Website Back Links

[Transmitter Man]

I am considering employing a freelancer who has offered to create 50+ back links to our website.

What would constitute a good quality back link and is it possible that these can be automatically generated from sites which are relevant to my industry?

Is it beneficial to be listed in as many online directories?

What else should I be looking for or for that matter staying clear of?

Thanks.

Phil

[Altrezia]

Back links aren't as important as they used to be, and if they are useless ones they can actually do you harm.

Make sure the chap is getting you relevant links on quality websites in your industry.

[Transmitter Man]

Hi Alex,

Thanks for that.

I did not think any links from sites outside my industry would be of any benefit.

Can I ask you what aspects are now considered the most important, social media by chance being one?

Thanks.

Phil

[Sunnyone]

Social media seems to make a large difference, we have a new company which does or SEO and they run all our social media accounts. Our search engine rankings have improved.

I think it is important that the content is relevant. You need someone who understands, or will learn about, your industry.

[Transmitter Man]

Hi Sunnyone,

Is your SM content completely original or do you combine with for example press releases by others in your industry?

AFAIK originality is all important in the way Google ranks such posts.

Thanks.

Phil

[Sunnyone]

About 75% linking to content that is relevant to the sector and 25% new content, mostly examples of our work and consumer advice.

I have had three different companies provide SEO in the last five years with results ranging from first page of Google for a good range of seaches to bring penalised by Google and sent to page 100!

[Stevanos]

I would avoid hiring anyone who is going to go about "building links" for you unless you are talking with the likes of someone like Eric Ward or someone who really knows what they are doing, there is just too much at stake in this area of SEO.

Take a read through this first http://searchengineland.com/traits-hire-link-build...

[Transmitter Man]

Stevanos,

That is an enlightening read, thank you.

I think at this stage I'm going to concentrate on optimizing my site as best I can.

I am at present having errors sorted out and we're pretty much done and ready to jump into an Adword campaign. However I have some homework to do regarding that before I start spending money as I really wish to maximize the return on the investment.

On the back links front I think I'm going to concentrate on two areas, the first via dialogue with my many suppliers and request a link on their list of dealers (many are lazy in this area) and also place listing in as many online directories as I can find.

I'd like to find a global master list, regardless of language, there must be something out there.

Thanks again.

Phil

[Altrezia]

We get our clients to make sure their existing content is great, and make sure they have a strategy to create new content in place before we look to off-site SEO.

[ehasler]

Getting good back links isn't difficult - it's just time consuming and requires a bit of work but it does rely on you having good content.

A few things that have worked for me recently:

1) Write a useful/interesting/topical blog article and get in touch with various other related websites to suggest it might be of interest to their visitors. This has worked well for me.

2) Do an article where you mention some of your suppliers (e.g., "10 of the best xyz widgets") and get in touch with them to let them know, and suggest they might want to link to it.

3) Search for as many related blogs/websites that you can find, and get in touch with any that have links pages suggesting that their readers might find your site of use. Most will ignore you, some will ask for a fee but one or two will add a link to your site.

From my experience, adding links to directories don't really help much at all - if it's easy and anyone else can do it, it doesn't have much value in the eyes of Google.

[ecs]

Don't buy back links - if your freelancer decides to put links on pages which are later considered to be spam, you'll need to get them off. If you can't get rid of them then boom, that's your domain name rendered useless forever more.

[Stevanos]

ecs said:

Don't buy back links - if your freelancer decides to put links on pages which are later considered to be spam, you'll need to get them off. If you can't get rid of them then boom, that's your domain name rendered useless forever more.

Not strictly true, dodgy links can be disavowed in Google Webmaster Tools if really needed.

[jammy_basturd]

Talk to DSLiverpool about the damage bad back links can do!