In the SEO pie, backlinks take up many slices of importance. As the primary method in which Google differentiated the quality of its search results from its competitions in the early dotcom days, backlinks are particularly utilized by Google to determine the legitimacy, relevancy, and authority of a particular website.
How can you, dedicated webmaster and business owner, improve the strength of your website’s backlinks? Before you embark upon your link building campaign, keep in mind that quality should always be first and foremost. For example, a dozen quality backlinks are much stronger for your SEO endeavors than thousands of PR 0 or PR 1 links.
With that said, there are three legitimate strategies that you can utilize to enhance the strength of your backlinks.
Befriend the Social Networks
Web 2.0 has been a godsend for link building campaigns. Each time an article or blog post on your website gets submitted to the social networks, you enjoy a backlink to your website. The more people that vote, “Digg” or “Stumbleupon” your content, the stronger the results for both your traffic and SEO efforts.
However, with so many webmasters and publishers submitting content to the social networks, how can your website rise to the top – or rather, the front page of social networks? The answer lies within the catchphrase “linkbait.” There is no fishing or phishing involved in this strategy, but only interesting, catchy content that will garner the short attention spans of the average social network user. Have your freelance SEO writer compose a piece that is controversial, highly resourceful, creative, or funny to increase the chances of sitting on the front page of the social networks.
Be Generous with Your Knowledge
If you have niche experience or unique knowledge, then sharing your wisdom can reap rewards for your SEO efforts. You can publish a white paper, “how to” article series, or a report that others can download for free. Bloggers and publishers in your industry will be keen to offer value to their readers – meaning that they are looking to link to interesting, unique information.
Even if writing is not your forte, you can convey a list of ideas to your freelance writer, who can compose the prose that will garner you the industry backlinks you seek.
Lean on the Traditional Article Directories
Last but not least, the traditional article directories are still a reliable source of generating backlinks to your website. While there are literally thousands of article directories today, submitting your content to ones that have high Page Ranks will build powerful one-way backlinks to your website. Remember to hyperlink your important keywords in the resources box to maximize the SEO impact of article directory submissions, rather than simply listing the URL.
By taking advantage of these legitimate strategies, you can indeed have your SEO cake and eat it too!