Link baiting is one of the most discussed buzz-words doing the rounds of the blogosphere as well as the SEO world. The practice of link baiting is one of the core values of Search Engine Optimization and it has proven to be a universally effective technique for generating quality links. But this popularity has also led to controversies and all kinds of misconception about this useful tool. While some SEO firms have started offering link baiting services to their clients and have earned a lot of revenue from the same, numerous people have out-rightly declared the practice to be a “black hat” SEO tactic. Some have even considered it to be just a by-product of producing high quality content. Link baiting might have earned itself the notoriety because of the word “baiting” and the negative connotations associated with it, but there is a lot more to this technique than it seems at first glance. Let us discover some information about this practice and try to separate the facts from fiction.

What is Link Baiting?

The direct and straightforward meaning of ‘link baiting’ is exactly what comes to you mind when you see the words in the term: to ‘bait’ for links. Alternatively, it means that you encourage other users to link to you and hence try to generate quality traffic for your website or blog. The term ‘link baiting’ covers a lot of different practices, like writing wrathful posts on the blogs of high-profile bloggers so that they would respond and link back to you; and enticing other site owners with tools, of course containing embedded link backs to your own website. This makes link baiting a very difficult term to describe, with a broad, non-definitive appeal to it. ‘Link baiting’ as a term is pretty recent, but in terms of being an action which involves getting links, it is something that people have being doing for a very long time. There are no definite rules or guidelines which set link baiting apart from ordinary advertising or content development. It is just the underlying idea of developing and publishing some kind of content which is compelling in nature and would coax other webmasters and link-savvy bloggers to link to your site.

Why is Link Baiting So Important?

The very fact that link baiting as a strategy has everything to do with getting links for optimizing your website makes it so important. Think about it: more the number of links that you gather for your website more will be the amount of traffic that you get. Obviously, the increase in traffic would eventually lead to your cash registers ringing away to glory. This is why today every web-enthusiast worth his salt has jumped onto the link baiting bandwagon. Webmasters, SEOs, bloggers and even YouTube and social networking users, every body is into the act!

Is it Good or Bad?

Well, like every coin has two sides to it, link baiting strategies too have good and bad sides to it. But like any online activity, users can utilize link baiting for healthy and useful purposes or for ‘evil’ and misleading reasons. Everything depends on the kind of content that is being published and the intension behind doing so. But the great thing about this whole scenario is like saying ‘Good always triumphs over the evil”. It has always been seen that spammy sites with dull and mediocre content do not succeed with their link baits for long and gradually move down the ladder of popularity among users. The well-crafted, high quality sites of course, continue to be the top favorites with viewers. I hope the message is clear to you all now.

Few Link Baiting Techniques

Since link baiting involves numerous practices, it is almost impossible for me to come up with a comprehensive list of what all you can do to gain more links. The following is just a list of the commonly used practices in this context for your referral. But above all, I suggest that you let your imagination run wild with your strategies and I’m sure you will find something to work out for your website.

1. Pick smart topics – Choosing the right topic for discussion or writing is often said to be the key to effective link baiting. Invest some time to research on the latest trends and issues that are capturing the imagination of the people the world over. Basically, you need to pick topics that people have been itching to talk about and soon you will find your way to link-heaven.
2. Write unique, attention-grabbing content – There are few SEO techniques better than good quality, compelling content to draw more users towards your website. Choose unique topics to write about and put your thoughts into words wisely. Always make sure that you back up your claims with substantial data to affirm the accuracy of your writings. Articles which teach new things or help users improve on their existing skill-set can also help increase your site’s popularity. Posts which talk about the current state of affairs like politics, wars, sports and movies, evoke an immediate response and the people who read about such posts will link you to their blogs and sites. Also, make sure that you publish links consistently to generate a constant flow of links to your website.
3. Design contests and quizzes – Any event with a competitive element to it which offers worthwhile prizes or incentives as awards on winning, grabs the attention of netizens like anything. Surveys, online quizzes and tests are a great way for users’ interaction with your site and can prove to be quite viral in nature.
4. Create your own awards – Awards have been working quite well in terms of creating a buzz. You can start your own online awards’ season to appreciate fellow bloggers or even celebrities, on their achievements over a period of time. So a number of people will help in getting traffic for you; the ones hoping to get a nominated, the ones trying to win votes from others, the “show-offs” putting their latest awards on display and those who complain about the undeserving winners. Anyways, you prove to be the ‘winner’ in the end, for all the links that you gather!
5. Participate in online forums – To increase the exposure of your links make sure that you participate in forums and give constructive comments on other people’s blogs. This will not only make other users respect your opinion over time, it will also make them visit your blog or website regularly. But if you write comments just for the sake of putting your link at the end of the text, your intention becomes painfully obvious to the readers.
6. Make information easy to pass on – There are some great plugins available out there that enable users to bookmark your blog posts on social bookmarking websites like del.icio.us, digg, linkwad and reddit. This will make it easier for the readers of your blogs to spread the word around for you. While this is not a fast and direct way to bring in links, it will definitely go the extra mile in grabbing people’s attention and getting more traffic in the future.