.google.com/. I am going to go and check it out now.

    Cheers
    Mark recently posted..Local artist Tony Brook launches his 2013 YORK CALENDAR

    Reply

  11. Werry Adnan

    January 25, 2013 at 3:56 pm

    wow, this posting is complete guide for me to learn about link building. Link building is essential for SEO to get high SERP in major search engine. Good qualities of backlink is required for us to get good SEO result. thanks ben for great posting
    Werry Adnan recently posted..Obat Penambah Berat Badan

    Reply

  12. Taran

    January 15, 2013 at 7:16 pm

    Excellent list of link-building resources. Nice work putting that together, and thanks!This technique is very useful to optimize a blog very quickly.

    Reply

  13. Melissa

    January 12, 2013 at 9:31 am

    Thanks all of you in comments list.
    I have benefited from comments discussions a lot.

    Comments responses are so comprehensive.
    Melissa recently posted..The waterproof phone Sony Xperia Z at CES 2013 make visitor Excited

    Reply

  14. Justin Musiker

    January 4, 2013 at 11:30 pm

    These are excellent techniques listed. I thing my favorite one is commentluv blogs. It’s so clear cut. Leave a valuable and useful comment, and your rewarded with luv. Ben, sice this was written about a year ago, which of these do you think holds the most weight now? Which doesn’t do anything anymore?
    Justin Musiker recently posted..Delray Beach SEO

    Reply

  15. amely hopes

    January 3, 2013 at 12:24 pm

    Blog commenting is the best way link building technique for getting better in links the only drawback is when the links got removed they are removed in bundles from the blog

    Reply

  16. Shane

    December 31, 2012 at 9:18 pm

    Hey so you think you will do an update to this page. Since all the google updates, i find myself needing to look for new ways to create links.
    Shane recently posted..Why keyword negatives are important

    Reply

  17. Alex

    December 13, 2012 at 9:38 pm

    so far the best results have been following the comments on blogs and press releases but different link structure between article directories, web 2.0 and social bookmarking lead to incredible results in serp
    Alex recently posted..Lista de Preturi

    Reply

  18. Jerry

    November 9, 2012 at 3:49 pm

    Since now, i find article marketing and media the most efficient techniques. I didn’t work with press release and i don’t know if i will.
    Jerry recently posted..Budgie Cages (dofollow)

    Reply

  19. Josh McCreery

    October 23, 2012 at 3:44 am

    Link building is really a long and sometimes disappointing task. With the current changes on Google, quality link building is the key! Is article marketing still an effective link building strategy? I heard Google has punished some of the article directory sites.

    Reply

  20. Rohan Advani

    October 19, 2012 at 4:32 pm

    This would be helping a lot of bloggers and me too who want to attract traffic, garner attention and build a superb blog!! Thanks Ben
    Rohan Advani recently posted..Truecaller – An Amazing App to Track Phone Numbers

    Reply

  21. Michael

    October 18, 2012 at 10:47 am

    I wouldn’t rely on article marketing (as Google has deranked almost all AM sites and the links aren’t valuable anymore) and would completely avoid profile links (too risly post Penguin). Video marketing becomes more and more important (as Google owns YouTube).

    Reply

  22. Jeff

    October 13, 2012 at 8:36 am

    Hi Ben!
    Just want to clarify something. In submitting articles to PressRelease site, does the article needs to be unique from one article to another, like in articles directories? Usually press releases are similar. I just don’t know if you need to make it unique every time you submit a press release to a PR site.
    Jeff recently posted..WP Engine Review: The Truth Behind WP Engine Managed Hosting

    Reply

  23. Ben

    October 3, 2012 at 1:20 pm

    Excellent post. I use many of these techniques myself. I’m currently doing manual blog commenting on high pr sites, and will be starting an article submission campaign soon too.

    I’ve tried the link wheel stuff in the past, but never had much success with it. Is this because I’m not posting many links to my Web 2.0 properties do you think?

    I also use video marketing, but in a way by creating a load of Google accounts, uploading loads of videos to Youtube on each, then linking back to my money site.

    I’ll have to give Google Knol a try too.
    Ben recently posted..Day 6 – Feeling Better

    Reply

  24. Lee

    September 24, 2012 at 7:26 pm

    I am basically using social media as a link building strategy at the moment until things settle down with google and we know what is going to work in the future.

    Thanks lee
    Lee recently posted..Sweat Suits for Weight Loss

    Reply

  25. Dimitar

    September 18, 2012 at 3:43 pm

    Most of mensioned tehniques i already use, but some of them need more time, for example the video marketing and ROI is falling :) . Thanks for sharing the blog carnival stuff, and rss submision sites – i didn’t use them by this moment. I hope you share some twitter, G+ and facebook link building stuff.
    Dimitar recently posted..6 начина да получим реални резултати за класиране в Google (Деперсонализация)

    Reply

  26. Pingback: Backlinks and Links are part of an SEO straget

  27. Link Building

    September 1, 2012 at 10:01 am

    News and Media is also a good way of link building. News generates backlinks whether distributed through online or offline sources. Only one thing is to remember that news is dated so quick distribution is essential for this technique.

    Reply

  28. Salman

    August 19, 2012 at 12:02 pm

    Killer link building techniques … I follow most of the techniques shared here leaving quite a few which I plan to implement soon in my linkbuilding program.

    Reply

  29. Glenn

    August 1, 2012 at 7:01 pm

    Ben, thanks for the information. I’m looking to build back links to my blog and recently started using CommentLuv, that’s how I found your blog. And its great to be able to draw on your link building experience as its been a challenge for me…
    Glenn recently posted..Why earning extra money is one of the smartest things you can do today

    Reply

  30. paul n

    June 12, 2012 at 9:52 pm

    that is one extensive list… I am now looking into the other directories as I was only aware of dmoz

    Reply

  31. Daniel McBane

    June 11, 2012 at 9:16 am

    The blog carnival website seems to have stopped working a few days ago. Is anyone else having this issue or is it just a problem with my local isp?

    Reply

  32. Shane Ryans

    May 30, 2012 at 5:14 pm

    Well that is a really extensive list. And few I had not thought about in awhile. Google Knol is one of them. I should look back into some of your suggestions.
    Shane Ryans recently posted..Why keyword negatives are important

    Reply

  33. Nick

    March 28, 2012 at 8:01 pm

    Thank you for the great post. Any tips on link building are welcome!

    I really like your tips on sending letters to other webmasters for a link. I don’t even read link request emails that are too long. I initially see that the request is too long and don’t even read it! You are right, keep things short. No one seems really to have the time to read every single link request email that comes our way. If the request though is short, it has a much better chance to be taken seriously.

    Thank you again for your post. We look forward to more…!

    Reply

  34. Prakash

    March 12, 2012 at 4:47 am

    nice tips for link building I am using blog commenting and yahoo answers. But now I will go through all the methods you mentioned here.
    thanks for sharing it……………..
    Prakash recently posted..How to Change IP Address of Computer

    Reply

    • Gaurv

      March 30, 2012 at 5:47 pm

      Hello Prakash,
      I don’t think Yahoo Answers do provide you backlinks as its attribute is “nofollow”. So, how can you use it for link building process. I think Yahoo Answers are good when you are using it for marketing purpose as there is a high probability of appearing your answer at the top SERP results. I may not be 100% true but whatever I have learnt till now, strongly helps me to say so. If I am wrong then please accept my apologizes.
      Thank you.

