As a continuation of my Getting Traffic to Your Website post, I want to do the same thing with the subject of building links to your website. A lot of people are confused about what type of links you should get, what keywords to use in the anchor text, etc., especially if they’re just starting out.
I’ve been asked a number of questions regarding this subject, so I wanted to share them with you all so that if you have the same or similar questions, you can get them answered here.
I’ll quote the questions and answers, and if I have anything to add, I’ll post it below that to keep Q&A’s separate from my afterthoughts. Confused? You’ll see what I mean.
Building Links to Your Website Q&A’s
Questions: “…keep in mind your anchor text would need to be the same keyword phrase for every article you submit…”
I want to be sure that I understand you clearly, you mean my anchor text in author’s box, or you mean I must write articles only about that particular product. Let’s say if it will be “red lights”, so all my articles should be written only about “red lights” and the anchor text should repeat in every article (if the article is 500 words then it should be repeated about 4-5 times)?
Or, you mean I must put that anchor text, my keyword “red lights”, each time in my author’s box (I’m doing it each time)? And, for example, I could write articles not only about “red lights” but also about “blue lights”, “economical lights”, “save electricity with economical lights” etc. and at the end in author’s box always put my “red lights” keyword?
“…and getting to the first position will take time…”
Could you tell me how long it may take? Weeks? Months? A year? Tell me please from experience. Thanks a lot!
Answers: The anchor text for the link in your author’s box. The article can be about whatever as long as it’s relevant to your website in some way. What you mentioned as far as different topics would be fine. In order to get the fastest results for the keywords you want to rank for, your anchor text should be all the same for the link in your author’s box that you have pointing back to your site.
As far as ranking, once Google indexes your site, which shouldn’t take more than a week or so after writing articles, your site will appear in search results. Depending on the competition of the keyword phrase you’re aiming for will determine where exactly your site ranks. The more backlinks you create through writing the articles, the more authority your site will get, and the higher up in rankings it will be.
Afterthought: As you can see I had a previous discussion with this person before these questions were asked as some of my previous answers were quoted in the questions.
Questions: What if I put my articles not only to Ezinearticles.com but to the other directories like: articlesbase.com, goarticles.com, articlealley.com, ideamarketers.com and to other more known directories (most of them have 3 or 4 PR, but Ezine has 6 PR and DO FOLLOW. In my case, total of all different directories would be 10. Let me explain how I’m doing this, I put 10 articles to Ezine, 10 to articlesbase, and so on, to reach 100, and of course 100 backlinks. With micro niche and with low competition, do you have any idea how many articles/backlinks I need to create to achieve 1 spot in Google? 200, 500, 1000? And, how long it may take, I’m only asking approx., because I don’t have any idea. I’m new to this… some say a few months and some say 6 months, or even a year.
What you think about this method, may I really reach a first position on Google, with micro niche and with low competition? Besides, ArticlesBase and ArticleAlley are NO FOLLOW. So, is it worth placing my articles there? I understand Google will not count those backlinks and my site’s PR will not be affected by their page rank’s 6 and 5?
Would you still recommend to try other sources, not only this method but also forums, blog comments, bookmarking (By the way, I just find out that all well-known bookmarking sites are NO FOLLOW?
Thanks a lot!
Answers: Submitting your articles to other directories will help in getting direct traffic, so there are benefits to doing so. Unfortunately, as far as backlinks, not all will be counted by Google because the content is exactly the same. If you want those backlinks to count from those other directories, you’ll have to re-word your articles a bit to make them unique from the rest.
There is no way of knowing how many backlinks you need to gain a specific PR. Also, there is no way of knowing how many baclinks you need to gain the top position in Google. There are so many variables at play. All you need to know is that the more backlinks you build, the better chance you’ll have of getting there. Also keep in mind that search engine rankings are far more important than PR.
No Follow links will not help with PR, but they are still valuable and should be obtained because they do help with search engine positioning.
There are a few Do Follow social bookmarking sites. Visit SocialMarker to find out what they are. I do recommend posting in forums, blog commenting and social bookmarking as well. Diversifying your links is very important, rather than getting them all from the same source.
