Among the necessary on-site optimization factors, building backlinks (or inbound links) is the most important
thing you can do off-site to improve your search engine rankings.
Now, there are many theories and opinions on how to build backlinks. And there are a few that work; a few that have withstood the “test of time.”
Besides gaining natural backlinks from public relations efforts or just being a nationally recognized, public company,
you do need to be actively building backlinks to your website(s).
The good ol’ fashioned “backlink request” is quite effective, but can also be…well, it IS very time-consuming and tedious work (if you would like a further explanation of the system we use for backlink requests, just post a comment and I’ll create a quick tutorial for you).
What I want to talk to you about today is something I like to call the “Coffee Filter” Strategy. Now, I’m just going to go ahead and say that I’m sure I’m not the first to think of this, and this is also a combination of other strategies I’ve learned over the years. But, the marketer in me likes to give things cool names like the “Coffee Filter” Strategy.
That being said, this strategy revolves around the idea of “caffeinating” up your existing backlinks (and the backlinks you get from now on). In other words, we’re going to build backlinks to our backlinks.
So, why “Coffee Filter?”
As marketers, SEO’s, designer’s, etc., we are pretty much obsessed with our coffee and/or tea (shout out to Tazo Awake). And, because of that fact, this illustration will be easier for you to understand.
Without the filter, you would end up with a pot full of nasty coffee grounds. However, if you had no coffee grounds, you would just have…well, hot water (and if that’s what does it for you, then by all means, be my guest).
But I think the majority of us would agree that we don’t want either of the following: 1) a delightful cup of coffee laced with ground coffee beans, or 2) a comfy cup of hot water.
That being said, the filter is what provides us with the opportunity to create better tasting, less-gritty cups of coffee.
Here’s a table of how the coffee-making relates to backlinking:
So, simply put, you bookmark, ping, and RSS aggregate (backlink to) the links pointing directly back to your site,
thus “caffeinating” the power of those links. This allows your direct backlinks to act as filter for the thousands of
bookmark and ping-type of links that are indirectly pointing back to your website.
Right about now you may be thinking that I’m full of it and this is a bunch of “hot water.”
So, let me give you a quick example of how I used this strategy in “real life” (haha).
Last week I wrote a blog post about creating gold text with Photoshop. I targeted the keyword phrase: “photoshop gold text tutorial” (which has 1,330,000 competing results). After writing the blog post, I created a Squidoo lens that allowed me to put an anchor-text, DoFollow link back to the blog post permalink. I then bookmarked both the blog post permalink and the Squidoo lens. Result? This whole week my post has been on page 1 of Google for my targeted keyword phrase and out of 1,330,000 competing results. It’s also brought 107 unique visitors to our blog since last week.
So, I encourage you to at least give this a try, put your own spin on it and find something that works. Test, test, test!
(And use Firefox.)
Talk soon,
Tommy
PS. Amazing bookmarking plug-in to help save you time (AddThis) click here to check it out. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4076
Tags: backlinks, search engine rankings, SEO
Comment By: SubmitYOURArticle.com
September 7th, 2010 at 2:56 am
Funny, I like your choice of words comparing coffee to backlinks. Haha! “Coffee Filter” strategy during Google’s Caffeine project could just work out! Great Post by the way!
Comment By: Orthopedic Doctor
September 20th, 2010 at 4:03 am
So basically we build social bookmarking links and other forum signature and blog post comment links to our backlinks so that our backlinks gain more respect.
But how much time does it take to materialize in practice.
Like if i create a squidoo page and submit it to social bookmarking and other things how many days does it take for reflection in google SERP’s of my target page
Comment By: CHEWAYADODYNC
September 26th, 2010 at 6:27 pm
pay google..
Comment By: Josh
October 26th, 2010 at 1:01 pm
Thanks for such a great article about SEO. One thing most people always miss is that there are two major branches in SEO: Traditional SEO and Social SEO. It’s not a question of whether or not social networking is better than keyword stuffing. Keyword stuffing and social networking differ greatly but they both help boost your rank on the SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages). The end result of your website ranking depends on how well you utilize the social networking tools to boost your standing on the search engines.
Comment By: tulsa online marketing
October 27th, 2010 at 7:19 am
I really like that matter, I’m inside online marketing/SEO. Have you ever heard about meetup.com? I find that you have generally many decent chances to satisfy and netwoork web-sites it. You need to try it out should you get yourself a time.
Comment By: Tutsnow
February 17th, 2011 at 3:09 am
“Coffee Filter” is a great catchy name… However, i tried using your strategy and its has been a fortnight but i didnt get a good enough response…
Comment By: zen-web-hosting
March 18th, 2011 at 2:52 am
I agree with Tutsnow! You pretty had a catchy name here. Something that the reader won’t forget when reading your article. The listed information are basicly the core in SEO optimization. Glad I read this! Looking forward for great articles from you.
Comment By: asbestos removal perth
May 14th, 2011 at 9:06 am
What worked for my business was a combination of articles, and free business directorys.
Comment By: Thermal Mug
June 5th, 2011 at 1:12 pm
Interesting way of looking at SEO. I sorta do the same thing, but visualize it more as fishing with a net – amount of fish (potential visitors), size of net, weave of net, etc.
A bit odd, but works for me
Comment By: Carmie Brent
August 3rd, 2011 at 9:21 pm
Well i can’t believe that a flowchart of coffee can use as a great strategy on link building. I really amazed on how you do and think of that. I guess you have to add some creamer:D
Comment By: yasra
September 20th, 2011 at 3:23 am
Comment:
I like the work of web designer. this is very cool web site very professional work.
Comment By: Joyce
September 21st, 2011 at 8:40 am
Every time I have a cup of coffee now, it will remind me to return to work to look for some more backlinks. Thanks for the great way of putting this.
Comment By: Ontario web design
December 12th, 2011 at 8:35 pm
Hey Tommy, what a great idea. Don’t think ANYONE has ever suggested bookmarking, pinging and/or RSS aggregating to links pointing back to your website. What a great idea! And, yes, Firefox is my browser by choice. Thanks, Trish