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A site cannot rank well in Google without backlinks, so getting more backlinks is one of the most important methods SEOs use to improve rankings. Unfortunately many sources of free links are bad because they are either highly irrelevant or from dubious sites. Often both.

Getting links alone is not enough, because Google does not value all links alike. PageRank is one consideration, but relevancy plays a much bigger role these days. That’s why you should focus your link building efforts on finding relevant links, instead of high PageRank links. A relevant high PR link is of course optimal.

These free sources can get you relevant, high quality backlinks. Most will require some work on your part, like writing content, but many are worth it in the end. For tips on creating new content from your old articles, see my posts on turning posts into articles and combining articles.

  1. Article marketing - Write and article and submit it to article directories.
  2. Social media marketing - Submit, bookmark and market your content.
  3. Link baiting - Create content that baits readers to link.
  4. Blog carnivals - Feature your blog posts on other relevant blogs.
  5. Squidoo lenses - Create a relevant lens and link back to your site.
  6. HubPages - Squidoo with a different name (use both).
  7. BloggingZoom - Like Digg, but with more backlinks and less banning.
  8. Forum marketing - Use the signature space on relevant forums.
  9. Blog comments - Dofollow blogs are best, but others work.
  10. Guest blogging - Even where link exchanges fail, post exchanges usually work.

Click the links above for more information on the various methods. They link to my earlier posts on those topics. Feel free to discuss these, as well as other free link building methods in the comments. Please share your experiences on what works and what does not.

by Sutocu | January 21, 2008

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Comment by Samsung Cameras
2008-01-22 01:43:19

All good advice. I’ve just started using bloggingzoom recently.

I’ve had good luck with forum marketing with some sites. But I only use that in forums I’m really active in. Having a good name on the forum helps a lot, because it doesn’t come across as spam.

 
2008-01-23 01:38:37

In my experience Article marketing and social media marketing work best. Pages that are submitted to Social media sites tend to get indexed by Google very quickly. I haven’t used BloggingZoom yet, but it does look promising.

 
Comment by UK Celebrity News
2008-01-23 15:34:58

Thanks for the great post! very detailed sources of getting backlinks.

 
Comment by Penny Stock Picks
2008-01-24 04:05:53

Those are rally great ideas, and will help many of the people who trying to get high ranks and traffic to their sites, But when all the webmaster doing that much work or say same work , then how google check which should be rank first or second, as there are lot of keywords on which many of the webmaster working very hard?

 
Comment by Nintendo Wii
2008-01-24 12:13:40

Thanks for the article. Nice ideas.

 
Comment by neil strauss
2008-01-24 13:04:03

The problem with article marketing is that you will be writing an article similar to that of your site content. Hence you are infact increasing the competition for those keywords by submitting that article to tons of article directories.

Comment by Sutocu
2008-01-24 19:20:02

You can target different keywords with the articles. On the other hand, even if you target the same ones, you may be able to get hold of multiple first page positions on SERPs. Either way it’s beneficial.

 
 
2008-01-25 21:05:56

Great tips. I’ve had very good experience with article marketing and social media marketing.

One question: how beneficial is it to get on blogrolls? If you suddenly get 3,000 links from appearing on someone’s blogroll, will all of those “count” toward your pagerank/SERP, or does each one carry less weight?

Comment by Sutocu
2008-01-26 06:29:05

Link position should not matter for PageRank calculations, so your PR should go up for them. However, blogroll and other sitewide links are thought to have less effect on SERPs than relevant in content links.

 
 
Comment by UtahLuxury.com
2008-01-29 05:01:29

Thanks for this list!

 
Comment by 0% credit cards
2008-01-30 04:52:08

Thanks for the great list of ideas. You have inspired me to write a couple articles that I will be submitting soon. I will be bookmarking your blog for sure!

 
2008-01-30 23:46:23

That’s a good list of things to do for backlinks. To take full advantage of backlinks through article marketing, you need to use a service like article marketer.

I have to laugh every time I hear a “Guru” say that article marketing is dead! LOL When I hear someone say that, I know that A. They haven’t tried it or B. They probably used PLR articles without rewriting them!

Don

 
Comment by uk door entry
2008-01-31 23:44:18

Squidoo lens is a good one but like all these free backlinks they need links pointing to them to help you improve in search engines, personally the best free links are link bait then article writing

 
Comment by weight loss wand
2008-02-01 13:15:29

Great ideas.It will prove better for all organizations.

 
Comment by Health
2008-02-03 11:04:05

thank you very much i like this list!

 
Comment by John
2008-02-08 00:26:30

Thanks, I like your posts. They’re short and detailed. I’ve already read 4 today…

 
Comment by inttt
2008-02-17 16:50:09

nice description of bloggingzoom. less banning. :) This post was a nice read. The best post I’ve read today

 
Comment by canvas prints
2008-02-19 07:12:59

I like your Ideas, and I think article and social bookmarking are the best one.

 
Comment by Average Joe
2008-02-21 18:53:03

Great ideas. I’m fairly new in the blogging industry and have been working hard on getting my site out there. Sites like yours and courtney tuttle’s have been very very helpful.

 
Comment by Lionmom
2008-03-24 01:43:42

I have been using some of the social bookmarking sites with some success, especially from Digg. I have had my best results from my Squidoo lenses.

 
2008-04-03 10:57:27

Excellent advice!

Promoting, marketing and networking are the most important regions of a website. Network and influence people and they will come to you.

 
Comment by Mo Raja
2008-04-13 23:01:07

Very good list. I dont believe link exchanges work anymore. If anything, they havent a more negative effect. I went on a link exchange campain few months ago for my football credit card site only to realise that my page rank and SERP dropped. I have since stopped.

 
Comment by Cliff Posey
2008-05-01 00:31:24

I am using most of these methods but have not figured our how to use hubs yet.

 
Comment by Pulpo
2008-05-20 23:42:30

Most methods seem easier than they actually are… right?

 
Comment by Home Security Guy
2008-06-03 19:51:09

Really useful list. Thanks for sharing. Social Bookmarking sites increase traffic - but not always targetted.

 
2008-06-05 07:10:18

As a newbie, scouring the internet for loads of information and tips on linkbuilding tends to overwhelm my brain cells to the point that I cannot understand them anymore.

As a matter of fact, it has come to my epiphany that building links is not just some work. It really is very very hard work. It takes a great amount of time, perseverance, and lots of midnight candle burning in many cases.

Well…i guess that’s just how it is.

My heap of thanks to your valuable tips.

 
Comment by Solution
2008-06-09 06:18:44

Good link building tips. It’s always useful to hear opinions on best link strategies. Link building takes up a ton of time but is worth it in the end….not that there is an end.

 
Comment by Dshot
2008-06-10 18:33:34

Nice list. Those are definately the way to get higher ranking!

 
Comment by Print on canvas
2008-06-16 08:45:47

Great list, using all methods from the list provided you can get very well quality back links to your website. Social Networks - best one! Thanks for sharing.

 
2008-06-24 04:10:32

Great list. I will have to try forum marketing to promote my site.

 
Comment by Science
2008-06-24 22:29:35

Thanks for the information I have recently started a new blog and I am currently on a backlink building scheme and i beleive this information will help me greatly.

 
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