Link building is now one of the items in the forefront of SEO. It is also the subject of an awful lot of controversy, as people hotly debate what will and won't help you, what will and won't hurt you, and what is simply a waste of time.
Something everyone does agree on is that static HTML links (links
that are stable and go straight to your site) are picked up by the
search engines as a positive element for your site when they point
to your site from someone else's site. That type of link is
increasingly hard to find. Some dynamic links can be tracked by
search engines, but not all.
The debates still rage over whether reciprocal links help, just how well the search engines can judge relevancy, and whether Google bans you for cross linking your own sites too much, or for getting too many inbound links from bad neighborhoods, etc. The safe road is sometimes really hard to find!
Currently blogging and article marketing are pushed as the two safest and surest methods of building links, but those are becoming less effective now as people abuse them and search engines respond - and both markets are now also so saturated with low quality content that it can be hard to be found in the masses of people screaming, "pick me, pick me!"
Bottom line? Inbound links help, if they are good quality links. Poor ones may hurt you or just waste your time.
Articles ~
Why Auto-Posting is a
Bad Marketing Idea
Auto-Posting consists of
getting a software program that automatically posts regular
comments, along with your URL, to guestbooks, blogs, forums, or
other places online where you can post feedback and a URL. Sounds
easy, right? It might be, but it is not all it sounds like it is.
Driving Qualified
Traffic Using Directories
Some education is
essential to enlighten you about this form of interactive marketing.
Directories aren't Search Engines; they are web sites or information
portals which use analysts on staff to review submissions from
companies who want to be listed in their Directory.
SEO - Web Directories
in Black and White
Beside exchanging links,
providing free content for links (see my "WAF for free, quality
inbound links" article) and waiting for crawlers / editors to
discover and index / promote your site, getting listed in topic
directories is a pillar of link popularity building.
Should You Buy Text
Links?
You can rank number one
(Or at least in the top ten) for just about any search phrase by
just buying text link ads, even if the web site isn't related to the
search phrase in anyway, it can still rank in the top ten of the
search results. Some web site owners see this as the only true way
to the top ten. So, should you buy your way to the top? Or should
you play it safe?
Reciprocal Linking - Is
it Worth It?
Reciprocal linking
consists of a link trade. But there are many ways to do it, some
which work, some which do not. Search engines are reputedly on to
the sites that trade with anybody and everybody. So to be effective,
reciprocal linking needs to follow some rules.
Anchor
Text Optimization
"Anchor text can
significantly improve your page relevance. Optimized Anchor
text can boost your site ranking and targeted search engine
traffic."
Getting Links
to Your Site
In my experience
this is the single most important factor to increasing your
search engine rankings. Links count as a vote for your site,
so the more you have the better your site will rank on all
the search engines.