Father of Link Building, Eric Ward, Reveals His Link Building Secrets by Rachelle Money, 5 November 2008
You need to actively build links if you want to improve your traffic and get high search engine rankings. But how do you do it? Eric Ward is a master link builder who counts the likes of Amazon, the Discovery Channel and Warner Bros among his list of clients. As a healthy obsessive, there is nothing Ward doesn't know about link building, making him the foremost expert in his field. In our exclusive interview Ward imparts some of his best pearls of wisdom on everything you ever wanted to know about link building.
Key points
- You need to be passionate about your business to write original, helpful and link-worthy content.
- Play to your strengths. You can't rank top for everything, so pick a set of keywords you want to rank highly for, and add value to your site by building content around them. As you succeed, you can expand the list of keywords you’re targeting.
- Always be on the lookout for sites that might like to link to your content. Scan the web for news and information sites, resource collections, blogs and social media that are relevant to your industry. Be aware of what’s happening and what the hot issues are. Remember, the harder a link is to get, the more valuable it’s likely to be.
It's rare for an interviewee to issue a warning before we start the discussion, but that's exactly what Eric Ward did.
“I hope you are taping this because when I get going, I really get going.”
And he wasn't joking. Ward can talk a hundred miles per hour, and could most probably talk all day about how people can go about improving their site by gaining links. What's really interesting about him is that he never helps a client who isn't willing to learn the techniques for themselves. He wants to educate people so they can gain total control over their site. In this interview he sets about giving Wordtracker readers a few lessons on how they can link build successfully.
First, a quick definition: link building is the process of actively targeting quality sites – directories, resource sites, news sites, blogs, social media sites, etc - and giving them compelling reasons to link to your site. Such links will bring you direct traffic and are one of the most powerful ways to improve your search engine rankings.
Where do links come from?
There are multiple opportunities for getting links. It comes down to being methodical in looking for them and creative in approaching them.
“Many people put together resource collections around a specific subject area and they want their resources to be as comprehensive as possible. They try and list all the sites they think the fans will love.”
These resource collections are a prime target for link building. “So if I wanted to build links for a blog about the New York Giants, I’d look for resource collections on the New York Giants or American Football, and ask them for a link.”
Are trusted sites important?
Ward explains: “Of the potentially thousands of inbound links, there are only going to be certain types of links that the search engines feel they can trust to a degree that they can make a decision about rankings.”
“There's a lot of terminology that people use, like authority or hub, but to be honest I’m not too worried about that. I base my judgement on 15 years experience looking at hundreds of thousands of websites.”
Ward concentrates on finding people who show a passion for a particular subject area. He went on to say that his career has not been based on getting links just to rank well on search engines. When he started link building, search engines were in their infancy.
If they have that passion, then their site is sure to have the quality that makes a link worthwhile. “My approach is driven by trying to identify the type of person who would care about good content and be interested in linking to it.”
How do you link build?
(A word of warning: as I asked “How do you link build” it was as if I wound up a coiled spring, and as I finished the question it was released. His enthusiasm can't be contained).
Add value through content
It's important that every website adds value through content. That content needs to be unique and highly relevant to the website's target audience.
Ward says: “If I had a company which manufactured boats, I'd have a list of the boats I sold of course, but what else? What kind of content could I add that would be useful to someone interested in buying one of my boats? What type of content could I add for someone who has already bought one of my boats?”
“Why not create content on every boat I have – content such as online manuals, guides to maintenance, or a live Q&A on boating issues and problems, or maybe I could create content on moorings...” The list is virtually endless once you focus on the value you can offer your customers.
Think geographically
“Think of the number of marina websites there are across the USA. I would think about linking to and getting links from them.
“Then I'd target the specific coastal towns where I know boating is a big activity - like Miami, Tampa or Boston. What location-specific websites could I target? Then I'd make a deduction that in these towns their libraries – and their websites – will have some kind of special section on boating and sailing. Could I get listed there?
“Google likes trustworthy and useful websites like libraries. It knows that a library website would only link to another site if it thought it was a useful and good source of information.”
