35 Link Building Methods & Tools to Automate Them

[shorwood]

Hi Everyone,

I don't post a lot on this forum, I normally just browse and see what other people are talking about. However, I have had a lot of people send me emails asking about link building, and I see a lot of people ask about different link building techniques, so I decided I would list a bunch of different link building techniques and different software that can be used to automate the link building tasks and advise on how to get the links for the different methods.

These are not by any means new methods, and this is nothing ground breaking. I am not leading up to a WSO on link building or SEO. This is just a compilation of link building methods and different software that can be used to automate many of the link building methods.

So, here goes nothing:

1. Website Directories (I use GSA Auto Websubmit, which submits to 6,000 directories)
2. Software Directories (I use GSA Auto SoftSubmit, which submits to 5,000 directories. Many people use Promosoft)
3. Article Directories (I use Automatic Article Submitter, which submits to 300 good quality directories, allows you to spin your articles and drip feed them so they are not all submitted at once. Many people like to use Brad Callen's Automatic Article Submitter)
4. eBook Directories
5. Script Directories
6. High PR Websites (I find the sites from Angela and pj413's WSO's)
7. Video Sharing Sites (I use SEnuke & Traffic Geyser)
8. Image Sharing Sites (Such as Flickr)
9. Social Networking Sites (I use SEnuke, there is also Brute Force SEO)
10. Social Bookmarking Sites (I use SEnuke, most people use Social Bookmark Demon)
11. Facebook Pages & Groups
12. RSS Feed Aggregators (I use SEnuke, many people use Big Mike's RSSBot)
13. Blog Comments (Comment Sniper, Blog Comment Demon)
14. Guest Posts (Free Traffic System, My Article Network)
15. Automatic Link Building Sites Like: Link Metro, Linkvana, Jonathon Leger's Sites (MyWayLinks, ThreeWayLinks, 1WayLinks, etc.)
16. Paid Links (If Google can tell they are paid, your rankings will go down. Google doesn't it like people paying for links)
17. Reciprocal Links (You can contact site owners about obtaining these, or use sites to automate the process. These are not nearly as effective as they used to be)
18. Examine your competitors backlinks and get backlinks from the same places. (SEO Elite, Traffic Travis. What a better way to beat your competitors than to get backlinks from the exact same places and then go get some from other places as well?)
19. Interlink Your Own Sites (Just link to your site from other domains you own. You can even just create a page listing all of your other sites and products)
20. Press Releases (PRWeb, Press Equalizer)
21. Yahoo! Answers & Other Q&A Sites (Answer people's questions and drop your link. Make sure the link is relevant and has more information related to the question asked)
22. Twitter
23. Squidoo (Squidoo is great for getting backlinks and it is easy to create lenses.)
24. Profile Pages (Many sites allow you to create profile pages. Just create a profile page with your link on it. This includes forums, networking sites, etc.)
25. Wikipedia (These are more difficult to get, and you must have a high quality site to get a link that will actually remain on Wikipedia)
26. Affiliates (If you have your own product)
27. In Site Links (Link to other pages within your site)
28. Google Profile Pages (What better place to get backlinks than from Google itself?)
29. Google Groups
30. Forums (In the posts and in signatures. Don't spam forums though)
31. Contests, Quizzes & Other Link Bait
32. File Sharing Sites (Most well known one is Scribd)
33. Podcast Directories
34. Testimonials (Give testimonials to product owners and they will often include a link to your site)
35. Wordpress Themes (Create Wordpress themes and distribute them. Everyone who uses them will have a link to your site on every page of their website)

I am sure there are more link building methods, but using these you can get an unlimited number of backlinks. Never spam sites to get backlinks though. Always provide useful, relevant content.

Things to remember about backlinks:
- Backlinks from authority sites (such as Wikipedia) are worth much more than brand new or non-established sites.
- Backlinks from sites that are related to yours are worth more than sites that are based on completely different topics.
- Backlinks from web 2.0 sites are powerful backlinks and they are easy to obtain
- Google likes whatever users like, as their entire goal is to cater to the general public. Find out what types of website people like, and get backlinks from them. (Currently web 2.0 sites)
- Link farms are not effective for obtaining backlinks.
- Never spam. If you are posting a blog comment, actually read at leat part of the post and make a relevant comment that actually ads value. This ensure that your comment will stay, and it doesn't tick people off. (How many people do you know that actually like spam?) If you are posting on forums, ask useful questions that actually benefit people, and when replying to threads leave more than a "nice post". If you want to just say "thanks" there's a button for that. If you have more to say, then post a nice reply with some actual content.

