Getting Backlinks to your Hubs... The Google Way

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   brandonhart100posted 13 years ago

   There is a stigma associated with backlinks on HP that can sometimes leave those less experienced a little bit confused about what is allowed and disallowed by Google.  While I won't go into that topic of conversation I wanted to go in to what types of links Google says are ok for you to setup for yourself.
   
   If you haven't read Google's Blog on getting "quality links to your site", then you should: http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot. … -site.html
   
   I'll reference one quote from there to start this discussion:
   
   "If your site is rather new and still unknown, a good way marketing technique is to get involved in the community around your topic. Interact and contribute on forums and blogs. Just keep in mind to contribute in a positive way, rather than spamming or soliciting for your site. Just building a reputation can drive people to your site. And they will keep on visiting it and linking to it. If you offer long-lasting, unique and compelling content -- something that lets your expertise shine -- people will want to recommend it to others. Great content can serve this purpose as much as providing useful tools."
   
   Also, those familiar with Wordpress may know about SEO Yoast a valuable program for those just starting a self-hosted blog.
   
   Here's a good refresher on Link Building 101:
   
   http://yoast.com/link-building-101/#utm … ast.com%29
   
   I want to take one quote from this article:
   
   "The value of a link for the receiving page is determined in part by the topic of the page the link is on. A link from a page that has the same topic as the receiving page is of far more value than a link from a page about an entirely different topic."
   
   For those of you who don't know this doesn't mean that links from other pages aren't valuable... but if you don't have time to get a ton of links and don't want to spam, then it's perfectly fine to find an appropriate forum, start contributing to it, and then after you have a few posts find a post related to your subject and then cleverly link to it.
   
   Why would you want a Backlink? Since the HP slap you shouldn't expect your Hubs to be on the first page of the SEP without a good backlink or two, so make sure to get links the "Google" way for better results.

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      Eaglekiwiposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I found your post really helpful-thanks heaps!!

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   ryankettposted 13 years ago

   I have been advocating this too, a few backlinks to each of the hubs in your portfolio could make a huge difference.
   
   Even for those with very little understanding of how it works, those few backlinks will prop up low competition phrases.
   
   Obviously this will have very little impact when it comes to high competition phrases, but it is still a broad approach which will see people recover at least a little.
   
   Asides from 20 hubs which I will be targetting in a big way, it is also the approach that I will be taking, a few backlinks for each, seeing where that gets me

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   skyfireposted 13 years ago

   Most of the popular revenue sharing sites/bookmarking sites are just not cutting it these days. I'm not saying they're not generating revenue but STM, Snipsly, Xomba, Seekyt or B-R links are not helping to get the boost. We need a fresh list of sites.

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      ryankettposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Xomba is NoFollow, so the benefit to that one has always been non-existance.
      
      I see the way forward as writing short articles to be honest, using an entirely different keyword title.
      
      If the backlink has no value, the additional traffic that you can drive through them at least will.
      
      Take Snipsly for example, traffic to bookmarks is non-existant. But, you can drive traffic to an article on there.
      
      Snipsly is a perfectly viable strategy if you produce 250 word articles, it also seems algo-proof, it is taking short hits, and bouncing back pretty swiftly.
      
      SheToldMe has never had any value because you can't anchor your backlinks. Any anchored backlink will have at least a little value if your anchoring one of your keyword phrases, so I will still use Snipsly.
      
      When producing an entirely new page of content, e.g. Snipsly, rather than adding a backlink to a mature page of content, e.g. blog comments, you also have to bear in mind that your new page of content has to find its own maturity and authority before it will pass any value on to you.
      
      Bookmarks are pretty much pointless across the board, I'm going to stick with the short articles.
      
      I may even set up a few blogger blogs too, to serve this purpose, 10-15 articles on each, all pointing to Hubpages.

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         skyfireposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Xomba used to have high click value plus xomba bookmarks were best to get indexed quickly earlier but now it's totally gone 
         
         Same with Snipsly.
         
         Pre-update there used to be some moderate click value to STM but i don't know how long this will remain. Links from these sites which used to work earlier will hardly add any value from now on IMO.

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      2. 74

         brandonhart100posted 13 years agoin reply to this

         My new method is to type in my keyword title followed by forum... This has proven to be valuable to me in the last few weeks on various sites that I write for (including my own).
         
         I've never had any luck having STM and Snipsly Backlinks show up when I check them... I've also not seen them do any real good for me.  Best-reviewer's were showing up for a while but I'm guessing that has all gone down hill as well.
         