Look for partners
“You could partner with an organization that delivers safety manuals or videos which instructs beginners on how to sail safely. Now you are starting to augment your content.
“You just have to keep thinking about how to create good, useful and link-worthy content for your customers,” Ward advises.
Ward to the wise
Ward believes that everyone should pretend once in a while that they work for Google, their role being to make sure search results are good for their particular industry.
“Imagine you had that job and looked honestly at your own site. What would you see that would justify your site ranking above all the others?”
Ward says, “If you are honest with yourself and can't think of anything, then ask yourself what you do better than anyone else and how you can tell people about it.”
“You should also be asking; what am I passionate about that I can use as a source of new content? If you have no passion for the business you are in, get out of it,” Ward says bluntly.
“If you care enough about a subject and learn everything you can, write about it and provide useful content about it. As time goes on you will attract the kind of links that search engines reward.”
What makes a good linkbuilder?
It requires a willingness to do the hard work required, and not to depend on shortcuts that any website can take, regardless of quality. Take article marketing - for a few bucks you can buy software that will automatically generate articles for you, but do you think any of those articles will be worth reading?
Putting it in his oh so unique way, Ward says: “Even if you raised Ernest Hemingway from the dead and paid him to write richly textured articles about subjects related to your web-site, and even if those articles had perfectly placed keyword anchor links back to your site - if all you do is take those articles and submit them to the same generic article dumping grounds that everybody else is submitting to 24/7/365, then it will have no impact whatsoever, and Mr Hemingway will probably smack you in the head for reviving him.”
How do I start link building today?
- Write down everything about your site that you feel makes it unique. Each point you come up with gives you an opportunity to create unique, link-worthy content. The shorter that list is the more trouble you are in. If the only thing that's different is that your navigation buttons are red – you're in really big trouble.
- Here's a tough question for anyone, but imagine that tomorrow you could come top on Google for just one keyword of your choice - what keyword would you choose? Think about it and then make that one keyword the focus of your link building efforts. So, if you sold nautical antiques, your chosen keyword might be 'vintage sailing maps'. To come top for that keyword you need to demonstrate your passion for vintage sailing maps.
- When you've chosen your keyword, have a look at the search engine results, first to see what competition you're going to face, and second for information or community sites that you'll target in your link building. So enter the keyword 'vintage sailing maps' into the top search engines and collect the first 50-100 results from each. You will start to notice a trend and you will also notice that the same sites appear in the results time and time again. These are obviously sites that the search engines trust, so you’d want to build links from them.
- Split the results into two groups – competitors who may be potential business partners, and information sites that could give you some quality links, if you've got quality content. Now concentrate on the information sites and see if you can get some articles published. Review the unique points you wrote down in step 1, and browse the editorial content in the sites you have identified. You should be able to find many opportunities where your site can be listed or where you can publish interesting articles that will get you links back to your site.
- Continue to write and publish good content on your own site and let the sites you've identified in your research know about the wonderful content you've just created.
(Eric Ward writes extensively and is a top speaker at search engine conferences, where he is the recognized authority on linking. Check out his link building services and his hand-crafted news announcement service, URLwire.com)
About Rachelle Money
Rachelle Money is a freelance journalist based in Scotland, UK. She graduated from the Scottish School of Journalism in 2005 where she was awarded an internship with two national publications - The Sunday Herald newspaper and The Big Issue magazine. Rachelle has been working with Wordtracker since August 2007 and is a regular contributor to the newsletter.
73 comments
Darn it. I thought this would be the magic bullet. Now I have to go work harder. :O)
Excellent article. What you write is so true. Even if you could get Ernest Hemmingway to write for you, people would be coming for him, not you. Your audience wants to hear your voice, your slant, your personality. It takes a long-time, but traffic that is built the hardway comes back.
