Best of the Web is a great directory with high authority and tens of thousands of backlinks. BOTW is definitely a directory you want to be listed in, and now you have added incentive with a directory submission coupon.
http://botw.org/
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So go save money at BOTW.org and get another quality directory link for your site. Your SEO will thank you.
The search for links is a never ending quest by search engine optimizers, and we can use all the help we can get. Thankfully many talented SEO’s have created helpful tools for link building and analyzing competitor backlinks. Using these tools we can refine the manual process for finding high quality backlinks.
Search here for a keyword, for example search for ‘leather chairs’
http://www.webuildpages.com/seo-tools/top-competitor-tool.php
Then use each URL and search for sites that link to it. These are good places to find links, as they already link to similar competitors:
http://www.webuildpages.com/neat-o/
Another backlink checking tool developed by an SEO firm is the back link anchor text analysis from SEOmoz.org.
SEOmoz link analysis: http://www.seomoz.org/backlink-analysis
The Yahoo Site Explorer is currently the only major search engine that provides detailed backlink data. Many of the links shown by Yahoo.com are spam links/paid links/scraped links/unrelated links but it is a good public link repository. Also links are shown in descending order of quality, so the links on the first page of Yahoo search results are the most trusted.
Yahoo Site Explorer linkdomain command linkdomain:www.site.com%20-site:www.site.com
Basic Yahoo.com Query:
http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=linkdomain:mysite.com%20-site:www.mysite.com
I love linkbuilding, and with helpful tools like these you can learn to love it as well!
Yahoo site explorer is the best tool to use to find incoming links to your site, and without them SEO’s would not know much about the strategic link building practices of their associates.
Recently yahoo started showing erratic backlink results and caused much speculation in the SEO world that they were on the verge of removing this research tool as Google and MSN have done. Google has the most reliable link data, but it is hidden behind Google Webmaster Central, disabling competitive link research on websites you don’t own. MSN is a mixed bag, some seeks they show relevant link data, other times you might as well ask the magic 8 ball for a backlink count. For the past few years, showing links was Yahoo’s game to loose.
Today Yahoo! Search maestro Priyank Garg put the search engine optimization community at ease with these comments:
While the counts have been incorrect in some cases, the actual returned results have been correct. However, we did roll out a product fix yesterday and will be rolling out a couple more over the next few days to resolve this difference in counts some of you have observed.
If you are serious about getting a better ranking for your site and engaging in link building, Yahoo Site Explorer is the tool you need to monitor your backlink status.
Oh yeah, Jim Boykin and the crew from webuildpages.com sent out free clocks and I had to take a photo of mine. WeBuildPages is a link baiting firm that is run by the self proclaimed link ninja, and has been providing high end link building campaigns since 2001. I’m a big fan of linkbuilding through social networks and targeted exchanges and WBP has some cool tools that allow you to analyze your incoming links and backlink anchor text.
Who can say no to free swag, and besides, having a clock hanging on my neck makes me look like Flavor Flav. My next post will be both me and Jim with these SEO clocks around our necks. That would be a great photo.
I think I’ll stick to SEO instead of rap, even though Flava’ was the king of style in the 90’s.
Dmoz, where art thou? Thou hast forsaken your loyal users and contributors and become a tyrannical organization. Dmoz.org founder Rich Skrenta opines on the ongoing internal struggle of the open directory, and how many problems could be related to retaliation by Time Warner employees over the failed merer with AOL.com.
Skrenta admits that dmoz is broken and has succombed to SEO’s. He seems to relish the fact that the site had a PageRank of 10 and forced Google to re-engineer their algorithms to accomodate the dmoz spam. Everyone knew a listing in the open directory was worth gold, and now it literally seems to require gold (or cash) to be added.
I have been a contributing member of the open directory since 1999 and during my time as an edit of several small categories I took great pride in makine sure only quality sites were listed. Approximately 1 in 5 submitted sites were good enough to be listed, and the rest were low quality spam.
A brief history of dmoz:
Originally launched as NewHoo in 1998
Aquisition offer from Infoseek.com 1 month later
Sold to Netscape.com in 1999
Netscape was sold to AOL.com in 2000
6 week dmoz outage in 2006
September 2007 Dmoz Google SERP’s problem
Google search engine results page for the dmoz search. Note dmoz.org is not #1.
Many websites and blogs are discussing the current state and future possibilities of Dmoz, but the biggest question is how many people really care? I mean seriously, who uses the open directory as an information resource?
Filed under linkbuilding, since no one outside the search engine optimization community seems to know what Dmoz.org is.
Links are the foundation of PageRank and modern search engine algorithms. For your site to rank well you need to be on the receiving end of lots of links. Some pages will send authority voting power attached to outbound links, and some pages do not. As a link builder you need to know which pages are the best to target your link requests.
Indicators of Linkable Pages:
Read more about link authority at SE Roundtable.
Good news for all you linkbaiters, TextLinkAds is offering a 15% discount from all targeted link purchases. For this month you can get free text links with this discount coupon. This coupon is good for all new orders and extends throughout the life of your link buy. This is a great deal.
TextLinkAds has the largest inventory of sponsoring websites and has traditionally commanded the highest link purchase prices, so the 15% discount really helps. Need more links, buy some targeted links from quality, related websites.
Text Link Ads coupon code: august
Making the case for link exchanges – sometimes good old fashioned hard work pays off. Link exchanges are still one effective method to use for link building. In addition to linkbaiting (creating a controversial or compelling article and submitting to digg.com, reddit.com, stumbleupon.com etc) and social media marketing, and link buying, link trading continues to be a workable model to acquiring links.
