Getting One-way Inbound Links: the 5 Major Strategies

With search engines putting a damper on direct reciprocal links, the hunt for the elusive one-way inbound link is on.

As someone who works with small business website owners, I've heard just about every inbound-linking scheme there is. In the end, I've only seen five strategies that really work consistently for getting hundreds of links. Yet there's perennial interest in alternative linking strategies. Why? Perhaps because the five major effective strategies involve a certain amount of hard work, and for many people, SEO is an endless magic bean hunt. So, before looking at those five most effective strategies, let's look at some of the supposedly easier alternatives.

  • Link farms never seem to die. The latest variations try to pass themselves off as viral marketing, but are really a sort of endless pyramid scheme: you link to me, so I link to someone else, who links to someone else, and on and on down the line. If you think this will work, let's just say I admire your ability to maintain a childlike innocence despite all the mean names I'm sure everyone calls you.
  • Many one-way inbound linking strategies fall into the great-if-you-are-lucky-enough-to-get-it category, such as winning a web award or being featured on a high-PageRank website just for being so great.
  • Other one-way incoming link strategies are in the this-will-take-forever-to-get-anywhere category, such as offering to provide testimonials to all your vendors in exchange for a link to your site. (Hint: If you can get more than twenty links that way, you probably need to simplify your supply line.)

Now, on to the five major ways of getting large numbers of one-way inbound links. Some are better than others, but they all have more potential than some of the more madcapped strategies. Of course, none is a good strategy all on its own. You have to understand all five strategies in order to really gain a distinct advantage in the one-way link hunt.

1. Waiting for Inbound Links

If you have good content you will eventually get one-way inbound links naturally, without asking. Organic, freely given links are an essential part of any SEO strategy. But you cannot rely on them, for two reasons:

  • Unfortunately, "eventually" can be a very long time.
  • There is a vicious cycle: you can't get search engine traffic, or other non-paid traffic, without inbound links; yet without inbound links or search engine traffic, how is anyone going to find you to give you inbound links?

    • 2. Triangulating for Inbound Links

    Search engines will have a tough time dampening reciprocal links if the reciprocation is not direct. To get links to one website you offer in exchange a link from another website you also control. This would seem to be a mostly foolproof way of defeating the link-dampening ambitions of Google and the rest. If you have more than one website, you probably are already employing this linking method. There are only a few drawbacks:

    • You need to have more than one website. Stop laughing! There really are businesses that only have one website! In fact, they may be your clients someday.
    • The work required to set up this kind of arrangement and verify compliance is not insignificant. The process cannot be automated to the same extent as direct one-to-one reciprocal linking.
    • As with traditional reciprocal links, a very big drawback is that the links are mostly on "Resources" pages that are just lists of links. There's only a small chance of getting significant traffic from these links. Plus, any "Resource" page may well eventually become an easy target for link dampening, if that hasn't happened already.

    3. Submitting for Incoming Links

    They are the legendary fairy lands of SEO: PageRank-passing, no-fee-charging, non-corrupt and actually well-run directories of relevant links. Yes, they really do exist. An SEO friend tells me he knows 200 good ones just off the top of his head. Plus, there are other kinds of directories: directories of affiliate programs, of websites using a certain content management system, of websites whose owners are members of this or that group, of websites accepting PayPal, etc. etc.

    Ah, a link in a PageRank-passing link directory: it's a good deal if you can get it. But let's say you do get links from all 200 such directories and a hundred more from the little niche directories--now what?

    4. Paying for Inbound Links

    Buying and selling text links on high-PageRank web pages has become big business. Buying good traffic-generating "clean" links is a great alternative to pay-per-click advertising, which confers no SEO benefit. But, there are a number of pitfalls of relying primarily on paid links for SEO:

  • The cost of the hundreds of links required for substantial search engine traffic can become prohibitive.
  • As soon as you stop paying, you lose your link--you are essentially renting rather than owning, with no "link equity" building up.
  • Google is actively trying to dampen the impact of paid links on rankings, as revealed in various patent filings.
  • Given Google's mission to dampen paid links' effectiveness, paid link buyers have an interest in verifying that a potential paid link partner is "passing PageRank." But identifying appropriate PageRank-passing paid link partners is quite a task in itself.
  • Google is actively trying to dampen the impact of any "artificial" linking campaign. Having most of your links on PageRank 3 or higher web pages would seem to be a dead give-away that your links are "artificial," since the vast majority of web pages (note: not necessarily websites, but their pages) are PageRank 1 or lower. Meanwhile, buying PageRank 0 or 1 links would have so little impact on a site's PageRank that it would not be worth the expense.