      Reply

      • Prakash

        July 6, 2012 at 7:57 am

        Hello Gaurav thanks for your information. Whatever is it but it is a great source of traffic. Its nice to use this service.
        Prakash recently posted..MAX PAYNE: Finally Launched for Android

        Reply

  35. abu

    February 12, 2012 at 9:18 pm

    It was really nice to study your post. I collect some good points here. I would like to be appreciative you with the hard work you have made in skill this is great article.

    Reply

  36. Dr. Christa Herzog

    February 12, 2012 at 12:38 pm

    Thank you for the tips. these techniques are really useful blog commenting. This is a great list of sites. I could spend all weekend here just checking them all out. Thanks!

    Reply

  37. Thomas L Goss

    February 1, 2012 at 9:47 am

    Thanks a ton for the eminently practical post, as I’m just trying to get my poetry and book into human eyeballs and minds. I’ve employed some of these methods of course, but not much happening yet. But it’s only been 6 weeks. I’ll have to read more of your articles, as I’m committed to getting some regular web traffic to my sites! ;)

    Reply

    • Latha

      February 1, 2012 at 4:43 pm

      Hi Thomas, I visited your website.. Nice to know a poet :)
      Have you used Facebook and Twitter for your promotion? It would be great if you created a Fan page and gave them something free to like that page. Make this page a default page. You can get a fanpage designed on fiverr or on odesk.
      I think these coupled with some bookmarking, directory submissions will start the process.
      I think your website is a static one. is it? I mean not a blog right?

      Also, I think you need a better design for the website.
      Latha recently posted..Duplicate Content versus Syndicated Content – Myths Busted

      Reply

  38. Chuck Bluestein

    January 29, 2012 at 10:40 pm

    I read that guest blogging produces the most powerful backlinks. I have done one but need to do more.
    Chuck Bluestein recently posted..Eat Your Medicine: Food as Pharmacology

    Reply

  39. Sam Hans

    January 29, 2012 at 3:34 pm

    Article marketing. blog commenting and social bookmarking are the three major different types of link that gives best and the fast result for any blogger but one should regularly update the the blog with fresh content.
    Sam Hans recently posted..Cat Flu Complete Guide

    Reply

  40. Bryan Ring

    January 21, 2012 at 3:39 pm

    WOW Ben, I thought I surfed the internet. Sad thing is, I’ve maybe found 30% of these entities you’ve listed myself, thanks for the leg work and the great article. Heading over to your blog right after I stop writing this comment! Great Job!

    Reply

  41. Scott

    January 20, 2012 at 12:03 am

    Thanks for the great lists! I’ll just mention that because Youtube’s now owned by Google, you can be sure your Youtube videos you post will get better link juice attention than ever before…

    That’s my project for the New Year–go video! Get double duty from my content & attract a new audience by narrating my best posts, or the first 2-3 minutes of each, on video.

    Reply

  42. Mike

    January 11, 2012 at 10:55 am

    Huge list here to keep people busy. I would just like to know whether you have seen the effectiveness of article marketing decrease over the last few months, or whether you are still seing some good results using it?

    This doesn’t just go to you, but to anyone else who is reading/commenting!

    Also, I’d personally avoid profile links. They’re either no good, or will soon be no good!

    Mike
    Mike recently posted..Twitter competition for January – Win a £10 Amazon Voucher

    Reply

  43. tom

    January 5, 2012 at 7:12 am

    You suggest ‘Article Marketing’ I thought the Google Panda update hit this hard as it was seen as been spamy link farms?

    Reply

  44. Dennis Marshall

    January 3, 2012 at 6:09 pm

    I just found my goals for 2012.. Wow.. What an amazing list of to-dos that logically work even in 2012.

    I see in one of the comments you talk about using WordPress.com and other free blogs to bring attention to your site. I recently had my wp.com account suspended. Do they usually reopen accounts after a certain amount of time or should I just go ahead and start another one?

    I have to use WP.com because as I’m sure you know, they have authority and rank fast in Google..

    Thanks for the great post..
    Dennis Marshall recently posted..Internet Marketers and Bloggers: 14 Best Themes For Making Money Online In 2012 And Beyond (dofollow)

    Reply

    • mitz

      January 4, 2012 at 12:56 am

      Well I have had an account suspended too.. Not sure why as it was great content but they did..Then they re-opened it and then a year later they suspended it again.. Oh well. I miss my free blog but I have others.. Blogger.com is my next choice. Nice authority there too.. I have a PR4 blog there so that works for me.

      Reply

      • Dennis Marshall

        January 4, 2012 at 1:55 am

        Wow. PR4 on a blogger site… You just gave me a whole new direction… I may still use Wp.com but not put too much focus on it..

        Question.. On the blogger site.. This is what i’m thinking of doing.. Little 500 – 700 word articles that give the basics. I then put them on blogger, ezine and other directories.. Do you suggest I switch up the writing a bit Each time I post an article?

        and a link wheel would be something like “blogger > ezine > my site > blogger” right? Of course I’ll add a few in the middle.

        Thanks Mitz and I didn’t know this was your site.. Nice site
        Dennis Marshall recently posted..27 Powerful Quotes Every Blogger And Entrepreneur Should Live By (dofollow)

        Reply

        • mitz

          January 4, 2012 at 8:55 am

          This is my blogger site Pc Tips. Just one I have had for about 5 years. As you can see I write small articles on there, mostly original, and have links going to all sorts of places. I also use my other sites for links and ezine and so on… It is not a link wheel as such because it is not mass produced or rotten content.

          I definitely recommend that you change the articles a little bit for each time you are posting. It is really not hard to do to rewrite something or add a few more points, or even add a new introduction. When you have written a blog post on your main site, this is the perfect time to go out and write smaller articles while the subject is still in your mind. People whinge and say this is a waste of time, but I do this all the time, and make more than enough money for my work.

          You can also get some small articles written very cheaply on elance.com. I do this for our side promotion.

          Reply

  45. Nonoy

    January 2, 2012 at 11:13 pm

    I hope that forum link building still works since the Panda update. I have read an article few months ago that placing links in forum sites don’t work anymore as it used to.
    Nonoy recently posted..Top 5 Smartphones in the Philippines for 2011

    Reply

    • Dennis Marshall

      January 4, 2012 at 1:58 am

      I hope so too.. I saw the admins on WF saying they were sick of spammer coming on the forum and posting comments to rank faster in Google.. I don’t want spam the forums.. That’s stupid when they provide so much more power over time..
      Dennis Marshall recently posted..Internet Marketers and Bloggers: 14 Best Themes For Making Money Online In 2012 And Beyond (dofollow)

      Reply

      • Latha

        February 1, 2012 at 4:53 pm

        I think forum posting works.. I had posted a few comments last Jan 2011… I still get sales and visits.. Some links have link juice, some dont. But the MAIN point is that I am getting visitors for work i did a long time ago, i am getting recognized and making money as well.
        Latha recently posted..Duplicate Content versus Syndicated Content – Myths Busted

        Reply

        • mitz

          February 1, 2012 at 5:52 pm

          I agree that forum posting does work as I have had the same thing…It is even better when people mention your link for you just because you have the answer to the problem explained the best.. That is what I aim for..

