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Backlinks Etiquette?

How to ask for them

         

tcassidy

9:19 pm on Oct 7, 2004 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



What is the best approach when asking for backlinks?

We have been using Adwords for a year, hoping to eliminate these high costs once we got picked up by the major search engines, as our competitors have. But, it has not happened yet......

When we have approached friends/associate business owners for a backlink, you'd think we were asking to date their daughter/wife.......why?

What is the best approach? The advertising costs are killing us!

Sanenet

9:27 pm on Oct 7, 2004 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



Have a good root round in these forums - there are plenty of threads discussing all aspects of link development.

As in life, the general rule is to be personal, brief and to the point, and polite.

Couple of threads (heaven knows there's enough of them!)
[webmasterworld.com...]

And google it using the site:webmasterworld.com command.

Good luck!

webmastertexas

9:39 pm on Oct 7, 2004 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



My site is climbing in my particular industry, and I'm starting to get a lot of link requests. The thing is, I don't really need these guys, especially since they're all upstarts, and I've been around and have an established audience. I.e. it does little to nothing for me to trade links with them, but it'll no doubt help them lots, because my link page does get a lot of hits from my regulars. Although I'd love to help them out, I want to keep my links page very uncluttered, so that means I have to be very picky with the links I provide. Obviously most people aren't happy with this, but what can I say, I have to keep my own site from turning into a link farm. Maybe that's the reason why the other guys won't backlink to you.

tcassidy

10:43 pm on Oct 7, 2004 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



I beleive I've been nice and polite, but I'll be more aware of such.

Think those I've asked are naive about the web/links. Like their web site will have problems, or get a virus or something, no idea why the reluctance. One in particular, has only 6 backlinks, backlinks from HIS web site.

I am only asking those with a page rank of at least 5 or higher, my understanding those help more. (mine is a 5)

Also, not looking for reciproical links, only backlinks, as it is my understanding this helps my page rank more, correct?

Plus, if I ask for a blind backlink, then the public can not see it, so, they will not become a link farm.

I will read the forums here, can anybody suggest one or two sentences of how THEY have asked and had good luck?

Thx!

webmastertexas

12:30 am on Oct 8, 2004 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



I've never asked myself myself. (Probably should, would have gotten to this point faster.) When I got linked, it was usually because I had made friends (or at least as "friendly" as you can get with someone you've never met) by emailing them first, talking about their site, etc. (It's easy for me, because I have a movie site, and most webmasters who I get links from are film fans, so we have a lot to talk about.) After an email or two about our favorite movies/industry chitchat, they usually offer to put the link in themselves, and I do likewise. I suppose it would be harder if you were in an industry that didn't allow for personal friendship.

Rosalind

9:36 am on Oct 8, 2004 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member




Think those I've asked are naive about the web/links. Like their web site will have problems, or get a virus or something, no idea why the reluctance. One in particular, has only 6 backlinks, backlinks from HIS web site.

I am only asking those with a page rank of at least 5 or higher, my understanding those help more. (mine is a 5)

Also, not looking for reciproical links, only backlinks, as it is my understanding this helps my page rank more, correct?

So what I can gather from this is you want them to link to you, but you won't return the favour? No wonder you aren't having any success. Most websites of pr 5 and above get regular link requests, and can have their pick of link partners. So you will have to show how they will benefit before you get a good response.


Plus, if I ask for a blind backlink, then the public can not see it, so, they will not become a link farm.

I'm not sure what you mean by a blind backlink. The way you put it, it sounds like a hidden link which is a definite no-no because it's a search engine spamming technique. Or do you mean a link that's on a page not linked to the main website? Explain clearly what you mean by this as I may have understood you wrongly, and if that's the case then so could many of the webmasters you emailed. Either that or you are asking for a link that would be considered dodgy by the SE's, for which the websites linking to you could incur a penalty.

dickbaker

9:54 pm on Oct 8, 2004 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



I've pretty much resigned myself to the idea that the only way I'm going to get backlinks is to reciprocate. My site is still at PR1.

When I find a site that's in my niche, I send the webmaster an email, explaining that I'm trying to cultivate links. I then say that, in anticipation of his approval, I've already added a link to his site on mine. And I provide him/her with the code for the link to my site.

This has been much more successful than just emailing and asking if they'd like to exchange links.

coconutz

11:20 pm on Oct 8, 2004 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



>>And I provide him/her with the code for the link to my site.

The easier you make it for someone to reciprocate the better. We'll include a couple of different titles and descriptions for them to choose from.

webmastertexas

11:21 pm on Oct 8, 2004 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



When I find a site that's in my niche, I send the webmaster an email, explaining that I'm trying to cultivate links. I then say that, in anticipation of his approval, I've already added a link to his site on mine. And I provide him/her with the code for the link to my site.

