“Six is a little deep.” TWSS
I’m sure you already know that having quality inbound links (i.e. backlinks) help boost your blog rankings. That means having links from trusted websites in your niche is a big deal. So if you have a sports-related blog, getting a backlink from espn.com would pretty much make your site royalty.
I know what you’re thinking, that’s pretty unrealistic. You’re probably right but did you know that you can also benefit from being two links away? Or three? Or four? Yes, your SEO might even get a boost from being six links away! OK, six is a little deep but the point is you don’t always need a direct connection.
The truth is, no one except for Sergey, Larry and a few insiders know for sure how many degrees is truly helpful in Google’s eyes. In general, you want as many relevant backlinks as possible, the more “trusted” the better.
I’m telling you this because I don’t want you to think that looking at Google PR is your only guide. It’s perfectly fine to have a backlink from a PR1, especially if that PR1 has a friend who is PR7! Being a friend of a friend counts. Sure, you might not get link juice but you’re still helping search engines separate you from the millions of spam pages out there while tying your site with your niche category.
You see, getting a backlink from espn.com (PR8) is pretty unrealistic for us. But getting a backlink from a blogger on their NFL blog might be possible. And if not, perhaps a blogger who is connected to one of those bloggers. And so on and so forth.
Below is one way you could improve your backlinks. (Warning: please read their terms of service and do not spam.)
- Learn who your niche leaders are and create a target list. Aim high!
- Look for blogs on your target list and leave comments when appropriate.
- Look for related blogs from the targeted list blog and leave comments when appropriate.
- Repeat until you are able to find someone to build a relationship with and then create reciprocal links.
- Look for sponsors on your target list. See if you can provide value on their sites.
- Look for blogs on the sponsors’ sites and leave comments when appropriate.
- Repeat until you are able to find someone to build a relationship with and then create reciprocal links.
So the ultimate goal isn’t to create a bunch of backlinks through your comments (although some DoFollow would be nice). Rather, you’re using comments to build relationships with others in the same community. Reciprocal links usually come first (e.g. blogroll) but this creates opportunities for guest posts, references to your posts, etc…
So although you may not have celebrity status yet, knowing someone who knows someone who is might actually get you in a few parties.