Better rankings? More traffic? More conversions? Stability? What exactly do you hope to achieve by building links? Without a clear objective, it's impossible to accurately measure your progress. Much of the time, I'm asked to predict about how many links it will take to get to spot x in the SERPs. Oddly, I am rarely asked to define a number of links that will bring more traffic or more conversions,

Recently my husband did something that scared the life out of me: he bought a major appliance from a minor e-retailer. After finding a great price on an item that he wanted, he dug into their online reputation and found that it was practically spotless, so he took a big chance and spent a lot of money at an unknown company. I'd not have been so brave. As I expected, being a Negative Nancy, there was a flaw in the item. However,

Mobile discovery is becoming something that I am beginning to rely on more and more in order to find good link opportunities. While I do try not to work on and off all the time, I have found that a leisurely stroll through the following iPad apps and other mobile-friendly tools is amazing for uncovering some awesome potentials, especially when I am not multitasking and dealing with employees/clients.

Some of us have a negative )or at least not fully glowing( mention in the top 30 rankings for our brand or name. My agency has one from the time when our site was hacked, and even though it's not a listing that I think would ever prevent anyone from hiring us if they read it, I'd still prefer that it's not in the top 10 for my brand. I've pushed it down a bit with some new social media profiles but not invested any real effort into anything further. However,

Since I am a total pessimist with slight OCD, I always envision the worst in any situation. For example, if I need to go and mail something )yikes( I imagine not being able to find a parking space at the post office, first of all. Then I imagine getting in the wrong line, not having the correct address, my credit card failing, or the postal worker just glaring at me. They're scary, you know. Then I realize that wow, I'm really insane.

If you asked me to name the biggest irritation that I encounter when dealing with links, I'd have to say that it's the belief that Google's Toolbar Page Rank is the best method of defining quality. A notoriously tricky little metric, the TBPR has become a very common source of headaches for almost everyone. Two reasons: 1. Sometimes TBPR checkers don't work. Gah. I have 20 link builders using a few different tools to check TBPR and maybe 20% of the time,

A common tactic in link building is to try and maximize what you already have. Occasionally this takes the form of contacting webmasters who currently link to you and asking for improvements in link targets and anchor text. Instead of focusing on that, I'd like to examine how you can maximize your existing content )for link building purposes of course!( with 5 quick tactics. Considering the large variety of analytics packages out there,

Months ago I wrote about why understanding your niche was so crucial for quality link building . Most of this piece dealt with issues such as target demographic, key terms to use, and content. However, the last two points that I covered have recently come up again and I decided to flesh them out a bit more, hopefully with more in-depth explanation of why they matter. In summary, the points I am referring to deal with what tactics to avoid and what competitors are doing.

Building links is tedious work, whether you enjoy it or not. I've done almost every form of SEO at one time or another, and I can truly say that link building is the absolute most time-consuming )and occasionally boring( bit. The results can be amazing, but you definitely have to work hard to see them. If you haven't yet experienced link builder burnout, trust me'you will soon.

Sometimes your link building efforts produce absolutely nothing at all of value. Sometimes you conduct the exact same research and use the exact same methods that have always worked for you, but they aren't working right now. What do you do? My link builders will occasionally run into stumbling blocks, even the most experienced and successful ones. What I always advise them is this: do something totally different.

Tangential relevance is the idea of something being related to a topic in an indirect manner. I feel like Tony Robbins using that term, but it's one that I've really come to love, as it's an idea that can be very useful in searching for quality sites that are relevant to your niche, yet maybe not so relevant as to have been totally plundered by your competitors yet. You've probably read or heard the idea of starting at page 10 of the results of your search,

Link builders have been telling you to add all sorts of links to your link profile, from straightforward text links in content to image links, using nofollow when necessary )or accepting it when there's no other alternative( and even seeking out some links that aren't keywordized )such as your site name or URL.( Those are the kinds of links that are actively sought, but then there are the passive links that can sometimes be even better in many ways. Linkbait links,