Sometimes your links will be removed from websites, sometimes your accounts will get banned. Sorry, people don't generally like marketers! It is a fact of life. Just keep building new links to replace the old ones. If you are giving good quality info and making nice comments, most of your links will remain intact.

These are methods that I use to get backlinks to my sites, and I use these methods to get indexed quickly and rank highly for whatever keyword I want.

Again, these are not new methods, and there is no ground breaking news here, but it should help those who are new to SEO and maybe give you an idea of what tools to help you get your SEO efforts done more quickly.

Shawn

[eijk82]

Wow, this is such a great tutorial sharing for seo nubies. I've done some of those methods and now I'll try to do all of them. Thanks a lot for sharing. GBU

[VaibhaV KumaR]

Wow quite a long list Shawn! I have already started looking into some places to get a couple of more links here and there

[ikuret75]

Hi, Thank you very much for your effort to put them here. I am new here and I was actually looking for the way I can put more backlinks, so it is right-on!

One question though, I thought links on Yahoo!Answeres were "nofollow".
Do you think it is still useful?

Thanks!

[shorwood]

Yahoo! Answers is no-follow, but no-follow links still help you rank. They do not help as much as do-follow, but they do still help. You can also get targeted traffic from Yahoo! Answers, which is the whole point of getting backlinks isn't it?

Shawn

[ikuret75]

Wow, thanks for the quick reply Shawn.
I'm pretty sure that Google officially said they didn't count no-follow link at all for Serps or PR. I found the article here.
Well, believe what they say or not is another question though.

searchenginejournal(dot com)/how-google-yahoo-askcom-treat-the-no-follow-link-attribute/4801/

Yes, I agree getting traffic from it is great. I use Japanese version of questions and answers sites for that reason.

Ah, a bit embarassing question though, where can I find the "thanks" button?
I want to thank you but can't find the button!!(I'm new here.)

[shorwood]

Yes, Google does say they don't pass the PR from no-follow links. But they still index sites through nofollow links, and they still help rankings. I have done testing, and so have other people. Nofollow links do actually help.

Also, Google is the only search engine that even looks at nofollow, so you can still rank in other search engines with those links. Google is not the only search engine you can rank in.

The thanks button is right below the post, on the right. There is the "quote" button, then "multiquote", "quick reply" and then "thanks".

Shawn

[definitive]

good list for sure i don't regularly do half of that stuff but I should start

[ikuret75]

Hmmm, I still can't find the thanks button! I find "quote" "multiquate" and "quick reply" and that's it. I suppose you need certain numebrs of posts to have that button maybe? Or maybe my browser setting is somehow strange...?

[MBeshr]

thanks for sharing that list ,
i have also 50 seotips in my sig.
you may be find something new


thanks
MBeshr

[Diane S]

#10 Bookmarking Demon automates social bookmarking tasks
#24 Angela Edwards Easy Backlink Builder includes many high PR profile page sites
#27 is intralinking and in integral to onsite SEO

A very helpful list for all! Thanks for posting this!

[LithiumMind]

Thanks for a great post. Really help newbies like me.

[Jenie0109]

Originally Posted by ikuret75

Hi, Thank you very much for your effort to put them here. I am new here and I was actually looking for the way I can put more backlinks, so it is right-on!

One question though, I thought links on Yahoo!Answeres were "nofollow".
Do you think it is still useful?

Thanks!

yeah yahoo answers is indeed no follow. But even if its not , it still count as backlink...so it also helps on PR matter.

[J. David Rogers]

Does PAD submission still work?

I've read on other forums that this is no longer a useful way to get backlinks.

Has anyone tested this recently?

[spilksch]

Wow, that's a real comprehensive list of methods. Thanks for the post! And I'm off to start with number 1.

[Alessandro Zamboni]

Thanks Shawn, that's a big piece of list !
For example I totally forgot to make Podcasts to post on Podcast directories, and I never examined my competitors !

