Backlink Ideas

It seems like every day someone on the Internet discovers and ingenious way to get a one-way backlink.

Sometimes people luck into them by buying advertising in a paper publication or directory that later gets posted on the Internet. If they happen to land on a .edu site this way, they can end up with great backlink ratings and not even know how they managed to get it. So, always keep an eye out for additional strategies.

Here we offer you a sampling of some innovative ways that other people have used and whether they will help or hurt you in the long run.

SCOPING OUT THE COMPETITION’S BACKLINKS

This is actually a great way to see how your competition has scored some good PageRank. You can also try to get the same backlinks to your site and at least keep par, until you can figure out a way to surpass them. Use the following search engine to figure out what backlinks are going to any site, whether it is your own or the competition’s: www.backlinkwatch.com. This easy to use SEO tool allows you to see the people linking to you or any url, and more importantly, to see whether the link is a nofollow link. It even gives you the anchor text being used to link back to you. Use this on your own or on the competition to quickly size them up and start your own backlink campaign.

OFFER RSS FEEDS

Today’s surfer is far more sophisticated than in the past. They not only surf for content through search engines but also RSS feeds. If you have constantly updating content, you can attract people who are searching the web for it quite easily. Just offer an RSS feed that puts it all in one place for them. People take multiple RSS feeds and are able to read and search them in an RSS feed reader. This helps people locate content quickly that is recent and up-to-date. If you submit your RSS feeds, then many readers will link back to you.

PRESS RELEASES

If you’ve done something noteworthy, don’t forget to toot your own horn. Send out press released with a backlink embedded back to your site. This offers you valuable publicity and keeps you front and center in the public’s eye.

LATERAL LINKING

There are myriads of social networking sites out there that will allow you to add some lateral backlinks to your site. These are areas that are set up as community sites that can help build your PageRank, especially if you get good reviews from people because of them. Facebook and Myspace are great sites for networking and there’s nothing wrong with discretely putting a backlink in your profile. YouTube is a great place to put up videos that attract people back to your profile page, where you’ve placed another backlink.

This strategy offers several benefits. First, social networking sites cater to a large audience of people. You can get quite a bit of exposure just setting up a profile and becoming part of the community. Secondly, they offer you the ability to get feedback on the offerings of your site. This can help you to tweak your website so that it becomes more naturally popular. Finally, social networking sites are a great place to network and find more websites that might help you boost your rank by putting up a backlink, whether reciprocal or one-way.