    • 5. Distributing Content All of the above four inbound-link-generating methods really do work. But it is the fifth method of getting one-way inbound links that is the most promising: distributing content

    The idea is simple: you give other websites content to put on their sites in exchange for a link to your site, usually in an "author's resource box," an "about the author" paragraph at the end of the article.

    The beauty of distributing content for links is that the links generally generate more traffic than links on a "resources" page. Plus, your article will pre-sell readers on the value of your site.

    The downside, of course, is that it's no small amount of work to create original content and then distribute it to hundreds of website owners. But nothing good ever came easy. And on the internet, one-way inbound links are a very good thing.

    In conclusion, there are a number of ways of getting one-way inbound links, and if you're smart, you'll use all of them.

    About the author Joel Walsh is the owner of UpMarket Content, where you can get a content distribution campaign managed from soup to nuts, and guaranteed to get you at least one hundred one-way inbound links for every three articles. Check out this guaranteed website promotion content distribution package: http://upmarketcontent.com/website-p romotion-package.htm

    In The News:

    pen paper and inkwell


    cat break through


    Bring Your Visitors Back Clamoring for More! Maintain and Improve Your Web Site Weekly - Part 1

    80% of your Web site is Maintenance!Once your Web site... Read More

    2 Key Ways to Make Your Site a Success

    If one more business owner tells me their website sucks... Read More

    4 Rock Solid Reasons For Building Your Own Website

    What is the point of having a website, you may... Read More

    A Beginners Guide to Server Side Includes

    An Introduction to Server Side IncludesBeginner? That's OK!While much has... Read More

    Web Coach Tip: What You Should Know About DIY Web Sites

    Recently, a friend asked "What's the deal with those DIY... Read More

    So You Want To Have A Website

    So you want to have a website. You have gone... Read More

    I Want To Be A Freelancer

    So you have decided that you want to do freelance... Read More

    Improve Conversion Rates ? Load Times

    Your site is getting traffic, but conversion rates are horrible.... Read More

    Website Globalization

    Globalize Your WebsiteThe Internet has unlocked a wide array of... Read More

    Why Your Brick-and-Mortar Biz Needs A Website

    The internet has taken over our lives with a vengeance,... Read More

    Make Your Own Brand!

    There are millions and millions of websites on the Internet.... Read More

    Why You Need A Web Site

    "I have a small business with just a couple of... Read More

    The Importance of Website Stats to You

    One of the best tools you have as a webmaster... Read More

    Running An Effective Website

    Running an effective website is a continuous process. I have... Read More

    WYSIWYG Versus Coding: HTML With A Purpose

    After years of working with entrepreneurs who developed their first... Read More

    3 Reasons Why You Need URL Rewriting Module To Enchance Your Web

    URL rewriting are major needs for your sites that produce... Read More

    Website Sales: 10 Reasons Why People Dont Buy From You

    You've put up a website to promote a product or... Read More

    Thinking Of Taking Money Online? Whats Best For Merchants? PayPal, WorldPay or Something Else?

    It's now easier than ever to take payments on the... Read More

    7 Killer Ways To Increase Your Online Sales

    Every online entrepreneur I talk to is asking the same... Read More

    CSS - Maximum Benefits

    What is CSS?CSS is a simple file which controls the... Read More

    Ebooks for Webmasters

    Internet has opened a whole new world for web developers... Read More

    5 Essential Traits Of A Home Business Website

    So you've decided to start an online work at home... Read More

    Web Content: How Much Should I Pay?

    When web content gets discussed on webmaster bulletin boards, the... Read More

    Where on Earth is Your Websitee?

    You've just finished congratulating your marketing team. After six months... Read More

    The Most Important Aspect of Writing Web Copy

    There is an ongoing debate about web copy. Some say... Read More

    How To Convert More Sales On Your Website

    One of the biggest mistakes that most online retailers make... Read More

    How to Build a Database Driven Web Site

    If you ever want to create a state directory, article... Read More

    4 Steps to Selling More With Your Web Site

    Most web sites are more like stage sets than real... Read More

    Why do I Need a Website?

    Cost Effective Advertising. Online selling. Increased geopgraphic range. Wider... Read More

    Wheres Your Focus, Money or Customer?

    Is your website Really useful?I had a 'rep' in yesterday... Read More

    Building a Web Store on Shoestring Budget in less than Four Hours

    Starting a business online is no longer as difficult as... Read More

    Beyond Web Usability: Web Credibility

    If you've been developing websites on Mars for the past... Read More

    Web Analytics - Getting it Right

    Understanding and using web analytics.In recent years, website marketers were... Read More