Link Building 101 – The Almost Complete Link Guide (Updated for Post

Quite a few things have changed in my approach to link building since my first link building guide back in 2010. For starters, there was a mass of link based algorithm updates, there was Penguin, and to top this all off I’ve changed jobs as well (you can find me amongst the masses here these days). One thing that hasn’t changed is my view that 80% of positive (and negative) SEO ranking factors still come from external sources – I’m not just talking about links here, but social and citations, also.

Once again, most of the information I’m giving away here will most likely be available from a large number of other sources including SEOmoz, so I will try to attribute these where I can.

Creating your Link Building Strategy

Creating a solid strategy should be the starting point for any link building campaign, not having one in the current climate would be like running into a minefield wearing a blindfold – It limits your success of survival! Before you set out on any strategy you need to ask yourself questions like the following:

  • What does the current profile look like? (if existing website)

    • Do I need to remove links before I start?
    • Do I need to gain authority or noise?
    • Do I actually need more links or would I benefit from other factors?
  • How will I generate the links?

    • Should I run creative projects such as Infographics?
    • Should I do blogger outreach / guest posts?
    • Should I suggest webmasters replace broken links with my client?
    • How will I reach out to webmasters?

      • Social networks?
      • Networking events?
      • Telephone?
      • Email?
         
  • What type of anchor text should I work with?

    • Is there enough covering fire from brand and phrase anchor text?
    • What would Google’s web spam team look for during manual reviews?
    • What type of anchor text would look most natural for the sites you want to target?