I just wanted to ask and see how you guys get back links for yourselves as web designers, other than posting a link in the footer of a website you've built. I notice a lot of forums are nofollow now (even comments in wordpress blogs), so I'm left scratching my head about it *looks sadly at signature* . Your thoughts and input on this would be greatly appreciated - thank you in advance!

Edited December 20, 201312 yr by JMCDesigner

Posting a link on the footer on the website you have created may not be very helpful anymore as Google only seems to count the ones from content related websites. There are lots of articles out there that cover this, but I have to say this is also from my personal experience and tests I have performed for several members (those that target web design terms rather than SEO terms do much better).

 

Of course many SEO experts will disagree with this as it does not help their business not too!

 

I would say that getting a backlinks from a genuine high quality related website is incredibly difficult. Even if you exchange links with a competitor many will of course offer a backlink on a inner page with no content, which is of course useless as not only will it drive no traffic, but also not be counted as a content related web page due to the lack of content.

 

Suggestions which I could make, would be to work alongside other web design companies that maybe cover slightly different locations or areas of web design and link to each other from your homepages (however I'm guessing this will be a unpopular choice).

 

Join the Web Design Association, which actually do really well on Google for web design search terms (and I hate to say it even better than the directory).

 

Plus try submitting your website to www.awwwards.com and getting a link back from them or similar web design award sites.

 

Other than that you could try coming up with some great unique web design content and getting natural backlinks. This maybe really difficult to get backlinks, however if you prove that you can write top notch quality articles about your industry you may get a chance to become a guest blogger on a popular design blog website.

 

And of course it goes without saying, don't bother posting comments on blogging websites as it is more likely to do more harm than good!

Edited December 20, 201312 yr by neil0wen

Hi Neil,

 

Yeah I agree completely with the not putting my link on clients websites - I don't do that any more. I did actually check out the Web Design Association but even their directory links are nofollow. Creating good, unique content or website would work well for people in creative type of industries like myself but I'm not sure how that would be practical for a business in a fairly mundane sector which needed to have backlinks for a particular topic. I think the whole process of getting backlinks is a lot more difficult now, and I've only been able to concentrate on on-site seo really. You make a fair point about writing articles though, which I've been trying to do with my blog and it's just a case of getting those articles noticed!

Yep it is mega difficult. How about looking at some top design companies and seeing who they have gained web design backlinks from. If you use http://www.opensiteexplorer.org, and then click on linking domains you can see who they get a boost from. On site SEO is worth investing a lot of time, however to rank for the top terms you will never get there without those incredibly difficult but valuable backlinks.

 

Of course I know of one dofollow backlink that is incredibly effective

Link building is much easier these days because google is putting a lot more focus on other factors. Unless you want to rank for Viagra or car insurance, you don't need as many links as you think you might.

 

Get in touch with websites and see if you can write content for them. Guest blogging can be extremely powerful if you do it write. Big content with a lot of information will work wonders.

 

Footer links are still powerful. I work with a lot of large scale design companies that rank purely because of these footer links. If you have a pool of 2-300 clients that you can dip into you can rank for anything pretty much. Make it natural.

 

Set up a content plan. Write one article a week and one big article per month and push it out to influencers on social media. Email people within the industry and ask them what they think. They might link to it, or push it out to their people.

 

I think you really need to look at your link building plan if you still use blog comments though!

 

It's more about marketing a website now then it is actually going out to a directory and thinking "it looks **** but I can get a link".

Posting a link on the footer on the website you have created may not be very helpful anymore as Google only seems to count the ones from content related websites.

 

Relationship is more than just content keywords from the linking site; search engines can find connections if you hand them on a plate. For example what does http://www.pg.com/en_UK/ and http://chalcot.com/ have in common? If you know then you're on the right track.

Link building is much easier these days because google is putting a lot more focus on other factors. Unless you want to rank for Viagra or car insurance, you don't need as many links as you think you might.

