Link Building FAQs - 2nd Batch
Posted by Mike | Filed under Link BuildingYay! Here’s the 2nd batch of Link Building FAQs. As I said before, people have been asking me some stuff about link development. I think that their questions were quite interesting so in this post, I will include some of the questions (with the answers, of course!) and hopefully, you will be guided by them.
Link Building FAQs
Q: Are links from free directories worth it?
A: Well, this depends on what kind of directories you are submitting your sites to. If the free directory owner is so dedicated to his project (which is the directory), then I think that the link that you’ll get will be a high-quality one. Why? Because if the webmaster works hard to promote his directory, then the directory will be well-known and since you have a listing there, people who visit the directory will be able to find your site. Also, if people link to the category where your site is listed, your search engine rankings might be boosted. 
On the other hand, free directories which are just made to gain some revenue (through advertising, link selling, etc.) will NOT help your site. They may give you links, but I assure you that those directories won’t stay for long — after the owners stop earning revenue from them, they might just be sold to other people and they might get rebuilt, which means that your link will be gone. 
To check if the directory is worth submitting to, check the domain age, the number of inbound links it has and of course, read what people say about it. Free directories which stay for long usually have a lot of ‘fans’, so try to find them to get to know how serious the webmaster is. 
Q: How can anchor texts help my site’s ranking?
A: Well, basically, more sites which link to your site will mean that your site will have better rankings for the anchor text that they used. For example, if you’re linking to The WWW Observer using the keyword “It’s for webmasters!”, then this blog will get a better ranking for the term “It’s for webmasters!”. So, make sure that when you ask for links, use relevant keywords as your anchor text!
Q: How many links should I build per day/week/whatever?
A: Argh, there are too many people asking this question! I guess I should post this here so that they can stop asking me over and over again! 
Okay… so when you’re building links, you don’t have to think of the ‘limit’ per day or week or whatever timespan you have in mind. As long as you’re organically building the links, there’s no problem.
Let’s put it this way: If you wrote a very good link bait and thousands of people link to it, will the search engines ‘penalize’ you for being an exemplary made-up story writer? I guess not! So there you have it, there’s no need to worry about the number of organic backlinks that you can build per [insert timespan here]. Buying links in a short period of time is a different matter though! If ever you’re still buying links, don’t buy a hundred per day or something like that. Take it slow.
So… there! Yep, I’m done… check back soon for more link development articles. 
wow, my questions answered at last. i will really recommend this blog to my friends… very helpful..
What you said about free directories is so very true. I’ve had my sites submitted to hundreds of these directories, and over time, less than half of these links remain as backlinks to my sites. But to scrutinize each and every directory before submitting to them can be time-consuming, so I just go ahead and submit to whatever’s available that’s accepting free submissions at that moment and I just keep in mind that I’ll be getting backlinks to less than 50% of these eventually so as not to be disappointed with the effort I put into the submissions.