Linking for White Hats

The focus on linking is becoming more obvious as SEOs are making a major effort to establish clientele that need links above all else.

Since the best ways to get links aren’t always white hat, we won’t go into the mechanics here, but will focus on white hat ways to get links.

• Ask for them. Don’t underestimate it. You can usually gain at least some links simply by asking for them. Try for sites that are related to yours in some way, and try to do it fast, leaving before they can talk you into trading links.
• Post articles in directories on the web. Multiple times. To different sites. Do the same for press releases, videos and Squidoo lenses. Every time you publish, link back to your site! Don’t be shy about rewriting content and spreading it around. Do a press release every once in a while for good measure.
• Don’t be mislead by people who say blogging and forums don’t help. Use them when you can, and push the limit if necessary. You can often link in your sig, or join a conversation with a close topic being discussing.
• DON’T buy links. That’s the one big DON’T on the list. I include it because the next step needs clarification.
• You CAN buy a link or review from a high ranked site if you NO-FOLLOW the link. No following simply telling the link box in the cellar to ignore the link and send no power down to your site.
• Make sure you have established a solid internal linking system. As many pages as possible (excluding shopping cart pages, etc) should have links originating in the world wide web.
• You can have reciprocal links – they won’t harm you, but they won’t help you either – they count as a non vote. That’s why you try to get links with out giving.
• You can actually offer to write free content to related sites in order for a link to be posted to your site. Many are happy to have the content, and a link is a small price to pay!

Make sure you use transparency with Google. Don’t try to trick or hide or otherwise cheat the search engine. They are making it smarter all the time, and paid links are the #1 enemy. Keep your nose clean and don’t be evil, and your linking strategies should become apparent.

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