The best way (according to Google) to get incoming links is to write original content that is so interesting people will naturally link to it. Or publish a piece of software / whatever that people will want to use. Of course, this process is very difficult, and takes a long time for anything to happen.
So many websites have been engaging in Reciprocal Link Exchange programs - that is a link is placed on my site in exchange for a link on your site. This process can produce good results, but can be time consuming to maintain.
Many websites, this one included, now contain a "link partners" or "directory" section of some sort, a part of the website to contain these reciprocal links. Most webmasters try to keep the reciprocal links relevant (ie you wouldn't expect to find fishing related links on a real estate website).
When I look for a link partner, I look for the following attributes...
1. Website content is more or less relevant to my website
2. Website is indexed by major Search Engines (new link directory pages won't always be indexed, but most should be)
3. Website looks reasonable, I don't want to link to spam
4. Higher PR the better
5. Definitely less that 50 other external links on the page, preferably less than 10.
6. URL of the links page looks ok, preferably doesn't contain the word "link" and preferably static .html extension.
7. Website should be in the same language
I did an automated check on the 40 odd link partners on this site the other day, and was staggered by what I found. In some cases, the page my link was on contained over 100 other outgoing links, in one case over 600. It is commonly understood that the value you recieve from a link is somewhat divided by the number of other links on the page (in other words, being 1 link out of 5 is much better than being 1link out of 100).
I suspect my link on a PR0 page with 650 other links is of no value to me whatsoever. And I'm providing a PR2 link with only 10 others in return.
I have actually been having trouble finding link partners that meet this criteria. Most webmasters are happy to bung your link on a page with 100+ others and forget about it, then expect Google to do wonderful things.
I think Google is smarter than that, and the days of mass link building are over. There are many highly positioned websites out there with only a handful of incoming links - but they are good quality links, and this is the key to success.
I think the key to link building going forward is in contextual linking, that is your link is blended in with relevant text on it's own page. I think time is better spent building decent links on decent websites. This is of course in addition to other strategys, such as providing interesting and original content, obtaining one-way links, and programs such as Link Vault
My proposition is simple.
Rather than having a link on a page with many others, 2 clicks from the homepage, I am suggesting a link on it's own page, 3 clicks from the homepage. Theoretically, this page will have one less PageRank than the main listing, however you get the value of this PR all to yourself. I would much rather have a PR2 link to myself than a PR3 link shared with 50 others, or even 20 others. The link hould be surrounded with a paragraph or more of relevant text, and the text should be more or less unique (ie dont use the exact same paragraph everywhere you build links).
Your link page will have your link text in the page title and H1 heading, as well in the anchor that links to your site. This should help ensure the page is relevant to your link.
I am interested in working with other webmasters who actually care about placing quality links, not just a buried listing in a directory. I am comitted to spending the time to ensure the following, provided you are willing to do the same...
- Your link is on it's own page, and is well presented with customised titles
- Your page has a static looking link - eg your-site-name.htm
- Your page is linked to from several other internal pages, and is included in the XML Google sitemap. This will ensure it is indexed quickly.
- While I don't guarantee there won't be other external links on your page, there will certainly never be no more than 10 external links on the page. These will only be external links in the header or footer templates.
I am managing links on the following sites...
http://www.harveykane.com - this site
http://www.louisakane.com - baby blog
http://www.ministryofdeath.com - Battlefield 1942 gaming site
http://www.siriusbikes.com - NZ BMX info and bike parts
http://www.gmpl.co.nz - Professional stock photo library
and Several others
If you are willing to help promote one or more of these sites, then I can do the same for you. If your site has a higher PR than mine, then in addition I can place footer links on other pages outside of the link directory, which will also contain a minimum of outgoing links. If you are a webmaster that manages several websites, let me know the details of each one so I can add them all in one go.
To get started, please email the details of your sites to
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