Here is a post from Michelle MacPhearson covering the various types of links and link building. Although there are many other ways to acquire links, she covers a very good topic and a lot can be learned by reading the below article. If you have any questions you can contact First Place Positioning, celebrating 10 Years in Business by calling us direct at (610) 768-0357 or filling out the form to the right.
2. Types of Link Building (and When to Use Them)
by Michelle MacPhearson

Last week I asked one of my staff to create a promotion plan that would make an existing site rank that already ranked for it’s main keyword phrase to also rank for a new keyword phrase, and then submit that plan to me for review. She created a great, comprehensive plan including varying sources of backlinks and social media promotion.

Unfortunately, for raking the site for a new keyword, it wasn’t the most effective plan.
Why?
Her plan was focusing on VOLUME of links. That is, getting tons of links from many sources such as:

• Blog commenting
• Forum posting
• Article submission
• Social media profiles
• Directory submission
• Social bookmarking
• RSS submission
• Blog carnivals

LINK BUILDING FOR VOLUME

Getting a bunch of links from all kinds of sources is an excellent strategy. It’s actually important for a site to have incoming links from several kinds of sites, a topic I wrote about in “Link Mixology – The 12 Kinds of Links Your Site Needs.”

However, this kind of link building is more appropriate for NEW sites.

New sites need some “street cred” in the eyes of the search engines. They need to both look natural and popular.

We create that natural and popular looking link profile by:

1. Building links from a variety of sources and…
2. Varying the anchor text that links back to our site

On a new site, while you might want to rank for the keyword phrase “blue widgets” you certainly wouldn’t want to use “blue widgets” every single time you get a link back to your site. That’s unnatural and is called “over optimization.” It can lead to your site having less than stellar search engine rankings.

Fortunately, since we’re also building links from many sources, our anchor text will naturally vary.

For example, you usually control the anchor text your site gets when submitting to article directories. In these cases, you would use “blue widgets” as your anchor text.

But then you’ll also be incorporating social bookmarking or blog commenting, where your anchor text might be secondary “tags” (in the case of social bookmarking) or your name (in the case of blog commenting).

Aside: Yes, of course you can use your main keyword as anchor text when submitting blog comments, but they often are perceived as spammy and fake when you do so, and are approved less often and deleted more often. Skip the anchor text here, it’s not worth the hassle.

You can see that when you are building links for volume, you achieve variation in backlink sources as well as variation in anchor text.

LINK BUILDING FOR ANCHOR TEXT

Once your site has been established and a variety of backlink types and a variety of anchor texts have been built for it, you may need an extra boost in the search engines to rank for your main keyword phrase or in my case, an additional secondary keyword phrase.

For this, you need to target a specific anchor text. And as such, your link building should be focused primarily on getting links from sources that allow you to control your anchor text.

Article marketing is the most obvious solution and where you’ll likely spend most of your time, as you generally write your own “About The Author” box and include the exact anchor text you’d like.

Article marketing can include traditional article submission (like adding your piece to EzineArticles) as well as submitting your articles to places like Article Marketing Automation, which then distributes your content and chosen anchor text throughout their network of participating blogs.

Another strategy you’ll want to employ while building links for a specific anchor text is using social media sites like Hubpages & Squidoo to post articles and RSS feeds that link back to your site. With these services, you are often in control of your anchor text as well.

HOW TO DECIDE WHICH KIND OF LINK BUILDING YOU NEED

How do you decide if you’ve done “enough” of the “Volume” kind of link building and need to focus on anchor text link building?

Keep in mind this isn’t an exact science but rather a guideline, as on page optimization, domain name, domain age, where your & your competition’s backlinks are coming from, etc. all contribute to a site’s rank.

As a general blueprint, I look at the number of backlinks my competition has and how many of those links use the KW phrase I want to rank for as anchor text. Then I look at my own site’s backlink profile. If my overall number of links is still much lower than my competition, I want more links from varies sources.

If my total number of links is comparable but I’m lacking in links using my main KW phrase as anchor text, I’ll start the process of link building for specific anchor texts.

Which kind of links do you need to build for your site?
SEO Philadelphia Company providing Free SEO Analysis Reports and SEO Website Design services.

A very important distinction being made about Backlinks versus Social Buzz, in the following update from SocialMediaScience.com.

QUESTION: “We understand the exposure/awareness benefits that social networks would provide us, but the primary goal for us right now is to leverage these social networks as a means to build back links directed to our websites. We would like the ability to specify the anchor text of links to web pages that we specify, from do-follow social network pages. We would prefer these links to be embedded in the content of the articles that we create. It would be even better if we could provide a few possibilities of anchor text that would be used in the links.

