Hey Guys,

Recently I have completely abandoned link exchanges. I now only seek one way links from related sites. However this has made my job extremely difficult.

I have seen other webmasters are trading links and then deleting their links directory after so they have 1 way links. I find this dishonest and I do not want to partake in this method.

I have also noticed that people are using 3 way linking. "If you link your site A to my site B then I will link back to you with my site C". I have asked on forums but no one admits to doing this and cannot tell me if it actually works.

The way I have been getting these links is to create free services and to try to get people to link to them but this is time consuming and still hard going. I also try to create quality content so I have people natuarally linking to my pages.

This is all going too slow for me and I would really like some ideas on how to gain extra one way links into my site. Can anyone out there share with me some tips and tricks on how to get these links?

Thanks!

G

If there was a free and easy way to it we wouldn't be on this forum
Use a reciprical link system that checks the that your site is linked on the other sites. That way cross links are validated and kept.

Originally Posted by Guerrilla

Recently I have completely abandoned link exchanges.

I dont think link exchanges are the way forward. I am yet to find a one way link exchange that doesnt use 3 way linking and until i have some feedback from a trusted source on 3 way linking i am not eager to include it in my campaigns.

I just read an interesting article on blog tagging. Since forum linking is now seriously depreciated the article suggested surfing the net looking for blogs and make a comment about the article thats useful and then dropping you link on it. It seems people have even designed software to automatically surf and tag blogs (but i wont be using it as i regard that as spam). Interesting idea though, google won't be able to filter these links like it does from forums.

If Google can't detect it, it's because they can't detect it...yet. Everything automated or done to game the SEs leaves a footprint, and eventually most of it gets caught. (I wish Google were the cops, and maybe stuff would actually get solved.)

Guerrilla: the problem with your thinking is that you're looking for the links and not the traffic that generates the links that you want. It's a bit of a catch-22 in that regard, but the best way to get those links is to tell people who will read your site, find it useful (if it is useful) and share the links with others.

That's the formula. Good old-fashioned elbow grease.

Originally Posted by ADAM Web Design

Guerrilla: the problem with your thinking is that you're looking for the links and not the traffic that generates the links that you want. It's a bit of a catch-22 in that regard, but the best way to get those links is to tell people who will read your site, find it useful (if it is useful) and share the links with others.

Hi adam, thanks for your comments. I already do alot to drive traffic to the sites however i find that the main bulk of my traffic is from the SERPS. I target highly competed keywords that generate a lot of traffic on my sites and lead to conversions. My reason for seeking one way links from related sites is that with a small amount of quality links I can easily beat websites with vast reciprocal links directories that have swapped thousands of links. Im based in the UK and if I get UK only websites in a related category to give me a oneway index page link then it is surprising just how much google will favour this website on google.co.uk.

I have created free services that people can use on the site, I have spent a lot of time writing content. I also contact other webmasters of related sites to inform them about my sites information and services. I have also recently started writing articles and submitting them to article sites. However this is not enough, I want to generate the links quicker and I am sure there are webmasters out there who have had some good ideas beyond the standard "go trade some links".

Adam, what would you suggest is the best way to let prospective linkers know about my website?

Another idea a friend of mine has done recently is offer prizes to his top refferers which has encouraged well established high ranking sites to link to him. I like this approach as it is much better than just asking someone to link to you out of the kindness of their heart. I receive around 10 emails a day that have been spammed out by arelis asking me to trade links with them. I instantly delete them.

Originally Posted by Guerrilla

Recently I have completely abandoned link exchanges. I now only seek one way links from related sites. However this has made my job extremely difficult.

I've never done any link exchanging. They're a waste of time that distracts you from the real work. It might take a moment to adjust, but this actually makes your job much easier.

Originally Posted by Guerrilla

This is all going too slow for me and I would really like some ideas on how to gain extra one way links into my site. Can anyone out there share with me some tips and tricks on how to get these links?

Honestly, the best advice you'll get is to recalibrate your expectations. Think of links as "word of mouth" referrals. The only long-term, sustainable way to stay on top of the search results is to build pages people are happy to recommend. I wouldn't give a person a reference to a job they would fail in, because that would hurt my reputation; think of links in those terms.

I wish the process was faster myself, but patience is a virtue.

Your icon says you hate Google. I hope you realize it's a choice to go chasing them dropping links in blog comments, trading links, and so on. If you hate Google, you can choose to have nothing to do with them.

I've never done any link exchanging. They're a waste of time that distracts you from the real work. It might take a moment to adjust, but this actually makes your job much easier.

Do you work as an SEO? How long have you been optimizing? Around 4-5 years ago prgrams like addweb and various link exchanges could get you to the top of extremely highly competed keywords in 3-6 motnhs. Not long term results no but by getting to the top of the search engines people are able to see your site and link to it of their own free will. Google doesnt mind link exchanges (as long as you follow the rules and dont link to bad neighbourhoods) but it does now check for them and give lower rank to the links. The only problem i had once was when i experiemented with having my links directory on a sub domain, google found it and my rankings dropped, i moved it back to my main domain and my rankings re-appeared. (however at the time yahoo and msn loved it while the directory was on subdomain - but dont try this now!). In my early days in seo i actually employed people as "link traders" and the results we got were very good and more importantly proffitable.

"word of mouth" refferals as you put it are great, but people have to know about you to make a refferal. I have had good response in the past creating flash games and funny animations on topical subjects to draw people into my sites and get links. however I find it hard to come up with ideas for viral campaigns when the subject matter is more serious and the site would be considered un-professional to have such things. Has anyone collated a database of viral campaigns? It would make very beneficial reading IMO. someone more experienced than myself once told me an old idea only has to be 10% new to make money.

Google accounts for around 70-80% of my conversions so I doubt I will be leaving them anytime soon. Its more of a love/hate relationship.

I tried to make it clear in my first post that I am already following all the standard practise for my sites to generate incomng links and I have worked hard to have good and useful sites (although im always open to adding new things to improve them). I choose not to post links to my sites here to preserve my anonimity.

Anyone out there with an open mind or a contructive comment on how to increase my sites "linkability" and let people know about my sites?