         Why wouldn't your campaign for backlinks start the google way.. go to a PR 2-5 forum participate a little and then gradually work a link or two in as you actively participate in that discussion.  I've seen articles I've written go from page 4 to 3rd place on the first page after one quality backlink like this... and if they happen to allow you a profile link or two in your forum then that's great as well.

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            brandonhart100posted 13 years agoin reply to this

            I want to be more clear about what I first said... so if I'm writing about "green ideas" I type into Google - "Green ideas forum".  Then I check to make sure the links are dofollow (you can do this in Google or Chrome now with a plugin/extension).  If it's worth my time, then I figure out the best way to proceed.

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            ryankettposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            I didn't say that I was against backlinking in forums, neither did I say that I don't
            
            I was responding to SkyFire e.g. Xomba etc. It can be difficult to find forums which allow backlinks, although Digital Point is a good place to start!

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         Garrett Mickleyposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         "SheToldMe has never had any value because you can't anchor your backlinks. "
         
         I disagree with that statement.
         Although an non-anchored backlink won't help you with any specific keyword, it will help you in the long run for all of your keywords.
         
         What you're doing with non-anchored backlinks is building authority.

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            ryankettposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Maybe, a link is a link, but I would question the value of any link from SheToldMe whether it was anchored or not.
            
            A non-anchored link will still pass PR of course, but I am not going to spend hours of my time chasing non-anchored links.
            
            In a link pyramid, only your top tier needs to be anchored, the second tier and third tier can be non-anchored, anchoring those is pointless, because all you need is juice being passed to the top tier.
            
            But if I am going to be chasing links pointing directly to my content then I am only going to be bothering if I can anchor them to my top three keywords.

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               Garrett Mickleyposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               I agree with not spending lots of time on non-anchored, I just wanted to point out that what you said might lead less knowledgeable people to believe that a non-anchored backlink "never [has] any value".

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                  ryankettposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                  OK fair enough, you are right.
                  
                  Just for clarification to anybody who read this, most of your organic backlinks will be non-anchored, and they do have value.
                  
                  But you shouldn't be spending your time building unorganic non-anchored backlinks pointing directly to your Hubpages.
                  
                  If, on the other hand, you spend your time building non-anchored backlinks which point to secondary articles, which in turn point to your Hubpages through relevant anchored text, then you may be onto a great plan.
                  
                  How's that?
                  
                  When quoting me though, please do remain accurate, those speech marks should only be used to convey a precise passage of speech, otherwise you are using tabloid journalism techniques. I stick by the statement "SheToldMe has never had any value". And I say that as the top referrer on that site.

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   skyfireposted 13 years ago

   If it's for our own site then most of us don't mind to do campaign like that.
   
   In case of hubpages we do have to follow some backlinking rules(you know what i mean-stigma and all). That's why even while discussing this topic most of us are posting in very generic tone.

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      brandonhart100posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Again, Google has written that you can make a backlink through a forum in a non-spammy sort of way - so IMO I'm not saying anything anyone can argue against as I'm not advocating for or against any type of black hat technique.
      
      If you have a niche site, then you probably already participate (as I do) on many of the forums with similar topics.  Go ahead and place a link to a hub in there within the comments, it doesn't take any real time and one link is good enough (as opposed to the hundreds of backlinks that come from your signature).

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   Garrett Mickleyposted 13 years ago

   Great post!
   
   I'm a big fan of forum back linking.  It's simple:
   
   1. Find a forum related to the topic.
   2. Put a link in your signature w/ desired keyword.
   3. Post ACTUAL stuff on the forum, not spam.  I mean really get involved.
   4. ?
   5. Profit!

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   tritrainposted 13 years ago

   I've been collecting HubPages-friendly backlinks and adding them to one of my Hubs.  Feel free to use them too, if you want. 

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      brandonhart100posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      The most valuable part of your hub for hubbers imo is your section entitled "Free Backlink Building Tools and Resources."
      
      I'm no longer doing links to the bulk of your other listed resources, it just doesn't seem worth the time to me and as I mentioned above you can get quality links without having to use social bookmarking and truthfully I feel these are much more valuable (and less black hat) in Google's eyes.
      
      If you are going to do some type of Social Bookmarking I suggest you really focus on one site and make a following there - Twitter and Facebook are good examples.

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         ryankettposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Surely Twitter and Facebook cannot be considered 'social bookmarking', that is social networking, as well as NoFollow.
         
         There are plenty of social bookmarking sites which are DoFollow, http://www.caroline-middlebrook.com/blo … ing-sites/

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            brandonhart100posted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Yeah, those and redgage are all I use in that category of "social networking/bookmarking". (Redgage only with a title that is different the keyword I'm trying to rank for).

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               brandonhart100posted 13 years agoin reply to this

               By those I mean FB and Twitter...

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