You know linking is almost the most important part of a search marketing strategy, but sometimes it seems like you have exhausted all your options, and your linking comes to a grinding halt.

True?

Don't give up. Linking is important because a search engine see's each link to you as being like a vote, saying your website is good or trustworthy. Your competitor, if they're clever, will constantly grow their links, so to keep up with them, you have to too.

In order to help you all reinvigorate your linking campaign,  below are my best SEO linking tips...

First, remember that links are more valuable when:
1.They have relevant anchor text (although, there should be a mix, because having all your links under great text looks a bit 'manufactured'. A large proportion of your links should be for your name or something like that)
2.They are from a variety of sites, not just one
3. They are from relevant sites, - in your industry or related industries
4. They are embedded in content
5. They are not prefixed by a 'nofollow' in the source (On the page you want to place a link, click on view, then page source, and look for the code surrounding a link like the one you want to place - does it have 'no follow' before it?)

Now here are some tips on how to find great link placements. The key, I think, is to just assume there is an everlasting trail - that every site who links to you will help you find more sites who could link to you.

- Use Yahoo site search to see who currently links to you. Do they refer to other sites or blogs who also might link to you? repeat this until you get to the end of the trail.

- Similarly, do the above for your competitors - will any of the sites who link to them, or their friends, also want to link to you?

- Search in Google on query parameters like; intitle, "", inurl,

- Find directories, through search engines (search "add url", "submit url", "suggest url") or from other sites who use them, then check out what link building sites are in their directories. Repeat as necessary.

- Another way to find directories, is to search for similar code, or 'footprints' (text on the site which might be similar to another site. e.g. "Add your URL now")

- Search social media like Linked in, forums, Twitter and Facebook public, to try and find groups focussed on your product or service - do they have affiliated websites?

- When you find appropriate sites, search for similar sites - e.g. searching for similar content in Google.

This article was written by Tracy mu Sung for the digital marketing agency MooMu Media. MooMu specialises in SEO, PPC and conversion design to increase their clients online market share. For more stories from MooMu Media, please visit their digital marketing blog.

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