Search Engine Marketing Blog

When you begin a link building campaign you probably almost always begin by searching through relevant Dmoz categories. However, there are other starting points that should also be on your research list.

Whilst Dmoz gives you standard directories and company sites these other resources list highly rated and respected information resources and associations and government sites, most of which are very old and well linked to by other very old and well linked to sites. Thus, a link on any of them is worth several “normal” links. These are authoritative references - the holy grail of link building.

There are of course other authoritative resource sites that could also be consulted as starting points and I would be happy to hear about any you come across that you feel may qualify (note: standard directories are not usually considered authoritative).

I would suggest that you create a Link Building Resource or similar folder in your Bookmarks (Favourites in IE) and add these to it for easy access. I’ve divided them into two groups in case you don’t have time to do them all.

Top Tier - Must Consult:
1. Open Directory
2. Beaucoup
3. Librarians’ Internet Index
4. Digital Librarian.com

Second Tier - If You Have More Time:
5. Where To Do Research
6. WWW Virtual Library
7. British Library Industry Guides - look for the Internet Sources on each guide.
8. Intute A-Z List
9. BUBL Information Service - requires some digging to find the correct topics as it is laid out by librarians and academics, not online directory builders.
10. Internet Clearinghouse - you have to dig down to get the links but it is a huge reference so worth the work.
11. Internet Public Library - you might even be able to obtain a link here if your site is good enough.
12. WWW Virtual Library
13. Internet Search Engines List
14. Search Engine Colossus

Link builders go about their business in various ways. Some have an “email anything you see approach”, others do a bit here and there and others do a set amount of link requests and hope for the best.

Possibly because I have done link building campaigns for clients I tend to take a very organised approach, complete with a link building plan and schedule.

Here’s an example link building campaign planner:

Link Building Plan Checklist

Assessment
• Domain
• Site’s history if any
• Inbound links (number, type, relevance, quality)
• Rankings if any
• Purpose of site, potential value, objectives
• How many and what type of links are now required to meet the site’s objectives
• How easy/difficult will it be to obtain those links, do we need to buy some (see

Requirements
• Links from our sites?
• Safe links? Org, edu, wiki, dmoz, yahoo directory
• Bought links? Where, what type, how many, budget, can we use existing contacts, can we swap already purchased links
• Directory links? Are they worth it, do we need them
• What other links? Articles, swaps, blogs, forums, be imaginative

Plan
• We require X amount of links from:
o Safe
o Bought
o Directory
o Other (be as specific as possible)
• We can offer:
o links from this site
o our other sites
o payment only
o article placement
o other (be imaginative)
• Our budget is
• Our timescale is (all in a week/several rounds spread over three months, etc)
• Overall responsibility lies with
• The requests/research will be divided as follows:
• An assessment will be done on (date)

Yes, I know it seems like more of a battle plan than a link building campaign but I happen to take it very seriously and after years of promoting websites, both clients’ and my own, I think I can safely say that I know the value of a thoroughly planned and well executed link building campaign.

Link building is an incredibly time consuming process and it is often a very hit and miss affair. Getting all your ducks in a row before you begin could go a long way towards improving your success rate both in finding and obtaining the right type of links.