My Blog Search List (For Commenting)
Don’t mind this post. I’m not a big fan of blogging about blog commenting. I just wanted to list the ways that I find blogs so that it can be easily accessible when doing a little link building (blog commenting).
But for my buddies that do read my blog, this is for you;…
Here are a list of ways to find blogs to comment on. This list mainly focuses on NoFollow blogs, but blogs that follow their comments are not the only blogs to comment on. Just because the link isn’t followed doesn’t make it worthless in the overall picture of link building. I myself prefer links that are followed, but links that generate traffic and that are recognized by Yahoo site explorer, or links that are on pages highly relevant to your site can be just as valuable.
ALSO, nofollow blog commenting can help PageRank but it shouldn’t be the only way you build links. The search engines need to see a variety of links pointing to your site. I look at it this way, what are the easiest ways to get links? Blog commenting, directory submitting and automated reciprocal linking. Don’t you think Google knows that?
I must admit, blog commenting is one of the top ways to jump start your link building and site promotion campaign though.
So here’s the list…
DoFollow Blog Search Engines
This is a list of sites that have search engines (usually Google made) that only searches sites within their index and these sites are all “DoFollow” blogs.
http://www.creativecaravan.co.uk/dofollow-blog-search.asp
http://rishabhsood.net/do-follow-blog-search-engine/
http://www.inlineseo.com/dofollowdiver/
http://dofollow.radpixels.com/
Popular Blog Search Engines
These search engines are great for finding blogs that are frequently crawled, popular or surrounded by buzz. NoFollows and No NoFollows.
http://www.bloglines.com/search
http://www.mybloglog.com/buzz/members/JameSEO/
Blog Search Operators
intitle:blog inurl:tag OR new york
I no longer recommend blog commenting for any reason. Just email the blogger.
I would like to thank you for taking the time to read my SEO blog. I really do appreciate it. You can read another related post (found below) or subscribe here. Once again, thank you for visiting James’ SEO blog.
Read MoreA Few Backlink Factors I Tend to Think About
We all can agree that it’s not who has the most links that wins the race, it’s who has best variety of links. Who gave you those links, when did they give you those links and what do those links say about you are factors that really matter when building links to your site.
Who: The link provider should be authority and top ranking sites (.govs, .edu, alexa top 50′s, etc.)
When: let’s just say the older the link, the better.
What: What they have to say about you is arguably the deciding factor.
However, when building links, I like to think that each link has 100′s and 1,000′s of factors. Since I don’t know all of these factors I start to make up ones in my head or try to tie them together. Here are some things I like to consider when building links:
How old is the page your link is on? How old is your link on that Page? How old is that link compared to page’s age? Was that link there as an originally reference since the page’s creation or was this link added later on? Has the anchor text of that link changed from its original text? Does that link move around on the page? Was that link placed there around the same time your web site was created? What’s the value (PR & Trust) of that site?
These factors are some of the reasons why SEO’s buy aged domains. Besides having a domain that is aged, it’s awesome to have an aged domain with links as old as the domain. The oldest SEO trick for this situation is to find expired or inactive domains in DMOZ. They’re already in the directory and have old links. You can also participate in an aged domain auction.
OLD LINKS ARE GOOD! Especially if the anchor text and placement has never changed and that page linking to you does well in the SERP’s or still accumulates links.
Example: My buddy bought a .ws domain 4 years ago and created a blogspot (before it was Google’s) to go with it. He wrote a few posts in that blog and linked back to his site. The site has been inactive since. However to this day, his site is still on the 1st page of Google for ‘learn guitar quick’ this is all because he created a ‘learn guitar quick’ backlink on his learn guitar quick blog, 4 years ago! We also found out that when he bought that site it was just after the previous webmaster stopped paying for that domain. That webmaster also had a link 2 years prior from a friend’s blog doing the same thing. Besides that, the site has been steadily picking up links since its original creation. My buddy lucked out on that domain (I just wish he would do something with it). Based on experimenting and comparing 2 other guitar sites with that one, I can honestly say that I feel age of domain, age of links and age of the page your backlink is on plays a far more important role in ranking than the amount of links you have.
More Backlink Factors…
Is the web site linking to you relevant to your site? Do they have a similar title tag? Does their meta’s match their link pointing you? Does your title tag agree with that backlink? Is that site already ranking for the term in the anchor text of that backlink? Are there any sites linking to that page similar to yours? Is that site linking to other sites competing with you? Here’s a way to address this;
- Go to Google and search related:yoursite.com. Google will display all the sites they feel relate to your site.
- Try to get a link from all those sites.
- Go back to Google, and see who is #1 for your targeted term.
- Now search related:competitorsite.com. Google will display all the sites they feel relates to your competitors. (guaranteed they are different than your relationships)
- Now search link:competitorsite.com in Google then Yahoo! and you’ll see why Google feels they have a different relationship with your targeted terms than you.
How many other backlinks are they sharing that pagerank and traffic with?
That’s just another factor I try to think about. Most of the time, the only time I want to share pages with other links is if the competitor is already on that page or if I can get higher placement to get crawled first by the spiders. That brings us to another factor. Is that link there for traffic purposes of for PR? If it’s not for the 1st reason, then your priorities aren’t straight. What kind of traffic is that link sending? Is it traffic than can possibly convert? Or is it traffic that could actually hurt your overall site stats?
We know Google is smart right? The spiders can read code, right? Right. They can read how many links share a <div> (divider section), they know based on css and line #’s how big and where your link is located on the page .The bots know the difference between sidebars, footers, and areas of the page filled with relevant content. They can tell how the webmaster feels about your link compared to other links on that site. They can tell if your link is there to add value and draw visitors or not.
