If the top SEO experts around the World can not come to an agreement about what should or should not be done when building links, then what is the every day Joe supposed to do?

Just take a look at the document over at SEOMoz about ranking factors.

Rand surveyed the Top 37 SEO experts in the World. Basically the Survey is a series of questions asked to each expert. This group of experts could not come up with an agreement rating more than 1 on many of the questions!

So now that we know the “experts” can’t agree, I might as well tell you the mistakes I’ve made/seen done by many Webmasters.

1. Failing to procure reciprocal links. I’ve seen so called SEO Guru’s say that reciprocal linking is dead and they will hurt your site. This just isn’t so. As we say in the South “They’re talking out their asses.” I have several blogs and websites with PR2 to PR4 that have nothing more than reciprocal links pointing at them. The important thing to remember is to make sure they links your trade are from quality sites. It doesn’t matter if they’re PR0, just make sure they’re not from a spam/adult/pharmacy/hate type site. Reciprocal links can be on a resource page if you run a website or a Blogroll for you bloggers. Just remember to trade!
2. Failing to acquire low PR links. For some reason, many Webmasters do not want PR0 sites linking to them. This is link building suicide! One day, those PR0 sites could be the next PR5 or better. Frankly, I don’t care who links to my sites. I can’t control it and if they’re passing any amount of authority, which even PR0 pass some, I’ll take it. It also looks natural when you have many more low authority sites pointing to your site than all high PR sites.
3. Failing to link out. Once again, we’re talking about making your site look natural to the Search Engines, especially Google. Authority sites link out to other authority sites. Google expects to see this. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had a site stuck in the SERPS only to get a little boost when I linked to a higher authority site. In several instances, I’ve had the position right below Wikepedia. Seemed no matter how many links I added, I was stuck. I would then link to the topic in Wikipedia. In a few instances, that was all it took to leap frog me over them in the SERPS. So link out to authority sites! Before using a service like 3 Way Links, read reviews like 3waylinks.net review, it’s a good article on 3 way link systems.
4. Failure to check your reciprocal link partners websites. Once you exchange links with someone, you need to follow up on a routine basis and make sure the link back to your site is still there. Some sites go down, accounts are closed, domains let expired and purchased by someone else, Webmasters changing website topics and some Webmasters simply taking your link down after you exchange links. I’ve seen people put ‘nofollow’ on the links after they’ve made a trade. I’ve seen it all happen, that’s why I monitor my link partners and you should also.
5. Failing to use Anchor text in your link. If someone gives you the opportunity to use Anchor text in the link back to your site, use it! In my opinion, anchor text in a backlink is the second biggest off page ranking factor for seo. Only the relevancy and authority of the page where the backlink originates is more important in my experience.
6. Failing to cover up your paid link footprints. Look, from here to the end of time, people will sell links. And from here to the end of time, Google will be trying to find paid links. And from here to the end of time, you’ll see blogs, websites and blog networks (think Backlink Solutions) get de indexed for selling links. If you’re going to buy or sell links, you’d better be hiding your footprint or Big Daddy G is going to find you one dark, cold and stormy night. There are several ways of hiding your footprint, I covered one way in my link laundering article a few weeks ago.
7. Failing to build links. I see people on the forums all the time asking how they should go about link building or how to get started link building. Many say they don’t know how and so they don’t even try. People! I hate link building as much as the next person, but it’s not Rocket Science. You may be able to rank high in a low competitive keyword niche with on-page SEO, but for a competitive niche where’s there’s money to be made, you’re going to need some relevant backlinks! TIP: One of the most effective link building strategies you can perform is to find out who’s linking to your competition and get links from them. You simply go to Google and type in link:yourcompetitorssite.com. You’ll then get a list of sites that are linking to your competitors site. Browse that site to see if there is a place to put a link to your own site at. If not, simply Contact the person running the site and ask kindly for a link. Many times they will not respond, but some will. Now, out of those sites, do the same thing. See who’s linking to them and get links from those sites!

Okay, so there you have 7 of the biggest link building mistakes either I have made or I see made on a routine basis. What’s important to remember is that these mistakes are avoidable. Some have temporary effects on your rankings while others can have permanent effects on how your website ranks in the SERPS.