          Reply

  46. Jim

    January 2, 2012 at 7:35 pm

    Great post. I guess what I really take from this article is that use everything. Don’t stick to just one method and hope that gets you there. We use article marketing, blog posting, yahoo answers comments, heavily into social media via twitter as well as dipping a toe in Facebook & Google +. We also employing a team of SEO peeps to help us out too. The other methods you list are now on the to do list. Great source of valuable information Ben :)
    Jim recently posted..Christmas & New Year Sale On Now

    Reply

  47. Sagar

    January 2, 2012 at 2:02 pm

    Link building is very essential for any website, these tips are really helpful, thanks for sharing :)
    Sagar recently posted..[Review] WhatsApp Messenger – International Texting App for iPhone, Android, Blackberry and Windows Phone 7.5

    Reply

  48. Dominic

    December 17, 2011 at 6:04 pm

    Hey Ben,
    Great post… I found that video marketing and article marketing together does a phenomenal job of keeping my pages ranked well in Google. In the past year, I have noticed a tremendous increase in referrals from my videos. They have brought double the traffic and clicks than ezinearticles. And the number one video referral is from YouTube. Each month they kill everything else. Thanks again for this article
    Dominic recently posted..How to Make Out

    Reply

  49. Nirmal

    December 17, 2011 at 2:47 am

    I have heard usual things. This is the first time I am hearing about building useful links through CSS galaries, software directories and document directories.You have also mentioned the sites which makes things easy. Great post
    Nirmal recently posted..Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary Bird species and Sanctuary Timings

    Reply

  50. Latha

    December 15, 2011 at 11:45 pm

    Oh, I am late, knol’s closing down on May 12. Also one of those blogging submission sites is down.. :(
    Latha recently posted..My Online Income System Membership

    Reply

  51. Karin

    December 14, 2011 at 3:21 am

    I have to say this is one of the most concise and helpful of all the ‘How to linkbuild’ articles I’ve seen. Blog carnival is, strangely, one that I’ve never really thought about before. Thanks for the tips!

    Reply

  52. Wonu

    December 14, 2011 at 1:15 am

    This list pretty much summed up all the back links building techniques. From my very little experience as I am new at SEO, I will say Directory Submission, Social Bookmarking, Article Marketing and Blog comenting are the most effective. I think different techniques workf or different people depends on the one you spend most of your time and you are good at.
    Wonu recently posted..Chevrolet SPARK HATCHBACK

    Reply

  53. Robert

    December 13, 2011 at 8:41 am

    Great tips, thanks.
    I’ve heard submitting blog comments is a waste of valuable time.
    What are your feelings?
    Even on high PR sites, as your comment drops down, it loses value?
    Thanks
    Rob
    Robert recently posted..Atlantis Submarines – Family Adventure

    Reply

    • Ben Jackson

      December 17, 2011 at 4:06 am

      It’s all in your approach and your technique. The problem is that blanket statements like that are too general. While I only consider blog commenting as one supplement and never the core to a link building campaign, I personally have seen direct results that I can vouch for.

      How you do it is extremely important. I think the best way for me to explain is to characterize what I consider to be the IDEAL blog comment link:

      -PageRank on page
      -exact match or partial match anchor text
      -less than 100 total links on page
      -dofollow
      -keyword in page title tag
      -keyword in domain name

      Try to get as many of those qualities you can and also vary your anchor text or only build a few exact match comments a month.
      Ben Jackson recently posted..FREE RSS Submitter – RSS Launch (dofollow)

      Reply

  54. Rick Castro

    December 13, 2011 at 5:21 pm

    It my first for visit this website and its funny I was into this posts! Why? well, I am linking building for a website and I can’t see improvement. And finding this post has revive me, it did gave me other ideas on my tasks. Just a question, how many points would I need to become Level 2 at yahoo answers? And do that really work? It’s nofollow right? Thanks..

    Reply

    • mitz

      December 14, 2011 at 8:06 am

      You need 250 points to make it to the next level.

      Reply

    • Ben Jackson

      December 17, 2011 at 4:00 am

      Thanks RIck, glad my post helped you get focused again! Mitz has already answered your question, but to expand upon YA links…

      I believe that nofollow links don’t influence search rankings, but there is a chance that they do and I think a link from a well moderated site would hold at least a little bit of authority and help if this is true.

      Regardless, YA links can send very targeted traffic AND YA pages rank in the search engines all the time. There’s nothing better than links than rank in the search engines too. They make for much better links = they’re assets.
      Ben Jackson recently posted..FREE RSS Submitter – RSS Launch (dofollow)

      Reply

  55. Latha

    December 10, 2011 at 11:43 pm

    OMG”

    I didnt know of half of them..

    Does squidoo still work.. I made 2 lens both got unpublished.. I m wondering if its the word marketing.. pls advice
    Latha recently posted..My Online Income System Membership

    Reply

    • mitz

      December 11, 2011 at 8:10 am

      Yes Squidoo works but you need to back link and promote your lenses to keep it published. They work fantastic!!! So does blogger.. I like to make those two and put my rss feeds on there.

      Reply

      • Latha

        December 15, 2011 at 2:22 pm

        Are your lens on affiliate products still active? Mine got unpublished… I wrote original content..
        Latha recently posted..My Online Income System Membership

        Reply

        • jan

          December 15, 2011 at 2:39 pm

          Hi Latha
          A while ago a lot of people were putting up junk lenses, 3 very short articles and then lots of stuff to buy. The articles may have been original but they were not substantial or of any great quality so you may have been caught in the clean up that they had. I was doing Tiffany Dow’s 52 on Squidoo challenge and when I saw some of the lenses going up I couldn’t be bothered as people were making 3 or 4 of these a day (not by Tiffany’s recommendation by the way). Squidoo are very happy for people to write affiliate lenses but they still need to be of a good quality content. I had one of mine unpublished so I know how it feels! But I have also had 3 affiliate lenses sitting there for a year now, and they have actually got pageranks of 1-2 with pretty much no effort on my part except for the original work so it’s worth persevering.
          jan recently posted..I quit sugar: a simple 8-week program

          Reply

          • Latha

            December 15, 2011 at 10:43 pm

            Hi Jan,
            Thanks..
            Will try to rework my strategy. Do you make the lens on the affiliate product name or on a keyword and promote the product?
            Latha recently posted..My Online Income System Membership

        • jan

          December 16, 2011 at 5:35 pm

          Hi Latha
          In answer to your second question I have lenses on perfume, ereaders, nutritional products and an ebook that can really help with a particular health problem that I used to have. I write about the products, why they are the best, how to use them, tips, other resources etc, so the lenses are not just about buying the product but also offering some interesting and useful information even if people don’t buy the product. I get a URL with the keywords that I want to go for and use keywords in the mini-articles. I usually write well over 2,500 words and make 6 or more mini-articles.

