Go over to any of the main webmaster/SEO forums, such as DigitalPoint, SitePoint, V7N, Webmaster Talk etc, and the same damn questions get asked all the time.  It does make you wonder if people can read sometimes!

So, to save you the pain of having to read the top five asked questions over and over again, or to stop you asking them yourself, here they are, in no particular order….

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1. The links I build to my site are not showing up in (insert name here) backlink tool.

Remember that the search engine can take days, weeks or months to find the page with a link to your site on.  Also, some of these tools simply cannot find all your links.  Yahoo Explorer for example only shows 1000 link locations in its report, as do many backlink checkers.

My advice is to forget about checking that your links are found, its a waste of your time.  Make sure that when you build links that you use the methods outlined in the LinkBuilders Bible to get your links indexed.  Other than that, spend the time building more links rather than worrying about the ones you already have built. The only result you need to monitor is if your link building is raising your site in the SERP’s, so focus on that.

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2. Should I only build links to my main index page?

You need your linkbuilding to appear natural.  People linking naturally link to specific content, not to homepages usually. This is called “deep linking”.  So build links to all of your pages.

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3. Should I only build relevant links?

The current info, from testing and SEO experts concensus (including Rand Fishkin over at SEOmoz.org)  is that relevancy is not a factor, however trust and authority are. By all means build relevant links, but do not ignore links from non-relevant sites, as they are of equal value.

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3.  My site was ranking well but has now dropped down the SERP’s and is moving all over the place.

This is called the “Google dance”.     It effects new sites and sites, and those who suddenly start gathering a larger than normal amount of new inbound links. A new site will usually get an initial “boost” in the SERP’s for a couple of weeks.  This is believed to be Google’s way of helping new sites get an initial boost of interest to help them start attracting those natural links Google always talks about as the ideal.

After the initial boost your site will drop to its true ranking.  That’s when the work begins.  You need to gain trust to start moving up the SERP’s then, which mostly involves getting links to your site.

The Google dance can also effect sites whose Link Velocity suddenly changes, ie the rate at which they normally gain inbound links. So you need to be aware of link velocity and trust,  both of which are covered in the LinkBuilders Bible.

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4.  What is a backlink?

Simple I know to many, but it is asked all the time on forums.  A backlink is a link to your site.  It can be a reciprocal (two way) link as well, because it still links back to your site.

The most valuable links you can build are one way backlinks, ie a link to your site that you do not reciprocate.

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5. How can I get backlinks?

Again, asked all the time on forums, and always the same anwers come back:

• Directory submissions (only relevant, quality directories)
• Social bookmarking (Digg etc)
• Articles submissions (ezine articles for example)
• Forum signature links
• Blog commenting

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All of the above are low-quality links, because anyone can get them and Google does not give much weight to them.

If you want to learn how to get links, and find out the link building information you will not be told in a forum, then the LinkBuilders Bible 2010 is essential reading for you. If you want to know about how you can benefit from link velocity, trustrank, topical relevance and also learn several tricks people do not talk about, then you need to grab a copy now.

• top link building question

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