2013: Link Building Techniques Post Penguin

Google's latest algorithm change was a damaging one for those with thin content and spam links. The update was known to drop websites right out of the Google search. We are all struggling to get to grips with the latest update but here are a few things you can do to help put your site back on the map:

Link Placement

Where you place your link is now more important than ever. You need to ensure that links are placed within your content and not in the footer and sidebars. It is believed to be more harmful to you website, as they links are usually paid for and considered black hat. Text links were a key strategy to some businesses, now it is advised to avoid text links and instead generate attractive content.

Guest blogging

This now plays a pivotal role in order to gain substantial links to your website. Using guest blogging enables you to generate links by placing content on other websites; however you need to be tactical about placing the links in the content. You don't want to over target a particular keyword as Google will see this as unnatural and manipulated. Instead you should spread your anchor text and target a variety of keywords. Remember to include URLs instead of keywords and sometimes use long tail keywords.

High quality links

Previously it has worked on the quantity of links rather than the quality. Google now deem it as spam to have a long profile of low quality of links. Therefore it is suitable to target high quality links; you can find such opportunities in guest blogging forums. On these sites hundreds of blogs are all looking for guest posting opportunities, all you need to do is target a niche blog and generate attractive content for the site.

It is advised to use your own blog to leverage more opportunities; people will be more willing to allow you to guest post if you have supply opportunities yourself. This will enable you to build and develop a relationship. Relationship building is paramount in a post penguin world; it means you can consistently post on each other's blogs. This makes it a good idea to generate a contact list, as it means you can refer back to people when you need the content approving.

Link health check

You need to carry out a link health check and get rid of any links that are deemed bad by Google. Use Seomoz for such an operation as it will immediately tell you the page authority and domain authority of the link. Attempt to remove a link if it is low quality as Google will see it as spam, sometimes Majestic and Seomoz pick up different links so it would be useful to check both.

Email marketing

Email marketing is still a useful way to link build as it gets in touch with people directly and can generate your website traffic. It is also a good way to build a relationship with someone, through constant interaction it may enable you to build a link. Make sure the email is personal and offers something useful to the recipient.

Social media

Social media is a great way to build an interaction between yourself and others. It can help your link building process in various ways.

• Guest posting- when you have written an article, you should promote through twitter, Facebook and Google plus. This will build traffic to your content and give the page more weighting.

• Gaining links it can help you build a relationship with others in the same niche. Google like to see you influence others in your niche; you can make this apparent to Google through adding people into your circle in a similar niche. This shows to them that you are active in your community.

A post penguin world is difficult and unpredictable; however it is very possible to succeed when you take care and pride in the links you try to attain. Through implementing a variety of techniques you will soon be able to see a difference in your site. Inbound marketing is now a new way to direct traffic to your site; it is advisable to use an inbound marketing agency in order to boost your sites sales.