          When you go into your dashboard if you see a green tick it means that Squidoo thinks it’s a good lense and they promote it within Squidoo and submit it to the search engines. If it’s a good lense you get the tick as soon as you publish the lense. A red cross means that you need to do some work and you can check the Lense Progress bar on the front of your lense when you log in to find out how to improve it. You can download Tiffany Dow’s 52 on Squidoo at http://www.tiffanydow.com/ for free. Unfortunately the supporting videos are no longer available but there is still some great information there – it’s how I cut my teeth on Internet Marketing!
          jan recently posted..Kindle Fire, the newest color Kindle reader

          Reply

        • Chuck Bluestein

          January 31, 2012 at 1:36 am

          I put up 3 lenses and only 1 is still published. Hub Pages is almost as big as Squidoo but much better. You need to keep your hub score at 75 or higher so the links do not get the nofollow tag but that is easy. Their deal to make money is also better than Squidoo. Go here: http://chuck-bluestein.hubpages.com
          Chuck Bluestein recently posted..Eat Your Medicine: Food as Pharmacology

          Reply

          • jan

            January 31, 2012 at 9:25 am

            What I don’t like about Hub Pages is the enormous amount of spam comments. People don’t even say “love your post” they just leave a link to their Hub or site which is why I never joined. At least Squidoo maintain some standards. I know it’s a pain if they take one of your sites down as it has happened to me!
            jan recently posted..High fructose corn syrup, why all calories are not created equal

  56. Jeriea Smith

    December 8, 2011 at 6:57 pm

    You definitely need patience, link building takes time. I remember when I first started a storefront website; no one would return emails for link building. Now that we have a 4 ranking, we get emails with requests all the time. Funny how that happens! It’s important to link with those on same topics. We do get some strange requests that have nothing to do with the website.
    Jeriea Smith recently posted..how to Challange Your negative core belief by experiment

    Reply

  57. Business VoIP

    November 28, 2011 at 9:15 pm

    very well written article… so many link generation ways.. Great… Thanks for sharing.

    Reply

  58. alex

    November 28, 2011 at 10:17 pm

    i had no idea about the CSS Galleries and Google Knol.. i’m gonna do a bigger research on those 2.. thanks alot for sharing this, u have no idea how much is this helping..

    ~alex

    Reply

  59. Jagadish

    November 28, 2011 at 8:17 pm

    Thanks for the tips. I liked the #18 tip for CSS Galleries. I read many blogs but never came across this before.Very interesting and useful tip !!!
    Jagadish recently posted..Rouge : FREE MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTION (dofollow)

    Reply

  60. Scott

    November 28, 2011 at 8:29 am

    Hey Ben great advice. Thanks for taking the time to list the PR for all those backlink sources. With regard to “Link Wheels” I still don’t quite understand how the main site reaps the reward of the links that point at the anchor layer. Does it just make the backlink from the anchor more powerful?
    Thanks

    Reply

    • Ben Jackson

      November 29, 2011 at 12:39 am

      Hey Scott,

      (Warning: long-winded response :P )

      I’ve been straying away from link wheels and tactics that try to obviously game the search engines in an effort to be more white hat. I know there is a comment somewhere in here where I talk a bit about building link wheels, I don’t want to seem like I’m flip-flopping here, but it’s not something I would really recommend anymore.

      The only way I would recommend a link wheel or anything like it is if you were going to build a series of free blogs and consistently add content and links to them. If you grandfathered in a few sites that approached your niche in a different way and each was treated like a real website and not a link wheel throwaway property then I could see that being a reasonable strategy. The interlinking could be randomly and simply done where relevant or needed.

      The strength of this is that each blog would give you an opportunity to write in a different way and possibly attract different segments of your demographic and even drive traffic from internal sources depending on the platforms you use.

      The reason why tiered linking is more effective -> the “augmented set” explains that search engines follow link profiles 2 links forward and 2 links back, nowadays I’m sure Google can handle many more, but the idea is the same. This would mean that the links leading to a link leading to your site would influence the strength and relevance of the link leading to your site.

      (White paper that influenced Google and talks about the augmented set: http://www.cs.cornell.edu/home/kleinber/www98-arc.pdf)
      Ben Jackson recently posted..40 RSS Feed Directories List & More Resources (dofollow)

      Reply

  61. Juphet Mislang

    November 23, 2011 at 7:25 pm

    Honestly I’m kinda lost on my link building today. I really don’t know where to start. Well, maybe because I’m new to SEO. The 18 link building you’ve said will help me to get back on track. I’ll try my very best to follow your tips and I wish I would improved and have effective link building. Thanks Ben!
    Juphet Mislang recently posted..SEO Company Revisits You Tube Search Stories Video Creator (dofollow)

    Reply

    • Ben Jackson

      November 29, 2011 at 12:44 am

      Thanks Juphet, good luck with your link building – perseverance is key! If you get tired here’s a post that might help reignite your link building campaign…
      Ben Jackson recently posted..16 SEO Tips for Tired Link Builders (dofollow)

      Reply

  62. James Catter

    November 21, 2011 at 7:16 am

    hey ben, comprehensive link building techniques that you discussed in your post, but one thing i want to know is what backlinks are more powerful ? Especially after panada update.. Cheers

    Reply

    • Ben Jackson

      November 21, 2011 at 11:13 am

      Hmm that’s a hard question to answer James. First I’d recommend diversity in the types of links you get as well as the anchor text you use, but I’m going to say guest posts are likely the best links you can build. (Obviously I’m a big fan of guest blogging :P )

      Why?

      The links can lead to any page you want, you can use any anchor text, they’re dofollow, they often pass PR, they can appear within the content (better than after in a comment), they send targeted traffic, help you brand yourself and site, get shared and increase social signals + help build your social following.
      Ben Jackson recently posted..1,000+ Easy Backlinks: FREE, Simple, & Effective (dofollow)

      Reply

  63. Mubiru

    November 13, 2011 at 9:52 pm

    Thank for a very indepth look at link building. I’m in the middle of a link building campaign for my site and this helps alot.

    Reply

  64. Rob

    November 10, 2011 at 9:06 am

    Very in depth linkbuilding article here Ben. Thanks a lot. You really went over such a large amount of different ways to get links back to our sites. I have heard of some of the article directory sites listed but some are new to me.
    Rob recently posted..P90x Back In Action (dofollow)

    Reply

  65. Missy

    November 3, 2011 at 12:33 pm

    Along with Ben (and Mitz) I too prefer and enjoy guest blogging over all the methods mentioned above although it does require a bit more time and effort. In fact, I love it so much and have become quite skilled at it, that I run a guest posting service and have several clients.

    Guest posting is one of the best methods for link building and or driving traffic. You pretty much covered all the bases, Ben – nice to see them all lined up in one concise post. Good job.

