A Surefire Way To Build Links With Content

Writing by Nick Stamoulis on Sunday, June 7, 2009 Comments (10)

If you’re wanting to build links then you might have read in a few places that you can build something called “link bait”. Link bait is just a fancy name for content that is so good that it attracts links from other websites. Those links, being relevant and from authoritative websites, will give your website a boost in the search engines.

Make no mistake, link bait is one of the most over hyped concepts in search engine optimization. I’m not saying it doesn’t exist or doesn’t work. I am saying that a lot of emphasis is put on it that probably shouldn’t be. I’m also convinced that the best way to build links over the long haul is simply to focus on creating great content.

If you consistently produce outstanding content on your blog and website then you’ll attract the kind of links that you want. Instead of trying to produce content that will attract links, try to write great content that will attract readers. Your readers will link to you if they like your content. Over time you’ll begin to attract more readers and they in turn will do their part to link to you as well. But the links don’t come because you focus on getting links. They come because you focus on delivering great content to your readers.

Comments (10) Category: Link Building

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10 Comments

Made Monday, 8 of June , 2009 at 9:05 am

Well said, now if only we could get our clients to send us Ad copy that everyone want to link too. Have have printed this off to show some of my clients that I have not been giving them the run around. thanks.

Comment by Nick Stamoulis

Made Monday, 8 of June , 2009 at 10:27 am

@Thompson Touch – Thanks for reading, please do feel free to share this with your clients…hopefully it helps!

Comment by Agent SEO

Made Monday, 8 of June , 2009 at 11:13 am

Outstanding content provides the true value for a visitor. Also, link baiting can refer to the quality of anchor text you use when building links both internally & externally. If you use enticing text that peaks a reader’s interested, you can “bait” them into clicking the link…hence, “link-baiting”.

Comment by Nick Stamoulis

Made Monday, 8 of June , 2009 at 1:02 pm

@Agent SEO – Very good point! Thanks for reading and your comment!

Comment by Randy Duermyer

Made Tuesday, 9 of June , 2009 at 10:21 am

Nick – very basic, yet sage advise. Think about it – through all of the changes over the years in SEO and traffic building, good content that people really want is still the backbone to success. Gimmicks may come and go, but the best investment you can make in any website is great content.

Agent – I had never thought of anchor text as “link bait” but it’s a great concept and one I can see working well in Title tags too, since that’s what searchers click through to get to your site from organic search.

Comment by Nick Stamoulis

Made Tuesday, 9 of June , 2009 at 10:49 am

@Randy Duermyer – Thanks for stopping by and your comment. It is funny to see all the gimmicks, tools, etc. that do arrive in our industry and that are gone before you know it…the one consistent aspect is and I am sure will always be great user focused content.

Comment by Corporate Culture

Made Wednesday, 15 of July , 2009 at 9:47 am

Love it – yes, of course, you need to get onto some directories, get some regular blog comments, get a certain volume of embedded links etc. But the magic has got to be in getting great content both on and off-site. We aim for two or three good blogs on our site each week and two or three good articles placed in relevant places elsewhere. It might not sound a huge amount but that’s up to 150 serious bits of writing per year. It’s working great for us – quality coupled with consistency. Regards, Malcolm Evans

Comment by Nick Stamoulis

Made Wednesday, 15 of July , 2009 at 10:47 am

@Corporate Culture – Thanks for the comment…I think you nailed it on the head with “quality and consistency”…

Comment by seoAklan

Made Thursday, 16 of July , 2009 at 8:26 pm

Hi,

I’m glad to read all about this, you I have a plan to build a website but for now maybe a blog. : )

But I am doing a link exchange for ou two gaming site, and we all know that, that is part of a SEO, but my knowledge in SEO is not that broad as yours can you please give some great advice?

Because I know and you know in your self that you are very good in SEO….

I am working in a Software Company..

Thanks in advance,

Comment by Nick Stamoulis

Made Friday, 17 of July , 2009 at 5:25 am

@seoAklan – I live on the White Hat side of things and closely follow with every site and client the following:

http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=35769

http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=35291

Hope this helps!
Nick