In case you haven’t already heard, top SEO experts from around the world collectively say that the top 5 ranking factors for global websites are:

1. Keyword focused anchor text from external links
2. External link popularity (quantity/quality of external links)
3. Diversity of link sources (links from many unique root domains)
4. Keyword use anywhere in the title tag
5. Trustworthiness of the domain based on link distance from trusted domains

These results, from the 2009 SEOmoz survey that gathered SEO expert opinions on the algorithmic elements which comprise search engine rankings, confirms that the quality, quantity and diversity of external links coming into a website are most important to a site’s ranking on search engines.

Exactly what types of sites and linking campaigns bring in the best results?

Here are the experts’ top ranked techniques, starting from the ones they feel bring the best results.

1. Linkbait + Viral Content Creation
2. Blogging and Engagement with the Blogosphere
3. Classic “Create Valuable Content” Strategies w/o Promotional Marketing
4. Public Relations (beyond just press release publication)
5. Direct Link Purchases from Individual Sites/Webmasters
6. Widgets and Embeddable Content
7. Conferences, Events and In-Person Networking
8. User Generated Content (which then incentivizes links to profiles/content/etc.)
9. High Trust/Authority Directories (DMOZ, Yahoo!, Lii, etc.)
10. Niche Social Media Communities
11. Local Link Building (via geographic lists, organizations, portals)
12. Social Voting Portals (Digg, Reddit, Mixx, etc.)
13. Quizzes + Results Badges
14. Social Bookmarking Services (StumbleUpon, Delicious, etc.)
15. Contributing to Charities, Non-profits, Events, etc. to Earn Links
16. Leveraging Twitter for Link Building
17. Generic Directory Links (BOTW, JoeAnt, Business.com, etc.)
18. Contacting Webmasters or Sites with (Non-Paid) Direct Link Requests
19. Offline Advertising Branding and Media
20. Press Releases
21. Long Tail Directory Links (niche directories, small generic directories, etc.)
22. Social Networking Services (Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn)
23. Purchasing Links from Link Brokers
24. Launching & Later, Redirecting Microsites via 301s
25. Buying Old Domains & Placing Links on Them
26. Buying Old Domains & 301’ing Them
27. Reciprocal Linking (trading links with other sites)
28. Do Follow Blog Comments
29. Web Advertising (Banners, PPC, etc.)
30. Forum Link Building (Signatures, Link Drops, etc.)
31. Automated Blog, Guestbook and Open Form Comment Spam

In our last blog entry, 10 tips on optimising online press release distributions, we listed websites where you can upload your press releases with live links back to your website.

Here, we list the more popular online article directories where you can upload your B2B articles, which also allow live links back to your website.

Link building can be tedious work but is well worth it, especially when you can also demonstrate your thought leadership and raise the corporate brand’s profile. Contributing articles to selected sites is one good way to meet the criteria for quality and relevance.

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