Below is our official response to these questions about using SYNND for link building activities:

One of the most common misconceptions about social media marketing (SMM) generally…and about our SYNND software specifically, is that it’s a tool for building forced inbound links. SYNND should be used to create inbound “Social Buzz” first and foremost and only secondarily for creating natural (not forced) inbound links. Social Buzz is a ranking factor all by itself and should never be confused with link building, which is a separate endeavor. A “natural” byproduct of Social Buzz Building is inbound references, links, comments, tags, etc. but you cannot force “anchor text” within a submission to a social network as this is not natural and is frowned upon by the social networks.

Further to this, the search engines are doing everything in their power to stop or discount traditional link building activities and will continue to do so on into the foreseeable future. We expect to see whole sites that have used these “linking strategies” to be severely reduced in ranking, or in some cases de-indexed all together in upcoming Google Slaps. The new focus on “Social Buzz Building” is a way around the old pitfalls of link building but, again, should not be confused with traditional “link building”… Building inbound “Social Buzz” is a new (about 3 years old) ranking factor that exists within Google’s complex algorithm (as well as other search engines), regardless of the dofollow/nofollow attributes of the social networks where the buzz originates. Look no further than Google’s recent addition of BUZZ to their Gmail platform. What people do not realize is that this is only the tip of the iceberg for them. We have tracked Google long enough now to know how deeply they both value and understand everything related to social buzz. Based on this, we are now know it is the “New Linking Strategy” and the primary ranking factor every site should focus on. In our business we have abandoned all forced link building activities and are focused instead on using the true power of the Internet to create raving fans based on pure social buzz. It’s easier, faster, safer, and it is the future… pure and simple. As a by-product, we also see more natural link building, along with the added benefit of viral social buzz expansion.

Again, Social Buzz is an “independent ranking factor” not to be confused with “link building”. Social Buzz is more powerful, more long-term regardless of nofollow/dofollow attributes. Social Buzz rises above nofollow/dofollow, Social Buzz cannot be measures by PR (Page Rank) either. It is a ranking factor unto itself and we and our members have proven this fact over and over again.

Want to join Synnd?

——————————————

Want First Place Positioning to Perform Content Syndication through SYNND for you? Contact Us Here Right Away.

Here’s a sample SEO checklist to use when developing, optimizing and promoting websites.

SEO Optimization Plus
Website Quality Check + W3C – Correct glaring issues
Server Check – Win/Linux Apache, IIS – IP Check – Dedicate or Shared
Applications (CMS, Cart, Forum) & Databases (MySQL)
HTTP Response Header Check – Custom Error Pages
Basic Architecture (Contact, FAQ, Privacy, Resources, Site Map, Terms)
Preliminary Global Link Popularity Report – Anchor Text Analysis
Top 3 Competitors Analysis – Reverse Link Engineering
Spider Topic Reputation Report
Preliminary Indexed Pages Report – View Titles & Descriptions
Keyword Research – Competition, Daily Search Volume, Relevance
Primary Search Terms – Long-Tail – Supporting Terms – LSI Terms
Competition Research-Uncover Entire PPC Campaign Keywords
Keyword Revenue Report with Average Customer Value Equation
Master Keyword List & Prioritized Keyword List
Number of Pages to Be Optimized
Map Keywords to Individual Pages
Individual On-Page Optimization – SEO Score
Metadata – Title, Description, KW tag
Optimize Head Area (Proper DTD, Char Set) – Header Status Check
Page Headings (H1, H2, page structure)
Page Content Optimization
Reduce Code to External Script
Optimize Image Load Times & Alternate Text, Captions
Optimize Internal Links in Body (keyword, placement)
Optimize Link Site Structure (No Follow)
On Page Sitemap Optimized
Google Analytics, Webmaster Tools, XML Sitemaps, Preferred Domain
Canonical and Duplicate Content Fixed
Robots.txt File Properly Implemented
Name Capture/Opt-in Form/Email Marketing
Usability/Objectives/Conversions

Promotion
Optimize Current Blog or Develop Custom Blog. Tie-In to Networks
Utilize Promotional Widgets, Select and Optimize Blog Plugins
Develop Content Strategy – photo, video, slideshow, audio, wiki’s, etc
Write Articles – 450+ words (use in syndication)
Huge Content Syndication Group (Quality Only) – Diggs, Bookmarks
Write Blog Posts – 100-300 words, ping
Press Releases – 300+ words (submission to 25 Press Release sites)
Top 5-7 Article Submission Sites – (Option re-purpose to 300 directories)
Blog RSS Feed Submissions (80-100+ Feed Submissions)
Blog Directory Submissions (Top 10-18 blog directories)
General Directory Submissions (400+ Quality directories)
Targeted Ezine Submissions
Social Linking Properties – presence for Links, no networking involvement
Social Network Properties – optional for networking, friends, etc
Social Bookmarking Sites – Top 20
Free Blogging Sites, Blogger, WordPress, etc.
Micro Blogging – Twitter Marketing Plan 2000 followers in 30 days
Keyword Ranking Reports, Analytics, Backlinks Reports
PDF Files (text-optimized w/ new Titles, Kws, Descriptions)
High PageRank Link Development
Researched Keywords to Target in Articles

Classified Ads, Blog & Forum Commenting
New email created to create and confirm promotional actions.
PPC Setup & Management
Website Design

There are various steps or processes for many of the activities listed above so keep an eye out for more in-depth reports on individual topics.