We thank you all for the free infomation we receive from you.Its been very good that we have others in the marketing business that want others to succeed in business ventures.Thanks again Michele
Would that it were so simple! One can build Best of the Web pages, but if Wikipedia has got the top spot for that keyword, it is not easy to dislodge them. And their pages are not so optimized. Faith and good works are not enough for salvation. You need grace, it seems. In the Google world, being a monster sized Web site is the equivalent of grace.
Great stuff!!! Eric is well respected in the industry, and I'm glad he's one of the Wards :)
It is gratifying to hear that writing compelling content is advocated as the alpha an omega of link building. The message from Eric that quality will win out gives comfort to professionals in smaller companies. We can compete with the multinationals as long as our passion and professionalism shine through in our work. Thank you Rachelle for a smashing article.
Thank you so much Rachelle and Wordtracker for another great newsletter article. Your newsletter is one I actually watch out for. You're definitely following your own advice. I hate link building (still new at it), but this has given me renewed enthusiasm. Thanks Jen.
Great stuff! Not only the interview provided useful insights on linkbuilding, but the way you have arranged the content is great. The how do I start link building question and the key points in the box. Thank you Rachelle.
All I can do is echo the above.....and I thought SEO was going to be easier than building websites! Darn it! I need to do some work now. Thanks for a great article most opportune timing for me too.
Great article. Here's a quick tip to add to your link building arsenal:
Find your target keyword in the way Eric describes and find all those competitors who are ranking for that keyword. Using the list of competitors, go through each one and find out how many external links they have (you can use Yahoo Explorer for this). You will find some domains that appear more than once, is there a reason why can't you get a link from them? Some domains may only appear once, these domains may have some special partnership with your competitor so may not be too keen to link to you.
Eddy
As ever Eric speaks from the heart and makes perfect sense. The problem is, your average website owner isn't going to heed these words, preferring to search for the quick fix links.
Sadly many sites whose link profiles reek of spammy links do rank well in the SERPs and this is where the ethical, 'Wardian' approach falls down.
That said, I still believe Eric's way is THE way.
d
You've provided amazing tips about how to get links. I've been trapped like a car in a traffic jam with no direction where to go. I will really using your tips to start building quality links.
Thanks
This is solid information from an expert in his field. Following this advice will yield results but you do have to do the work.
M
Thank you for a very informative article. As reciprocal linking was not mentioned I wonder is it a waste of time to go down that road.
I've written about this time, and time, and time again. Quality content is, and always will be - KING. In addition, Eric reaffirms that link building for sites within a niche or subject you are passionate about will ALWAYS be more natural and easier to do. It's good to see that even after all these years the honest tried and true techniques still work best!
Wow I have a lot of work to do - the world of link building has always been a bit of a mystery to me but this article has shown me that is not as complicated as many people make it out to be it just simply requires a lot of patience, hard work and an long term approach!. Better get started!
Thanks again for yet another fantastic article!
This is the best article I've seen on link building - the subject generally seems to generate a load of baloney. I'd only add one brief bit: Write quality content that you're passionate about, THAT LOTS OF PEOPLE (AKA YOUR VISITORS) ARE LOOKING FOR - read SEO An Hour A Day, or sign up with wordtracker or sitebuildit.com (uses wordtracker) for SEO tools and education, Google analytics too. Then people with high ranking websites will tend to find your site and link to it as part of their great content. And you won't have to work quite so hard at link building.
I’m a back link gathering newbie but Eric provides a treasure trove of valuable information.
Particularly the comment about focusing on just one keyword and what keyword would you choose?
I also like Eddy’s tip mentioned above about can using Yahoo Explorer to check out potential back link providers.
Happily Retired in Ajijic, Mexico,
Sue Weiss Casa Preciosa, Ajijic Mexico www.casapreciosaajijic.com
Very interesting piece. Link building is such a time unfriendly process, its good to be building links that might actually work, with this guidance.
Thanks again for a great article which reinforces the message which I first really learned on the Wordtracker SEO course.
A very good article on an essential aspect of SEO and internet marketing. This work often feels like an enormous task, but Eric gives good ideas to get you started... and long you may continue.
Great post and interview!
