How To Link Build For SEO In A Post Panda And Penguin World

Link building strategies explained.

You might be curious how to properly build links for SEO in a post Panda and Penguin update from Google. Henry of Texas SEO states the key to your successes in Link Building will be determined by where you put your focus. Below I will explain 6 surefire ways to build links that will get you rankings in the search engines that last regardless of the next update Google has to throw at us. We will start by discussing some of the recent updates Google has made to their algorithm.

Google Panda Update – February 2011

This affected websites with low-quality content consisting of sites that may have had more advertising than content. If you were solely utilizing article marketing as a way to get traffic and build back links for SEO to your website, then you were most likely affected. Later on down the road websites related to real time sharing such as Digg and Last.fm were also hit.
Below are the winners and losers of Panda update 3.5

Winners: As of recent, these are sites you’ll most likely want to get links on:

Losers: sites that were generally utilizing databases to generate and aggregate information for the end users, general aggregation sites, and sites that were heavy with template content, designs, and structure.

Google Penguin Update: April 2012

If you were participating in black-hate SEO, cloaking, keyword stuffing, link schemes, utilizing duplicate and repetitive content, and any other activities that violated Google Webmaster Guidelines then you were most likely on the losing end of this update.

Quick Tips for Google Penguin Update Include:

1. Use a proper anchor text ratio.
2. Remove any site wide, sidebar, and irrelevant footer links
3. Just don’t get paid links, period.
4. Link about 20% of your links to your home page, and the rest internal.

6 SureFire Tactics To Build Your Rankings In Google, Yahoo, & Bing Post Panda / Penguin!

1. Guest Authoring – Write content for related websitesGuest authoring is a great way to not only build links back to your website, but also a great way to build instant traffic to your website. These links will always help your website grow as long as you follow general guidelines for link building stated above. Don’t forget to use Google Authorship!
2. Only submit articles to quality article directoriesAgain, this has been abused in the past, but you are going to only want to submit to highly relevant “niche” article directories and the general prominent top 20 or 30 article directories. For the most updated tactic search Google traffic and trends reports for specific websites, and if they are on their way up go ahead and get some links there.
3. Comment on specific high traffic blogsNow this has been blasted and used as spam in the past, but today we are going to utilize this a little differently so not only do you get some visibility you also get some quality backlinks. You’ll want to ensure the blog is active, with other commenters, and you’ll want to join a lively conversation and state your opinion or share your knowledge. Give back! Google gives you credit.
4. Compete social, forum, and other key profilesAs we all should belong to the top social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and any other website related to your niche with your client base present. You’ll also want to visit and complete any other profiles you have on other community sites, forums, blog profiles, etc.  Make sure you have a link back to your website!
5. Get your content featured on “roundups”It’s the new trend. Websites and bloggers are more and more creating monthly or weekly roundup’s of the latest posts and content related to their industries. You’ll want to contact those related websites and request to be featured.
6. Submit your website to “Key” directories
   You will want to submit to Yahoo (if you have the funds), Jayde, DMOZ, and the like. You’ll want to stick to around the top 30 and move on.

5 Great tools every Link Builder should use:

1. Spreadsheets
2. Webmaster Tools (Google & Bing)
3. Open Site Explorer (SEO Moz Toolset)
4. Authority Labs
5. Google Alerts