Location, Location, Location – Link Building Gold

If you’re of the impression that backlinks are a universal good that you just cannot go wrong with, it’s high time for a wake-up call. These days, this is precisely the kind of attitude that can see you and your whole SEO campaign sent for a long walk off a short pier – backlinks can be thoroughly dangerous if not handled correctly.On a slightly more positive note, get it right and your backlinks could earn you just as, if not more credit with Google and the other search engines than ever before. And as the links themselves are relatively simple creatures, it stands to reason that what matters more than anything else is location – as in where those precious links go.     They often say that location counts for everything across many areas of life and in this instant, they couldn’t be more on the money!Quality Sites = Quality LinksThe first rule in terms of location is to only ever choose sites of quality. What does quality mean? Well, it means a site that is not only relevant to your niche, but also one that is already looked upon favourably in the eyes of the search engines you’re trying to impress. You need to be aware of things like reputation, page-rank and current position within the search engine rankings when choosing sites for your backlinks. A link is only ever as high-quality as the site that carries it, so don’t settle for anything sub-par.The Company You KeepYou’ll always be judged by the company you keep in this lifetime – SEO is no different. In the link building example, the value or otherwise your backlink brings for you and your site will be influenced in a very big way by the other links on the host site/page you’re looking at. Say for example you outsource SEOto a service that blasts dozens of backlinks to a site where there are 5,000 backlinks already pointing to pure garbage sites - you’re wasting your time. By contrast, if there’s a much lower number of links and all are to sites of quality, chances are your acceptance there will reflect very kindly on you.Prime PositioningIf you would also like your backlinks to bring in actual traffic as opposed to judge favour with the search engines, there’s no better place for the anchor than the main block of text the webpage presents. This isn’t to say that other places across the site don’t have their plus points, but when it comes to attracting clicks, there is no competition…you need to be in the thick of it.Join the Who’s WhoAnd if you cannot get your link placed in the text itself, the next best place is among other respected and recognised names wherever they may be listed. Say for example links to CNN, BBC and the Huffington Post are all listed at the bottom – your name sandwiched between these would look very good to the powers that be.ProminenceAnd finally, the big takeaway to leave with is the importance of being prominent and not just another link that disappears into the ranks with the other 500 on a back-page somewhere. If they can see it, there’s a chance they will click it and a much greater chance Google will take note…it’s as simple as that.