    Cheers!
    Missy recently posted..Grab A FREE Copy of The BIG FAT List of Guest Blogging Opportunities (66 Total Mentioned) (dofollow)

    Reply

    • Ben Jackson

      November 29, 2011 at 12:56 am

      Thanks Missy, that sounds like a great business model. Not everyone wants to pay $3/article for content that is well… made for the directories :P

      I went to check out your ebook – the download link redirected me to another ebook :(

      I’ve got an ebook out on guest blogging right now you might be interested in, I’ll link to it here…
      (I’ve got affiliate resources available too if you’re interested.)
      Ben Jackson recently posted..Guest Blogging Master (dofollow)

      Reply

  66. phillH

    October 26, 2011 at 8:10 pm

    Good solid info here. Thanks. It looks like there is no magic easy way to get backlinks, just a long hard slog…Must be why some people get ranked and others don’t.
    phillH recently posted..Hamster mites (dofollow)

    Reply

    • Ben

      October 27, 2011 at 1:00 am

      Yup, no escaping the drudgery of link building :P

      That’s one reason I like guest blogging, it’s more time-consuming, but feels more like content creation than link building.
      Ben recently posted..SEO Writing: 6 Step Content Copywriting for the Search Engines (dofollow)

      Reply

      • mitz

        October 27, 2011 at 11:23 am

        Same here Ben…I like guest posting as it involves people..not just boring link building..:)

        Reply

  67. klaus

    October 19, 2011 at 11:39 pm

    thanks for some great techniques.

    im new in the bussines so this is very usefuld for me. thanks again
    klaus recently posted..10 forskelle på iPhone 4 og iPhone 4S (dofollow)

    Reply

  68. Jean

    October 19, 2011 at 4:50 pm

    For now, blog commenting is my preferred method but I soon plan to branch out into social media marketing, article marketing and forum posting as well. I just want to approach it the right way, that’s why I’m waiting before I jump in. I did give article marketing a brief try a while back though.

    -Jean
    Jean recently posted..How to stay safe while driving on wet roads (dofollow)

    Reply

  69. Bruker

    October 18, 2011 at 7:01 pm

    Your notepad trick was really very good, before reading this blog i always use to think that search engines read all the content like images and good web designing but i was wrong. thanks to you ben for this valuable post.
    Bruker recently posted..Brownfields (dofollow)

    Reply

  70. Noel Addison

    October 18, 2011 at 6:20 pm

    This is a very helpful post Ben. Thank you for taking time compiling and sharing these list.
    Noel Addison recently posted..Selling Ice Cubes to Eskimos (dofollow)

    Reply

  71. james

    October 13, 2011 at 6:42 pm

    Hi Ben, thanks for sharing ben, because i don’t know some of the methods and i’ll try your methods , i hope it’ll increase my blog postition and PR.
    james recently posted..What to Take to Build Muscle: Third Tips to Make An amazing muscle (dofollow)

    Reply

  72. Mark Tesa

    October 13, 2011 at 5:54 pm

    This is such a wonderful post and I must give you credit for putting all this together. Many link building techniques are the ones that ensure that we get a lot of traffic back to our sites. I like blog commenting since it gives you a chance to read other peoples posts so that they can also read yours. All the information here is very helpful and I am sure everyone who has read this is happy they came across such a post.

    Reply

    • Ben

      October 14, 2011 at 11:52 am

      Hey Mark, thanks for your feedback, glad you liked the post!
      Ben recently posted..SEO Products (dofollow)

      Reply

  73. Joel

    October 11, 2011 at 11:16 pm

    This blog post is a really valuable resource; it’s not the same rehashed, stale information I usually come across. My main question, as I read all this useful information, is: “What do you think is a realistic daily goal for link building that will produce some traction within, say, a month or two?”

    Reply

    • Ben

      October 12, 2011 at 4:41 pm

      You know Joel, I don’t think about it in daily terms nor am I organized enough to. If you don’t mind me being a bit abstract, I think that every site has it’s place in the SERPs (and on the internet in general) you just have to settle into that position.

      To be more specific: What links do your competitors have? How much are they varying their anchor text? Copy them to fit in and then show Google that you are better by building more quality links and providing a better user experience.

      To be even more specific: I primarily do guest blogging, link baiting, broken link building, and a bit of blog commenting and forum posting for the social aspect. I’m not sure how many links I get per day, but I can say for sure that I build a handful of quality links every week.
      Ben recently posted..3 Steps to Analyze and Copy Your Competitor’s Backlinks (dofollow)

      Reply

      • Sarah

        October 27, 2011 at 3:35 pm

        Hi Ben. what is link baiting, broken link building?

        Reply

  74. Aaron

    October 10, 2011 at 4:01 pm

    Very effective lists for link building, I don’t use all of them but will try to use all as Google likes variations in backlinks. It also enhance natural link building.
    Aaron recently posted..Goa Carnival 2012 (dofollow)

    Reply

    • Ben

      October 11, 2011 at 2:25 am

      Thanks Aaron. You know I never used to subscribe to the idea of “natural” link building/profiles, but now I see it as critical. Varying the types of links you get and consistently getting new links to new content is important for displaying natural growth.
      Ben recently posted..Top 44 Niche Social News & Bookmarking Sites List (dofollow)

      Reply

  75. RonLeyba

    October 10, 2011 at 9:09 am

    Of all things discussed above, I haven’t tried Blog Carnivals and CSS Galleries type of link building. Maybe I must include them at my arsenal. Thanks Ben.!
    RonLeyba recently posted..The Kitchen Musical – Interesting Photos, Videos And Full Cast Info (dofollow)

    Reply

  76. Thomas

    October 8, 2011 at 9:44 am

    Ben I’m sorry if I somehow missed this, but which of these tactics have you found most successful? Also have you much success using CommentKahuna? Thanks.
    Thomas recently posted..BlogGlue Review – Follow Up (dofollow)

    Reply

    • Ben

      October 9, 2011 at 7:52 am

      I was having a lot of success with high PR dofollow blog comments that I was finding using through search strings with dropmylink rather than comment kahuna, but I’ve backed off with that a bit because it was making my rankings too volatile. I’m guessing it was from an over abundance of exact match anchor text links.

      I’ve been doing well lately with guest blogging and social news sites for exposure. Specifically for link building I’ve been doing more competitive analysis sort of stuff. I did a post about this a couple weeks ago: http://www.seodiscovery.org/analyze-backlinks
      Ben recently posted..Top 44 Niche Social News & Bookmarking Sites List (dofollow)

      Reply

  77. Wayne Lambert

    October 3, 2011 at 1:09 am

    Great extensive list Ben. Good job! :)

    I have had good success with blog commenting, social bookmarking and creating mashed RSS feeds with Yahoo! Pipes is 3 methods that I have used to good effect to build links and get a good stream of traffic to my blog.

    I’ve yet to delve into the world of guest posting although I have seven or eight guest bloggers registered to my site.
    Wayne Lambert recently posted..Best Internet Marketing Tools

    Reply

    • Ben

      October 3, 2011 at 8:59 am

      Thanks for stopping by Wayne. RSS feed promotion is something I need to learn more about. Are you mashing up your feeds with particular topics? (Ex. link building related posts)
      Ben recently posted..Secret Affiliate Strategy Revealed (dofollow)

      Reply

  78. Duy

    October 2, 2011 at 2:18 am

    Thanks Ben for sharing your knowledge on link building :)

    I myself find out that not every webmaster will use the same techniques. Some will prefer guest blogging and using press release sites. Whereas other will rely solely on article marketing and blog commenting for example.

    But no matter what method is used, it’s the ultimate goal of ranking on the 1st page of Google that drives them. Just be consistent with your effort and finally the result will come.

    Nice post, btw buddy.

