I recently deleted a comment that had it been submitted to the right blog would have been a great comment. Unfortunately, to me it was spam. So what made it a spam comment?

Here, I’ll let you judge it for yourself:

If you are looking for a way to change up your hairstyle very quickly and dramatically, you should consider African American hair extensions for an easy solution. You can choose to use single braids or clip on hairpieces to change the way that your hair looks Hair Extension Clips Hair extension clips.

If you don’t see the problem, let me spell it out for you. The comment is a great comment for a hairstyling blog, maybe an African-American culture blog, or something related to one of those two niches. Mine is a small business marketing blog, a completely different topic.

When you leave comments on blogs, try to find blogs that are within your niche and comment on them. If you do go outside your niche to leave a comment on a blog, at least comment on the content of the blog post you are addressing. I haven’t written any blog posts on this blog about African-American hairstyles. So the above comment was pure spam.

To top it off, the commenter sought to get an anchor text link by leaving a keyword phrase in the name field of their comment. That’s another sign of spam. Don’t do it.

If you leave these types of comments willy-nilly on blogs just to get a link back, then shame on you. Wise bloggers see through the ploy and will delete your comment. So you’re wasting your time. You’re much better off just not commenting at all.

When you go about your link building campaigns, do you bother yourself with ensuring your links are varied in nature? That is, do you use the same anchor text all the time or do you strive to create a more diverse link portfolio? The truth is most SEOs only use one primary keyword for their anchor text.

Link diversity means several things. It isn’t all about anchor text. That’s only one part of the equation. The key is to build a link portfolio that looks natural.

Here are some things to think about in your attempts to build a solid link portfolio:

• Use between 10-25 different anchor texts for each web page you are targeting.
• Build your links from a lot of different types of websites (directories, blogs, forums, etc.) within your niche.
• You can also add a few links from outside of your niche if they are natural links.
• Don’t target only high PageRank sites; to build a solid link portfolio, you need links from websites with a varying degree of authority.
• Make sure some of your anchor text targets long tail keyword phrases while others target general phrases within your niche.
• You can also throw in a few non-keyworded links such as “click here” and “go to” links as those represent a different type of call to action.
• Don’t just link to your home page. In fact, most of your inbound links should point to an internal page.

A good link portfolio is diverse. That means targeting different types of websites for your links as well as different anchor texts.

Veteran Internet marketer Debra Mastaler has an interesting post on how to obtain new links, a process she calls “link marketing” instead of link building, for your website today. If you look at the list, it’s really nothing new. In fact, she tells you as much before she dives in. But there was one thing that caught my eye about her list.

1. If you use directories in your linking efforts, replace the word “directory” with “document sharing site” and search on your keywords to find new submission sources. Consider submitting your content in various formats in addition to print.

In other words, instead of searching for directories to add your website to, search for document sharing sites and upload a .pdf or other document that will get you a backlink to your site.

I hadn’t thought of that, but document sharing is becoming the new directory submission. That’s not to say that directory listings won’t still work. They will, but document sharing is still new enough that the search engines haven’t been inundated with spam. Therefore, their algorithms are behind the curve. Rest assured, however, that document sharing sites will become like directory sites and be overly saturated with spam at some point.

I like what Debra says about being first. You don’t have to be creative with your link building efforts if you beat your competition to the tactic. In her own words again, she says:

It’s never been about what you do, it’s always been about where. Find fresh sources to use standard tactics and you’ll keep the links coming.

I couldn’t have said it better myself. Thanks, Debra, for a great tip!

If you are involved in any link building efforts at all – and you should be – then you’ll have to keep track of where you put your links and which ones are tracked by the search engines. I recommend a simple Excel spreadsheet for the former – or you could buy a bit of software that does it for you (if you really want to spend the money). But for keeping track of what the search engines consider inbound links, you have two options.

1. You can buy a program that monitors each search engine’s link count (which won’t be 100% accurate – especially for Bing and Google)
2. Or you can use a free link checker

There are link checkers online that are free. Of course, the free ones are no better at accurately counting the inbound links from Google and Bing than the paid ones are. That’s because these two search engines don’t report all their links. They prefer to keep that information secret.

Yahoo!, on the other hand, has always been open about letting website owners (and the whole world) know what it considers to be a good inbound link. You can find that information through Yahoo!s Site Explorer.

Site Explorer is free and allows you to get more than just inbound link information about your websites. And you can use it to explore link opportunities for your websites. It’s one of the world’s most valuable free tools.