So what’s up with the flurry of link building articles lately? Well, it’s a work up to a document I’ve been working on and off now for nearly a year. It started off small and has taken a life of it’s own. Stay in touch if you’re serious about link building, because this article will have over 100 link building strategies outlined perhaps even closer to 125 or more!

Warning: The following method of link building (link laundering) is looked upon as either a Gray or Black Hat technique by many in the Internet World. I feel it’s my duty to educate my readers about these tactics so you’re aware of them if you ever see your competition using them against you.

Have you ever ran across sites that ranked higher than your site, but felt your site was much better, so you wondered how that could happen? Some of you may have actually used tools like SEO Quake or SEO for Firefox and found that those sites had more links to them than yours did.

“How could they be getting so many links when I’m busting my ass for a few links a month?” you might ask yourself

“My content is better, my on page SEO is better, site design is off the chart, I have more RSS subscribers, my domain is older plus I’m better looking than those guys” you may think to yourself

Come my friend, let me introduce you to the underworld of link laundering.

Let’s me start by saying that link laundering usually involves a network of sites or blogs that the Webmaster owns or has access to. It can be done without a network, but link laundering is easier in many regards if you own or control a network of blogs or websites.

Link laundering is a lot like money laundering. You take low quality, crappy links and turn them into high quality, relevant, one way anchored links pointing to your main site. In reality, you’re turning these low quality “questionable” links into high quality “trusted” links.

What many of you do not realize is that many of the “White Hat” bloggers and Website owners out there use this same technique to boost their rankings.

I’ve spent hours upon hours of following their foot prints to figure this out. Some hide it better than others, but with a little determination you can find out where your competition is really getting those high quality relevant links.

How Can a Website With Fewer Links Outrank My Site with Hundreds or Thousands of Links?

Let me sidetrack just a little bit here to explain why this happens. First off, we’re talking about Google here just to make things clear.

In a nutshell, Google looks at the links pointed at your website and gives these links a value. If you have thousands of links coming into your site but they are all links from low PR sites, they’re passing very little link value (juice) to your site.

Let’s say your competition only has a few dozen links coming into their site. However, unlike the links coming into your site, your competitor has links from Websites that have related content and these sites have high PR.

Google looks at this and decides that your competitors site should be ranked higher because he has links from “trusted” (high PR) sites that are related to his site. Their way of thinking is these other sites are “voting” that your competitor has much more relevant information for the chosen Keyword because of all these one way links with the keyword in the anchor.

There are other factors that determine how much “value” or “juice” links pass, but this should give you some idea of how Google looks at links and determine why one link pointing at a site is more valuable than another.

Now Back to Link Laundering

Imagine if you will, a Pyramid with 3 tiers. The bottom tier has 3 blocks, the middle has 2 blocks and finally at the very top is the King block!

Now also imagine each of those “blocks” as websites.

On the bottom tier, the 3 blocks represent disposable websites. These are your crappy throw away sites. If they get banned or de-indexed, no problem link launderers will get more. Many of these websites are free Blogger or WordPress sites.

The way link laundering works is that the Webmaster will go out and get thousands of crappy, low quality links pointing at these disposable sites. These links may be questionable but certainly nearly all will be low quality. Links from places such as Guestbooks, comments, directories, trackbacks, etc. are all pointing at these sites.

It’s pretty much certain these links will be obtained by spam. Black Hatters use many tools in farming these links. Scripts and programs are designed to search out these places and leave the Mobsters links.

Now the sites at the bottom of the Pyramid have thousands of low quality links pointing to them. This will give these sites some value in Google’s eyes due to the volume of links coming in, provided they’re not de-indexed or banned first!

What the Webmaster will do now in the link laundering process is add some content to these bottom tier websites and place one way, relevant links with anchor text, pointing at a site on the 2nd tier.

The 2nd Tier of the Link Laundering Pyramid

Now the 2nd tier of the Link Laundering Pyramid are sites that have a little more trust. These are sites that generally have a PR2 to PR4. These are your intermediate sites.

They’re the Wiseguys and Lieutenants of the Internet Mobster family.

They have more value than the lowly crappy sites below, but they aren’t near as valuable as the guy above them.

These sites “wash” the links and make them legitimate.

The first tier sites may have general topics. This makes it easier to link out to the 2nd tier blogs or websites.