I really appreciate your helping list !
Goodbye.

[plizkin]

thank you so much for the information. that is a great help.

[Intrepreneur]

Originally Posted by shorwood

Again, these are not new methods, and there is no ground breaking news here, but it should help those who are new to SEO and maybe give you an idea of what tools to help you get your SEO efforts done more quickly.

Shawn

I got to the bottom of the list and thought to myself no way, are these ways to introduce people to SEO.. then I seen this what you've wrote at the very end.

I don't know how you could call using automation a great way to help new people get use to SEO.

It's far from wrong, very far from wrong.

Because SEO is a skill.. so much so of a skill I can't even bear to think about outsourcing it.

To go deeper a lot of those tools are pointless, and require skill to use them properly.

[shorwood]

Originally Posted by Intrepreneur

I got to the bottom of the list and thought to myself no way, are these ways to introduce people to SEO.. then I seen this what you've wrote at the very end.

I don't know how you could call using automation a great way to help new people get use to SEO.

It's far from wrong, very far from wrong.

Because SEO is a skill.. so much so of a skill I can't even bear to think about outsourcing it.

To go deeper a lot of those tools are pointless, and require skill to use them properly.

Well, I guess you are entitled to your opinion. I have taught a lot of people SEO, and I have used the tools listed above to get #1 rankings for all sorts of keywords. I use automation all the time, and I teach a lot of other people automation and they achieve high rankings as well.

I work with people who know nothing about SEO and I help them get their sites to rank for profitable keywords by using the link building methods and the tools above. I have seen them work, and I use them myself to get my Google rankings.

Maybe you don't outsource SEO work, but I know a lot of people who do, and I certainly don't have a problem with it. SEO is a skill, but that doesn't mean it can't be outsourced and you can't use tools to automate a lot of your SEO efforts.

Stompernet uses tools to automate SEO, and they are considered to be one of the leading experts in SEO.

Jeff Johnson, one of the highest paid SEO experts creates tools and automates SEO, and his Underground Training Lab revolves around using his different tools and software to automate setting up websites, getting them indexed and getting them ranked in the search engines. He has 187 testimonials saying that his stuff has made people thousands upon thousands of dollars, and even people like Frank Kern have hired him to do SEO and said he did an amazing job and made him a ton of money.

The leading experts use tools and automation, and they make a lot of money from it. I make a lot of money and get rankings for any keyword I want.

If you don't want to use automation, then that is fine. Don't. Do SEO your own way. But I have proven that these work, and I my clients have used these methods to do SEO, and the leading experts in the industry use automation and many tools to do their SEO, so please don't just go out and say that it is all pointless without anything to back it up.

Shawn

[Intrepreneur]

Originally Posted by shorwood

If you don't want to use automation, then that is fine. Don't. Do SEO your own way. But I have proven that these work, and I my clients have used these methods to do SEO, and the leading experts in the industry use automation and many tools to do their SEO, so please don't just go out and say that it is all pointless without anything to back it up.

Shawn

I said the tools require skill, and you just proved what I said.

I said these tools aren't in any way a good way for a newbie to start off with, and you just backed that up again.

Now what I'm interested in is you showing me how these tools work for you?

That would definately backup what you've started and continue to endorse and maybe teach me a thing or two about automation.

[dordor]

awesome list, thanks
you should consider tubemogul for video distribution, they offer a free version (unlike the alternatives you mentioned)

[luvtrees]

Some of these are good, typical ways to get links, however, you list some things for which the links are nofollowed... so good for traffic, but not necessarily for link building, like Twitter, Yahoo Answers and Wikipedia, for instance. Otherwise, a decent list.

[Chris Lagarde]

Thanks Shawn for this great list. A list like this is always appreciated because it's easy to convert and/or add to my current checklist.

[alvinhuang]

Originally Posted by shorwood

Yes, Google does say they don't pass the PR from no-follow links. But they still index sites through nofollow links, and they still help rankings. I have done testing, and so have other people. Nofollow links do actually help.

Also, Google is the only search engine that even looks at nofollow, so you can still rank in other search engines with those links. Google is not the only search engine you can rank in.

The thanks button is right below the post, on the right. There is the "quote" button, then "multiquote", "quick reply" and then "thanks".