There seems to be two major philosophies with regard to link building in the SEO realm. You have SEOs who believe that link building is the most important SEO activity. Then you have SEOs who believe that content development is more important. Of the latter type, there are SEOs who place varying degrees of importance on links.

So who’s right?

I’m on the side of the content development SEOs. It doesn’t do any good to build links to a web page with no content. On the other hand, you can rank a web page with outstanding content even if it has no inbound links. Granted, it is difficult, especially in firmly established niches where dominance has already been determined. It’s much easier, however, in niches that are brand new or where dominance has not been established.

When it comes to SEO and link building, it’s best to see content development and link building as two prongs of the same fork. You want your content to shine, both with regard to search engine optimization and with regard to human readership. Once you’ve built up some solid content, then you should engage in your link building efforts. Just be sure that you put your priorities on the right kinds of links.

Here’s a great interview with three professional link builders. The thing I find interesting about this interview is the repeated encouragement from Julie Joyce of Link Fish Media, Inc. to incorporate link buying into your marketing plan. She says point blank that link buying is absolutely necessary in an “ultra-competitive” niche.

In her own words:

I’m going to harp on paid links here but I do think it’s that all paid links are crap. Secondly, I’d say that it’s the idea that you can compete in an ultra-competitive niche without buying links. People say it’s possible but no one is willing to step up and point you to an actual example. I can’t really imagine telling a client like that to just write great content.

This was in response to the question, “What is the biggest misconception in link building today?”

I’m going to assume that by “ultra-competitive niche” she is referring to niches like SEO, Internet marketing, and real estate. I’ll have to say that I don’t encourage my clients to buy links, but you have to do what you think is right according to your own comfort level. I will say that I’ve done just fine targeting small businesses in the Internet marketing arena without buying links myself.

Is link buying evil? I don’t think so. Is it unethical? Probably not. It is against Google’s guidelines. And all that really means is if Google catches you at it, then you can expect to have your sites de-listed or penalized. If that’s a risk you are willing to take, go for it. Is it necessary? Hmmm … not for most local businesses. And probably not for most businesses, period. But you’ll have to decide it for yourself.

If you are looking for ways to hide your links on your web pages so that you can trick the search engines into giving you credit for anchor text, valuable linking, and increase your search engine rankings, then I’ve got some news for you. Good news, and bad news.

The good news is, I’m about to teach you how to hide your links. There are probably more than 4 ways to do this, but I’m going to show you 4 ways to hide links on your web pages so that your website viewers don’t see them but search engines do.

Now for the bad news. These methods could get your website banned from the search engines.

1. Hide your links over an image – A few years ago, webmasters discovered they could hide text over images. Then they discovered they could link that text. This is bad. If the search engines discover you’ve done this, you’ll be banned or penalized.
2. Using small font – If you can think you can make your font so small that humans can’t see it while the search engines eat it up, think again. The search engines don’t like it and they’ll de-index you.
3. Using small characters – Some webmasters have gotten a little savvy and linked using small characters like periods, commas, semi-colons, hyphens, etc. Again, if the search engines find out, that’s bad news for your website.
4. Hide links in CSS – In the last few years, webmasters have been hiding their links within CSS. Yes, this too will get you banned.

Search engine algorithms may or may not find your hidden links, but if they are noticed by savvy web denizens who report you, then Google’s spam team will review your website with human eyes. If they find any of these hidden links on your site, you’ll be penalized.

Do yourself a favor. Don’t risk it.

Article marketing has always been a good way of obtaining back links to a website. Well-written articles with great anchor text links can be a good source of traffic as well as links that boost SEO rankings. However, someone came up with the idea to “spin” articles and attempt to automate the process of article submissions. Unfortunately, websites that employ these techniques often are penalized for doing so.

Why is article spinning bad? Let’s look at what it does.

The first step to spinning an article is to take the original article you have written and copy/paste it into the article spinning software. Some of this software will automatically detect the keyword on which the article is based. For others, you have to manually input the keyword. You might even be allowed to re-optimize an old article by having your software search for the primary keyword then entering a new keyword for which you want that old keyword replaced. Any of these methods is bad.

The article spinning software will “rewrite” your old article according to the rules you have established. Often, the software just simply rearranges the words and sentences in the original article.