Another factor I always think about is sitewide links. Do they all matter? But, I’ll have to discuss that another time, that’s a whole other story. Just consider sitewide links individually, as a whole and if they represent authority, affiliation and/or relevance.
Well, that’s all my link rambling for now. I just gave myself some other ideas I’m about to go practice elsewhere. Hope this information sparked some ideas for your link building campaign.
Just remember; Content is King. Good content will develop links you couldn’t even imagine. Press Releasers, creative writers and article copywriters are probably far better link builders than most SEO’s. But sometimes a professional link builder is what you need to get that content found. (or in seriously competitive industries)
Read MoreLink Tunneling Explained – Link Building SEO
define:link tunneling
Get links from all the sites linking to your competitors and from all the sites linking to the sites linking to your competitors. Then if you can’t get links from your top competitors, seek to get links from all the sites your competitors are linking to … Link Tunneling.
Here is the JameSEO way of describing link tunneling…
The main point I’m trying to make is, if you can’t get links from the big boyz in your industry, try to get links from the sites they are linking to. SEO Chat has a great tool called the Site Link Analyzer. Use this tool to see who your competitors link to. You’ll be surprised how easy it is to get one from those sites.
Join the community…
Hope you enjoyed my definitions of link tunneling.
Read MoreGoogle Webmaster Guidelines and Link Building Pt.5
Part 5 of 5 – Google Webmaster Guidelings & Link Building
This is the final part of my link building strategies that follow the Google’s Webmaster Guidelines.
Bullet 5 in the Google Webmaster Guidelines states “submit your site to directories such as the Open Directory Project and Yahoo!, as well as other industry-specific expert sites.”
So Google states submit you site to directories “such as” ; meaning DMOZ & Yahoo! are just examples.
But you have to think, why would they suggest those two? Maybe they skim through those directories to help determine rankings. Since Google mentioned these directories, I will start off with them 1st.
Peter Kent said in Search Engine Optimization for Dummies
“One way the search engines are probably trying to do this sort of thing is by using the Open Directory Project directory to provide some context. Because web sites listed in the directory have been put into categories, it gives the search engines a starting point to figure out what keywords and sites relate to what categories.”
Then I will search for directories relating to my keyword in other directories within DMOZ & the Yahoo! Directory and add my links to them.
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Once you found your directory…
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Category – Make sure it’s in the perfect section or on the perfect page.
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Title – Keyword rich, similar to your website title.
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Description -Similar to site description & content on page. But unique from other listings.
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url – make sure page is placed on a permanent url page, not a dynamic or flash page.
Next I want to find good directories that will help me obtain links Google will recognize and find relevant to my site.
Search terms like
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“weddings” “directory” or marriage directories
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Link:www.competitorsite.com “directory”
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Intitle:guitar “directory”
Just remember when submitting a site, make sure your title compliments your title tag, your descriptions compliments your website description and theme, and that your keywords compliment your meta tags.
Remember to think alpha numeric order. If the listings are listed in alphabetical order, you might want to consider creating a title that will show up higher on the page than your competitors.
Also, make your listing keyword rich but at the same time, make it attractive so that listing can have a good click through rate.
This concludes my 5 pt series on Google Webmaster Guidelines & Link Building
Keep in mind all of these link building tips Google provides us with are located in the “When your site is ready” section. So before you get started, you must complete Google’s Design and Content Guidelines & Technical Guidelines.
Bookmark this site to check out my next series on Onpage SEO – Following Google’s Webmaster Technical Guidelines
Flickr SEO – Optimizing Your Flickr Account & Photos
Hey Guys,
(If you don’t know what Flickr is, please enjoy the video tour of Flickr located at the end of this blog.)
Here are a few tips to help your Flickr account rank well in search engines. Having a profile with a good portion of Flickr’s PR relevant to your website could definitely help your website gain higher rankings or generate more traffic through Flickr.
Suppose you have a website for your hotel in Barcelona. You have many pictures of your hotel. Now someone goes searching for “Barcelona photos”; Flickr’s Barcelona tagged page is on the first page of the search results. If you properly optimize your profile and photos, they could show up on the first set of results in Flickr & in the engines. This could be a great form of branding.
This will also be a good way to create topical link tunneling through a authority site.
Tips I Forgot to mention in the Flickr SEO Video:
Once again I am very new to this video producing, but I have to create videos to get some type of rankings in this highly competitive internet marketing world. So, bear with me once again.
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Your profile name (screen name) will be the name in the title tag, so choose wisely “I Love New York City”
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If you haven’t created an account yet, when you choose a username, pick one with your main target keyword in it, this will be in your profile’s URL address. http://www.flickr.com/people/newyorkjames/
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When writing your profile, some HTML is permitted. YES, you can bold your anchor texted <hx>’s and point them directly to a relevant site.
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I should have played with the map a little more and showed you how you could create a little store front advertisement of your business for free on the public Flickr map. (Maybe that’s what my next video will be about.)
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Also, you can give people testimonials with links that will show up on their main profile page.
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Sets & Collections should match your main website’s theme and architecture with links pointing accordingly.
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For the descriptions, write keyword rich descriptions surrounding links to your website.
Can you tell what this Flickr account is about???
Thanks UTechTips.com for the outstanding presentation!
Just remember; make sure you are positioned in the middle of your subject cloud.
I would like to thank you for taking the time to read my SEO blog. I really do appreciate it. You can read another related post (found below) or subscribe here. Once again, thank you for visiting James’ SEO blog.
Read More