April 6th, 2010

Microsoft’s Bing Search Engine recently published information about building back links to your site. It discusses how Bing handles inbound or “back” links. Their suggestions also apply to other search engines such as Google, Yahoo, etc. I have summarized the main points here for you.

The Bing search engineers are adamant that link building is important and here is what they have to say:

“Link building is a very important form of self-promotion on the Web. You contact webmasters of other, related websites and let them know your site exists. If the value that you have worked so hard to instill in your site is evident to them, they will assist their own customers by linking back to your site. That, my friend, is the essence of link building.”

“Think of link building as your chance to build your reputation on the Web.

As your website is likely one of your business’ most valuable assets,
consider link building to be a primary business-building exercise.”

“Just don’t make the mistake of believing it will result in instant gratification. Successful link building efforts require a long-term commitment, not an overnight or turnkey solution. You need to continually invest in link building efforts with creativity and time. Good things come to those who wait (and work smartly!).”

Bing also recognizes that reciprocal linking (two-way linking) is good. For instance, when we develop your website, we automatically put a link to it from our 247highway.com website. Because 247highway has a page ranking of 3-4, some of this good “link juice” is carried over to your website. You also have a link on your website back to 247highway – so some of your “link juice” is fed back to 247highway.com. That is the basics of a reciprocal link. It is always good to get a link back from another website which has a higher PR ranking than your own.

Here are some recommendations and suggestions from Bing to get good links back to your website:

• You should develop your website as a brand and brand it consistently. People like to link to high quality websites.
• You should find relevant blogs, industry websites and product reviewers and make them aware of your website.
• You can publish concise and informative press releases online.
• You can publish expert articles in article directories.
• You can participate in relevant conversations on blogs and forums and add a link to your website when applicable.
• You can use social networks to connect to industry influencers. Your profiles should contain links to your website.
• You can use email newsletters to notify people about new content on your website.
• You can launch a blog or a forum on your website.
• You can participate in relevant industry associations and their online forums.
• You should strive to become a trusted expert voice for your industry while promoting your website.

You have to be intelligent about where you get your back links from – not all websites are seen as “good and reputable”. Just like Yahoo, Google and other major search engines, Bing doesn’t like to be cheated. If they detect “unnatural linking patterns”, your website might be penalized.

The following things can trigger search engine warnings:

• Your website gets a lot of additional inbound links a very short time – more than 50 a day.
• Many links that point to your website are from unrelated websites or blog comments. This is a BIGGIE.
• Your web pages contain hidden links to other websites.
• You get links from what are known as “link farms” or automated link exchange systems. NEVER EVER do this – it is certain death to your website.
• Paid links point to your website – you are paying someone to link back to you.
• Known spamming websites that link back to your website – always make sure that a website has some sort of PR ranking before asking for a reciprocal or back link. If they have a ranking it is usually an indication that the website is okay.
• Your website links to known spammers. Only choose good websites with a ranking.

This is what Bing does when they find suspicious information that is related to your website:

“When probable manipulation is detected, a spam rank factor is applied to a site, depending upon the type and severity of the infraction. If the spam rating is high, a site can be penalized with a lowered rank. If the violations are egregious, a site can be temporarily or even permanently purged from the index.”

The Bing search engineers also have this to say: “Make no mistake: getting legitimate and highly valuable, inbound links is not a couch-potato task.”

Getting inbound links definitely requires consistent work. Realistically, you should aim for two links per week – then you will build up invaluable “link juice” over time and, more importantly, more traffic for your website. Our 247highway has many articles and ideas to help you get inbound links.

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Tags: inbound links, link building, reciprocal links, SEM, SEO

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