Loads of gems. It seems it always comes down to the basics of publish quality content first and then links will come.
I loved the part of "Ward believes that everyone should pretend once in a while that they work for Google, their role being to make sure search results are good for their particular industry.". I don't think enough people do this.
Also, Great tip and strategy: “Then I'd target the specific coastal towns where I know boating is a big activity - like Miami, Tampa or Boston. What location-specific websites could I target? Then I'd make a deduction that in these towns their libraries – and their websites – will have some kind of special section on boating and sailing. Could I get listed there?
“Google likes trustworthy and useful websites like libraries. It knows that a library website would only link to another site if it thought it was a useful and good source of information.”
I never thought of this one. I love when I get a new link building strategy that is solid.
So glad to know that unique and original content still has a value. Thank you for this article to supporting good information. Just now learning the link building process to improve readership.
Interesting article, I like the way he describes finding link partners and links from those types of sites would definitely be higher quality than the usual directory submission type links.
On a slightly ironic note, I hope all the people who've left comments above mine with links back to their sites using keywords like 'SEO', realised that links from this page are all 'nofollow' :p
Rich
Very good article. Many people think about link building (and SEO in general) in quite linear terms (I certainly did) but this article adds weight to the theory of thinking well beyond the obvious boundaries of your website's main menu pages. By just doing that there's a real danger you can get stuck on the train tracks just heading in one direction.
This has been a great pointer helping to take those blinkers off to think in a more rounded fashion about peripheral content considerations and their subsequent link opportunities. Of course, it requires work but like anything in life you get out of it what you put into it. There are no shortcuts but covering the right tracks will ensure you reach the right destinations! The library analogy is a great example.
Reading this is a bit humbling, because you realize that all of the link building efforts in the world will do no good unless people like what they see when they get to your website. I think far too often my time is spent promoting my website, rather than working on it. I will change my methods now!
Link Building? Last time I was exposed to Eric, he was the father of CSS.
Whatever though, this some good info. Rather basic, but I suppose that's the name of the game these days. Not too often one gets really advanced link-building techniques.
Who's gonna give away their secret sauce?
Christian seoshed.com
Thank you for this comprehensive link building article. It is very useful for all of us.
What I take away from this is something we all should have known all along. It takes work. There are no shortcuts. It takes great content and it takes the effort to find quality sites who can benefit from that content and simply let them know about it. If it's truly great content, they'll happily link to it.
Thanks for the great article. I really like what you said about putting yourself in google's shoes. I try to think that way as much as possible and it helps me determine many things. For example, when I write an article, I usually only submit it to one or two of the best article submission sites. I do not submit it to dozens of sites because I know that all that duplicate content is not bringing any value to the search results, and if google doesnt already penalize for that, I am sure that they will in the future. Thanks for the great info.
He only talked about inbound links. He forgot to mention internal linking?
But very good article. Something for beginners to start off on.
Thank you so much for this valuable article. It's often difficult to find websites in my markets that are willing to give me one-way links. I hear it over and over---learn your niche and create valuable content. This article helps to wear that groove a little deeper and help me realize clearer that I must become an expert in my niches so that I can write or partner with an expert who can provide content for me.
I am really impressed by the valuable information in the above article. Loads of good stuff!
However, putting it all into practice is easier said than done for the amateurs amongst us.
Quality links improves SE ranking, great but my ranking with MSN is very poor and I can't understand where I've gone wrong and don't know how to improve things. Anybody out know the reason?
I run the country's most popular source for crime and justice radio and television shows at http://media.csosa.gov, yet I still do not know how to define a link. Does it have to be in your blogroll (Wordpress)for it to count? Is mention in a national publication of something you have to offer a "true" link? Thanks, Len.
I only added a comment to get a link back to my site but I appear to be the only one honest enough to say it. To me that's unique content.
Great info. Right on the money.;^)
Awesome information Rachelle! I've often wondered why link building was so important; now I know.
Keep up the great content!
SHOCK
I really enjoyed this article and Eric's suggestions. These are subjects that I've been discussing with my bosses. We'll have a better direction now.
