How You Shouldn't Ask for a Link

Feb 11, 2008 - 9:25 am 4 by
Filed Under Link Building

Many people need links. It's what you do to gain favor in Google's eyes and get ranked higher. I get hundreds (?) of link requests every day. Most (all?) of them are completely junk. A WebmasterWorld thread goes into these junk requests in detail. These are user-contributed suggestions on how you shouldn't do when you ask for a link:

  • Don't mention anything nice about the person's site you are writing to. Keep the focus only on your site and how important your site is.
  • Address your email to "whom it may concern" even if the person's name you are sending your link request/demand to is in the title of his or her site, on the home page and listed again on the contact page. Remember your site is the important one, so it doesn't matter if you show an interest in the other person's name or web site.
  • Mentioning Google PageRank in every other sentence
  • Don't just ask for a link - prescribe *exactly* how the link must appear, with the most side-splitting text you can think of - or maybe a tasteless image.
  • Send reminder emails, including a scary warning that the useless reciprocal link WILL BE DELETED if the requested link is not added within X days.
  • If you don't get any response, call the site in question and ask for "sales". Salespeople will usually give a truly unique reaction to a call that doesn't have anything to do with selling stuff.

Oh, there are a ton of other funny "don't ask for a link this way" list items. But if I listed them all for you, you'd have no reason to visit the forum discussion. So, without further ado, forum discussion continues at WebmasterWorld.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
- YouTube
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Google News

Judge: Google Illegally Engaged In Anticompetitive Monopolistic Ad Tech Practices

Apr 17, 2025 - 11:35 am
Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: April 17, 2025

Apr 17, 2025 - 10:00 am
Google Ads

Google Ads Personalized Boost Ad Performance Email

Apr 17, 2025 - 7:51 am
Google Ads

Google Ads API Version 19.1 Now Available

Apr 17, 2025 - 7:41 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

Google: Nothing Has Changed With International SEO with ccTLD Change

Apr 17, 2025 - 7:31 am
Google

Google Tests Video Player To Shopping / E-Commerce Card

Apr 17, 2025 - 7:21 am
Previous Story: Google's "Making the Most of Your Content: A Publisher's Guide to the Web"