The 2nd tier will consist of sites that are specific. This will give their outgoing links more link juice to the top tier blog or website.

The Big Kahuna or Numero Uno Mafiaoso

This is the block at the top of the Pyramid. This is where the laundered links end up after they have been filtered through the lower sites or “washed”.

This is the Webmasters money site. It’s the site they want ranked well and it’s why they go to all the trouble to use link laundering and increase their “trust” and rankings.

Wise Webmasters will also be sure to mix the links coming from their network with those from other sources to make it look more legitimate. This makes it harder for search engines like Google to figure out the network.

The Webmaster will also have many low quality links pointing at their Main site as well, but these links will be from legitimate sources and from “white hat” sites with low PR. This is to make the links seem more natural.

Another Twist on Link Laundering

Another technique some Webmasters will use in order to launder links or to boost the rankings of existing low quality links to their site is to send a lot of these easy to get, low quality and questionable links at pages that already link to them. In many instances, they do not own these sites.

By boosting the PR of these pages, the links on them pass more juice (value). Which helps the Webmaster’s Main site.

For example, let’s say that Bob’s Blog linked to you back in 2003 from a page in his blog. You go back to see Bob’s Blog but see that Bob hasn’t posted since 2005. It’s safe to say Bob isn’t blogging any longer and is probably on a Tropical beach somewhere enjoying his Internet loot…or sleeping at the bottom of the Bay with the fishies.

Anyhow, the Webmaster will start sending a lot of low quality links out to the page on Bob’s site that is linking to his site. If something bad happens and Bob’s site gets slapped, nadda problem. The Webmaster just lost a low quality link. However, more times than not, the PR of that page increases and sends more link juice to the Webmasters site.

This 2nd technique can be used in conjunction with traditional link laundering techniques or by itself.

In Summary

The link laundering techniques above are but two examples. There are many variations and I used the Pyramid as a simple example to help you see how it works. Many times a link laundering Pyramid will have a really wide base with dozens of blogs receiving low quality links. Also, in many instances, the blog may have 4 or even 5 tiers to really “wash” the links and turn them into sparkling “White” links.

“So Boss, whadoya wanna dooz wit all dem lousy links we havz in da warehouse?”

Of course there’s a catch, you have to write a review of his site like I’m doing here.

At first, I wasn’t going to write one. I have a system for hunting out .edu backlinks that work pretty well. However, I spent almost an hour on his site and realized I liked what I was reading.

Tim has some very good articles and comes at some of them with a different point of view than most bloggers. I like that.

Tim is currently in J-school so he’ll have plenty of time to get some links sent out.

Well, the common misconception is that Google places a higher value on .edu links than links from .com sites. While that is somewhat true, it’s not entirely correct. Google places a higher value on .edu links from relevant sites and from .edu pages with some PR.

As far as Yahoo and MSN are concerned, I’m not sure and I don’t know that anyone else is sure either, but heck, a link from a .edu site can’t be all bad so grab ‘em when you can.

Don

Text Link Ads sell companies text links on websites. They’re a link broker. They will buy text links off of Webmasters and sell them to advertisers.

If you’re a blog owner or Webmaster, you may be able to make money with them.

In this review of Text Link Ads, I’ll be review their program from the Advertiser side, as one who’s bought text links from them.

I’ve used Text Link Ads for one of my new websites and one for my local business’s.

TextLink Ads Link For Website #1

The first link I bought was for this new website I put up. I wanted to get it indexed quickly and get some traffic coming to the site without spending a fortune on it. I chose a site with a high “link popularity” in hopes of getting some PR link love from the big G. I also wanted the traffic!

The site I chose stated that my link would appear on something like 50,000 pages. The link cost me $50 a month.

It took several days, but my link finally showed up. I kept close tabs on that look through the Text Link Ads control panel as well as my own site. The Text Link Ads control panel will show you how many backlinks are present from the pages where your link is active.  They’ll list the 1st 100 sites with backlinks to your site and highlight the ones from the page/site where your link is located.

I was a little disappointed that they use Yahoo to keep track of their backlinks rather than Google. However, if you stop to think about it, you can understand why. Yahoo counts every link back to your site, Google only counts those it feels has value. (who determines if the site linking to your site has value?)