Rearranging words and sentences doesn’t work because it often makes the article read in a jumbled, haphazard way. A good article has a logical flow to it, from idea to idea. Article spinning software is not sophisticated enough to ensure that your sentences meet that logical flow after being rearranged. Secondly, those sentences are not rewritten in most cases; they are simply moved from one part of the article to another so they are copied verbatim from the original article.

After you have spun your article, you must then submit it to article directories. Most article spinners submit to the same directories over and over again. But the most reputable article directories have software that detects spun articles. They also have human editors who can spot spun articles. These two gate-keeping measures means that your article likely will never be published.

Even if you manage to get your spun article into an article directory, the search engines are adept at spotting them, therefore they will never likely be found through a Google search or receive any traffic and your links won’t count.

Article spinning is a useless activity that is a waste of time and money. If you want to engage in article marketing, and you should, then don’t use article spinning software.

Anchor text is a certain phrase that linkers, SEOs, and other Net citizens use to link from one page to another on the Internet. In other words, in this sentence, small business Internet marketing is the anchor text.

Why is anchor text important? Because search engine algorithms are based in part on them. Web pages that employ effective, non-spammy anchor text can rank higher for the targeted key phrase. As a website owner and a small business owner doing business online, you’ll need to learn how to employ effective anchor text.

Many SEOs claim that “white hat” SEO cannot produce good anchor text. For that, you need to engage in some “black hat” or “gray hat” practices. Those terms are in reference to what search engines consider viable ways to earn links. The “white hat” variety are approved by search engines as acceptable. “Black hat” techniques can get your website banned or de-listed from the search engines.

The following 5 methods of obtaining strong anchor text links are all white hat SEO techniques. They work and I highly encourage you to use them.

1. Press releases – Submit a press release to a PR directory and make sure you use effective anchor text to promote the pages you want to promote. Those press releases will often be used exactly as submitted, with anchor text intact.
2. Embeddable Content – Widgets, badges, and videos are three common types of embeddable content. You can create these with anchor text within the embedded content and if it isn’t spammy in nature, the search engines will honor those links.
3. Directed Anchor Text – If you license or give away your content for use by others, you can require that links use specific anchor text. Place your own requirements and restrictions on content you license or give away.
4. Biographical Text - If you do speaking engagements, guest posts, engage in social media, or participate in activities that provide you opportunities to have a bio published, use a standard bio that contains link anchor text. It’s a good way to earn hundreds or thousands of anchor text links.
5. Be A Guest Writer – A popular new way to build links now is to guest blog or guest write for another website. You can often link to your own website with the anchor text of your choice.

Anchor text is not hard to earn. You do have to go about it in a smart way, but the principles are embedded in the nature of the Web.

What is reciprocal linking? It’s the practice of linking from your site to another site in exchange for a link back from the other site. It’s not a bad practice, but it’s not a particularly good one either.

Reciprocal links used to be valuable links, but not any more. That’s because the search engines value one-way links more. The reason is because an unsolicited one-way link is a greater measure of value than a link that is provided for the sole purpose of receiving a link in return. Here’s a useful analogy:

Let’s say you were attracted to a certain person and wanted to ask that person out on a date. If you approach the individual and ask for a date and they say “Yes, pick me up at 7″ then you feel good because you didn’t have to do anything to get that date. You just asked. But what if the individual said, “Well, if you let me drive your car for a week then I’ll let you take me to dinner.” That wouldn’t exactly make you feel good, would it? You’d think that person was just interested in your car. Right?

So reciprocal links are not as valuable as one-way links. Google actually rewards one-way links more so than reciprocal links. That is, in the search ranking algorithms.

However, all that said, I wouldn’t discourage you from seeking reciprocal links under the right circumstances. If your link partner offers the following benefits then your link exchange might actually pay off well, even if not with increased search rankings:

• High traffic
• Link from relevant web page (web page on the same topic as yours)
• Link has relevant anchor text (the word or phrase used to link to your site)
• In-text link used in a natural way (as opposed to a sidebar or footer link)
• The site linking to you is a respected website in your niche and seen as a voice of authority
• The site linking to you is not a link farm or fall into another category perceived as a negative by search engines or any reasonable person online

Keep in mind that reciprocal links are best if the site you are getting a link from actually passes value to you in ways that make sense for your business. Can it send you lots of traffic? That’s good. Can its endorsement of your site increase your own reputation? That’s good.

Look for the value in any kind of link, reciprocal or not. If it isn’t there then pass on the link.