FYI: This post is from 2007, many of the websites are now dead and much of the information is outdated.
If “Content is King“, then links are what put that king on the throne. Build links and you’ll be able to display your content to the world. Don’t build links, and your King won’t have a kingdom.
Hopefully you already use most of these, but if only 5 of these tips get you a new link, that is 5 links you didn’t have yesterday!
Just FYI, the tip is bold, with examples linked underneath. Thanks to everyone who took time to build tools, write content, and generally be willing to help the SEO and SEM communities. A special thanks to Andy Hagans and Aaron Wall, who wrote the 2006 version.
All links open in current window, so bookmark this page.
On-Site Content Creation
Content creation is without a doubt my favorite way of creating great backlinks. The reason these links are great is that you don’t have to ask for them or buy them, they come naturally, are defensible, and last indefinitely.
1. Write an authority article. (Without a doubt the best way to gain deep links.)
40 SEM 2006 Predictions
Why that site with 50 backlinks beats your site with 1000 backlinks
10 Mistakes that Will KILL a Forum
2. Write great linkbait. (This is the ultimate for 2007.)
The Link Baiting Playbook: Hooks Revisited
How To: Linkbait Your Blog
3. Use numbers in your titles. (People like numbers.)
5 Tips to Increasing Blog Traffic
3 Solid Gmail Productivity Tips
Put Your Best Foot Forward: 19 Gorgeous Website Footers
Top 10 Link Popularity Services
4. Spend 10 hours and put together a huge list. (The link value will be worth the effort.)
Huge List of 390 Search Marketing Blogs
5. Say nice things about people who link out. (My momma always said, “If you can’t say anything nice, you won’t get links.”)
WBP Testimonials
Back from Boston Pubcon
6. Start something crazy like “Blogtipping”. (Good job Easton! Blogtipping has been around for about 6 months and has almost 200k results in Google.)
Blogtipping @ Google
Blogtipping – The Beginning
7. Offer awesome resources, free. (Everyone likes, and links to free.)
Free Vector Web Page Elements
WBP Free Internet Marketing and SEO Tools
Internet Marketing and SEO Tools Compiled
Free Vector Stuff
8. Spellcheck everything, twice. (I plead guitly guilty.)
9. Link to others, and they’ll link back. (Most of the time right?)
Speedlinking at Technorati (DEAD)
Speedlinking by Problogger
Speedlinking by Dane Carlson
Pay it Forward Tuesday
10. Design an award worthy blog or website. (Not just a site you like, a site everyone likes.)
CSS Beauty
CSS Zen Garden
11. Create a contest in your niche. (These don’t have to be SEO related.)
Nigritude Ultramarine (DEAD)
v7ndotcom elursrebmem
Dave Pasternack (DEAD)
12. Say something stupid. (Jeremy did it best.)
SearchEngineJournal doesn’t link?
The Top Ten Most Practical Superpowers
13. Write a complete “How To” resource. (They get dugg frequently.)
How To: Make a Killer Photo using 8 Simple Composition Rules
How To: Achieve the Perfect Post Frequency
How To: Evaluate If The Free Laptops and Plasma TVs Giveaways Are Scams
How To: Theming your Ubuntu desktop
How To: Comment to the Top
14. Release a Firefox extension. (Make sure you support it.)
Performancing Firefox (DEAD)
FoxyTunes
Google Pagerank Status (DEAD)
15. Interview your industries experts. (Make it easy and quick for them.)
Interview with Google’s Matt Cutts about Next-Generation Search
Five Link Development Experts: A Group Interview
Off-Site Content Creation
16. Presell and content pages. (My content page on your site.)
PreSell Pages – Striving for the Perfect Link
Pre Sell Pages – a Better Way to Rent Sitewide Links
Pre Sell Pages vs Site Wide Links
A Positive Step Forward in Link Strategies (DEAD)
17. Write and submit articles. (Don’t forget your byline link.)
“5 ways to use your Business Cards more effectively” (514 Google results)
EzineArticles
GoArticles
iSnare
18. Submit articles to specialized sites. (Big sites in your niche, ESPN, SEJ, Scrapbook.com, etc.)
Sometimes these sites will pick up your article and feature your link in the byline.
19. Write and submit a press release. (Don’t forget your byline link.)
Optimizing press releases
PR Newswire Testing SEO Press Releases
Next Level SEO: Press Release Optimization (DEAD)
Benefits of an SEO Press Release
20. Offer to be a guest blogger. (Almost anyone is up for free content.)
How to be a Good Guest Blogger
How to Get Guest Blogging Jobs
Spending Money to Build Links
Spending money isn’t anything new for 2007, but it can still be effective.
