The UV SEO Series – Part Seven – Backlink Sources
In part one of "The UV SEO Series", I introduced the series. In part two, I wrote about having one website address. In part three, I wrote about internal linking strategies. In part four, I emphasized meta descriptions and meta tags. In part five, I introduced keywords, keyword density and keyword placement ideas. I began with offsite SEO in part 6 with the backlink format. Although I could continue this series forever, I'm going to conclude it today with backlink sources. I plan to start the next and subsequent series with narrowly focused topics.
The Great and Powerful (or maybe not) DMOZ
In an act of providence, I received a comment from Ed Coyne of Angelo PC yesterday on a post that's nearly a year old. He said, "I don't know why, but I just can't seem to get a listing at DMOZ approved…"
While DMOZ seems to carry some weight with Google, I don't consider getting listed there as a worthwhile pursuit anymore. My site was listed as personal blog back in 2006 after a few months of waiting, but it's obviously no longer a personal site. There is no way I'm going to try to get it changed. Each category is handled by volunteer editors and some categories don't have any editors assigned at all. It could take months, even years, to get listed in the right category.
I have a better idea. Let someone, anyone, create another directory with better management. Make the listing exports free to anyone. To make it even better, set it up with AdSense or something and let each human editor monetize the areas they're responsible for. They can still be volunteer editors, but this way they'll get paid for the effort and have an incentive to actually keep it up-to-date.
There are way too many sources of good backlinks to worry about DMOZ. And that's my final answer.
Comments
Comments are always a good source of backlinks and it doesn't matter if they're "nofollow" or "dofollow" links. Yahoo, MSN and others seem to ignore that attribute while Google doesn't. It makes me think that "nofollow" was created specifically for Google.
Nevertheless, if you want your comment links to carry any weight at all with Google, they need to be made on a site where the comments have that attribute removed, effectively making them "dofollow". I have a list, which isn't that long considering how many blogs are out there, of some of the blogs that have the attribute of "nofollow" removed called the "Do Follow, CommentLuv and KeywordLuv Blog List". The list is far from complete and requires a large chunk of time each time I add to it, so I don't add to it too often. I check each and every one to make sure they are exactly what they advertise to be.
Using comments to build backlinks are fine, as long as you're contributing to the conversation. All blog owners have the ability to delete comments and many will if they consider your comments to be nothing more than comment spam.
In addition to "dofollow", many blogs are using two WordPress plugins to make commenting even more beneficial: CommentLuv and KeywordLuv (I can oh so smugly add that I was the guy who inspired KeywordLuv.)
What if a blog is "dofollow", but the blog owner isn't using KeywordLuv and doesn't allow keywords in place of author names? Try using something like this: RT Cunningham | Philippines Nursing School. The keyword is added along with the name. I, like most blog owners, like to know who I'm dealing with. I'm sorry, but just Philippines Nursing School wouldn't tell me who you are. I'm more likely to allow an "iffy" comment to remain if there's a name attached somehow. Keyword-only comment authors tend to piss off most site owners and even I, as liberal as I am with comments, get torqued by some of the inane comments I have to wade through.
Bookmarking Sites
There are some good bookmarking sites that are not "nofollow". Feel free to bookmark any or all posts from this blog (or your blog) at these sites (the list is much longer, but I haven't confirmed my own list yet):
- backflip.com
- bibsonomy.com (be sure to make your bookmarks public)
- furl.net
- ma.gnolia.com
- rawsugar.com
- spurl.net
- mister-wong.com
- spotback.com
I'll stop right there. I'll have to go through my own list and confirm them all. If and when I get it done, I'll create a page where people can tell me about more that I can add to the list.
Social Sites
While StumbleUpon is used primarily for traffic and the links are "nofollow", they still appear to carry weight with Google. Don't ask me why because I really don't know. Do NOT stumble your own posts. Have a friend do it for you or you risk getting labeled as a spammer. Here's a list of some of the other sites I submit my own posts to:
- bloggingzoom.com
- digg.com
- propeller.com
- stumpedia.com
I know, it's a short list, but it's a very effective list. Remember, I'm not looking for traffic with these, I'm looking for backlinks, and it doesn't matter if they're "dofollow" or "nofollow".
Other Sources
There are always other sources and I can't even begin to scratch the surface. You'll notice I didn't mention sites that would boost PageRank or anything like that and the reason is simple. PageRank is an over-debated topic and how much it has to do with link authority is still undetermined.
Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed this series. It was about three parts longer than I anticipated. As I said earlier, the next SEO series will be narrowly focused. I'm way behind on my other projects, so I can't say when I'll start on the next series concerning SEO.
