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10 Tips for Doing Link Development Research
October 08, 2008
When you are hunting for links for your site or for a client’s site, there are lots of avenues that you could pursue. Some work, some don’t. That’s just the nature of the business. There are a couple of things I have gleaned along the way that have helped me when I’m doing that sometimes tedious research for link development.
So here are my 10 favorite tips for doing link research:
1. Be a user first, link developer second. If your link is not going to provide value, why bother? Think like a user and make sure that the link makes sense before you post it or submit it.
2. Keep hunting for the contact info. This is something that Eric Ward has talked about and the extra effort can go a long way. If all you’re finding is the webmaster@domain.com email, keep hunting. Check the site map, About page, staff page, etc. until you find an actual person to contact.
3. Check more than the PageRank. PageRank is good, don’t get me wrong, but it’s not the end all – be all of a site’s value. It’s a snapshot. Check who’s linking to them, how many pages are being indexed in both Yahoo and Google (major discrepancies here can send up a red flag), and the overall quality of the site.
4. Check partner sites. Even if the site that you want doesn’t take links or turns you down, find out who else is linking to them or has links on their site. If the relevancy and quality factors are there, send the email.
5. Evaluate who is linking to the competition. While some link developers say you shouldn’t do this because you’re always chasing the competition’s coat tails, I disagree. If the competition is on a page, why should users only have that option? They should have the option to choose the site you’re working on.
6. Let randomness take over. I tend to have a bit of ADD, which actually helps in my line of work. I roam the net, clicking what interests me and let the user in me take charge (yes, this relates back to #1). Chances are other users will surf in a similar fashion. I keep track of all the pages that I find that may work for a link request.
7. Use Google blog search. Or other social media monitoring tools. If people are talking about the site you’re evaluating, that’s a good sign. But make sure it’s not all negative. A mix of both positive and negative comments and posts regarding these sites make it legit to request a link from them.
8. Document everything. Inevitably, you’ll find yourself at a point where you’re wondering “where did I see that information…” and it will be lost. Be sure to document any pages you stumble across that may be helpful in later work.
9. Check the authority site. Let’s say you’re doing link work for a health site dealing with breast cancer. What are the online authorities for this? Obviously, the Komen Foundation and BreastCancer.org. Who is linking to them? Dig in and see what opportunities are there.
10. Investigate some forums. I’m not advocating SPAM here. But people who are passionate enough to talk about the content of what is on your site will have a long list of sites they regularly visit that may be relevant to what you’re looking for. Ask questions, check out discussions, and view user’s profiles for interesting leads.
All posts by Angela Moore
posted by Angela Moore at October 8, 2008 07:31 AM
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Comments
thank you, some great points in here
searching for the site owners email is key, check whois also and if you know the name of the owner search places like facebook etc..
Posted by: Vipey at October 8, 2008 05:55 PM
Finding that contact info is essential. You can build a great list of link partners, but it doesn't do you any good if you can't get in touch with them.
Yes, whois is great for this. Sometimes you can also find a contact by peaking at the HTML source. Many CMS systems fill in an AUTHOR or OWNER META tag.
Posted by: Austin Tomcat at October 15, 2008 06:44 PM
Wonderful points to starting link building campaigns. Link building is the second most important thing right after getting good content!
Posted by: Google SEO Blog Tips at October 18, 2008 12:43 AM
Very informative piece. I appreciate that you keep coming back to the user -- or visitor -- as your standard of consideration. Profiling them -- and understand their personas -- can go a long way in developing effective SEO strategies.
Britton Manasco
Illuminating the Future
Posted by: Britton Manasco at October 18, 2008 01:10 PM
Very informative piece. I appreciate that you keep coming back to the user -- or visitor -- as your standard of consideration. Profiling them -- and understand their personas -- can go a long way in developing effective SEO strategies.
Britton Manasco
Illuminating the Future
Posted by: Britton Manasco at October 18, 2008 01:12 PM