21. Buy under the radar direct links. (You can email website owners asking to buy links.)
22. Buy in-content links on old pages. (Ask to buy a certain word on a certain page, make it simple for the owner.)
23. Buy old sites and link to your site. (Can be expensive.)
Screw the Sandbox – Buy an old site
Today is the Right Time to Buy Old Sites…
24. Pay for a sponsored post. (I usually pay $5-50+ for a small footer link in a post.)
Top 10 Reasons Why Proposals Fail
Looking for a VPS (DEAD)
25. Buy direct directory listings. (Some directories are better than others.)
Yahoo! Directory ($299/yr)
Business.com ($199/yr)
StartingPoint ($99/yr)
Best of the Web ($69/yr or $199 one time)
Joe Ant ($39/yr)
Aviva Directory ($50/yr or $75 one time)
26. Pay for bulk directory submission. (You can find people willing to submit your site at forums usually for less than $20 to 400 directories.)
27. Trade something for a link. (Often times you can buy an office staff pizza on Friday in exchange for a link on their website. Or maybe you can sponsor an office contest or promotion in exchange for publicity on their website.)
Buy, Borrow, Beg, and Barter: Techniques for Link Development
28. Pay a link builder. (This will involve substantial cost and results aren’t guaranteed.)
WeBuildPages
Todd Malicoat
Andy Hagans
Eric Ward
29. Send your product to potential reviewers at no cost to them. (I wrote a review for a flash drive that had military grade encryption because they sent me a 512 kb model.)
Finding Free Links
30. Post your link in forums. (Use footer links on forums that allow links.)
DigitalPoint Forums
Webmaster Talk
SEOChat
31. Post your feed in forums. (Many vBulletin forums show your latest post (on your blog) by your name, in your “User CP>Options scroll down to the bottom and put your feed address in.)
DigitalPoint Forums
Webmaster Talk
SEOChat
32. Comment on blogs. (Pick a reasonable number, and try to post that many every day.)
33. Submit to generic directories. (Directories without major branding.)
Easy Google Search
DirectorySEO (DEAD)
Fresh Directory (DEAD)
34. Submit to the big free directories. (Everyone’s invited here.)
DMOZ
HAABAA
Ezilion
AddURL (DEAD)
35. Ask for a link. (You’d better have a good resource, or be the authority in your niche.)
36. Sign guestbooks. (I know this just reminds you of Geocities, but there are thousands of guestbooks on sites with PR that are abandoned. Go get yourself a free link.)
Free Template guestbook (DEAD)
37. Find out where your articles are shown, and offer exclusive content. (This only works when real sites, not article-only sites, pick up your article. Explain why an exclusive piece would benefit them.)
38. Ask friends to read a new post, and reference it if they like it. (This can go over really well if you are well connected.)
New blog recommendation
Blog Recommendation
Blog Recommendation – The Housing Bubble Blog
39. Leave a testimonial. (Do it for every product you use, be specific when necessary.)
Testimonial Generator (just a joke, write your own…lazy.)
40. Support a non-profit website/company. (Make sure they have a website and will link you first.)
41. Build a website for a non-profit organization. (I’ve built 3 non-profit websites. You might also get paid for this work.)
The Resource Partnership (link at bottom)
South Shore Conservatory (designer didn’t link himself!)
American Vaulting Association (link at bottom)
IRCPS (link on left sidebar)
42. Form partnerships with online “friends”. (I have 6 people on my gmail chat list that I chat with regularly, I don’t mind asking for a link to a new site, or a great post. In exchange, I Digg their articles, post links to their good articles, etc.)
43. Create an awesome tool. (This is just one example of the many free tools out there)
Mom’s Salary Wizard (PR6, over 100k links to this page alone.)
44. Send targeted emails. (Make sure the first email asks a question, or helps them. Then ask for a link.)
45. Create a Del.icio.us account and start tagging. (Del.icio.us Popular Pages can send as much traffic as Digg.)
My new Del.icio.us page (DEAD)
46. Talk to manufacturers or retailers that you buy from about linking to you. (This could work with #36, leave them a testimonial.)
47. Post a listing on Craigslist. (Posts below are pretty spammy but do have links.)
Grand Opening Sale!!! Modern style furniture, Sofa, Platform beds… (DEAD)
ResumeOutlet.com – Resume Writing Service for Sale (Website + Domain) – $3000 (DEAD)
2005 Chevrolet Impala Sedan! Like New! Pic! Look! – $13999 (DEAD)
48. Post a helpful post with a link at Google Groups. (Gotta love the straight html links.)
300 Links, PR of 1?
49. Post link spam helpful posts to Yahoo! Answers. (Do they ever moderate this stuff?)
SEO: What words come to mind?
