Search Engine Marketing Articles

"Link Building for Google, Yahoo or MSN, should they be targeted at the same time?"

By Daniel Aufrichtig for Digital-m.co.za
11 July 2006

All of the top 3 search engines, Yahoo, Google and MSN rates inbound link quality on a completely different level. Google gives higher ranking scores to websites with inbound links from "trusted", "authority" websites with a long history, Yahoo and MSN relies more on the sheer number of links in their ranking algorithms. In brief, the link building process is almost identical in technique for Yahoo and MSN, but Google needs a completely different approach.

There are a couple of factors that need to be considered when starting your link building campaign.

Do you want to rank well on all three search engines or on Google only? The campaign for Google will require a slow and steady link building process with mostly trusted one way links. A few thousand links will do the job for Yahoo and MSN, these can be unrelated, but be sure to use good relevant anchor text in the back link.

If your strategy is not Google, and you wish to target your link building at MSN and Yahoo, Quantity and not quality is the key.

Link building can take time, so patience is the key. Expected results can be achieved in around 4 months for MSN and Yahoo, while Google can take up to a year.

If you own a strong brand, it is not recommended to focus on MSN and Yahoo with possible irrelevant "spammy" techniques. This can hurt your brand in the long run with Google. In this case, rather take the "safe" option and build strong relevant links from Good websites. The lasting effect, from this is worth far more in value than some quick rankings in Yahoo and MSN.

Niche trade directories, relevant partner websites, paid links are the way to target Google. Dig deep in these directories to find relevant categories.

If you are not planning to keep your website for a long time, then consider targeting MSN and Yahoo, This is a good example in the case of being an affiliate. Mistakes can be afforded and no brand damage will incur.

Note that targeting MSN and Yahoo in the manner described above will most certainly get you penalized in Google.

In summary, a decision needs to be made upfront which search engines you will be targeting. After this, go ahead and start the campaign.

Happy link building!

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