Great article,
There are some points that you already guessed and even done when you right articles, but when it comes from an authority, you know that you should take it more seriously.
RedEvo: stick to "THE" way is my advice too. This morning a client I worked for in the summer telephoned me. In the summer he was being beaten by a spammer with five sites and a link farm network but the spammer's sites have now been removed by Google. My client's site now sits top of Google's pages for many targeted keywords and profits are up :)
Pete: hiya, hope you're well :)
Len: a link can be anywhere. By "true" link I think you mean a valuable link. A link can be valuable if it brings good traffic or it might help your SEO, directly or indirectly. 'Directly' because Google values it; 'indirectly' because others see the link and reuse it in a way that G does value. If that's all too complicated, just build quality content and let others no about it without being too annoying.
David: I'm only leaving your comment up because it contains the words 'link' and 'unique content' ;)
Great article. I've been telling our own customers the same thing: let's make a site useful with content that people will actually benefit from. Drop the "We are great, we offer superior customer service and quality, blah, blah", People so tune that out. In the other hand, if you focus more on giving your visitors handy and useful information, people will inevitably link to your site sooner or later.
Hi Rachelle Money,
Thanks for the great post. Eric Ward: thanks for sharing the information.
I can see couple of things I can take away from this article.
Thanks
Great article but like dieting some things are easy to say but hard to do! If what Eric is saying is that it is the business owner himself who is best placed to write these articles then if you are in a competitive industry how many are you really going to need? SME's have little enough time to do anything other than keep the business going! Is Google going to become the home for big businesses who can employ people to do this or very small businesses that have the time. The SME needs a different solution?
I think it's important to remember that website owners have a responsibility to provide good quality content for their pages, and that includes adding valued links to other sites that have relevant content.
I think its important. But some another way to improve your link building.
I think link building is not simple to create. pls show the way where we create the links and techniques which u used. thanks
Eric and Rachelle, thanks for those excellent link building tips.
At least those were different and long lasting from what most people recommend.
I really respect Eric Ward for his no-nonsense approach to link building over the years, but sometimes, I feel the top search engine experts don't tell the whole truth about link building.
Has this hoarding of the "whole truth and nothing but the truth" got something to do with being unique in their approach?
I recently picked the brains of another SEO expert consultant recently, he just fluffed and fluffed on theories and when it came to the practicalities, the reality was short of the theories he had been blabbing. This does not mean that Eric's tip are not useful, but sticking to just these will not get you into top 10 in a competitive environment.
Now that's the absolute truth! Challenge it if you can!
This is an excellent article. I have just really caught on to the various ways of building links. My pages are shooting straight to the top fo some of the keywords that I have been focusing on. Thanks for sharing such wisdom concerning building links and ranking high
The first line of this article is totally misleading... "You need to actively build links if you want to improve your traffic and get high search engine rankings" - this statement only applies to highly competitive keyword sectors. Primarily to get a high search engine ranking you dont need to spend hours on link building, a well thought out, optimized website with good content can get you a top ranking.
I thought Earnest Hemmingway was dead?
I look forward to implementing the points in the article. Link building for my niche is tricky. The knowledge in the market is first rate, so naturally my objective is to mirror that and follow the strategy.
I'm looking forward to recommending this link building article to all my people struggling to increase webtraffic. Great article.
Thank you! Thank you!.....for another great article! I look for these articles to arrive in my email. There is so much great information. I read the article, then I read the comments made by others. I like Eric's comment about not helping a client who isn't willing to learn the techniques for themselves. Articles like these are doing just that.
Great article! Common sense stuff that reminds me to stick to getting quality links from quality sites. I like to know I'm on the right path.
What an excellent lesson from Eric.
We have to nominate this post for a Semmy. The only thing I can think of adding is that your existing friends and your clients friends and relatives can hide wealth of easy backlinks cause everyone has a some sort of site these days.
Thanks for the advice, starting late in the game, but you know the saying...
Great information here, link building requires a lot of strategic thought and should not be forgotten!
