5 Link Development Guidelines You can Build On

Considerations for building links are:

1. Varying your anchor text - This is important because building 1000 links to one page with the same anchor text “is not natural”,
meaning highly unlikely. Whereas building 100 links with overlapping
use of one or two prominent keywords on the other hand, over the course
of a month (while integrating other website promotion tactics to
promote natural linking patterns) is within the boundaries.

2. Avoid linking from websites that are connected or hosted on the same server
- This whole link scheme unraveled as a result of webmasters purchasing
throw away domains, building them up and then pointing the collective
sum of links at their rock star domain to give it a boost. This
technique was a shady one (naturally inflating the target domain) and
search engines wised up to this tactic.

Hence, any links harboring the same IP address, or owned by the same
person (which you can see using domain tools) could invoke a penalty
which results in a ban of the sites in question (removal from the
index) or being sand-boxed in the hundreds vs. the top 10.

IP Diversity is the key to any solid link building strategy. Next in line on a scale of importance would be link frequency and link velocity (the rate in which you build links, or lose them) as covered in the next point.

3. Maintaining a solid momentum for gaining / losing links.
- Many battles have been one or lost on the whole top 10 comfort zone
(basking in the glory attitude) that many powerhouses are lulled into
vs. the I’m hungry for this keyword and I am not stopping until I reach
the top (underdog competitor mentality).

Despite page rank, website authority and other factors coming into
play, the rate in which one builds links most definitely has an impact
on the search algorithm (as it is not always able to distinguish the
rate from popularity/demand).

A more popular page (one with traffic and more links) for example,
could overthrow a page from a more established website over time. So,
don’t get too comfortable resting on your laurels, unless you want to
lose your spot to a nameless or openly bold competitor who has figured
out your link building strategy and focused on a flaw in your armor.

It is just the nature of the game, some links get dropped or
devalued as indexing, algorithms or other factors affect their ability
to pass rank. In which case having knowledge of this you should…

4. Use a variety of sources (don’t rely to heavily
on one tactic). Predictability or becoming complacent in your methods
is a sure sign of decay, not only will predictable patterns make your
tactics even less likely to produce consistent results (as algorithms
most certainly change).

But, it is always best to have link insurance by using a variety of
methods to balance the equation. By simply not putting all of your eggs
in one basket, you can take up the slack in one area, if another link
building strategy goes to pot without having to start from scratch.

Not to sound cliche, but diversity truly is the key to high
rankings. Relying too heavily on one link building tactic insures that
if one area loses velocity or is devalued, that at least your pages
have the ability to defend themselves in the SERPs or maintain their
present course.

This should not preclude you from developing them consistently, it
is more about observing the effect that the link building is having
when combined with other methods such as social media and traffic
barrages from visitors to create the perfect combination of popularity,
traffic, links and relevance through consistent new content creation.

5. Think links for search engine traction and go with social media for viral marketing and exposure
- Links are still a crucial component to how search engines see your
site. Call it contextual reference, tagging by association, the fusion
of anchor text, or what have you. Despite our attempts to label or
describe the phenomenon, building links is still the cornerstone of
securing a high ranking position in search engines, for the keywords
above any other method that we know embrace.

As we have all surmised, different types of traffic have different
needs. So before you try to create a one size fits all mentality, make
sure that your website has all of the fundamental bases covered to
serve each of the types of potential visitors, before embarking on
bring the crux of the web to bear on your website. Otherwise it’s a sad
scene to go through all of that hard work only to see thousands of
potential customers bounce back into the SERPs (search engine result
pages) looking for a better offer.

Now I guess I better get around to writing the other 550 link
development strategies and tips, *as the title was an unfortunate typo,
but if I start now maybe I can finish by the end of 2008.

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