Linking and link building can be scary stuff. Constantly, I hear people talk about being penalized for aggressive linking or getting into trouble by using link farms and link exchange programs that are just bad news. The question here is “How do I know if a link is one that will improve my rankings, or one that will end up causing irreparable damage?” In an effort to bring some clarity to a frustrating situation, I have listed below some things to look for when considering a link.
The thing to consider above all else is relevancy. In other words, is the site that I want to link to me somehow related to the content on the page? If not, forget it. Links from pages that are not related to your content in some way, are not going to be counted. Other things to consider include:
When choosing links, it is also important to remember not to add links too quickly as this can be seen as aggressive. A good recommendation is to add 1 new link per week until you have more than 20 quality inbound links, then you can increase your number to 2 per week. Linking may seem intimidating at first, but if you take the time to learn how it works, it can be extremely beneficial.
Please add any questions or comments that you may have regarding linking.