50. Join your local Chamber of Commerce. (Every city has one.)
Orlando CoC
Madera CoC (DEAD)
Palm Desert CoC
51. Join the Better Business Bureau. (Join your local chapter, most have a directory of members with links.)
Central California BBB
Northern Nevada BBB
52. Talk to similar but non-competing businesses offline, and ask for a link. (Explain how, by linking to you, their customers will see their site as the complete resource and are more likely to return.)
53. Create a free template or theme. (WordPress or CSS/XHTML are both popular in the free template sector.)
Kaushal Sheth (DEAD)
615+ WordPress Themes List
Free CSS Templates
54. Review a product or service. (Bonus points if you have authority in the niche, and are one of the first to review it. Many times you’ll rank right behind the product.)
Search for text-link-ads.com and you’ll find:
Site #4 – Opinions on Text Link Ads.com
Site #8 – Text-Link-Ads.com Review
Best Practices for Gaining Links
55. Have a privacy policy. (Every reputable company does.)
Privacy Policy Generator
Create an Online Privacy Policy (From the B.B.B.)
56. Create a contact page. (Mine is coming…I never said I was perfect!)
Contact Seattle Times
Contact Intel
Contact Apple
57. Don’t post spam content. (This includes PLR articles, only RSS feeds, or just “borrowing” content.)
Stolen Content: What to do first
How to Stop Those who are Stealing your Content
DMCA @ Google
58. Hire writers who are better than you. (Especially important when you have multiple sites and don’t know what to do.)
How to Locate, Hire, and Work With an Article Writer
GetAFreelancer
59. Get 1 link per domain. (Sitewide links are SOOOO 2006.)
Get 1 Link and Go! Drive By Linking
60. Stay ahead of the curve. (You’ll get thousands of links if you have the first and oldest site about new technology.)
TechMeme
61. Link out, especially to blogs. (I always read people who link to me. Technorati keeps great track of who is linking to you.)
62. When writing, never lose sight of the “Super Digg”, and write accordingly. (Who doesn’t love a good super digg?)
Anatomy of a Super Digg
63. Install a page translator. (Anyone have a recommendation?)
WordPress Plugin: Automatic Machine Translation for Your Blog
Plugins/Translations and Languages – WordPress Codex
64. Submit to a sub-category on Reddit. (Submit to the sub-cat and the homepage.)
Get ‘er Dugg – A Comprehensive Guide to Going Viral on Digg (Scroll down half way and look for “Going Viral on Reddit”)
65. Ping appropriate sites with every new post. (WordPress and Typepad make this easy.)
List of Ping Services
RSS Ping List
Pingoat
66. Be creative when link hunting. (You’ll be getting links nobody else is even asking for.)
Want a Free .edu Link? How about 64,200?
Thanks for taking the time to read this! Like it? Please link to it and bookmark it!
Optimizing websites requires top quality link building service that bring higher rankings.
That are some great ways to build links Brandon !!
But a lot of them are just old and so not 2007 – rofl
good ideas…
I think you forgot to mention “leave a prominent, highly visible comment on a page that you feel is going to get high on Digg or others”
I would also add commenting on free online newspapers like 20minutos.es. I still receive links to my blog from comments I left there a long time ago.
Also, “look for tangential opportunities”. What if your product is mentioned (but not necessarily linked) in a highly visible article that gets high on social bookmarking sites? Links would result of that too, although indirectly. For instance, some people come to Trendirama from Google and I have the impression that they don’t exactly know what they’re going to find, but they saw the name somewhere else and are curious. A catchy or weird name for a website or product can do wonders as well, I guess…
Great article overall. I am linking it on the forum at Trendirama!
Best wishes
Javier Marti
great tips, thanks
So wait, if you know so much about SEO and Page Rank then why do you have a PR of 2?
Amazing list dude :)!
Those are really great tips, Brandon.
Great article, Brandon! Thanks alot!
(though I knew about 2/3 of the tips – it’s always better to know more)
BTW cheapa$$ Digg uses NOINDEX tag in news titles or something like that exactly to prevent link spam.
Hey, great resource.
Not to nitpick, but the DirectorySEO link is broken. Forgot the http://
Woops, the Fresh Directory link is broken as well :\
Nice list. Thanks.
great tips. bookmarked. cant acces your site a few hours a go. glad its back.
cheers,
lee
make money online
Nice article, if only there was more content and not so much links. 😉
There are some no-brainers, but overall great effort and great list.
Perhaps, adding to your 67th way to build links, here’s another one I have published recently, it’s called Review Karma:
http://increseo.com/blog/modern-link-exchange-method-review-karma/
Awesome list, it’s very useful!! thanks a lot for this huge article 😉
This list is greatness. Many ideas that I had not thought of before. I will be a regular here.
Sweet post, M8! You just landed a new faithful reader 🙂
The best way to build links is to have a strong brand, a good product, and popular content. That’s what PageRank was originally intended for. The Google engineers will continue to find ways to bring these sites to the top of the rankings. Link building is a temporary solution at best.