Oooh, I HATE people who do this to me! No offense, but when you email me and tell me you've already added my link and give me a code to place on my site, you're ASSUMING (without asking me first) that I will WANT to put your link on my site. It's a bit presumptous of you, and I've never replied back to people who do this. Maybe it's a personal think, but I hate it when people assume I will do something just because they did something, especially when I don't know them from Adam.

dickbaker

9:50 pm on Oct 9, 2004 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



webmastertexas, sorry you don't like the approach.

My closing sentence says, "I'll check your site in a few weeks to see if a link to mine has been added." Implicit in that sentence is the idea that I'll remove their link if they don't reciprocate.

Nobody's forcing the webmaster to add the link. I just think it makes the whole process easier all around.

How do you go about cultivating links, if you don't mind my asking?

rytis

10:35 pm on Oct 9, 2004 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



I don't read linkexchange requests. If I instantly don't see the URL where link to me has been added, the request goes to trash because it is most likely automatic mass email (SPAM). If one email-spams, he may spam SEs as well. Don't want to be banned for linking to bad neighbourhood.

webmastertexas

3:23 am on Oct 10, 2004 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



How do you go about cultivating links, if you don't mind my asking?

As I said, I don't go out of my way to get links from other site. I can only remember once that I asked someone to link to me, and I didn't actually even "ask", it was one of those "automatically add your link" sort of thing. That's it. The rest of the links have been voluntary by other sites. I only add links to my own site that I find interesting, or that I go to on a regular basis. But I can't tell you how many times people have done that ol "I added your link now here's mine for you to add" nonsense. I just delete them.

dvduval

3:35 am on Oct 10, 2004 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



I like to ask them if they would consider adding a link to my site, and that I would be happy also link to them.

tcassidy

3:32 am on Oct 14, 2004 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Hey, would anybody mind giving me a simple answer my q?

How are you asking about a link?

What is working for you?

Is it really important to have sites that are relevant to my site, since really all I am trying to do is boost my page ranking by obtaining links with PR of 5 or higher?

Thx!

tcassidy

3:36 am on Oct 14, 2004 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



BTW, the people I have been asking are people I know.......Etiquette please!

nalin

6:01 am on Oct 14, 2004 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



I dont solicit a lot but I get a good number of requests and heres those which I most hate:

Unrelated sites: We dont promote #*$! pumps on my site, we sell widgets and generally these widgets have no relation to adult materials, gambling, the newest perscription drug names, or real estate.

Unestablished sites with no value outside of SEO: the pr 0 site that is scraped duplicate content holds no value to my visitors.

Sites which approach me via some form of automation: If my site is not important enough for a human review then it is certainly not important enough to link to.

Webmasters who do not add a link to my site first: Take the initutive, take 30 sec out of your day to look over my site, evaluate the keywords I am trying to go after (I dont provide text on my sites because I prefer variation around inbound links), and adapt these things to your links page.

In short I tend to disallow those sites which I believe are of no value to me or my visitors, those which have webmasters incapible of creating competitive entities, or those sites which demonstrate disinterest on the part of the webmaster.

Every link I pursue (and note here that quality much trumps bulk) I am genuinely interested in getting, to the point that I am willing to research the site in question, to link to them, and to otherwise squander my valuable time. First and foremost this demonstrates that mine is not one of 5 other request in the inbox that day, but the most important resquest. You could certainly do better in quantity otherwise - but not in quality.

sit2510

7:15 am on Oct 14, 2004 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



>>> I don't read linkexchange requests.

I'm with rytis in this issue. I don't care what the other webmaster would write in their e-mail - no matter long or short, personalized or template, polite or little rude...Why do we have to care the style of others when all the intentions are the same, i.e. link exchange. What I care is at least a fair exchange. My intention for link exchange is to boost my serp, PR and traffic. If I can get unique visitors from those links, that's an added bonus but not a prime factor.

hdpt00

8:33 pm on Oct 14, 2004 (gmt 0)



sit2510 is right and I think most webmasters know this now. My link requests look bot generated, are bot generated and are doing great. Got to a PR5 within the first update (the top site in my niche has a PR6 and has been around forever, every other top 10 is PR4 or 5).

I don't kid the webmasters, they all know all I want is a link and they want the same.

People that say "send a personal message" are advising you to waste thousands of hours of work. One might now respond and say how are your SERPs? I'll answer that for you folks: dismal.

So then, "your campaign isn't working..." But I think it is working very well. I'm #1 for allintitle, allinanchor, etc. Once google gets rid of the sandbox I think I'll hit the top 10.

But for now Google's business plan is working: get everyone and their mother to buy AdWords.

Good luck.

tcassidy

8:51 pm on Oct 14, 2004 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



I like Adwords, I hate Adwords.......

I like Adwords, I hate Adwords.......

I like Adwords, I hate Adwords.......

I like Adwords, I hate Adwords.......

Essex_boy

10:05 pm on Oct 16, 2004 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



Dont know if it helps but I find a site in my keyword sector and andrun a link: #*$!.com

Then aproach the sites that linked to this site, kinda cheating but works wonders.