Backlinks are very important for SEO and play a key role in determining the rank of a website on search engines such as Google, Yahoo or Bing.

Although many factors come into play, in general the more quality backlinks that point to a website, the higher the website will rank on search engine results. As a result,  link building forms an integral part of every search engine optimisation (SEO) strategy.

Companies and SEO experts use several methods to obtain backlinks to a website. In this article we take a look at 10 easy ways to get backlinks for your new website. You can take advantage of these methods to provide a boost to your search engine ranking.

1. Create Accounts on Social Networking Websites

Creating accounts on social networking sites is one of the easiest ways to build backlinks to your new website. You can create a free account on these and add your website’s URL and description to your profile.

In addition to the main sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, there are many other niche social networking sites for business that you can take advantage of.

2. Use Social Bookmarking Websites

Social bookmarking and social networking websites are similar and many sites fall in both categories. However social bookmarking sites are often overlooked by businesses in link building so I have decided to list it separately.

Social networking sites like Facebook or LinkedIn focus on community building and primarily promote interactions between people. Social bookmarking sites on the other hand are designed mainly to share links to online content with others who share the same Interest. Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon and Reddit are some examples of social bookmarking sites. There are many more.

Most bookmarking sites let you add URL to your website in your profile, providing an easy way to build backlinks. In any case, after joining you can post links to individual pages on your website to improve the backlink profile of your entire website, not just your homepage.

3. Create Link Bait

Link bait is a term used to describe content items that others consider worth mentioning and linking to. Internet marketers and SEO experts often take advantage of link-bait content. It is a great way to obtain inbound links and improve the Google rank of your website.

Popular link-bait techniques  include creating free eBooks, Tutorial, Infographics and many more.

Take a look at the stats below for a simple PDF eBook I had published on this site a couple of years ago. To date it has attracted over 1,500 backlinks from other sites, contributing the rank of this blog on Google.

4. Join Video Sites Like You Tube

Video marketing is one of the fastest growing areas on Internet and offers several benefits. Popular video sites like You Tube, Vimeo and MeCafe also offer an easy way to obtain backlinks for your website. You can start simply by signing up for free to create your profile and add your link.

For best results, participate on the site to improve your visibility. There are other ways to do this than creating and uploading your own videos. You can create a share playlists of existing videos targeting your niche, share or add other videos to favourites, comment on videos and participate in discussions on videos relevant to your niche.

5. Create Profile on Document Sharing Sites

Document sharing sites have become very popular in recent years. Popular document sharing sites such as SlideShare and Scribd have high authority and receive very high traffic. Backlinks from these sites can prove very beneficial for your search engine ranking. You can take advantage of these sites by creating a free account and adding your URL to your profile.

Most established brands as well as many small businesses actively use document sharing sites as part of the SEO and Internet marketing strategy.

6. Create Blogs on Free Blog Platforms

You can create a free blog on one or more free blog platforms such as Google’s Bogspot, WordPress.Com and Tumblr.Com, About.Com or more. It can be done in a few easy steps. Make sure to create a profile with a good description and your website URL.  You can create an about page with more information about about your business. Try to put some effort into create a couple of quality posts relevant to your niche to get started. Link your posts to your website.

7. Comment on Blogs

Commenting on blogs is an easy way to get quick backlinks to your website from high authority websites.  For best SEO results comment on blogs relevant to your niche.

Although it is recommended to comment on blogs on a regular and sustained basis, I find it equally effective in the short term. Comment links tend to be indexed very quickly by Google and can be very effective for boosting the rank of your new website.

8. Join Forums

Forum posting is another way to get backlinks to your new website quickly. Find high ranking forums in your niche for best results e.g. if your website is about Web design then join forums related to Web Design or Web development . Most forums allow you to add up to 3 links in your forum signature which will be displayed whenever you post a new topic or reply to an existing post on the forum.By joining several forums, you can obtain backlinks from several high ranking domains.

Tip: Forum signature is not typically set during sign up. After signing up, you will be able to add/update your forum signature from your account section. All you then need to do is reply to a few topics in order to obtain backlinks to your website.

9. List Your Site on DMOZ

DMOZ is the largest, human-edited directory on the Internet. Directory submissions in general offers an easy way to get backlinks to your website, however DMOZ has special significance for SEO.

On first look, it may appear to be a very basic directory. However, it is considered very valuable by Google. It is well know in SEO circles that a listing on DMOZ can provide a boost to your ranking efforts. A listing in DMOZ creates two significant backlinks for a website, one from DMOZ and another from the Google directory.

Every submission to DMOZ is manually reviewed before it is included so you can expect it to take months before your site finally gets listed.

10. Publish a Press Release

Press release is a great way to announce your new website and get quick backlinks to your website. There are many free press release websites that you can take advantage of. Most sites allow a link to your website with the press release. One of the best things about online press releases is that any one can publish one. Unlike guest blog posts or articles, it can be promotional in nature and most releases get approved.

Furthermore, press releases are treated as news items and get indexed fast by search engines.

Conclusion:

Backlinks are very important for ranking high on search engines. It is however important to note that search engines favour websites that obtain links in a natural way i.e. via quality content and resources. It is vital to avoid using unfair practices to build backlinks. All the methods discussed above conform to Google’s SEO guidelines and best practices.

What methods do you use to get backlinks?

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