FYI: This post is from 2007, many of the websites are now dead and much of the information is outdated.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.
ver good post.thanx for the great tips.
Awesome list. I found this very helpful. Glad I found it after all this time, thanks to ProBlogger. Thank you for the great effort.
I love # 3. For whatever reason, people are attracted to numbers and lists.
Custom testimonials? That would incredible.
Superb list of ways to build backlinks. Some of them are a lot more effective than the rest though. Do what works for you! 😉
Hi Brandon,
Great article. It’s been a year since this article was published, but so much of it still holds true.
I’d love to see a new article for 2008, to see if there were any new ideas.
Some real great tips on this site, I will give some of these ideas a go see if I can inprove my site: http://www.pcrepairhertfordshire.co.uk
Wow this is really a great resource! Thanks for all the great information
Be controversial. Take on an A-lister and call him out on something. Say he’s an idiot (and then be prepared to back it up). Watch the traffic and links flow. (Just try to not be a complete @ss when you do it).
I totally disagree with #63. Page translators do such a bad job that your writing will be distorted by the translation. Readers of the translated version will question your knowledge of the subject, as well as your literacy 😉
Exemplary post, Brandon!
Your list of “pinging” services is quite extensive. To simply the process, avid bloggers can go to either http://www.Ping.In or http://www.PingMyBlog.com and ping to a huge list of blog search engines all at once … a real time saver!
Thanks for all the fabulous tips, examples, and resources.
Write On!
~Melanie
Great, great ideas. I know this is a 2007 article, but anything to get us thinking about different ways of doing things is still very helpful.
I need to tackle a couple of numbers on this list for sure. I especially am interested in looking at things like Digg as I haven’t used those kinds of bookmarking sites as of yet. 🙂
Thanks for these tips Brandon. Fantastic ideas for a newcomer to SEO.
Valuable Information, Been Referred to This Page Many Times Over, and Every Time I Come Back I Get More Info.
Thanks for sharing. I’m working on my linkbuilding again now.
This is quite amazing. I just heard a podcast 3 days ago in which Jim Morris the founder of NicheBOT Keyword Services mentioned your article on 66 ways to build links, but I had forgotten about it and now just stumbled upon it while checking the sites that link to yahoo answers. I look forward to applying some of the ways right away.
Thanks for this great article which I discovered in my quest to get my sites ranked higher in search engines for keywords such as “Dr Claude”, “Law of Attraction Secret”, “Unconditional freedom Process”, or even longer keyword phrases such as “Unconditional Freedom Case Studies and Testimonials Summary”. I just read one of your blog post referenced above–How To: Comment to the Top– and I am applying some of your suggestions right here right now, with a little twist (combining my name with some of the keywords). Is the way of linking to my site that I used going to add link power to it for all the possible keywords I used? Which of the keywords in the name will get the most weight in Google?
absolutely brilliant list and what’s even more amazing is whilst you wrote it back in 2007 it is still relevant now. The only additional aspect i would add would be twitter.
Great article, like Jonathan really cant believe I’ve only just been sent this.
After a 10 hour link building sessions, i was out of ides. Now ready for the next 10…great stuff and still good 2 years on.
This post might look old but the truth is that the 66 links methods are timeless, thanks so much for doing a great job, taking them one at a time…
I can’t say which is ‘best’, but I can say that none of it is any good. Links from directories like at at worthless – they don’t get visitors so you don’t get direct traffic from them, and search engines don’t like link farms, so you don’t get boosted up the search ranks with them.
That is the post on linkbuilding i have ever read. It could be a linkbait 😉
Great post, I will be viewing all of the reference website to see what else I can learn about SEO.
Awesome! there are so many get back links ideas which I never thought of before reading this post. Thanks! Bookmark it for sure.
fantastic write up about this subject-I think its right on, do you have a good way of getting any .gov site links?? Certainly time to be getting creative then.
Awesome topic! Very good link building technique discussed. Hopefully this would be available in all facets of SEO particularly in link building.
GoArticles
Thank you so much for the back linking tips. I have been searching all over the net for ways to get more traffic to my site and I plan to implement your strategies. Thanks again, Teresa
Basically, 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.
Thank you so much for the back linking tips. I have been searching all over the net for ways to get more traffic to my site and I plan to implement your strategies.
since 07, the way to build links has evolved a lot.
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. A whole suite of back linking tips. I have searching or the backlink tips all over the internet and this is one of the top 3 site with great content!
Huh this is a long list but usefull thanks for sharing your knowledge I will spend more time to read it.
Really appreciate it.
Hi,
Thanks very much for this list. I have used some of the ideas here with great success. Thanks again.
Gordan
Thank you so much for the back linking
and 3 years went fast.. those techniques still mostly work 🙂
Thanks for the great tips. i’m reading it a bit late, but it still looks relevant
Nice post and a lot of the methods are now classics. Don’t forget to use Twitter and other social Media sites such as Stumbleupon – ok they may have limited SEO value but they can generate quality traffic. In addition use Bitly short urls so that you can track them in real time and find other possible links 🙂
i think they are great ideas… Some I’ve tried, and some I’m going to try right now!
Thank you kindly for the back link advice. I have been searching for ways to get more traffic to my site, I now plan to implement your strategies.
Thanks for so many great ideas on link building!
One of the best articles I’ve read…
Great article, and as said, some classic tips. I think building top 10, or 101 lists is a great way to get links e.g. 101 ways to get backlinks in 2010. I also think the free resources are a great way to get links, after all, everyone loves free stuff, but in the end I think content is king. Write unique, helpful and linkworthy content and you are bound to get links.
Good information, however in my opinion it would be better if the links open in a new window.
Brandon,
Do these techniques still work? Are you planning on doing an updated list for 2010?
Thanks!
Brandon,
I couldn’t agree more with Joe! Thank you so much for these but surely there are even more possibilities in 2010?!
Wow! Thats the best article on link building I’ve ever read. Thank you for sharing !
Awesome list, arguably one of the most comprehensive lists on the internet!
This post maybe almost 4 years old, but the information in it is as true as the day it was first written.