One Way Back Links, The Best Kind

In an earlier article I mentioned how getting links from other sites to yours is one of the best ways to get noticed by the Search Engines.  Of all the types of links you can get, relevant one way back links are by far the best - especially if they’re anchored correctly from content-rich sites.  The Search Engines place a high value on this type of link because they are the most difficult to get.  I have several methods I use on my Workamping blog to get these types of links.  Some work better than others, and I’ll share them with you in this article.

Properly Anchoring You Links

One of the most important points that need to be made here is your back links need to be properly anchored.  Search Engines look at the anchor text of a hyperlink to determine how to index the page that’s being linked to.  Many people don’t understand this, so they make the common mistake of linking to anchor terms like “click here” or “click this link to …”.  These anchor terms don’t mean anything to the search engines and won’t do any good for you when you’re trying to get ranked higher for your keywords.  Use your keywords as your anchor text in your link references.

For example, notice how I used the keyword “Workamping” in the very first paragraph of this article.  I link that back to my site so that anyone reusing this article will link back to me with the keyword I want to target.  A properly formed link for example is something like “Visit my <a href=”http://www.workfromyourrv.com”>Workamping</a> blog for all the latest on working from your RV.” An improperly formed link would look more like, “<a href=”http://www.workfromyourrv.com”>Click here</a> to visit my Workamping blog all about working from your RV.”

I also need to use the word Workamping several times in the article.  Keyword density is important as well, but that’s the subject for a different time.

Syndication

If you haven’t set up RSS for your blog yet, do it.  Syndicating your blog is a great way to get one way back links.  By using RSS to make your blog articles available to others, you can get your blog articles on other sites.  That alone won’t necessarily get you the links however.  You need to properly anchor your link in the teaser area of your article to achieve that one way back link.  The teaser area, as far as RSS is concerned, is the first paragraph.  RSS uses only the title and first paragraph as a teaser, then usually includes a link to read the rest of the article.  If someone uses RSS and subscribes to your blog to add content to their site, that’s usually the most that will be displayed unless the link is clicked.  That’s why it’s important to get your link into the first paragraph.

Article Directories

Article directories are another way to get your content distributed out to other sites for republication.  Post your articles to these directories.  Many of them allow you to keep the links in the body, so your first paragraph link remains a valuable one way back link.  Others don’t allow links in the body, or at least above the fold.  In these cases you’ll have to remove the links from the body, but you can still add them into the author bio or signature block at the end.  Just remember to anchor them properly as before.

Link Exchanges

I personally don’t do link exchanges any more.  They have lost almost all their value as far as the search engines are concerned.  The engines are putting more emphasis now on relevancy when valuing links.  If the content of the page with the link isn’t relevant to the content of the site being linked to, the link has little to no value.  Most link exchanges put links on a links directory page with no value-added content.  This isn’t scored high with the search engines.

Link Associations

Link Associations are one of the fastest growing, and best ways to get high quality, relevant, and content-rich one way back links to your site.  I use ConnectContent as my primary association.  These are groups of site owners that agree to include relevant content one way back links to each other.  Because you link to different site than link to you, the links aren’t seen by the search engines as being reciprocal.  This is by far the most effective way to get high quality back links at the moment.  You usually have to pay a small fee (ConnectContent is currently $12/month) for the service, but the value of the one way back links is well worth it.