What is a "link building strategy?"

[theshortstack]

This question has always intrigued me, as no one's really going to say no to a link ... in which case everyone's strategy is the same: Grab as many as you can when an opportunity comes a long.

Social Media sites, Article Sites, Blog posts ... wherever.

The word "strategy" though suggests that a whole lot more thought is put into link building than that (especially when just starting a site).

Therefore, I'd be really interested for someone with more experience to let me know how they put together a "strategy" for getting links ... because I can't help feeling my current 'strategy' is just a bit general!!

[ArijitKRoul]

By link building you get more and more traffic to your site...

[theshortstack]

Thanks Roul, I get that bit.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that the word "strategy" suggests that people are going to actually going to sit down, consider the site they've built and then get links for it from places that might differ from the last site they've built. They may even refuse some links if it doesn't fit in with their 'plan.'

Is this true? Or is the word "strategy" slightly misleading in as far as affiliates will tend to go out and get as many links as they possibly can, probably from the same places as they have done for sites in the past.

Cheers

[Guard Dog]

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that the word "strategy" suggests that people are going to actually going to sit down, consider the site they've built and then get links for it from places that might differ from the last site they've built. They may even refuse some links if it doesn't fit in with their 'plan.'

Is this true? Or is the word "strategy" slightly misleading in as far as affiliates will tend to go out and get as many links as they possibly can, probably from the same places as they have done for sites in the past.

Cheers

There are certainly strategies involved in link building, but I think of a strategy more when having a bunch of websites and interlinking them without penalty and without blacklisting (which could, then, wipe out the entire network).

Inter-Link Strategy for Networked Sites: Link the sites in such a way that it does not look spammy and centralize 1-5 domains to get the bulk of the link-power

Link Strategy for Single Site: There can be a strategy here too, but strategy may be too strong a word for it. In this case, the 'strategy' is to find suitable link partners who are not spam-sites. They strategy might be to purchase links off of power sites, purchase blog links, get 3-way links, or any other method.


I think the word strategy was involved due to SEO/Link Builders trying to 'upsell' their program, though At least that is my take on it.

[Tower-Adrian]

strategy does come in to play when building up links.
Anyone can make a site and have 1000 links to everything on the net, I get at least 20 emails a day of groups, project, business that promise 1000 links within a day.

Is this good for my site? NO

Sure those 1000 links may help bring in some new traffic but is it the traffic that you want? Do people looking for cars that got linked to your casino site convert? Is your bounce rate look the same as if you dropped a 'super ball' off your roof? most importantly is google going to look at your content and links and approve?

Sites need to link to others with similar content, you do not want to have links on your casino page that go to a website offering information on cars, and for the most part that is what you are going to get with these types of link swap projects.

PR is a biggie to a lot of webmasters still, IMO I think PR really doesn't have a huge affect on my decision to trade a link. Obviously I would like to see that the website I am linking to is doing good but if the website is new and has a lot of good unique content that I enjoy I will gladly swap links. (they may be the next huge site)

We have to remember how links started in the first place, they were used to show your visitors other sites with similar content that was "in your mind" worth linking too just because it was good your visitors. Remember those days where Search engines were not around? I still surfed the net pretty efficiently through links.

Overall, as a new affiliate or webmaster, do not get consumed with links exchanges. They will have their time and place, but the best thing for you is to focus on content. Have a ton of good content for your site and you will be the one picking and choosing from all the offers you get for link exchanges.

Just my 2 cents

[Jennylba123]

Theme related linking has higher weight age than links from non-thematic
websites.There are many backlink and traffic you will get available on the web that add back link instantly but many from irrelevant sites so it is your side concern to get the relevant link.

[lots0]

This question has always intrigued me, as no one's really going to say no to a link ... in which case everyone's strategy is the same: Grab as many as you can when an opportunity comes a long.

Social Media sites, Article Sites, Blog posts ... wherever.

The word "strategy" though suggests that a whole lot more thought is put into link building than that (especially when just starting a site).

Therefore, I'd be really interested for someone with more experience to let me know how they put together a "strategy" for getting links ... because I can't help feeling my current 'strategy' is just a bit general!!

I say "no" to links all the time. As a matter of fact, I never ever say 'yes' to any type of link trading/exchange offer... and my poor little site saw over one million page views last year, most all of which came from the search engines.

A link is not just a 'link'. Links to and from your site say who you trust and who trusts you... And 'trust' is VERY VERY important to ranking in the search engines, especially in google.

Let me put it like this, it is childs play for google to spot sites/networks that trade/sell/buy links and google has never made any secret about how they feel about buying/selling or even trading links for SEO...

So if your buying/selling/trading links and you can't figure out why your site is just not ranking as well as you think it should... reread the last three paragraphs.

[Guard Dog]

Great post Lots0!

I am curious, though.... some of the 'big time players' in this industry have top sites because of all the links they purchase. How does this play into the thought process about linking?

Some of these guys spend a ton of money on links and climb the SE's as a result. They basically buy their positions, it seems.

[inspiration]

Most friends you trade your links with will vanish in about a year, different page, strategies, webmasters the lot.

I had to remove 80% last month because of this. For new sites it comes in handy to exchange links, older sites can rely more on content.

The last is the best ofcourse.

If you need to purchase votes you do this because you need to stay in the top 10 and do not want to prevent natural fluctuations of SERPS.

60-80% of all visitors look at top10 results only IMO, so better ranking is more traffic.

[lots0]

There is a fine line between, buying links for SEO and buying 'advertisements', often the two are confused.

If those guys are 'buying' their rankings, it is because they are buying quality content.

The one thing ALL the top sites have in common, no matter if they buy links or not is quality content. So if you have top sites that do NOT buy links sharing the front page with and often beating sites for top key words that DO buy links"advertisments"... What does that tell you?