I liken it to starting a brick and mortar store or new business where no one knows who you are or what your are good at. In my view the timeline to get a site indexed and getting good results is at least a year when you consider the job at hand getting other sites to link to you. There are also sites you need to pay to get quality links from.
Quality link building is an investment in time and good old fashioned hard work before you start to see good results.
Thanks for the information. I'm just starting out and it was very valuable.
Thanks for the good interview with Eric!!
Eric Ward is THE man to listen to when it comes to search engine link building. He won't give away all of his secrets, but why should he? The elements he does talk about are well worth taking note of and implementing.
Thank you Eric. For a newbie, this is timely information. I consider myself a newbie because for many years I stood in the shadows, watching the internet unfold and evolve, personalities also, but was not actually in the game. I spent way too much money and time without learning the basics. And when I say basics, it means BASIC information the so-called "gurus" should have imparted to me for the money spent. It doesn't matter to me a bit what anyone here may say, but this interview, to me, is what the internet should be about.
I often check my competitors for the various keywords I am targeting, and frequently those at the top are using spammy link building and/or meaningless pages on their own sites. Perhaps the time will come when only value added links will count, as in Eric Ward's technique above, but we're not quite there yet. However, I do agree that anyone who wants to build long term SEO success is probably wise to stick to solid links. And yet, the success of those who do otherwise sure is tempting...
Daren: Earlier this year a client was being beaten my a firm with 4 or 5 websites on the front page for many top keywords - supported by obvious link networks.. The client and I stuck to Google-approved methods. The cheating websites have since been removed and my client's site has shot up the rankings, followed by sales figures.
Thank you for this great information and encouragement. I think Eric's success is proof enough that approved methods and creating real, useful content works very well in the long run. Sometimes, it's tempting to try for quick gains, but solid ranking in the long run is what will contribute to a sustainable business model.
Eric is clearly a brand name in the link building industry, but to be honest everything I ever read from him is pretty light on 'in the field techniques'. Always seems to be a lot of beating around the bush without ever really getting anywhere.
A lot of what is said here is applicable to small(er) industries but in reality they are much harder to implement in the tougher more competitive ones. You can defintely find many other knowledgable link builders who share a hell of a lot more online... sorry to disagree with most, but just being honest!
First, I admit that Eric Ward is considered the best in link building. But is he really the "father of link building"?
I think Jerry Yang and David Filo who started Yahoo! directory by linking to useful websites deserve that title of "father of link building" more than Eric Ward.
Singapore SEO: Interesting point. I guess it depends what you mean by 'link building' and 'father'. Yahoo Directories outbound link building is significantly different to Eric's inbound. It's easy get literal with the use of 'father' too. It is a metaphor used to portray an impression.
Matan Media: I think it's up to Eric how much 'secret sauce' he gives away. He certainly has no obligation to tell us everything. Would you? And it is up to us if we find him interesting, inspiring and want to read more. I do :)
I know a lot SEO agencies openly say that in competitive markets they need to buy links. Personally I think that high competition makes Eric's quality-first approach more important.
I just read "Internet Marketing Heroes" in which Eric Ward is one of them being featured. As I am looking for the strategy to get links to my newly launch site, this info/interview is very valuable and gives more details on link building, complementing the book that I just read.
Thank you
Ken McGaffin's presentation at OPP Live 08 was instrumental in leading us to this site. It will be very helpful thank you in our journey towards improving our company's online profile.
Great ideas and very clearly explained
I am starting now to do exactly what you suggested and will let you know the results
Susie Roommate Finders www.roommatefinders.net
I am new to the SEO world and am making a transition from advertising copy writing to "link-building". I can actually feel the passion Eric has for his job,I had it for copy writing and am hoping to develop it for my new occupation. I think the real reason for his success is his passion for what he's doing. The clients can always sense it, and I suspect the targeted link sources can too.
It was a great read, on this slow work day.I'm now ready to go and build some worthy links.
Nice article Rachelle, Eric is indeed an expert and always give great advice