    Duy.
    Duy recently posted..M-Audio Studiophile AV 40 Powered Speaker System Review updated Wed Sep 7 2011 7:52 pm CDT

    Reply

  79. Toby Foote

    October 1, 2011 at 9:01 am

    Is the Yahoo directory submission really worth $299 per year?

    Toby Foote, Program Director
    Classroom Antics Summer Computer Tech Camps

    Reply

    • mitz

      October 1, 2011 at 9:38 am

      Hi Toby
      I do not buy this listing and my websites survive. :)

      Reply

  80. Reihann

    September 28, 2011 at 2:53 am

    very nice post indeed on link building strategies, if one apply a proper formula and go with these then he/she can surely get enough traffic from various sources, and also get a good page rank in search engines.

    Reply

  81. Arvind

    September 19, 2011 at 11:16 pm

    Thank you for listing these cool websites for highly effective backlinks. Thanks for sharing your knowledge BEN.

    Reply

  82. Phil

    September 20, 2011 at 5:54 am

    This is the first time I have heard of knol. I checked out the link and it’s like article marketing. Have not heard of blog carnival, too, until I read your post.
    Phil recently posted..Benefits of working with Philippines Outsourcing

    Reply

  83. Pingback: 9 SEO Tips to Dominate Google Search Reslults

  84. Erik Emanuelli

    September 10, 2011 at 1:07 am

    Thanks for sharing, Ben.

    Great list and I agree with all the points.

    I recently discovered blog carnivals, but I am already using
    most of the methods you mentioned.
    Erik Emanuelli recently posted..16 websites to make money online giving answers

    Reply

  85. Murray

    September 9, 2011 at 5:52 pm

    Just added a few new document sharing websites to my list, had DocStoc and SlideShare, didn’t know about the other so this will be great for syndication.

    Reply

  86. Azhar

    September 5, 2011 at 11:33 pm

    I normally focus on

    article writing
    blog commenting
    forum posting
    These three techniques are very useful for organic traffic.I always take in mind the relevancy.

    Reply

  87. Steve

    September 4, 2011 at 5:57 am

    Ben,

    Great list. The real genius of this is when you follow all of these and create a natural looking profile in the eyes of Google. DO too many of one (form a limited number of sources) and it begins to stink like day old fish left out in the sun in the eyes of the Big G.

    Thanks for some solid links and ideas
    Steve recently posted..45 Tips to Make MORE Money with Affiliate Marketing

    Reply

    • Ben

      September 6, 2011 at 3:43 am

      Yeah diversity is certainly key to a solid link profile. Having 50% of your links from directories would undoubtedly look bad. The only link I don’t think you can have too much of would be an in-content link from a section only editable by a webmaster. Editorial links like this I think are best and can’t be spammed (besides w/ blog networks).
      Ben recently posted..3 Steps to Analyze and Copy Your Competitor’s Backlinks (dofollow)

      Reply

  88. SEO Manchester

    September 2, 2011 at 9:45 pm

    Ben,
    Man! You are just awesome really! First time I have seen so elaborated explanation over building links. Many sites I have seen giving tips over link building but they repeat the same tip twice and thrice in different way in their points.

    Many of the sites and ways that you have mentioned, I didn’t even knew about like software directories, css galleries, blog carnivals, guest blogging as to how they could be used.
    Heartiest thanks, seriously!

    Reply

  89. SEO Manchester

    September 2, 2011 at 9:13 pm

    Ben,

    Man! You are just awesome really! First time I have seen so elaborated explanation over building links. Many sites I have seen giving tips over link building but they repeat the same tip twice and thrice in different way in their points.
    Many of the sites and ways that you have mentioned, I didn’t even knew about like software directories, css galleries, blog carnivals, guest blogging as to how they could be used.
    Heartiest thanks, seriously!

    Reply

    • Ben

      September 6, 2011 at 3:37 am

      Glad you enjoyed it. I know exactly what you’re talking about with the repeated tips, that’s why I stay away from list type posts that have higher numbers (101 ways to bla bla…). They’re usually soo redundant and useless lol.
      Ben recently posted..3 Steps to Analyze and Copy Your Competitor’s Backlinks (dofollow)

      Reply

  90. John

    September 2, 2011 at 6:40 pm

    You forgot backlinks of competition that you can find through yahoo site explorer or majesticseo. This is a great list. Will definately bookmark this page for future use.
    thanks

    Reply

    • Ben

      September 4, 2011 at 12:54 am

      Hey John,

      I think when analyzing your competitor’s backlinks they will often end up being links from one of the above techniques. It is a great idea though, I just wrote a post on my blog about how to analyze and copy your competitor’s backlinks.
      Ben recently posted..3 Steps to Analyze and Copy Your Competitor’s Backlinks (dofollow)

      Reply

      • John

        September 5, 2011 at 12:27 am

        @Ben, yes many times this is true. But sometimes you will find backlinks with high pr that are related to your site or keywords. This is a great high pr backlink to your site and google loves these kind of links. And you can do this for all the top 10 competitors not just for sites that or on place 1 in google. I checked out your post and i actually do the same. Great tip for newbies. Check out his post. Great blog Ben, keep it up! I am starting my seo project and i thought maybe you could have a look at my site and recommend what i can change or do. That would be great. I am now adding more content. Mail me if you have the time.I would really appreciate it. thank you

        Reply

        • Ben

          September 6, 2011 at 3:34 am

          Sure, there’s a link in my author box above you can use to email me. Just drop me a line and I’ll be happy to check out your site.
          Ben recently posted..3 Steps to Analyze and Copy Your Competitor’s Backlinks (dofollow)

          Reply

          • dan

            September 12, 2011 at 1:57 pm

            Wow that’s a hell of a list well done. With the competitors backlinks I tried SEO Spy glass but found I would have had to pay to get the full information. I recently found linkdiagnosis.com which is free and you can easily export and then filter in Excel by PR and follow / nofollow which I am finding useful. I haven’t really spent much time on there to know if the results are as comprehensive as SEO Spy Glass. If you do use it, note it only returns the first backlink from a domain (I assume from the highest ranking page) so the overall number of backlinks will be significantly lower than other tools but that still gives a pretty good idea of the SEO value I think (number of TLDs as opposed to number of raw backlinks).
            dan recently posted..My top 3 SEO strategies and how I implement them

  91. Web Design Resource

    September 1, 2011 at 8:51 pm

    I would like to add one more thing to it “Link Wheel”
    Web Design Resource recently posted..Are You Following The Principle Of CSS For Web Design?

    Reply

  92. Melly Lifshitz

    September 1, 2011 at 5:55 am

    but Google Knol is strict when it comes with the content of your post, right?? i mean we need to wait for like days until it’s being approved.
    Melly Lifshitz recently posted..Mel Lifshitz Supports the Mikveh Of Lawrence

    Reply

  93. Christie

    August 30, 2011 at 11:19 pm

    Hello Ben,
    This is just a awesome writing…I just want to add that 3-way site wide link building can also be effective to boost up the traffic. Thanks for sharing your great work….Keep it up.

    Reply

  94. document assembly

    August 29, 2011 at 4:35 pm

    That said, since buying links is frowned upon, link exchange no longer provides enough juice for ranking, directories are no longer valued the same, forums are over spammed, what linking technique still has value?

