The Art of SEO, 2nd Edition

Choosing the Right Link-Building Strategy

The successful link-building strategy is built on painstaking research and methodical strategizing. You can put together a link-building campaign in many ways, and making the wrong choices can lead to a poor return on your link-building investment. You should also consider which tactic will bring the best long-term value.

Another consideration is what your available resources are and how easily the link-building process will scale. If you have a site with 10,000 inbound links and your campaign is going to net you 100 new ones of similar value, that is not going to move the needle for you (unless all of those links are pointing to an individual page targeting a single keyword search term/phrase, or a smaller number of pages). This is a key point to consider when deciding what type of link-building campaign to pursue.

Outline of a Process

The process for choosing the right link-building strategy is complex because of the number of choices available. Nonetheless, a methodical approach can help you determine what the best few choices are for your site. Here is an outline of how to approach it.

Identify types of sites that might link to a site like yours

Some example types of target sites include:

• Noncompeting sites in your market space

• Major media sites

• Blogs

• University and college sites

• Government sites

• Sites that link to your competitors

• Related hobbyist sites

Make sure you take the time to answer the question, “Why would these sites link to us?” Think ...