Link exchanges are based upon email exchanges, where you physically email the webmaster of a complementary site and ask them to link back to you. It helps immensely if you have already posted their link on your site. Link trading works best when you compliment the site owner you are proposing, and show good faith in posting their link on your site first. Human nature dictates that a good percentage of the population will return your favor out of obligation by linking back to you, provided you have a quality website and it is related.
In my 7 years of SEO and link building, I have seen about 90% of link exchanges remain active over this time period. This is a huge return on investment for sending out an email requesting a link. Link brokers will typically charge you $20-$50 per month for a link, and some of my links have been up for 84 months so this free link represents a value of $1680-$4200!
The link exchange DO’s
The link exchange DON’Ts
Another benefit of emailing other website owners in your field is that they will often make a business relationship with you. Below is an example of a response I received ALMOST 5 YEARS later! Yes, this person accepted the link exchange after 5 years. It is very powerful when you can have your email sitting in front of your potential partners inbox for years:
—————– Email Received —————–
Sent: Wed, 08 Aug 2007 19:21:40 -0400
From: “Site Fair”
To: “cvos@mysite.com”
Subject: Re: link exchange
Hello cvos,
I added your link to our www.—fair.com. Please check out and let me know if you would like to make any changes. This is code for your site:
—Fair Wide selections of top quality, eco-friendly products made from natural organically grown fibers and ingredients Including clothing & footwear for men, women and children, accessories, home items, non-animal tested body care.
I am also interested in your products.
How do I sign for wholesale?
Thank you,
S——–
—–Fair
——————— Original Message ————————
Sent: Monday, October 28, 2002 7:41 PM
From: “the linker”
To: < info@—fair.com>
Subject: link exchange
please consider exchangling links www.———.com
your link is located here: www.———.com/links
thanks, C V
————————————
If you do it right you can make the power or link exchanges work for you. Search Engine Roundtable and Esoteric labs have good writeups of the current state of link exchanges, and misconceptions of google’s public blogger Adam Lasnik.
The mainstream media is chasing social media hard and embracing linkbaiting with gusto! A major newspaper is bending over backwards to get their content featured on the drudgereport.com
This is the title of the article that appeared on the LA Times FRONT PAGE on August 4, 2007:
So the MSM really wants a piece of the online action.
Here is the title that started everything:
Overwhelmingly, they arrived after spotting this titillating link on a news site called the Drudge Report: “L.A. Times Shock: ‘I am a Transsexual Sportswriter.’ “
Hard not to click on that one.
And they reveal how much traffic this linkbait brought in:
By day’s end, the link to the column accounted for nearly 25% of visits to latimes.com
It goes on to describe Journalist’s lusting after Mr. Drudge:
Every day, journalists and media executives in newsrooms across the land hope they’ll have something that catches Drudge’s fancy … most keep their fingers crossed that he’ll discover their articles on his own and link to them.
And you thought Digg was powerful:
Drudge’s following is so large and loyal that he routinely can drive hundreds of thousands of readers to a single story, photo or video through a link on his lively compendium of the news.
Even the color of Drudge’s hat is exposed:
there’s a lot of irony that Matt Drudge was a black-hat villain, and now a lot of those same journalists realize that getting a link on his website is crucial to their stories getting wider attention… That’s the way the Web works. We’re all trying to make sure our journalism is discovered.
Another revelation, our society reflected in our news consumption, again printed on the front page:
Gossip has become so much a part of journalism that what he does doesn’t stand out.
The idea is to get reporters, who might throw away a self-serving network publicity release, to chase the item on the Drudge Report because it has “more of a news aura” … Some journalists, the executive said, might write the story simply to avoid getting beaten by someone else.
Comparing the traffic of Drudge and major newspaper websites:
the Drudge Report received 3 million unique visits in June, with visitors spending an average of 1 hour and 6 minutes on the site… visitors return an average of 20 times a month. Most newspaper websites would be fortunate to draw a quarter as many return visits.
This directly affects online newspapers profits:
links from Drudge skew readership numbers — up one day, down the next — making it difficult to determine ad rates
How well does Drudge make out:
he regularly links to a website that provides up-to-the-minute wire-service stories — a website he created to cash in on Drudge’s legions
I know Alexa is for entertainment purposes only, but Alexa users clearly favor Drudge:
How cool is it that a multi million dollar media company is begging for recognition from a one blogger? The Drudge Report is a more in depth version of the Daily Show.
Links are the nerve center of the pulsating web. Links create the internet and add value to your site. Links to you improve your natural search engine placement, and links you create to others enhances your value as an authority on your subject.
When linking to external websites it is best to use meaningful keywords as the anchor text instead of a generic “click here”. Also using the title element gives the link more weight.
How to code a regular text link:
Where to find a quality <a href=”http://fruitcompany.com/” title=”company fruit”>Apple Distributor</a> that can deliver tasty fresh fruit.
How to create a powerful image link:
<a href=”http://fruitcompany.com/” title=”company fruit”><img src=”images/apples.jpg” alt=”green apples on a tree”>Apple Tree</a>
When linking an image, always try to have anchor text associated with the image. This will give the image much more authority and virtually guarantee it will be included in image searches, which can drive huge volumes of traffic. Alt tags are always nice, but they are only effective if the image is linked. Search engines (rightly so) ignore alt text if the image is not linked.
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