    Reply

    • Ben

      September 4, 2011 at 12:49 am

      I would advise to look at the big picture and think about every promotional aspect of your site. For instance, there are many decent and active forums in every niche and posting in them to add value and drive targeted traffic is worthwhile even if it doesn’t give you direct SEO results. You can leverage this reputation for links later.
      Ben recently posted..3 Steps to Analyze and Copy Your Competitor’s Backlinks (dofollow)

      Reply

  95. kevin

    August 27, 2011 at 1:02 am

    You’ve done a great job explaining how to build links. It’s a little bit hard to figure out what methods work better than others. It’s a very time consuming process, so the techniques you recommend helps streamline the process. Thanks!

    Reply

  96. Ted

    August 26, 2011 at 11:33 am

    Hey Ben,

    Pretty thorough list you have there. From that list, could you rank your top five favorite techniques?
    Ted recently posted..How To Get Quality Links For Your Website

    Reply

    • Ben

      September 4, 2011 at 12:46 am

      Sure, I would say my top 5 favorite techniques are guest blogging, blog commenting, article marketing, forum posting, and social bookmarking.

      I expect to get direct traffic from every link I build. I’ve found a solid approach to any of these techniques is to focus on how to get more traffic from them rather than how to make them more optimized.
      Ben recently posted..3 Steps to Analyze and Copy Your Competitor’s Backlinks (dofollow)

      Reply

  97. Johm

    August 26, 2011 at 12:26 am

    amazing illustration about link building but i always like article submission and blog commenting.

    Reply

  98. Paul

    August 25, 2011 at 5:43 pm

    Good article Ben!
    As for the backlink profiles after the panda update I heard various testimonies that confirm the limited usefulness of this technique

    In any case the best technique is to have different sources for backlink

    Reply

    • Ben

      August 27, 2011 at 1:40 am

      Thanks glad you liked it Paul. I would speculate that profile links are basically obsolete these days, but in the least you can use them to hide your more powerful backlinks in your link profile. A more diverse set of IPs linking to your site is always helpful as well.
      Ben recently posted..Niche Finder Review (dofollow)

      Reply

  99. Adam

    August 24, 2011 at 1:26 pm

    This is so helpful. I am a real estate agent who is just not sure how to get my business out there, but i’m trying some of your techniques. I provide real, valuable content so my hope is to build relationships with potential clients. These techniques will help me meet my goal. Thanks!
    Adam recently posted..Is it Time to Sell for Empty Nesters?

    Reply

    • Ben

      August 27, 2011 at 1:32 am

      Hey Adam,
      I think a lot of the techniques should prove very useful for you. In particular, I think you’ll find great value in getting involved in relevant discussions in your niche through blogs and forums and linking back to the content on your site. IMO having that great content on your site is your greatest link asset.
      Ben recently posted..Niche Finder Review (dofollow)

      Reply

  100. Mark

    August 24, 2011 at 8:31 pm

    These are great list of link building techniques that everbody can use for their sites. However, not everybody have the time to do all of these linkbuilding techniques. I think among the list, the most popular techniques are article marketing and blog commenting. It’s a proven fact to others who are into this.
    Mark recently posted..I had some issues with one of the DVD’s not working but I was cleaned it and it works just fine now

    Reply

  101. Jean

    August 24, 2011 at 5:01 pm

    I’ve never been big on Article Marketing in the traditional sense of people submitting the article to the well know Article Directories and building links that way. I think in 2011 Its way more affective to use your article towards guest blog posting an gaining a backlink that way. I just have a strong feeling that Google is aware of these Directories and will discredit their link value. Offcourse if other webmasters republish your post thats a whole nother story!

    -Jean

    Reply

    • Ben

      August 27, 2011 at 1:36 am

      I agree, article directory links themselves have never been that powerful and are less so with the Panda update. I’ve always focused on article marketing for syndication, but I think in 2011 guest blogging is a more effective alternative for many reasons.
      Ben recently posted..Niche Finder Review (dofollow)

      Reply

      • Jean

        September 2, 2011 at 8:44 am

        Yup you are right Ben about guest blogging. Its become really the hot ticket in 2011. I wonder if in 2012 it will be even more popular to do or if a new fad comes along. I am thinking guest blogging is here to stay as the number 1 alternative to what used to be article marketing.

        -Jean
        Jean recently posted..The right way to measure your used tires air pressure

        Reply

        • mitz

          September 2, 2011 at 12:43 pm

          This is true Jean

          I also think guest blogging is here to stay but there are still valid forms of article marketing too.. A little bit of everything puts your everywhere. :)

          Reply

          • Jean

            September 2, 2011 at 3:26 pm

            Yeah you are 100% right, its all about diversification, its something I learned the hard way when a page 1 ranking fell to rock bottom because I relied on only one technique of getting there.

            -Jean

  102. sarah

    August 24, 2011 at 1:42 pm

    This is extremely helpful. Thank you, again, for putting this together and for making all of our lives easier!
    sarah recently posted..Facebook Should Not Be A Victim Of The Riots

    Reply

  103. Kevin

    August 24, 2011 at 1:23 pm

    This is an extensive list of tips! Thank you! I’ve used many of these ideas, but notice that blog commenting works best for me. I also use article marketing. I’ve looked into guest blogging and have found that several sites will ask you to blog for them, but they don’t provide a link other than in your profile. That’s disappointing considering you are helping provide the content. I’ll try the ones you suggest.

    Reply

  104. TimW

    August 24, 2011 at 12:14 am

    Hi Ben, awesome write up. There are a couple here I have thought of but never got around to. It is like you said, ‘get good at something and stick with it’. Hadn’t heard of the guest blog sites before, so thanks for that.

    Is your list numbered sequentially?
    TimW recently posted..Kodak Playsport vs Flip

    Reply

    • Ben

      August 24, 2011 at 3:26 am

      Glad you liked it. Great question… nope the list is not any specific order.
      Ben recently posted..Niche Finder Review (dofollow)

      Reply

  105. govind gupta

    August 24, 2011 at 4:57 am

    nyc..post…..certainly worth sharing it!:-)
    govind gupta recently posted..5 things to Know before you start blogging!

    Reply

    • mitz

      August 24, 2011 at 8:35 am

      Hi there Home for geeks
      Love your theme you are using! Is that Thesis?

      Reply

      • govind gupta

        August 28, 2011 at 4:45 am

        no mitz the theme using my site is wordpress

        Reply

  106. Vernon

    August 24, 2011 at 2:02 am

    Lots of individual doing this for some reasons . This technique is will not be easily lost because of it helps to promote a site and it also increases traffic. This list of link building resources are very informative and it really helps a lot.
    Vernon recently posted..Dekaron Review

    Reply

  107. John

    August 23, 2011 at 10:33 pm

    A good reminder :) I wasn’t aware about the google knot thingy :)

    Reply

  108. Rob Benwell

    August 23, 2011 at 10:14 pm

    This example require some work but the end result is a genuine quality link that will help to build your own site’s authority. Great post!^_^
    Rob Benwell recently posted..Welcome To My Rob Benwell Review Site

    Reply

  109. e newsletters

    August 23, 2011 at 8:39 pm

    Hy, this is really useful and informatics list for link building. Forum posting, Social Bookmarking and In other hand Blog Committing is really very good for link building. learn some of effective techniques about link building. Thank you for nice post.

