Backlink Strategy For SEO: What To Follow and To Leave

Newbies are finding it somewhat difficult to get better rankings in search engines after the release of Google Penguin and Panda which has changed the way how a site gets indexed in top search results. Before these updates Black-Hat SEO techniques were used by webmasters but it isn't the thing which can help now. Things on internet change very quickly so there is nothing to wonder if SEO strategies have been changed in years. Web-spam techniques which were used to get quicker rankings in past are useless now for the sites. Filling head section with tons of keywords, creating inbound links on unlimited sites, buying paid backlink etc are of no worth now. Google algorithms are smart enough to detect webspam and strict to penalize them. Now its need to be very careful in order to run a site smoothly because no-one knows when his work is going to be objected. That's why you should avoid spam techniques which you were using before and make new strategies to remain safe. You may find a lot of techniques on internet which are claimed to be working, panda and penguin safe and blah blah but don't believe all of them. Not every technique and strategy is going to help you in improving site's SEO as most of them have died and corpses are buried so they could not effect alive people.

Now Google's focus is to boost quality content by rewarding the webmasters who are working genuinely. This reward is in the terms of bringing them at top of search results. Quality content and positive SEO may brings site slowly at top but when they come, they remains for a long time. Just like offline world where you observe that the results of genuine work seems slow but are long lasting.

The major false SEO technique is associated with backlinking strategies. We will be covering how your rankings are affected by backlinks and what should be your backlinking strategy.

How Important Backlinks Are:

Backlinks (also called inbound links) are the external links on different webpages pointing towards a domain. They interconnect webpages with each other. Backlinks are important because Google and other search engines decide the importance of a webpage by the number and quality of its backlinks. On the other hand, backlinks are also the source of traffic.

It is a fact that Google is focusing towards quality of content but still backlinks have not lost their importance as said by Mat Cutt in a video. He believes that backlink will remain important factor in search rankings for many many years.

He further added that backlinks will slowly become less important but now along with other SEO factors, this factor should also be made strong.

Must Avoid Backlink Strategies:

Here I am going to mention those things which you must avoid when making backlinks but still many webmaster adopt those techniques due to recommendations of other web-spammers.

High PR Backlinks Myth:

There was an old concept which still rotates in online world that number of backlinks on high pagerank sites is important irrespective of their niches. That is not the way Google decides your domain importance. Although backlinks on sites with higher PR show authority and importance of domain to crawlers but they have real importance if find on similar niche domains.

For example, your site is all about "Android Tips And Tricks" but you start creating backlinks on sites with religious niches thinking that no matter they have totally different niche but have high PR. This practice will not help you gain importance but it will be confusing for crawlers to index that cricket site according to its own niche.

You must keep it in consideration that does the webpage, where you are going to create a backlink has similar niche as your site or is it totally different? It will help you in creating inbound links of real worth.

Directory Submissions:

Few years ago, it was recommended to submit a domain in many directories to gain Pagerank and high rankings. Now this practice doesn't worth any more because the real purpose of directory sites have died. These were used to inform search engines about a domain and visitors also used to find a site in directories by categories but after the improved intelligence of search engines, there is no need to tell directories about your domain. Its because search engines are now smarter than some years ago and can find exact site according to query that is why people don't rely on web directories now. It has not remained a useful practice now so submission your site in hundreds of directories is only a waste of time.

Most of directory submission want a reciprocal link on your site too. If you add your site in 500 directories offering high PR backlinks but 350 of them asking you to exchange a reciprocal link too, then your site will be burdened by many out going URLs which don't co-relate your niche. When Google will see this kind of link exchange, it will declare it false technique and your site might face penalty for this.

Most directories don't also have good page rank and traffic. They have Alexa rankings ranging from 1,00,000 to 4,00,000 which could not help in getting a single click to your domain. They also provide only nofollow links which cannot boost your link juice so why wasting your time in submitting links to these worthless places?

