Getting Perfect Inbound Links

Inbound links worry my customers. I hear the same questions over and over again:

I need links. What is a quality inbound link? And how do I get them? And why is it so hard to do?.

And my answer to you is: If it were easy, I would be a rich woman by now.

Getting high quality links is hard work, and that's why Google values quality links so highly.

My advice to you always is to get a few perfectly formed links, which are infinitely more valuable than a bunch of rubbish links.

Here's my Top 10 Tips for good quality links:

1. Is the website in your topical community, that is to say, is it related to what you do?
2. Is it an authoritative or trusted site on your subject matter?
3. What other pages does this site link to? Is it linking to other high quality sites?
   
4. Is it clear that the sites they are linking out to are vetted and evaluated, not just machine generated?
   
5. Are the links mixed in with other "real" text and copy? Or is it just a list of random links?
6. Who links into the site? Does it have a zillion spammy links coming into it, which might artificially inflate its Page Rank?
7. How old is the site? Older is better, trust me.
8. Who owns the site? Does this person have lots of other sites, probably all developed for the purpose of playing the links game? Bad news, that.
9. Are they requiring reciprocal links? Stay away, unless it is a powerful site.
10. Beware buying links. A few high quality strategic purchases will kick start your linking, but penalties may arise if you buy too many.

And of course, do your research, check out your competitors' links and keep your eyes open for linking opportunities.