Great article
Thanks for the link, Brandon – nice post and you’ve shown your viral thinking chops here. Proud of ya man!
On blogtipping as a link builder – while it’s not the reason why I think most if not all blogtippers do it, it is a natural effect of doing it. You link out to somebody and talk about their blog, and it naturally tends toward them linking back. In pure SEO terms it’s not the best since you have to give a link in order to maybe get one – but like I say, that’s not why, or shouldn’t be why folks go blogtipping.
From what I know, link building is most advantageous when you can continually generate one-way inbound links from high-authority sites. Posts like this one are great for that. I would even consider updating this post or posting a follow-up sometime – then let the folks know about it who dugg this initially and who trackbacked to you. The ultimate value lies in the personal connection effect – the people you’ll befriend through this connective type of post.
All that to say, you’ve got my vote for coolest list post of the month.
Lots of things here, but one you missed is donations… best way for top links.
Thanks for super tips… you deserve a DIG! 🙂
RB
Very good tutorial, Maybe I will talk about it on my blog 🙂
Fab Brandon. Excellent tips.
Pavel, SEOs don’t care about Digg links for link juice. The whole point is to get traffic from Digg which gets links / link juice from other sites.
Nice list Brandon – good reference links to back up your points 🙂
Great list…
Thank you
Excellent post Brandon, hugely appreciated!
Especially seeing as I am a multimedia design student currently trying to build a new site, this comes in extremely handy. The amount of valuable info here is perfect for me, as I am about to write a quite large case about SEO, generating traffic and getting good page-ranking.
Thank you so much for sharing this.
Regards
There is alot of real good advice here it will take some time to cover all of it, however what I have done so far seem to be working.
Thanks for the tips,
Ken
Brandon,
I’m glad I found this. I do Link Building 40 hours a week in my job and even I’ve learned some new techniques from this article. Good Job man!
The king of links has a Kingdom of friends for there is no king without followers to dig anything they say. Democracy tends to mediocrity. If Digg eliminated it’s ‘friends’ feature then perhaps it will one day actually be the wisdom of the crowd. And even then, who’s to say the truth cannot come from one soul.
Congrats on the Digg, very useful post which I am sure people are boomarking and are going to return to again and again.
Brandon, great post! You definitely modeled point #2 with this post. This post scored a link from my Link Building Resources page. Looking forward to reading more of your posts. 🙂
Great stuff – although I might have to disagree with 8. Spellcheck everything twice.
Seth Godin recently wrote a post where he mistyped email as meail – someone thought that it was a new word that Seth had invented and linked back to him because of it (http://www.rimmkaufman.com/rkgblog/2007/03/25/meails-email-about-me/) – you couldn’t make this up.
Seriously though, you’re write – always check spelling!
😉
Wow. What an amazingly helpful post. I followed it over from Instigator blog. I’m just getting started and this is going to give me a LOT of reading to do. Thanks so much!
pf101
http://www.personalfinance101.org
buildingmybiz.blogspot.com
great article, loads of useful resources – just thought i’d point out that your first link (https://www.brandon-hopkins.com/tropicalseo.com/2007/is-your-site-defensible-a-10-point-quiz) seems to be broken though…(101 Ways to Build Link Popularity in 2006)
Heres another tip:
Use Email Signatures in all your emails
Using an email signature can get you attention from the users you send emails to. This can again bring traffic to your site.
Submitting your link to web directories is a good way of getting long lasting keyword rich incoming links to your site. Heres a list of PR0 to PR9 search engine friendly web directories. The Google PR of each directory is updated regularly.
hi Brandon
your list is simply great – i am going to implement all of them over a period of 66 days – one a day
It’s impressive, it’s one of the best link building article I’ve read to date.
I found your list to be very helpful! Thanks for taking the time to write such a long article.
“66 Ways To Build Links” is super. It’s very helpful and informative. Thanks for the times.
Amazing list there brandon!
Thanks for sharing!
Manish Pandey
hey, good ideas and a nice list – thanks for sharing!
ciao
koka
Great post! Can’t even think of anything to add and excellent resources for everything. Bookmarked!
10x for sharing!
nice ideas and a good list
Aloha,
I’m sorry I don’t have anything technical to contribute. I’m a WAHM and an expert at staying motivated! Well, your article motivated me. Lots of reading and studying for this green blogger!
Mahalo! for your expertise!
Yolanda Crisostomo
Thanks for this great tips and advises
thanks for sharing
regards
Claude
Thanks for the great advice. My bookmarks are growing!
this is a great article! I am learning so such from your site! Thanks!
Great list. One for everyone to bookmark
A very good link building article in itself, I’ve no doubt! Very useful content, thanks.