Author: Debbie Everson

Search engine optimization consists mainly of on page activity and off page optimization. Building backlinks is a part of off page optimization strategy. High quality backlinks have the potential to improve a website's ranking in the SERPs.

Backlinks Are Considered Valuable When They:

a. are do follow
b. contain the appropriate anchor text,
c. are deep linked to the relevant inner pages,
d. are linked from high PR niche websites

5 Tips for Building Valuable Backlinks:

1. Perform A Competitive Intelligence Analysis.

Competitive intelligence analysis allows you to scrutinize the competitor's backlinks and their link profiles. Run a Google search for your target keyword and list the top 20 competitors. Capitalize on the Yahoo! Search Explorer tool to determine the backlinks for each of the top competing websites. Use an Excel spreadsheet to make a list of all the backlink providing websites.

The next step is to shortlist the do follow websites from the list. Arrange them in the descending order of their PR. At the end of this procedure, you will have a list of highly valuable do follow websites to link from.

2. Submit URLs to Search Directories.

Search directories are of two types: general and niche directories. Backlinks from niche directories are normally considered more valuable than the backlinks from general directories. Most of the search directories take months to process your linking request. There are some directories which link back within a few days.

Websites which build a high number of backlinks in a few days are looked upon suspiciously by Google. The best way to build backlinks is over a period of time to avoid getting tagged as a link spammer. Submitting a website's URL to directories is a time consuming task but provides great results at the end.

3. Submit Articles to Article Directories.

Submitting Articles to article directories is a very popular approach to link building. Most of the article directories allow you to include a link in the article. You can also add a link to the author description of the article with appropriate anchor text. Article directories are known to rank well in the search engine ranking pages.

An added benefit of submitting to article directories is the traffic it drives to your website. There are a large number of high quality article directories which accept free article submission. Simply sign up, verify your account and start submitting articles.

4. Post in Forums.

Forums initially served as a means of conversing and solving queries. Today forums are also used to obtain valuable backlinks to your website. A majority of forums allow a signature link at the bottom of every post. This signature link is a do-follow link. You can select the desired anchor text and link to any important inner page of your website.

There are a few forums which allow you to enter more than one signature link. Just remember to participate in the conversation, ask questions and answer those of others.

5. Create Link Bait.

Link bait involves creating compelling content on the website which makes others link to it. You should write frequently and consistently to develop a following. Keep tab on the latest happenings and news in your niche; be among the first few to break the news online.

To create that perfect link bait, your articles should contain news, updates, a controversial topic or even some great resources. Keep the information quotient of your articles high and watch the link baits pour in.

If you want other websites and blogs to link to you, double check who you are linking to. Don't be in a rush to get backlinks. A handful of good quality and authoritative backlinks are worth more than a hundred low quality, low PR backlinks.

About the Author:
Debbie A. Everson is the CEO of SearchMar.com, experienced SEO Consultants and Search Engine Optimization Agency to over 2,000 small businesses. Read my SEO Blog for hints and tips. Follow me on Twitter[at]searchmar. Call 1.866.885.6263 to speak to one of our SEO Consultants and receive your free consultatíon. "