Over the month that my link was up, I received very little traffic from the site where my link was located. At the end of the month, Yahoo only showed something like 3 links back to my site. I wasn’t very impressed with my first attempt at buying text links.

Text Link Ads Link For Website #2

On my second try at buying text links, I chose to buy a link on a local TV station’s website (even though TextLink Ads said it was a newspaper). I know this website because you can’t open a newspaper, turn on the radio or TV without hearing about this TV stations Website. I decided to buy the link for my website of my local B&M business.

According to the Pop Up to the link on the TV Stations ad, my link was suppose to show up in their “Money” section on a page with a link popularity of 5/10. 

This link cost me $75 per month.

What I noticed after my link went live was that my link didn’t actually show up on the “Money” section page, my link showed up on article pages OFF OF THE “MONEY” page. Why should this matter? Simple, the “Money” page had a PR of 5 while the article pages off of the “Money” page had a PR of 0 or at best 2.

I went back to my Text Link Ads control panel and sure enough, it said my links would show up in the “Money” section and that the “Money” section had a “Link Popularity” of 5/10.

I emailed Text Link Ads and after two days of not hearing from them, I emailed them again. A few days later I received a reply.

In short, it said that my link was live and showing up on the article pages off of the “Money” section. (well duh! I already knew that). It also informed me that their “Link Popularity” does not correspond to a PR rank, although when you visit a page, the “Link Popularity” is the same most of the time as the PR.

In their defense, they did offer to refund my money for the time I had remaining. I declined and kept my link on the TV Stations website. I wanted local coverage for my local business!

I checked back after I received the response from Text Link Ads and the Pop Up for the TV Stations ad now says “Will appear on all story pages in the ”Money” section“. Nice of them to clarify that.

As for the backlinks, I honestly got a lot from those article pages. In the end, Yahoo counted something like 60+ links back to my site out of the top 100. However, none of those links on those pages showed up in Google.

The traffic from those links was minimal according to my stats. Since my B&M website already ranks at the top of Yahoo locally, I received no boost in the rankings.

Was it worth the $75? Yeah, this once it was. It was worth it in regards to the things it taught me, not the traffic or rankings it provided.

After Action Report – Things I Learned From Buying Links From TextLink Ads

• Don’t assume anything – I assumed Google would pick these text links up and reward me with PR Gold. It didn’t happen. In fact, I recieved only 1 backlink indexed in Google and that was for Website #1.
• Save everthing – I wished I had saved the pages when I purchased the link for Website #2 but I didn’t. My bad.
• Ask Questions before buying – See rule #1
• Define the reason for purchasing the links in the first place – Are you looking to get indexed in Google? Do you want to drive a specific target audience to your site? Are you hoping to increase your backlinks with a particular Search Engine, ie; Google, Yahoo, MSN? (some of those pages from the TV Stations website were picked up by MSN also)
• Research, research, research – I should have looked into the site where website #1 was placed. If I had, I’d known that it has pop ups and a bunch of other ads on their pages. When doing research, I like to use FireFox with the SEO Plugin. Makes doing SEO research a lot easier!

Some of the other things I learned that just because the Text Link Ad says you link will appear on 50,000 pages, don’t assume (see rule #1) that any Search Engine index those pages.

I’d like to know how Text Link Ads goes about determining its “Link Popularity”. What formula is used?

The text links you buy may likely end up at the bottom right of a page. About the worst spot they could appear at. These are also below the fold. That means people will have to scroll down and be looking over to the right to find them.  If you can’t figure out the site where your links will appear, then go there and see where the sponsored links are, then ASK! Now I know on some of the more expensive sites, ie; blogs, they may appear above the fold (ie; johnchow.com).

I also have to be honest and tell you that Text Link Ads recommends that you run the links for several months to see the benefits. From my experience with years of marketing my small businesses both online and offline, I can say that’s probably true.

Will I ever buy another Text Link Ad. Sure. But I will go into it knowing a lot more than I did before. I’ll be more careful to research the site my links appear on.

I plan on buying some links on a few of the blogs they have listed. These should produce some Google friendly links and hopefully some traffic. We’ll see.

UpDate 2008: By now nearly everyone knows Google frowns on buying links. I haven’t used Text Link ads since this experience and I’d strongly urge anyone considering buying links to reconsider, especially if you value your rankings in Google!