Do you ever wonder what it takes to earn a link back from a major online media publication?

These publications have link juice to give, but they have to be structured about linking out to other websites. The only exception to that rule are online news media publications.

If these websites are reporting the news, why would they NOT link to the original source of the story? Some of us online thought that was how is was SUPPOSED to be done.

About a year and a half ago, an interesting article was posted online comparing the inbound and outbound links, earned and given respectively, by several of the most world renowned online news media companies. Included on the list were CNN.com, BBC and The New York Times. The information may have changed a bit, but the education is still very relevant.

The number one news media company on the list was BBC. BBC had earned nearly 30 million inbound links and served 1.7 million outbound links. The site chose to use links in both main news stories and blog posts.

Number two on the list was CNN.com. CNN had earned nearly 20 million inbound links and dished out about 970,000. CNN included links in their blog posts but not their main news stories.

Falling into third place was the New York Times. The Times had earned about 25 million inbound links and given out nearly 2 million. The Times included links in both main news stories and blogs.

Taking a Look at the Numbers

Breaking down this information by the numbers (BBC) 30000000/1700000, (CNN) 20000000/970000, (NYT) 25000000/2000000. At first these numbers may seem a bit overwhelming, but breaking them down even further will help you better understand the power of the outbound link.

If we take the numbers down to their lowest possible value, the hugeness is a bit easier to digest. (BBC) 3000/170, (CNN) 2000/97 and (NYT) 2500/200. Now what do these numbers mean, really?

Well, BBC and NYT both include OUTBOUND links in their main publications and blog posts while CNN only includes their OUTBOUND links in blog posts. CNN shares the least amount of link juice and, in turn, is receiving the least number of inbound links. You see, SEO experts believe the popularity of inbound links can be directly related to how many outbound links a website is willing to give.

The Debate Begins

Of course, with any study on SEO tactics, there is bound to be some talk about the real effects of outbound links. Todd Malicoat, Seth Besmertnik, Debra Mastaler and Rand Fishkin all believe in the power of outbound links - debate killed!

Applying the Outbound Link Theory to YOUR Website

Now, you may not own a website with the power and clout as these news media icons, but that does not mean outbound linking cannot help build the power you have.

Outbound links need to be very relevant placed on a page that is similar to the page you are linking to. Link automation may be the best choice for building these types of links, naturally. And, natural is the key to a successful SEO campaign.

Tweet This Post

Most recreational webmasters build links to their site, but webmasters who are serious about offering value and producing quality organic traffic, build quality backlinks to their website.

It is not necessarily the number of backlinks that you have pointing to your site that is important to generating traffic.  Quality backlinks are more important than the actual number of backlinks you have pointing to your website, especially if most of the high number of backlinks are from sites that have inferior quality content.

So How Exactly Do You Build Quality Backlinks?

• Create Quality Website Content:  Offer a lot of high quality content on your website that is informative and useful to your visitors.  If you have high quality content, other websites that also offer great content will want to link to you.  In addition, Google will recognize your content as notable and your page ranking with the search engine will improve significantly.

• Practice Good SEO:  Make sure the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) for your Web pages is done properly and according to the subject matter of your website…….this means avoiding keyword stuffing at all costs.  If you are unsure of how to do SEO properly, there are many SEO professionals out there that can help you with this step. 

• Search for Quality Sites:  Finding quality backlinks is time well spent, so take the time to search for quality websites like your own and then approach the site owner and request a link.  If you can get anchor text in the link that matches the keywords you use in the content on your site, this is even better.

• Post in Forums and Article Marketing Sites:  Locate forums and blogs and contribute high quality information that is useful to the reader and then provide a link back to your website.  You have to be careful not to come across as spamming and always read the rules and regulations for each forum/blog before posting.

Write interesting and informative articles that relate to the content on your website and post them in article marketing directories.  Provide a link back to your website at the end of the article.

Backlink Search Tip:  If you do not have the time to search for forums, blogs, and article marketing sites, you can tap into a backlink builder tool that will help you find these sites and review them before you post any kind of content.

• Submit Your Website to Online Directories:  Submit your website to Web directories to increase your presence and create some quality backlinks.  A few of the website directories include Google, DMOZ, Yahoo.  Some of them take some time before you are listed and others are fairly quick.

A Few Things to Avoid

• Setting up Multiple Sites:  Do not set up multiple websites simply for the purpose of linking.  Many recreational website owners make this mistake.  Not only will the search engines pick up on it, but the content is usually inferior because the website owner is only concerned about links and not about offering quality content.  This is known as building a link farm and actually defeats the purpose of building quality links.

• Purchasing Links:  There are a lot of sources on the Web where you can purchase backlinks in bulk.  This is totally useless because you will get a lot of links that are not relevant to the content of your website or they are relevant to your site but the quality of the content is very poor.   This will actually hurt your organic search results, not to mention the reputation of your business.

Although it involves some time, constantly check the websites you are linking to because their content changes over time with additions and revisions.  Make certain they are maintaining the same quality as when you obtained a backlink from their website.  If the quality of their content and other links is slipping, ask to have your backlink removed because this can hurt your SEO efforts in the long run.

Tweet This Post