Shawn

Agree with you absolutely. Our search engine consultancy has does testing and having a mix of nofollow and dofollow links is much better than just having dofollow links.

The core fundamental of search engine optimization is to have your website gain authority backlinks naturally. Afterall, Google's main concern is to return the most relevant results for their clients (people who search).

Just having all backlinks dofollow doesn't really seem that natural at the end of the day.

Alvin Huang

[shorwood]

Originally Posted by luvtrees

Some of these are good, typical ways to get links, however, you list some things for which the links are nofollowed... so good for traffic, but not necessarily for link building, like Twitter, Yahoo Answers and Wikipedia, for instance. Otherwise, a decent list.

Actually, they are still good for link building. See my post above in response to nofollow links, and Alvin Huang's post right above this one (which quotes my post on nofollow links).

Shawn

[shorwood]

Originally Posted by alvinhuang

Agree with you absolutely. Our search engine consultancy has does testing and having a mix of nofollow and dofollow links is much better than just having dofollow links.

The core fundamental of search engine optimization is to have your website gain authority backlinks naturally. Afterall, Google's main concern is to return the most relevant results for their clients (people who search).

Just having all backlinks dofollow doesn't really seem that natural at the end of the day.

Alvin Huang

To add to this, it is also important to have both anchor text links and plain text links, as this appears more natural to Google as well. The anchor text should also vary between links, as everyone is not going to naturally link to your site the same way.

The important thing is to vary everything up, using both anchor text links (varying anchor text) and plain text links, dofollow links & nofollow links, nav bar links and in context links, etc.

The more natural it appears to Google, the higher your will rank.

Shawn

[jason146]

I haven't ready anything so clearly and easily in one place before this thanks a lot!!!!

[deesangels]

Good compilation and I didn't have to watch a sales vid or listen to a teleseminar or tune into a webinar or....

Just, thanks
Dee

[adam westrop]

Interesting list. Thanks.

[Innercore]

Thanks Shawn
Nice list - Iam following some of them and add to do it some of them after going thro your list.What about the keyword research and the value of the keyword anchor text in building abck links.

[jaradc]

Hey, that's a great list. I'll be doing them checking one off at a time. Thanks for organizing it.

[Amenda Jessera]

Hey Shawn, it is a great post, Thanks for a huge list., Which method can give a fast turn around out of all these 35 mehtods?

[Dima Kritchevski]

Originally Posted by Amenda Jessera

Hey Shawn, it is a great post, Thanks for a huge list., Which method can give a fast turn around out of all these 35 mehtods?

I believe articles and videos give the best combination of FAST traffic boosts and long term SEO results of all the methods. Best of both worlds!

[boris s]

Great list. But as a "one man team", getting all that into a clear process without being too time consuming and without pissing off google... That seems much harder

[wsiebler]

Shawn fantastic tips. One question do you think GSA is better than PromoSoft for software submissions?

[joelraitt]

Wow sweet freaking list! What a great start! That will give most people more then enough to do...remember to keep those links related to your keywords!

[Macy]

Nice list.

There's hours of work in that list, but I'm going to try to implement at least one every day until I get to the bottom.

Thanks for the great info.

[shorwood]

@Amenda Jessera, for a fast turnaround I would do a press release. They can get traffic directly from the news sites as well as get picked up by Google and rank #1 within 24 hours, sometimes within hours.

I would also distribute articles and videos, as they can start to bring in a consistent flow of traffic almost immediately. I would make sure to put out at least one article or video a day for the first few weeks until you get a steady traffic stream.

@boris s, just start off with one at a time and work your way through the list. Submit to a few directories one day, submit an article the next, submit a video the next, submit a press release, etc. Just focus on one thing a day. Don't look at it all and think you have to do it all immediately. You can even do just article submissions for the first few weeks, then move onto distributing some videos, then submitting to web directories, etc. You don't have to actually use all of the methods. This list just leaves you no reason to not have links to your website.

And if you don't want to piss off Google, then there is only one thing you need to think about: "Would the consumer appreciate this?" If you are thinking about your target audience, and providing them with what they want in many different forms, then you will never piss off Google. But when you start to spam everything and post useless content just to generate backlinks, that is when Google gets angry, because Google's goal is to provide the consumer with what they are looking for. If you provide what the consumer is looking for, you won't have any problems with Google.