Afterthought: I didn’t take the time to substantiate all the claims made in the questions section (regarding the No Follow claims), but for the sake of this post it’s irrelevant. The important part is the answers to those questions as they really have no bearing on those claims, and the fact that getting No Follow links are still important as I pointed out.
Tip: One social bookmarking site I use is MMO Social Network, which is a great community of bloggers where members can vote and comment on submitted blog posts. And, the site is Do Follow. 
Questions: I would like to ask you about related backlinks. Do I have to place them only on related theme websites? Yesterday I have checked and those websites, with my niche theme, are with very low PRs and Alexa ranks. Is it better to place my backlinks to these websites, which are with lower stats, or better to websites which are totally not related but are with much higher stats – PRs and Alexa ranks? My aim is to appear on the Google 1 spot.
And, yesterday I tried backlinking from forums, but I want to be sure that I do exactly the same things as others do. I’m creating an account, placing my backlink in my profile, and then I’m creating my signature with a backlink. Then I’m going to the forum, finding a favorable theme for me, and leaving a post with my signature and backlink (of course, I’m checking for rel=nofollow) and repeating it 4 times, so from one related website there would be 5 backlinks. Of course, later I can come back and leave more posts. Since I’m new to this, I just want to be sure that I’m doing everything correct in this backlinking method. Maybe there are other tricks?
Also, I have checked that Google indexed those site’s themes and posts only after two or three months. Does that mean that my backlinks won’t be counted for that period of time?
Answers: Related backlinks matter more if you’re getting them from low PR sites. However, building high PR backlinks, relevancy doesn’t matter.
As long as the links in your signature are formatted correctly (<a href=”http://www.yoursite.com”>Keyword</a>) then you’ll be good.
If the sites you’re leaving backlinks on don’t get indexed very often, then your links will be found only when Google indexes them again. Usually, forums and blogs are indexed quite regularly.
If you’re looking for a way to build high PR backlinks, I wrote a post about how I do so here: Get High PR Backlinks.
Afterthought: You may be wondering how you can get your links indexed really quickly, especially if you do use Angela and Paul’s backlink packets (see link above). The answer to this is towards the end of this post, so keep reading. 
Question: What do you think about pinging? For example, if the pages where I place my backlinks will be indexed only after a month or two, will pinging help get them indexed faster? Sometimes I use Ping-o-Matic (my sites are not blogs), do you know this site? Or, maybe you know something better?
Answer: I actually use Ping-o-Matic all the time, and it works well. Pinging is a great way to get links and exposure from other sites, not to mention that Google will index those backlinks and your site very fast. There are other pinging sites out there, but they all do the same thing.
Afterthought: It doesn’t matter what pinging site you use, and if you’re pinging your WordPress blog when you create a new post, there’s a list of ping sites you can update so that all those sites will get pinged automatically. What this person was asking, however, was about pinging a site that wasn’t a blog, which can be done.
Question: Do you know why some people make backlinks for their articles with their site’s backlinks instead of to their site directly? For example, Angela has an article at GoArticles.com, and I have checked that it is on the first page, and has a lot of backlinks. What is the strategy here? Why didn’t she build them straight to her website instead of through the article directory? Is it some circle of backlinks, which linking not only to her website, but to another and another, and after all, some of them to her website?
I have one ezinearticles.com article, which is on the first page, but my website is on the fourth page of Google. Is it better to start making backlinks for that article rather than for my website and make some circle of links?
Thanks a lot! I really appreciate your help.
Answer: This is a common strategy used by many to get their articles ranked in the top position on Google. EzineArticles has a lot of authority with Google, so it really wouldn’t take too many backlinks to your articles to get them at the top for your targeted keywords. Once they’re at the top, those articles are going to bring in a lot of readers. Most of course will be inclined to click on the link in your resource box to your website.
Not only that, but the backlink/s you have in your resource box is now going to have a lot more weight, which will benefit your site in the long-run.
In your case, I would get backlinks to your website to get it up towards the top with your article. However, at the same time, getting more backlinks to your article should in itself make your website move up as well. Doing both would be beneficial.
Hope that all makes sense.
Afterthought: Does my answer make sense to you? Is there something that’s not quite clear? Let me know in the comments section.