 

Yep, link building is now taking the same route at content. Its more about quality than quantity. It always has been, but even more so nowadays, because the possibilities are fewer. If you get a decent website linking to yours then it is likely to have a more influence in the past.

Thanks for all your input folks. I certainly agree with the article writing bit, but I think that would be easier for some businesses over others. Realistically I don't think smaller businesses would have the time or inclination to write regular articles for their seo. There'd only be so many articles you could write about 'window cleaning' for example.

Edited December 23, 201312 yr by JMCDesigner

 

 

 

Of course I know of one dofollow backlink that is incredibly effective

 

GO on then I'll bite - what's that then?

So I've just checked out a competitors backlinks and they include links to college type websites, and they're also the cms builders for some local council website (.gov.uk). hmm... more tricky than I thought to get that gig... they to seem to have footer links to sites they've built so maybe that's where I'm going wrong?

Edited December 23, 201312 yr by JMCDesigner

So I've just checked out a competitors backlinks and they include links to college type websites, and they're also the cms builders for some local council website (.gov.uk). hmm... more tricky than I thought to get that gig... they to seem to have footer links to sites they've built so maybe that's where I'm going wrong?

 

.gov.uk is powerful, like .ac.uk and .sch.uk (an often overlooked extension). For your window cleaning service I would suggest suppliers ... sector reciprocal is ok, for example a car valeting company could hook up with car valeting products companies as one uses the other product. I have a car body shop linking with a body kit supplier via reciprocal. The best bit is sure it's a little link juice but they get 90+ visitors direct from the supplier as people buy kits needing them fitted. That's 90+ people thinking "I want a body shop to fit this new kit" so they already in need of the service ... plus around 20% of those actually turn into enquiries ... nuff said

Aye, .gov.uk are powerful indeed, which is why it's nigh impossible to get links on those kind of sites lol. I know what you mean about the reciprocal link thing though. Just need to frame it with my own site.

Aye, .gov.uk are powerful indeed, which is why it's nigh impossible to get links on those kind of sites lol. I know what you mean about the reciprocal link thing though. Just need to frame it with my own site.

Reciprocal links are two way linking scheme, Google do not appreciate such links in bulk . you need to try content marketing to get huge one way link backs to your site , Always monitor link backs with Google webmaster tool to filter bad links as well, It is very effective strategy.

Reciprocal links are two way linking scheme, Google do not appreciate such links in bulk .

 

That's right, but they still very effective if done with good cause and moderation. The point is you would be able to get much more relevant and powerful backlinks this way than any other way. Its just a case of being very choosey and getting those high quality backlinks that might actually generate decent traffic. It certainly does take fewer backlinks to make a difference, but you just have to make sure you get those links that actually count!

 

Content marketing is also a good way to go, but maybe difficult to achieve.

Instead of putting the link on the footer of every page, just put it in the About Us page of your client's website.

mm... Ask yourself what would you do if Google didn't exist these days. How would you get traffic to your site? First, make a list and next go for it.

 

Rinse and repeat.

Social media and its larger effects, of course!

Your question is very difficult and I have very less answers to say as you said many of the website are no nofollow attributes and yes it is. You said very well. Last few months ago matt cutts announced that all article, press release and guest posting would be nofollow and could be treated as kind of spamming. So these days SEO is becoming very difficult day by day.

Aahhhh....... come back to your point. To get the backlinks for your website is very difficult if the you want the backlinks from the relevant sites of your website. Their are some website that are still on dofollow attributes and you have submit the request or mail to add your company/business website to their website. If they like your website design, layout etc then they will approve your request and will send you mail that we have added your website successfully and if they don't then they will give you revert regarding this.

Thanks

My favourite way to find new link opportunities is to use Open Site Explorer and look at the Just Discovered section... Run a few competitors through it and you'll get to see what they're doing and mirror the best things!

Does anyone know of any good websites or forums for people looking for related websites to exchange links with? I don't want to use these ones that ask you to install their code or upload their files to your server. I used to use these to quite good effect