Apr 2 2008
The World’s Absolute Best Link Building Technique
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Rand Fishkin of SEOmoz asked his readers to present their three best link building techniques. Instead of posting mine in the comments of his blog I thought I’d post mine here for the benefit of all my readers:
- Steal an idea from someone else
- Create a contest out of it
- Hoard the incoming links by not linking to your source of inspiration
Yep, that should do the trick. 
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Tags: ASK, Link Building, Marketing, Search & Marketing, SEO
Posted in Search & Marketing
I’ve always been a big fan of stealing other people’s ideas. And there is an art to it, you have to make sure that it was a good idea to start with.
April 2nd, 2008 at 8:29 amI doubt that anyone in the squeaky-clean, worldwide brotherhood of SEOers would even consider such tactics.
April 2nd, 2008 at 8:30 amHey! I sort of resent that (although I know you mean it tongue-in-cheek). And you stole it from Rae Hoffman who stole it from Jim Boykin who stole it from Jill Whalen who stole it from JimWorld who stole it from the old librarian’s reference tips list emails who stole it from the advertising agency write-in contests who stole it from…
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:10 am1. Jump on somebody’s else idea thats went popular
2. Diss it
3. Go back to sleep
Stumbled and Sphunn for the cheek 
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:27 amGee, Here’s an article by Search Engine Land published July 11th, 2002, entitled 131 (Legitimate Link Building Strategies), with contributions from several different authors.
http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=2160301
Is there some sort of statute of limitations on this stuff? Stoney, as you well know, the uniqueness in this case isn’t in the topic – it’s in the response to the question.
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:28 amYep. absolutely, Rand! I just enjoy hacking on you and using you do my advantage. I wouldn’t want you to think that I don’t love you anymore!
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:36 amHow about just being better at what you do or sell than anyone else and then letting the world know. That would be the best technique I know of.
April 2nd, 2008 at 2:28 pmJaan,
If you are a firm doing your own SEO perhaps you can control this (simply being better). However, if you are an agency handling SEO for a client simply telling the client “hey I think you guys should just be better than all of your competitors and that is how we’ll get links” is a bit optimistic and idealistic.
April 2nd, 2008 at 5:47 pmJon,
That was a great rebuttal to Jaan’s remark – well put.
April 3rd, 2008 at 8:42 amIn the Link Building Secrets article, don’t miss Eric Ward’s contribution. He shares an amazing trick using Google Alerts, and frankly, I am impressed that he didn’t hoard that one for himself. Kudos bar to Eric.
April 3rd, 2008 at 7:15 pmI agree, Paul. I really liked Eric’s tips. That’s one we put to use right away.
April 4th, 2008 at 6:01 amWhat is your strategy for link building anyways?
April 4th, 2008 at 11:42 pmThis should give you an idea.
April 5th, 2008 at 8:18 amI really liked all the link building tips on your guide. Glad I stopped by to check out “somebody who isn’t too happy” his website
April 5th, 2008 at 9:46 amI really like your post, short, sweet and right to the point.
April 7th, 2008 at 1:40 pmI think its a great idea, but it would help if you could spell Rand’s name right…
FisHkin 
Boom! Another site bookmarked for me!
April 8th, 2008 at 7:19 amYikes. Not sure how that got past the proofreader! Fixed.
April 8th, 2008 at 8:01 amAlthough this was toungue in cheek, after following several links, I ended up finding some really good tips on find high trust links.
thanks
April 17th, 2008 at 1:12 pmIt all comes down to originality.
All these tips have been tried before, the key is coming up with new methods and ideas which will drive traffic to the chosen site. There is no shortcut to good ‘ol brainstorming, creativity and original concepts.
July 27th, 2008 at 10:23 pm1. Article Submission 2. Article syndication 3. Internal Linking
July 30th, 2008 at 1:41 pmWhat works for us is working on our blog and releasing stories that are current and are in the media and also have open questions that allow people to start debate.
August 6th, 2008 at 2:32 pmThe best idea i’ve ever heard: Steal an idea from someone else
August 22nd, 2008 at 8:19 amI also love stealing other peoples ideas and duplicating there SEO.. it works most of the time
i have a few other article on my website that you can read regarding link building too, click website design or Website hosting to visit the site
August 29th, 2008 at 11:04 pmYou should only take an idea if you can improve on it. That is how we advance in any environment
September 20th, 2008 at 6:55 pmI agree with curtis above. Dont steal if you are going to screw it up.
October 18th, 2008 at 3:58 pmThere is a difference between stealing and being inspired by
October 25th, 2008 at 12:29 pmCreating a contest. Good idea. Neder thought about that one!
December 16th, 2008 at 4:39 pmInteresting tips, but maybe you could help me and your other readers with one or more examples? Thanks anyway!
May 6th, 2009 at 2:23 am