The Most Common Link Building Mistakes

by Brad Traversy
Tech Guy Computer Services

When you have a website and you want to drive traffic to it, you turn to various SEO methods to help you do this. One such method used very commonly and quite effectively too, is link building. So what is link building? Link building or back linking is when you provide links to your website on other sources so that when people visit these other sources, they can click on the links you’ve set up and that way direct them to your website. It is a highly used mode of building site traffic, but many people can fall into the trap of link building mistakes too. When building links to your site, it is always quality that counts more than the quantity of links.

Here are a few common link building mistakes to keep in mind never to repeat.

Paying for links: This is one of the most common link building mistakes you can make. Be aware that buying links to enhance your website traffic can backfire. Some search engines will even ban you for buying links. More often than not, websites that offer you paid links turn out to be illegitimate or pure scams.
Sticking to one source and repeating the same links: if you use one particular tool to get your back links, and then use the same target URL, the same amount of link building at the same speed, you are just repeating the same task over and over. It results in a lot of wasted time and effort. Mix it up. Use different sources, change your target URLs from time to time, and vary the link building speeds.
Using “nofollow” links: keep track of your links and ensure that it does not have a “nofollow” aspect. This might help with directing viewers to your site, but it does not do anything to enhance your SEO options.
Linking to bad sites: this is not just a small mistake you can make, it is massive. When you link to a particular site, you are actively showing your support for the site. Therefore, when you link to a questionable site, search engines will tag your site as questionable as well. An easy way to check on this is to go through the sites comments. It will give you an idea about its authenticity.
No deep links: If you simply link back to your site’s homepage, it will not get you any higher on search rankings. Go deeper, link to inner pages and even sections if you can. This will help improve your site’s ranking and add to more traffic.
Inappropriate anchor content/text: An anchor text adds information about your topic into the URL. If you have a back link but no proper anchor text to go with it, your link might as well be completely meaningless. Try and add keywords relating to your site in the anchor text wherever possible.
Linking to low PR or page rank sites: this is as good as not linking to any site at all. If you want to follow a site that already has low page ranks, you may well be on your way to joining its club! Always search out and link to sites that already have a strong or developing PR.

Though link building can be very a delicate task, it is also a very essential one for your site and its rankings. Stay clear of link building mistakes and you can build yourself a stable and well ranked site.

Article submitted Wednesday, May 11, 2011 & read 4 times.

Brad Traversy is a web design & development and SEO entrepreneur. He runs a web development, SEO, hosting company called Tech Guy Web Solutions (http://www.techguywebsolutions.com).

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