Having a hard time finding "quality" links

OK, here is my dilemma...

SEO services, from my past experiences, are over-priced - in the sense that I have never received a reasonable return on my investment for those services. Secondly, I have considered using the link exchanges and whatnot, but I want really good links, that actually point "authoritatively" to my site. Finally, I am really finding it hard to come across these so-called "quality" links.

What should my approach be? I've looked in the obvious places. The problem is, many of the "quality" sites are my competition.

Help?

 

you shouldn't always rule out linking to your competition. it depends on the individual circumstances. in some of my niches, I have a list of ROS "affiliates" where we all link to each other on every page of our sites-- despite the fact that we're competition. some traffic funnels through the links, of course, but there's also a rather tremendous search engine benefit.

that being said, I use this tactic on old, trusted domains, not new ones.

the only other suggestion I have is to build content-- very, very good content-- and hope links follow. it usually happens.

 

You've probably heard this about 45,343 times already. The best way to get sites that point authoritatively to your website is to be an authority.

I haven't had any real luck with any other method(s). That's not to say there isn't one. There's probably thousands. Just my 2 cents.

 

You've stumbled upon the million dollar question. If you figure out a way to get a lot of authoritive links (for free), be sure to let me know.

You may have to consider paying for them on authoritive sites that are not your competition. Also, be creative. Try to find sites about topics that are related to yours but may not exactly the same. Get links on those sites. Most search engines are better understanding context and related topics, and these links will help.

 

The problem is not me...

I have no problem asking my competition for links.

 

Have you tried text-link-ads, linkworth or textlinkbrokers? You can find good quality links there as long as you don't mind paying for them.

 

Nope. I have good presence in the SERP's, and I'm hoping to find links that give me even more reason to be at the top. That being said, I'm leary of these services. I don't believe that people really know what they're paying for with some of these link brokers. I could go broke fast buying links, and possibly never gain any real advantage.

Am I wrong?

http://www.cad-design-engineering.com

 

If you know how to evaluate good links then it shouldn't be a problem. You should only buy links that you have checked and approved.

 

no, you're absolutely right. in 99% of situations, you should not buy text links unless you will get a direct ROI from it.

 

Yeah I second that, my experiences with paid text ads have been pretty negative so far.

 

I guess that's the problem. I don't know how to evaluate them, and I don't trust knowledge that I don't have... (and can't afford to learn by experience)

 

For the site that I posted - can anyone offer me any help or suggestions for improving my link situation? I've been working on links for almost 2 years...

 

Have you tried joining one or more WebRings? I've been getting some traffic from the ones I've joined, and there may be some additional backlinks too.

Cryo.

 

I think relevancy is the key to evaluate the quality of a link. If you get a link from a site that has nothing to do with your site theme, I don't think it helps much. (possible benefit for the points for PR, but probably not for SERP)

I think it's a matter of how Google thinks such links. Sometimes they seem to recognize the link scheme behind all that, but not always.

 

You should write articles regularly and submit them to directories and article sites. They are the best way to gain one-way links to your sites, and get you traffic also.

 

Blogging, article writing, forum posting, and press releases.

Thats what I do. Works well over time.

You write a nice article with good length, key words, etc... and send it to an article directory. --pay $2 get it distributed with isnare or send it for free to a good article site like goarticles or ezine. Write well and they make you an expert

Don't spam forums but add a relavent link to your signature. If it makes sense to be there. No reason to have a link to poker in this forum right? I always try to be as helpful as I can and learn on the way.

Im still learning how to use press releases and to optimize there potential. It is different from writing articles because it is more news oriented so it is a little harder. Use Pr web to distribute it.

A blog in itself can be making thousands on adspace over time, not to mention the links that it can generate for your website. Good content with key words and good anchor text should do the trick.

It sounds like a lot of work but over time you can see that it get easier. Perhaps you can devise a system to do all of these things easier

Thank you,

George Christodoulou

 

Here's a couple strategies:

- Develop your own network of "satellite" sites. Make them into authority hubs in your niche and then link to your main site.

- Going further into that, create high-quality articles and send them to the webmasters of your competitors. Tell them that your only requirement is to keep a link within a resource box towards the bottom of the article. The link will go to one of your satellite sites that have NO EXTERNAL LINKS. Once you've got a decent amount of links pointing to your satellite site(s) for authority (competitor) sites, THEN link to your main site.

...there's lots of ways to get links.

 

All in all Voasi, very good advice. It is advice which I am already following...

4 sites so far, and counting... All of them are the top results in my Google backlinks.

What do you mean by "resource box"? Is that in inline frame, or something, or just a place to put all of my info?

 

Howdy.

Just curious how you're defining your return on investment. Are you measuring the success of your SEO by increases in qualified traffic? Because that's really the only realistic metric for SEO.

I only ask because I know a lot of folks who say "my SEO is not leading to sales" ... totally discounting the fact that SEO is not a sales generator, but a traffic generator.

Just wanted to make that distinction, though I'm sure you already realized it.

As for quality links, I recommend writing a handful of really good articles on your topic, and then hunting for relevant (but non-competitive) websites that could use the content ... in exchange for the link of course. You could also submit your articles through EzineArticles.com, SearchWarp.com and the like to get some wider distribution.

Some directories offer link value, so that's an option for you as well. Just keep in mind that, like everything online, there are good directories ... and crappy ones.

Hope that helps. Keep at it.

-Brandon

 

get links from sites that Google likes.