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Link Strategy Number Two:
Triangular or three-way linking is when a site A links to site B for a link back from site C. This supposedly is considered better by some SEO's than two-way linking. Their thinking is that two-way linking is no longer effective and that three-way linking "appears" to Google to be one-way links. But other SEO's believe that Google can identify three-way linking and that you risk huge penalties.
Link Strategy Number Three:
This strategy is similar to Number Two above. It is also a three-way link strategy. Instead of a link from site A, the SEO offers a link from the SEO's site or a separate site such as a directory to site B in return for a link from site B to site A. The advantage is that site A doesn't even need any of its own outbound links. Still, other SEO's believe Google can detect a link cluster and punish site A.
Link Strategy Number Four:
Four-way linking is also possible but with the same pros and cons as Number Two and Three above. More complicated and fewer webmasters willing to participate.
Link Strategy Number Five:
Article links. Many SEO's believe that what appears natural to Google is a link or two from the inside of an article about the theme which the site that is to receive the link is about. Usually the SEO will create an informative article with the links in the middle or end of the article. They offer the article to any number of webmasters for free, as content for their sites in return for a link to their client's site. It could be said that this will backfire if the article is published on various sites as it is duplicate content and has the same link destination in each article. Also, a lot of these articles get submitted to "article farms" which can be identified by Google (if not now then at sometime in the future). The best way to do this would be to offer a unique article to each webmaster but the cost of producing a number of unique articles would be expensive.
Link Strategy Number Six:
One-way links are the most difficult of all but the most effective in my opinion. There are a few sites that will link to you one-way if you ask them the properly. Some modest sites do not think like SEO's. Some of them do not even know the meaning of the term SEO. It is hard work but well worth the effort (in my opinion) even if the links come from low or no PR sites. But many SEO's believe one-way links from FFA's and directories are identifiable by Google as spam so one must work hard to find honest and related sites willing to do this. The typical link request probably won't work.
Link Strategy Number Seven:
Buying links. Some SEO's believe that if you buy links, banner ads will do no good as they do not contain keywords. They therefore believe that you need to buy text links with keywords in the link. Google mentions on its guidelines for webmasters that they do not like link buying and they even have a form you can submit to report sites that buy links. Some say Google does nothing about it. Others say differently. Perhaps Google creates fear so that people buy adwords rather than advertising elsewhere. In my opinion buying banner ads is safer than textlinks as Google cannot call that spam. Surely a site has the right to advertise. But text-based ads are probably a bad idea, especially if it says "Sponsored Links" somewhere near the links. Some say that without keywords in the link, it will do nothing for reputation. But if Google is smart, it could detect the reputation from the site the banner is on.
Link Strategy Number Eight:
Let's say that site A is the site you are promoting and also one you want to "protect." Instead of doing any risky linking strategies on A, you could create a number of information sites with related content on various IP C-blocks to "take the fall" should Google decide to flex its muscle. In this strategy, site A does noting but receive links from sites B, C, & D, while B, C, D participate in various linking activities to create PR which they then pass on to site A. This could be considered spam depending on how you look at it. The junkier the information sites and the more risky the linking patterns of those sites (B, C, D), the greater the chance of A getting hit, I would think. This could also be quality work, again, depending on how you look at it. It could natural and it could be artificial.
Link Strategy Number Nine:
Build a site naturally. Many SEO's are now saying the only white-hat way to make a high ranking site is to develop excellent content. In my opinion, this is easier to do for a site that is purely an information site but is more difficult to do for a commercial site. It takes lots of time and most people are not successful at getting it off the ground. The concept is good but it is hard to come up with a winner. It is also most discouraging if you are beat in the rankings by sites that cheat. You could wait forever and not get anywhere.
Link Strategy Number Ten:
A combination of all of the above. The problem with this is that Google can punish a site for any one strategy and you won't even know which one it is.
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Does anyone have any other link building strategies to add?
An example that works well with most types of sites is the power of blogish type content. All you do is write quick but highly useful information type articles that really helps your visitors that can be tied into something interesting or significant that can be found at related site or blog.
Doing this you then set yourself up for a way to begin communication to where you will tap into their network.
What you do is take and small excerpt/quote from their article (under fair use) and quote it, talk about it, just give it a bit of air time in your article. Then go ahead and contact the owner to ask permission to use the excerpt/quote. Let them know that you found (this excerpt) was interesting and would be a great addition to an article you produced. Simply ask them if you can use it in the article. Be sure to let them know that you also will have a link to their original article. Let them know that you will send them a copy of the article when it is ready. To speed things up you can go ahead and send the article with the request but reassure them that it won't be published with the quote until they give you permission.
If permission is granted then publish and follow with an email to the with a link to the article and if you have a comment field invite them to participate in visitor comments (it's best you have a comment area). (AHEM - Nice to have a couple fake questions to move the comments along if your traffic is low).
So what about getting links?
What generally happens is they do come and mingle with your visitors (they benefit from networking - you benefit from them creating atmosphere for you). They tend to write/blog about your article which in turn other site owners/bloggers that follow their site will write about either your site or theirs and most generally pass out a link to you. They too may come back to participate in comments or even write for you. So instead of having to look for more sites they start coming to you. Look at your referrals and start contacting those who are now writing about you. Get creative and start communicating with them using similar methods. Pretty soon you got a huge balloon going to where all you do is write and they follow along working for you.
You don't just have to use the quote method above. You can use other methods. Request interviews (people like to link to their interview - ego thing). Contact them with a review you wrote about a cool too they have. Just use your imagination. Simply contact them and give something to them. This way your aren't appear self serving. You are going out of your way to do something for them. An I tell you they tend to be more surprised by this than getting a link swap request.
It is always about starting communications. Once you get it started you can always work in ways to get links from them. What you are really after is to tap into communications with their network and getting links from them. (Just make sure they have a network!). Heck, it really doesn't matter if they say no to your request for a quote, interview, or whatever. Just get communication started and get to know them. You may be surprised what you can tap into.
Thanks for the tip Ron Ron...how is it that you can determine which of your competitor's links are bought? What are the telltale signs when searching through their backlinks?
Follow the backlink and look at the page and the link. If it is purely an information page with some links recommending sites within a particular interest group, it might very well be a pure link. If the link is a professional prepared banner with the logo of the competitor on it, chances are it is a bought link. Some sites will devote part of a page to "sponsors" or "advertisers." Those are bought but I would not recommend you buying a link that would go in a section or block of other advertisers, dead giveaway.
If the link is located in an article the competitor wrote, changes are it is a swap of content for a link.
You can't always tell. But if the competitor has no outbound links, if you follow their backlinks chances are it will be one of three things:
1) Purely, the linking site is trying to give information to their visitors. If your site is content-worthy, you might suggest that your site would also be of interest to their visitors.
2) Bought link,
3) Affiliate link. Put your mouse over the link and look at the URL in the status bar. If it has a "referid?" followed by a number or a "click" something or other in the URL, it is probably an affiliate link.
For the most part, you don't get anything for nothing in this world. But sometimes you get lucky. But doing nothing certainly won't get you anywhere.