Similar Posts:
I am new to your site, but have found alot of your information very educational. I have been trying to get a link on DMOZ for a week or so now and have been unable to. After reading this post I will now have other avenue's to explore. Thanks!
I've noticed that relevant backlinks are hard to find, but if you get one, you see an immediate rise in traffic. And sometimes, that traffic is sustained over a longer period of time than if you got a backlink from a random source without much relevance.
My latest blog post: Prominent Pro-Wrestling group trademarks "Terrorist"
That's because backlinks are weighted by relevancy. When backlinks have no text surrounding them, like in a link directory, they carry the lowest weight because relevancy can't be determined — unless the link directory itself is relevant.
I really do appreciate this series. I have printed it out and I am keeping it as an SEO source.
Thanks for your work and sharing your expertise.
I hope the next series I do can be as informative. I don't want to publish opinion as fact if I can help it.
It's been a great series, I am learning a lot. Mostly that I have a lot to learn!
I was looking at some of the links in my Google Webmaster tools and I noticed a couple of external links that it cataloged were coming from sites where I made comments that did have nofollow. So I wonder if Google doesn't count those links why does it show in my external links in Google Webmaster Tools?
My latest blog post: Why Doesn’t Peter Answer Me?
It's odd, I agree. I found that if someone else (like a comment spammer) references the comment link, then Google treats it like "dofollow".
Great series, RT. I'll be back again and again. Since I started using Headspace 2 and your tips I've climbed SERPS for some decent keywords.
My latest blog post: guangzhou dawn
I'm glad it works for you, Stevo. SEO is tough nut to crack at first, but gets easier as you learn what works and what doesn't.
Hi
Yes thanks for the series.
I have been trying to get into DMOZ for years without success. I am pretty sure Google has made these links let important anyhow.
regarding others making a directory like DMOZ – I think it is every wannabe directory owners dream but its never going to happen. Directories are pretty much dead for link building and traffic in my opinion.
A lot of people disagree about directories being dead and useless. You can buy a program called Directory Submitter which helps speed up the directory submission process. There are over 3000 directories listed in it.
One benefit is you get to choose the category and keywords, making your link more relevant (as RT wrote previously)
My latest blog post: South of the 49th Parallel
Here's a custom Google search for sites that use commentluv – Dofollow Comment Diver Simply place your search phrase in front of 'more:comment_luv'. Hope that helps.
Hey RT, just caught up with your whole series. Excellent information all-around. There are plenty of things I have 'read' but not 'learnt' and it was a nice refresher. I have seen the same with some Stumbled posts carrying more weight with Google. Look forward to more..
"While StumbleUpon is used primarily for traffic and the links are "nofollow", they still appear to carry weight with Google." Does this only work with StumbleUpon or does it work with the others as well?
I don't know. SU was the only source I noticed.
Brett, from the info I've picked up it would seem that Google also pays a lot of attention to Digg in particular, how users vote on the linked artilces.
Hope that helps.
My latest blog post: Vodafone Mobile Phone Deals
Yahoo has just made their Buzz (digg type thing) open to every one. another social voting site.
My latest blog post: Green Tomato and Wasabi Ice Cream Recipe
I saw that, but I haven't been over to check it out.
You know I have that list from somewhere else where you have listed all that "do follow" blogs. Perhaps I have more than 1000 links which I still have to scrutinize and it is the biggest pain. I had 50 bookmarking sites, Damn it, It grows to more than 150 now. I think all such resources are growing with speed of light and we shall have to work hard to explore everything.
This was a very interesting read.
The list of social bookmarking sites was really good, I use some of them myself. Yeah and backlinks is the right way to move forward.
My latest blog post: Wordpress SEO Plugins
Really interesting list of bookmarking sites, I have not come across them and I guess now this can be very useful for me as I have found new places to generate traffic.
Bloggingzoom.com is a great site too.
RT,
Great info. I'll definitely keep DMOZ on the far back burner. I appreciate the link, also.
Ed
My latest blog post: San Angelo Now Has It's Very Own Blog Portal!
Very interesting and informative article, thanks for the links, i have bookmarked all of them. Cheers
Backlinks are so important to help you get a better link. The part one of the UV SEO Series was really commendable, hopefully this one will be also good. Cheers
Backlinks are of absolute value, its a good way of making you achieve a better rank in search results. Im glad im using SEO.
Helpful post, thank you.
Getting DMOZ listings appears to be a matter of chance nowadays, I've waited over a year for approval in the past..
The simple solution is to make sure your website always points to the correct locations. The most popular website software packages either have this feature built in or the feature can be enabled with various plugins or add-ons. There are two other ways: The .htaccess file for web servers that support it or a simple PHP script.
My latest blog post: know this song? lyrics are: ‘you say you gonna let go you say you gonna leave me’ dance/hip hop ish please?