Many SEO experts believe that blog comments, directory submissions and links from forum signatures are long gone into the past. Recently, Google also made it clear that they don’t like such links and once again caused chaos in the SEO world. We @seo_pal also agree with all statements made above. However, we think that there is always a way to make use of old ideas, just by making them in rather different manner.
Blog Comments
If you comment on other people’s blogs you can easily build up your reputation and even exchange content with site owner. In addition to that, if your comments are interesting enough, you can create a discussion and drive lots of traffic to your content. The main thing you must remember about blog commenting is the good old rule – “Blog comments are not done for the links, but instead to add value to the content on the page and all visitors”.
In post Penguin world, you must be really careful when it comes to all backlinks your website receives. This is why, it is a good idea to comment only on topics you have some knowledge of. Here comes the big question – How to find relevant blogs to comment on?
The best place to start are the top industry blogs. You can find those if you search in Google with queries like “top XX blogs” or “best XX blogs”. Once you are done with those, you can use more advanced queries. For example:
keyword “leave comment”
keyword “reply to post”
keyword “powered by wordpress”
keyword “leave a comment”
If you want to find .edu domains you can always add site:.edu to your query. Additionally there are services like CommentLuv and KeywordLuv that allow you to link back to a post from your blog or page from your website. To find those use add to your queries -
keyword “this site uses commentluv”
keyword “this site uses keywordluv”
If you want to save some time, you can use Google Alerts to find relevant niche blogs. You only have to setup an alert for your keywords, set the type to blogs and you will receive updates from many blogs listed in Google as often as you want.
From most of the comments, you will be abel to get a link to your website. Now it is the time to distinguish yourself from the spammers – use a name or a nickname, but never your keywords.
Forum Signatures
The forums are still a great place to learn new things and meet new people. Although,they are often abused by spammers, you can make some really good contacts and also get links to your website. To find forums for your niche, you can use query like “keyword” forum. Also you can try searching for “Top/Best XX industry forums” to get an overview of the hottest places at the moment.
Another good way to find relevant forums is to use automated services. A good place to start is Social Mention. You can do a search for your keyword and you will get plenty of discussions to engage into.
What makes the forums so good for link building is that most of them allow you to add a link to your website in your signature and link from every thread you have replied to. Additionally, you can also link to your website as a source for your reply, but more often you must be a member of the forum for at least 2 weeks until you are allowed to do so.
When linking back to your website from your signature, you have to choose the anchor text really well – if it is too short and you have been really activy in the forum, you might end up with too many exact match links. This is why, we would suggest you go for mega long tail keywords or with your page’s title- for example “Professional SEO Services by SEO PAL”.
Directory Submissions
Web directories have been around us for quite some time and they are known to add no value to your website’s link profile. We have to admit that this is true, but only for low quality web directories. You can easily find authoritive websites and for a subscription fee, you can submit your links there. The fact that those places require you to spend money has managed to keep spammers away from those places.
To get the best value for your investment, you have to make sure the link you will get comes from a good page. Simply find your websites category and see what are the pages of each one of the sub-categories. You should look for metrics likes Page Rank, MozRank, Page Authority. Here are the some of the best directories to use:
[learn_more caption="Best Web Directories"]
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All 3 techniques can help you create a couple of hundred links from trusted websites and relevant pages. Share your thoughts and experience with us in the comments.
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We bought it from Elegant Themes. Check the footer
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I think they can help but social signals are becoming the biggest factor in SEO.
Great post and very informative.
Great blog. Thanks
This is a good article. It helps reinforce my belief that link building is not dead. I just have to be more careful about where I leave my links and what anchor text I choose. I must build links on sites that are relevant to mineg, and use a wider variety of anchor text.
A useful run down of some of the other important SEO tactics which need to be built into any SEO strategy. Thanks for sharing.
Great article, just spending the extra time to find on niche sites and adding value to the threads will be much more rewarding than masses of off topic spam some software produces
Also another great one is to use a similar search strategy for guest post potential, ie
keyword + “guest post”keyword + “submit article”keyword + “submit an article”keyword + “write for us”keyword + “submit post”keyword + “submit a guest post”keyword + “become a guest blogger”keyword + “want to write for”keyword + “suggest a post”keyword + “this guest post was written”
Great post, thanks!!!
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ROFL!
Thanks for the up to date info.
Yup, a lot of people don’t know of these tricks, but it can be a gold mine if you know what you’re doing!
Thanks a lot
Wonderful web site. Plenty of useful information here. I’m sending it to a few friends ans also sharing in delicious. And of course, thanks for your effort!
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Honestly, I think this is another misinformation technique from Google. I have seen multiple sites rank with blog and forum comments alone. I just think Google does not want people to spam discussion boards (and for good reason). The key to link building is diversity and contextually relevance.
Blog and forum comments should be a “part” of your link building campaign, but not the primary strategy. You should use a mix bag of links from a variety of sources to reflect diversity in a website’s backlink profile.
I agree. It should only form part of your link building. But at least it’s white hat and connects you to the community. I think community is the key to success.
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Hi, its great to connect asite like this. Its totaly diffrent and helpful. Thanks
Completely agree with you on the forum side of things. There certainly isn’t anything wrong with contributing in communities. But just be careful of choosing an overly spammy signature name, using a long tail keyword or sentence is much more friendly
hiYup, a lot of people don’t know of these tricks, but it can be a gold mine if you know what you’re doing!
Good article.Thanks for the sharing.
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sports marketing agency | Search Engine Training | SEO Training London
This shouldn’t even be asked. Those blog comments, link building and etc is one of the seo terminology and it is basically part of the job as well.
Google is at war with the crazy automation of blog commenting, things for the manual commentator have not changed that much. I have been guilty of the automated approach in the past and it use to work, it is still quite destructive though.
These days i use a combination of social link sharing, automated bookmarking, and obviously, manual blog commenting
I totally agree, it’s all about adding value to the blog post!
When I read, I tend to let my thought wander, but this article kept me focused. That’s a real feat. You did a good job.
thanks for the information…
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