Spammy Comments On Blogs And Forums:

This is a common practice by many webmasters thinking that links in blog comments are usually nofollow so they will help in getting traffic only and not hurt domain's reputation. So they keep posting spammy comments on different blog posts and forums. It might help in generating traffic but the worst part is that this practice if done continuously can trigger someone to file a complaint against you. In that case, Google can use its authority to take necessary measures against web-spam. So always post genuine comment which are on-topic and not seem extra for the post.

Link Exchange/Reciprocal Links:

Reciprocal links can be defined as those inbound links which are placed on two domains as exchange of links. For more simplicity, suppose Site A owner wants to have a link on Site B. He requests Site B owner to place Site's A URL on his site and in return he also place a link pointing towards site B on his domain.

This practice is forbidden in Google webmaster guidelines so Google may punish a web-site where it finds multiple link exchanges.

Buying Backlinks:

You will find different ads on internet offering paid backlinks on high PR sites claiming that they are Penguin and Panda safe. However Google forbids buying links for SEO purpose and declares it a webspam. It should be asked from those sellers that how could those backlinks are safe? Is Google webspam team is unable to locate them? When a normal SEO person knows how to detect an unnatural backlink, then how could those mathematical algorithms be deceived?
So never make a mistake to purchase any type of backlink.

Working Backlink Strategies:

The undeniable importance of backlinks always keep a thought in our minds for making a right strategy. As above techniques aren't going to help, a person would certainly be eager to know the working strategies. The following part of this article will cover the working methods in this area.

Create Attracting Content:

A known established site gets visitors no matter what the content it contains like News Paper and brand sites because people know that the site content will be what they are looking for but it is not with the new and small sites run by individual or small organizations. A site must be started with quality content which users not only love to read but love sharing it too. Having an appealing title steals visitor concentration and compel him to read the whole article. After reading whole, user decides if your article worths a share to followers. Google Trends help can help you determine trending topics on internet.

We normally think that sharing is limited to social media only but this isn't right supposition. A high quality content can also be shared by people in their site articles as reference. This gives you high quality backlinks along with traffic. So keep focus on the optimization of article body to ensure quality. Head section which contains meta tags is normally important for the crawlers but quality of the article which a human determine is represented by body section so posting informative, interesting and appealing content is helping you more than anything else. This is most important thing which gives you original backlink from others.

Answer To The Questions In Communities:

There are many communities on internet which discuss about a specific topic. Yahoo Answers, Ask, Quora, Facebook Groups, Google Pages are some examples where you can find such communities. They discuss about multiple things and ask for the solution of their problems. Search for communities which discuss about the topics which relate with your site's niche and find questions which you can answer with your site's content. Links which will you post in those answers will be natural and no objection could be made for them. The traffic generated by those links will also be interested in reading you thus reducing bounce rate too. This can be done with blog comments too.

Forums With Same Niche:

Thousands of forums cover almost each and every topic which is discussed on internet. Forums which are related to your topic can give you some natural backlinks too when you share something with them originally. They can be easily found on Google by adding forums, vbulletin or bulletin board with your topic in search queries for example

• your topic + Forums

After you have found those forums, start your work in a more professional and genuine way. Solve the problems of other people and gain reputation. You can help them with your site too. It will benefit both visitors and you. Thus fulfilling the purpose of quality interaction.

Anchor Text:

Anchor text is the text used to mask URL in a hyper link. For example HelpITx is an hyperlink which points toward our blog. The URL is http://www.helpitx.com and I used "HelpITx" to mask this URL so it is anchor text for this URL.

The anchor text masking the inbound links pointed towards a site must relate with the content of the site so it gives a positive reputation to the site. A good example for anchor text is the brand name of site. In the above example of Google anchor text, you might have noticed I used brand name instead of using its other features like No 1 search engine, top ranked site, internet giant etc. Its brand name is announcing that its a brand and search engines like to index brands. Keep working to make your content not only a site but a brand. Using your brand name as anchor text is most useful practice to tell Google you are a real brand.

Don't use irrelevant keywords in anchor text because both Google and visitors hate this. Be original. That's it.

These are some useful techniques for taking a step towards the SEO which you need to stay longer. Hope it helps.
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