Question: Can I make my back links with the same anchor/keyword text, which would be linking to different pages, but to the same site? For example, the same anchor would be linking to the main/first page – index.html and to my other site’s pages, let’s say – products.html? Is that okay? Or, is it better to use other anchor text? I’m asking because the main keyword is targeted on the first page and production’s page as well, so it is the same keyword. I want to do more backlinks to my other site’s pages… I heard that is better for rankings and will not look spammy, but I am not sure about this? Thanks!
Answer: Yes, that’s perfectly fine. I do the same thing.
It’s important to “deep link”, meaning, creating links that point to deep pages of your site, not just the home page. So, you’re correct in your thinking. You want to build backlinks to other pages of your site, which will get them ranking in search engines as well for those keywords.
Afterthought: Using the same keyword to link to inner page as your home page is okay also. I also do that, and there’s nothing wrong with that if you’re targeting the same keyword for a particular inner page.
Questions: Maybe you know how many backlinks I should place on other site’s pages? Some people say that from one website’s page two backlinks are more than enough, and others say that leaving more is also possible. For example, if it is a forum posting, each time when I post, I leave my backlink in the signature, so if I post 5 posts in the same page it will be counted as 5 backlinks right? Whether, there is a limit and 1 or 2 backlinks from that site’s one page is more than enough, and it’s better to go and place another backlink from the same site, but from a different page/forum theme in that case?
I also heard that for PR, for rankings, Google will count only ONE backlink from one site, even if I post a hundred of them. I heard that it can be compared to voting. One person – one vote. One website – one backlink?
Thanks in advance for your help, I really appreciate it.
Answers: I wouldn’t post more than 2 or 3 to the same profile page. Those posting 5 or more are just inviting the site owner to shut down their profile and everyone else’s as well.
Regarding forum postings, usually each time you post, those backlinks will be counted. So, if you have just one backlink in your signature and you make 5 posts, then in theory that would be 5 backlinks. You can keep posting in the same site, but it’s a good idea to choose different themes (threads) to post in.
Regarding PR and backlinks from one site, I can’t confirm if this is true or not. I do know that if you create, say 3 backlinks on a high PR site, all 3 links should count. What I do is link to different pages of my site, all with different anchor text. This is effective in boosting those inner pages PR and rankings. So, based on that, I would say it doesn’t matter how many links, as long as you vary your anchor text if linking to the same page, and also vary the pages you’re linking to. I would recommend not linking to the same page more than once per site, but it’s okay to link to different pages from the same site, and they’ll all count.
Afterthought: Again, the first question was referencing Angela and Paul’s backlink packets, which I talk about in this post.
Question: May I ask you, what is your opinion about directories? Dmoz.org and the many others? I tried to put my main back link to about 30 different directories, with higher than 5 PR, but I see that is a long process to get them there. It could take few or more months. Some of them ask for link exchanging. If I want to get a backlink to their directory, I must also place their backlink on my site.
What do you think about link exchanging? I heard that Google doesn’t like this. However, is it true that these sites are good for my site?
Answer: For the high PR directories this is okay, but I would recommend trying to get your links only on sites that don’t require a reciprocal link. Not all will, and it will take some time to sift through the sites.
Here’s a blog post with some links to directories that you can check out: Directory Sites.
Afterthought: In retrospect, it’s pretty pointless to submit your site to directories… period. It does take a ton of time, and that time could be much better spent getting better backlinks. I don’t bother with link directories anymore, but I know there will always be those who do.
Questions: Could you give me advice on how many different backlinks I can put in my forum signature? How many backlinks can I post, and for other ways, for example, blog comments? I saw that some put 5 or 7 different links to their signatures or in comments, is that okay? Will Google count them as 5 – 7 different back links from that page, or will it look too spammy? For example, I see Angela always uses two, “Angela” and “Backlinks” as anchor texts/backlinks.
And, I just thought, if I can post two different backlinks per one page like Angela, for example, on all my Ezinearticles.com articles are two backlinks but to the same url, for example, anchor text “white bear” to an inner page, and after few words use my url as the anchor text linking to my main domain page.
