We hear a lot about SEO (Search engine optimization), SEM (Search engine marketing) and linkbuilding, not to forget link popularity.

And we see a lot of shady schemes designed to get lots of links quickly, with automated tools. That’s something the search engines frown on, and webhosts are beginning to see the light as well. So it could get your domain or blog blacklisted with Google, and it could mean lost hosting, including clean up fees.

So, some of you may want to know how it’s done the right way?

Most of us bloggers know, but just in case some clueless newbies come by here, this is my take on how it’s done.

Start writing your blog with interesting content. Be generous with links to other bloggers and other sites. Link whenever you can. And make sure you click on each link in your post at least once, just in case you have no visitors who click on them (I tend to forget that, but then I have readers). Bloggers are quite often sitting on top of their referrer logs, and will check out any blog linking to them, unless the URL seems sleazy (pills, porn, gambling, affiliate marketing). Bloggers get a bit jaded after seeing too much referrer spam.

If they like what you write, they might reblog it or comment on it or otherwise use your content. That’s a good thing, because it normally (according to blogger ethics) means a link back to you.

If another blogger writes about your topic, comment on the blog or reblog/comment on your blog. You can find other bloggers via Technorati and Pubsub.

Remember one thing: Comments and trackbacks normally have rel nofollow, so those links won’t count towards link popularity. That shouldn’t be your goal anyway. A comment is only to help someone out, and to introduce yourself. Your goal should be to get readers and links from other bloggers because your content and comments are interesting. Links from posts and blogrolls normally don’t have nofollow.

So, blog SEO eventually comes down to this:

1)Valuable content
2)Network building

If you succeed, you’ll have your readers depositing links to your blog on forums and blogs here and there!

And of course: This method won’t work for the regular crappy affiliate site. It works for original opinions, knowledge and content.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 21st, 2005 at 6:05 am and is filed under Preachy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.