By Mark Jackson, Search Engine Watch, Jan 6, 2009

In some ways, this is a continuation of my rant in last week’s column on paid links.

In life and business, I’ve always felt that there are no shortcuts. You work hard and build a successful life. You reap what you sow. Nothing good in life comes from a lack of effort. Take the high road.

Perhaps that’s why my background includes so many years in sales. Sales will teach you that — especially if you tried to sell banner advertising on a CPM basis after the 2000 bubble burst. You had to work 10 times as hard to maintain what you may have been able to do a year prior.

As an SEO, I’ve always believed that you should build meaningful, useful Web sites and help promote the content to establish links. Set up the site without technical roadblocks. Do what’s necessary to achieve long-lasting results by abiding by the guidelines set forth by the major search engines.

I won’t change anytime soon.

However, why is it that so many Web sites rank when they’re blatantly participating in paid link activity? How easy would it be if we knew that Google wasn’t going to penalize for these activities?

I mentioned last week that a prospect was penalized for sponsoring a hit counter. Perhaps Google found a way to address these types of paid links through an algorithm update?

But wait. No, a hit counter Web site ranks in Google’s top 20 results for “search engine optimization,” as of the writing of this column. So, the hit counter company wasn’t punished, but the company that sponsored a hit counter got “pinged”? Did they not alternate/randomize their anchor text in their paid link enough?

Duplicate Content Revisited

I addressed duplicate content while speaking at Search Engine Strategies San Jose in August. I was fully prepared to share with the folks in attendance the reasons that you should be very mindful of duplicate content.

Then, I came across a “competitor” (I don’t really think of other SEO firms as “competitors,” per se) Web site that ranked number one on Google for a very competitive keyword. Not only were they ranking — they had sitelinks. They also had multiple versions of their Web site, participated in link farms, and had paid links.

This is one thing that makes my job difficult. How can I tell a client/prospect that they shouldn’t do these things when they — apparently — work?

All I can do is be honest with my clients/prospects. Yes. These things work. Today. We don’t know what may — or may not — happen tomorrow.

Google says these things are against guidelines. They say that punishments can be handed down. I’ve seen some Web sites get punished while others make thousands of dollars per day, indirectly, because of their paid links.

Good SEO Isn’t Supposed to be Easy

Good SEO is supposed to be about building a quality/accessible Web site full of great copy, using keywords in the appropriate areas, and getting quality links “naturally” because people like your content. Nothing about being in SEO is easy when you try to do it right. SEO isn’t “rocket science,” but it requires real work.

You achieve rankings/traffic because you put in the work to analyze the competitive landscape, do thorough keyword research, write effective, usable, SEO friendly Web copy, have the correct structure to the Web site (information architecture, internal linking, blog set-up/categorization/content, headers, etc.) and found the relevant, powerful links necessary to achieve authority with the search engines and reached out to hundreds of Webmasters to ask them to link to your Web site. Yeah, social media marketing can be a much easier — and effective — way to generate relevant links. This is one reason most SEOs recommend adding a blog to your Web site.

I want to scream to the spam police at the major search engines.

If you want us to operate in an “ethical” manner, show us that you’re penalizing the Web sites that abuse your guidelines! Not just one here and another there. That doesn’t get our attention. Instead, reward those who follow your guidelines.

Link popularity is vital because every major search engine considers them as a part of their ranking algorithms. It is absolutely necessary to gain links pointing to your website to do well in the search engines. Your link popularity is measured by both the quantity and the quality of sites that link to your site and you can advance the rank of your website by increasing the number of high quality sites linking to your website.

Anchor text is when a word or a few words are in the clickable links. For example, you often see “click here” as a clickable link. The “Click here” should be replaced by the keyword phrase you want ranked at the top of the search engines. Not only is the anchor text of your links an important factor but these inbound links should be related or relevant to your site’s topic.

Researching your competition and where they have their links is a good first step to find out the areas to consider adding your link. Developing articles and submitting them to article directories is another great way of getting links to your site. Here are just a few article directories to consider when developing your links and promoting your site.

www.ezinearticles.com
www.articledashboard.com
www.articlecity.com
www.articlesbase.com
www.isnare.com
www.articlehub.com
www.articlebin.com
www.articlesnatch.com
www.submityourarticle.com
www.articlecity.com

There are many others to consider but the important thing is to begin taking your content and publishing it various directories.