So, I’m thinking maybe I should change the last backlink to another anchor text? Let’s say, “white bear house” and linking to another inner page? It would be two different anchor texts with two different backlinks instead of one. What is your opinion about this question, should I go and change them all on my EzineArticles account?
Answers: As far as I know all backlinks are counted. It doesn’t matter that they all appear on the same page.
I sometimes use an anchor text link in the EZA resource box, and at the same time leave an open link to my site in the same resource box. The only difference is that the open link doesn’t have any anchor text. This isn’t a bad thing, and it’s smart to get some links this way. You don’t have to always do this, though.
What you could do is use different anchor text for the second link, so you’d be working to improve your ranking for 2 separate keyword phrases faster.
I wouldn’t go back and change them all as there’s nothing wrong doing them that way. In the future, think about what you want to accomplish and what keywords you want to target, and then plan your resource box accordingly.
Afterthought: To give an example, this would be a link with no anchor text: replaceyoursalary.com, as opposed to a link with anchor text: work from home.
Questions: Is there any difference between where backlinks are placed? Do they have different weight? For example, is there any difference between a profile backlink and an article backlink? Both sites, let’s say, have very similar ratings, the same PR and the same Alexa Rank. Is there any difference between where those backlinks are placed, do they have the same weight, for example profile links, article links, comment links and forum signature links?
Do they have different weight according to Google? If I want to appear on Google’s first spot and gain a high PR, are they all good?
Another thing, I’ve heard that Google crawls profiles very rarely so it’s better to ping them?
Answers: I can tell you that Google does consider where the backlink is located and holds different weight for each.
I can’t really tell you what gets higher weight than another, especially when it comes to an article author’s link versus a profile backlink. Like I have said before, there are many variables involved in how Google weighs backlinks.
However, I can tell you that a link within text is given more weight. For instance, if you can embed a link within an article, rather than after an article or somewhere else on the page, then it’s given more weight. But, you also have to factor the site’s authority, PR, etc. that the link is coming from.
So, if you’re worried about profile links where there’s no content and just a link, it probably doesn’t matter since those sites in general have authority and high PR. They would be better than getting an in-text link from a site with no authority. Hope that makes sense.
Yes, depending on the site, Google may not crawl your links. Usually from forum sites and other types of sites you won’t have a problem, but there are others that they’ll miss. There’s a neat way to get your backlinks indexed, and yes, pinging the sites using pingomatic.com is one of those ways. There’s a better way, though, but it’s very hard to explain.
Afterthought: Remember I said there was a way to get your links indexed really fast? I’m about to reveal the best way… so keep reading.
Question: How exactly do I check Google to see if my profile page with my backlink was indexed or not? Do I simply enter that profile’s URL into Google, and if it shows it, I can be assured that my backlink will be counted by Google? Or, maybe there is a better way to check this?
Also, how long will it take after pinging it with pingomatic.com? Is there any guarantee? Or, after some time I must return and recheck if Google has counted the link or not, and if not, I must re-ping that profile again?
Answer: I think the answer to all of your questions lies within this ebook: Backlink Bully (There it is!). It’s only $7 and explains a method to get your backlinks indexed quickly and you’ll also know exactly when those backlinks are indexed. I bought it about 2 months ago, and it has worked wonders for me. BTW, that’s not an affiliate link.
Afterthought: That’s the best $7 I ever spent so that I could make sure that my profile backlinks were being indexed and counted and have a good idea when that would take place. Again, that’s not an affiliate link. If you use Angela or Paul’s backlink packets, I highly recommend getting your copy of Backlink Bully.
That concludes the Link Building Q&A.
Note: I don’t proclaim to be an expert in any field, including building links to your website. I only speak from personal experience and what I’ve done and am doing to build links to the sites I have, including this one.
If you seek professional advice or the wisdom of a “guru”, you won’t find it here. Search Google. 
Final Thoughts
I realize this was a VERY long post, and I thank you for sticking with me through it all. I hope you got value from these questions and answers and can apply them to your own link building efforts.
Ask Your Question!
Do you have a question that wasn’t covered here? What specific link building question do you have and would like answered? Let me know in the comments below.
I look forward to answering your questions!
Believe it or not, there are proper and improper ways to use backlinks, and using them in the improper manner are not going to get you the results you want.
