Ethical Link Building Techniques

There can be no doubt that the search engine optimization industry is the fastest changing facet of web development in existence today. Ask any SEO professional and they will tell you that the situation can and does change daily, as the major search engines modify and refine their search algorithms and the way in which they index websites. One of the main tasks performed by search engine optimization firms in recent years has been that of link building. Major search engines such as Google rely upon the quantity of relevant back links (links pointing to site content) to judge the overall value of a website, thus helping to calculate it’s relevant position in the search engine results. This process has often been performed in less than honest ways in the past, and the larger search engines now penalize a site for building back links in this way. Below we will take a look at some of the more ethical forms of link building.

Organic links – Without a doubt this is the best way to accrue back links. Organic links are links that normal people have created, pointing at content upon the target website, simply because they found it useful and wish to share it with others. There is an old saying in SEO circles that "content is king" and it is in this area of organic links where this phrase rings most true. Organic links will almost always be one way (as opposed to reciprocal where two sites point at each other), they will also usually be coming from relevant sites to your site content, both of these reasons make organic links the best way to build backlinks.

Link baiting – The idea behind link baiting for search engine optimization purposes, stems from the fact that organic links are the premium way to gain back links. Link baiting does exactly what the name suggests, it places content onto the internet that is specially written to attract interest and create a buzz. It is highly likely that this content will generate a high quantity of very organic looking links. In many ways this is the best way an SEO firm can build links on behalf of their clients. Not the cheapest way, but the most valuable by far.

Link partners – By finding relevant and compatible websites to your own, you can approach the website owners and set up a link partnership. This means that you will link to a page upon the partner’s website and they will link to a page upon yours. Although these links do not appear very organic in nature, they will have value due to the relevancy of the site passing the link. This is another area in which a search engine optimization company can be of great benefit.
All in all it is important to ensure that any link building campaign is carried out in an ethical manner. Using spurious techniques for building backlinks can lead a site to being penalized or even banned from the all important search engines.