Don’t waste your time building bad links when you can build good ones. Let me introduce you to the 3 (in dramatic prose: “Holy Trinity”) link-building fundamentals that will help you understand how search engines measure link quality and, perhaps, change your religion. Once you know what a SERP wants, you can give a SERP exactly that.

Divine Link Building

There is no doubt that search engines take great pride in their ability to develop complicated algorithms to evaluate link quality. You may think that you’re no match for such Einstein-like mathematics but don’t despair, it’s really not that complicated. Here are the three main link quality indicators in no particular order:

1. Search engines perception of the linking domain (spam site or CNN.com)

2. Anchor text from the linking domain (”click here” v. “buy a VW”)

3. Actual location of the link in your site structure (does it link to a homepage or a deep relevant post on a blog)

Now, I hate acronyms but, let’s face it, they are useful. So, if you can remember these three letters PAL (perception, anchor, location) you will be ahead of 99% of most SMMers (Social Media Marketers - that’s the one acronym I have to admit that I like).

Immaculate Perceptions of Search Engines

It’s not just about PageRank anymore. Search engines take a lot into account when forming their perception about a particular domain or website. In my opinion, the best way for anyone to determine if a particular website would have value as a back link is simple and twofold.

Most importantly, ask yourself “does this site appealed to my niche?”. If you know your niche well enough this question will be easy to answer. And… if you don’t think your niche would like this website, what makes you think that the search engines will? Secondly, check your main competition and discover their back links. If these competitors have garnered real estate on the first page of a search engine results page, they obviously have some back links that you should passionately covet.

The Almighty Powers of Anchor Text

Many people make the mistake of creating anchor text that is completely unrelated to the site that it is linked to. For example, how many times have you seen the words click here highlighted as anchor text? So, when you are creating anchor text that links to your main site, make sure you use relevant keywords as the text that your visitor clicks on to reach your site…please and thank you!

Link Location and Consecration

I have no idea what consecration means but it sure rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it…Â OK, back on topic… When discussing link location we are really talking about three (yet another trinity, hmmm) different things. And, each of these three has an impact on the quality of the link.

The first and most basic aspect of link location is the actual physical location of the link. In other words, is the link in the banner section of the webpage, is it in the sidebar, is it in the footer, etc..

Secondly, link location refers to where that link exists in the site structure of the originating domain. Is the link on the homepage with a bunch of other unrelated, spammy link or (hopefully, yes) is it deep inside the site on a page with lots of relevant text and meta data.

Lastly, link location also refers to where that link leads to on your site. Please, don’t ever tell me you are using social media to direct people to your homepage, I couldn’t handle that..oh, the sorrow!  The back links you strategically sprinkle around the net need to be “deep”. They need to open the door on your site which is absolutly the most relevant to the anchor text they came from.

Link Blessings

Fellow linker, may you see the error of your previous link building ways and consent to change. Pay attention to P. A. and L. to sharpen your link building sword and pierce even the most rebellious of SERPs. Until next time, I wish you many link blessings!

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