    Reply

  110. jan

    August 23, 2011 at 7:16 pm

    Hi Ben
    That’s a great list thanks, there are a couple on there that I haven’t seen before as well! I spent a couple of hours on your site which is awesome and downloaded the OnlyWire Account Creator – have had OnlyWire on my computer for a couple of months but had put it in the “too hard” basket so have actually signed up to a lot of the sites using your tool.
    Thanks for the great information.
    jan recently posted..Kindle 4 and the Kindle 4 release date

    Reply

    • Ben

      August 24, 2011 at 3:30 am

      No problem Jan, thanks for checking out my site and downloading the account creator!
      Ben recently posted..Niche Finder Review (dofollow)

      Reply

  111. jan

    August 23, 2011 at 7:12 pm

    Hi Ben
    That’s a great list! There are a couple of things in there that I haven’t heard of before as well. I spent a couple of hours on your site yesterday – awesome and downloaded your OnlyWire Account Creator – after having OnlyWire on my computer for about 2 months I finally started to do some of the joining up (previously had put it in the “too hard” basket) and that really helped!
    I tried to comment yesterday using KeywordLuv but my comment disappeared so not trying to do that today – I don’t really know how to use KeywordLuv although I use CommentLuv which is a great tool. Thanks for the great information.
    jan recently posted..No time to diet – planning your diet

    Reply

  112. Mamie

    August 23, 2011 at 5:12 pm

    An informative list of link building resources. Link building is one good way for optimizing sites and also blog commenting is a great one. Thanks for this informative posts.
    Mamie recently posted..Exercising to Get Rid of Cellulite

    Reply

  113. Malcom

    August 23, 2011 at 4:06 pm

    Some basic tips on building links there, well a newbie will definitely benefit from this posit which explain link building in plain English. In all the techniques that you have explained above, commenting is simplest of all and one should use it also in building community around your blog niche. I have used it three four years back and it works great. Also if you get to put Guest Posts on Blogs i am sure will be most credible way.

    Reply

  114. Wills Peter

    August 22, 2011 at 9:41 pm

    Great work Ben.
    I agree with your most of the points.
    basically social media is doing great job in link building techniques.
    mostly i prefer that one.

    Reply

  115. Mike

    August 23, 2011 at 6:38 am

    Wow Ben, that’s an excellent list of link-building resources. Nice work putting that together, and thanks!
    Mike recently posted..List of the Best News Search Engines

    Reply

  116. Jamal

    August 22, 2011 at 11:34 pm

    Link building technique is only effective when site has good on site optimization.Links from relevant contents are always considered as the best as contents are considered as King.
    Jamal recently posted..Steam showers | steam saunas | steam cabins | steam shower

    Reply

    • Arjun Rai

      September 28, 2011 at 5:09 pm

      Hi Jamal, do you think websites which having page rank of 1 or 2 not good for link building?
      and are No follow links are useless or it can improve linkbuilding?
      Arjun Rai recently posted..XRF tester

      Reply

  117. jan from jan's weight loss blog

    August 22, 2011 at 8:42 pm

    Hi Ben
    I’ve never used KeywordLuv so hope I have done it correctly. That’s a very comprehensive list with even a couple that I have never heard of before (but still consider myself a newbie at less than one year at blogging and still with much to learn). Your site is awesome as well and I spent a couple of hours looking at everything. I signed up for OnlyWire some time ago and have on my “to do” list to sign up to all of the sites, so it was very exciting to find your OnlyWire Account Creator which I have downloaded and will finally get that off myt to do list. Many thanks for the great info.
    jan from jan’s weight loss blog recently posted..No time to diet – planning your diet

    Reply

  118. welles2011

    August 22, 2011 at 8:37 pm

    great work, i totally agree with the fact that all link building techniques are very important to follow. one has to explore new and innovative ways for link building.thanks for the informative article.

    Reply

  119. Internet Marketing Company

    August 22, 2011 at 8:34 pm

    great and informative article, i agree with the fact that all ways you have mentioned in your article for link building are very important and you have to explore new techniques of link building. there are no limits … infact sky is the limit.
    great work… keep it up

    Reply

  120. Benjamin Hübner

    August 22, 2011 at 7:36 pm

    I would add Presenttaion sites like SlideShare for example! They are similar to Document sharing sites, but can drive a lot of additiona traffic!

    Also a good idea are Podcast sites. But thanks for all these tips!
    Benjamin Hübner recently posted..Easy Wp SEO Plugin Review?

    Reply

    • Ben

      August 23, 2011 at 9:55 am

      Hey Benjamin,
      I’ve got slideshare in there under the document directories, but you’re right there are a few presentation sites that are good too. I’ve found in the past that myplick.com ranks pretty well in the search engines on its own and even tracks the rankings of your presentations in the SERPs for you.

      And podcasts…crap! Let me add that as a note down here:

      There’s a site called podbean.com -> if you post articles on there is will create an audio RSS for you that you can submit to podcast directories (my favorite is blubrry.com).
      Ben recently posted..Niche Finder Review (dofollow)

      Reply

    • Ben

      August 23, 2011 at 10:16 am

      Hey Benjamin,
      I’ve got slideshare listed under the document directories, but you’re right there are some good presentation sites as well. http://www.mypicks.com in particular gets ranked decently in Google and they even track your rankings in the SERPs for you.

      And podcasts…crap! Forgot about those too, so let me add a bit extra down here:

      A quick and easy way to put together an audio RSS for podcast directories is to use http://www.podbean.com. You can upload articles and audio there and it will automatically create an audio RSS feed for you to submit to the podcast directories. I also like to use http://www.blubrry.com to host podcasts.
      Ben recently posted..Niche Finder Review (dofollow)

      Reply

  121. Michel Blaze

    August 22, 2011 at 7:03 pm

    social nework blogging is a growing field these days ,but the traditional blog commenting works a lot too
    google knol has to be given limited time as one of my friend spent lotys of time on it n hardly it effected his page rank

    Reply

  122. residential security systems

    August 22, 2011 at 6:58 pm

    these techniques are really useful blog commenting is the most fsmous one but these days social networking bookmarks is also agrowing field

    Reply

  123. Custom Essay Writing Service

    August 22, 2011 at 5:41 pm

    Reading your article I have discovered answers for number of questions that have been troubling me for long time now. Its not easy to find professional publications on the web as many such publications are made by people with no knowledge of the topic. Your publication is excellent and definitively worth reading. I’ll sure be back to check for updates in few days.

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  124. Smith

    August 22, 2011 at 2:21 pm

    According to my experience,the most recommendable is blog commenting.This technique is very useful to optimize a blog very quickly.
    Smith recently posted..Steam showers | steam saunas | steam cabins | steam shower

    Reply

    • Ben

      August 23, 2011 at 9:51 am

      Yes, I have had good results with blog comments as well, but only manual comments on high PR & relevant pages. I’ve dabbled with SB and auto-approve lists, not so effective from my experience.
      Ben recently posted..Niche Finder Review (dofollow)

      Reply

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