@wsiebler I actually have never used Promosoft, but from what I have seen GSA does appear to be better. I cannot speak from experience though, so I cannot tell you for sure. However, I do know that Promosoft is highly recommended (even by my close friends) so you can't go wrong with either one IMO.

If anyone else has questions, feel free to ask them!

Shawn

[boris s]

Originally Posted by shorwood

@boris s, just start off with one at a time and work your way through the list. Submit to a few directories one day, submit an article the next, submit a video the next, submit a press release, etc. Just focus on one thing a day. Don't look at it all and think you have to do it all immediately. You can even do just article submissions for the first few weeks, then move onto distributing some videos, then submitting to web directories, etc. You don't have to actually use all of the methods. This list just leaves you no reason to not have links to your website.

And if you don't want to piss off Google, then there is only one thing you need to think about: "Would the consumer appreciate this?" If you are thinking about your target audience, and providing them with what they want in many different forms, then you will never piss off Google. But when you start to spam everything and post useless content just to generate backlinks, that is when Google gets angry, because Google's goal is to provide the consumer with what they are looking for. If you provide what the consumer is looking for, you won't have any problems with Google.

Thanks, the kind of guidelines that really help. I did tend to see this list as one big chunk where doing one a day or one a week seems much less overwhelming.
As for your second answer, it's a very clear and simple way to see things. Very helpful.

[basmin]

I think this is a good point about 35 tips link building. Thanks for taking the time to share this with us

[Diane S]

Originally Posted by shorwood

The important thing is to vary everything up, using both anchor text links (varying anchor text) and plain text links, dofollow links & nofollow links, nav bar links and in context links, etc. The more natural it appears to Google, the higher your will rank.
Shawn

And remember Yahoo follows no follow links....so a no follow link has value in and of itself.


Diane

[tdave]

Thanks for sharing with us.Isn't that Wikipedia is nofollow?

[Peter Adamson]

Originally Posted by ikuret75

Wow, thanks for the quick reply Shawn.
I'm pretty sure that Google officially said they didn't count no-follow link at all for Serps or PR. I found the article here.
Well, believe what they say or not is another question though.

There is another reason to include nofollow in your backlinks. If all your links are from dofollow blogs and bookmarks it will look suspicious. To get ranked, you need natural backlinking. No one would expect to see a site with 100's of backlinks from dofollow sites and not a single Yahoo answer or Delicious bookmark.

[shorwood]

@tdave I have no clue if Wikipedia is nofollow. However, I do know that it is difficult to get links from Wikipedia, and if you do achieve it the link is worth more than a thousand other links. Google knows only quality links get into Wikipedia, so if it sees a link from Wikipedia to your site, you're rankings will go up.

@Peter Adamson, that is definitely true. You have to get links from as many different places and different types of sites as possible. Google isn't stupid, which is why they have 80% of the market share.

Shawn

[mailcold]

Excellent post Shawn. Are these listed in order of importance ?

[shorwood]

No, these aren't listed in order of importance. They are randomly put in.

Shawn

[ednri871]

Originally Posted by shorwood

Yes, Google does say they don't pass the PR from no-follow links. But they still index sites through nofollow links, and they still help rankings. I have done testing, and so have other people. Nofollow links do actually help.

Also, Google is the only search engine that even looks at nofollow, so you can still rank in other search engines with those links. Google is not the only search engine you can rank in.

The thanks button is right below the post, on the right. There is the "quote" button, then "multiquote", "quick reply" and then "thanks".

Shawn

I agree with you on this. Nofollow links will not help your Pagerank, but pagerank is not the sole determinant of ranking.

[Saidar]

Any idea why GSA software are so bloody expensive? Lifetime $474 what!?

[onlineleben]

Originally Posted by Diane S

And remember Yahoo follows no follow links....so a no follow link has value in and of itself.

The same is true for MSN (Bing) - sometimes brings good traffic for the anchor text (keyord in link)

[alanm88]

Wow! I am just starting out in internet marketing and I have definitely bookmarked this page for reference to build backlinks. I bought a few automation tools but hopefully can grab a few more once I start earning money....