Linkbaiting is the art of doing or saying anything that will get you a link back to your site. Linkbait that tends to work particularly well is what I like to call “toolbait”. Toolbaiting is simple. Create a cool tool, browser extension, next best ajax thing-a-ma-jig and make it available for free.
A couple weeks ago at SMX, for instance, Matt Cutts explained how to turn off personalized results without logging out. Great tip, but seriously… who really wants to manually add &pws=0 to the end of all their search queries? He also hinted that if someone could automate the process, there might be some potential link love involved.
Enter Joost de Valk, an SEO consultant and web designer from the Netherlands. Just a few days later, he spits out an OpenSearch plugin which adds &pws=0 to the query and shows you the clean results without having to log out of Google. Within a matter of days, the high class link love started pouring in.
What kind of linkbait do you use?
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Link-bait is not just simply creating this tool, it’s knowing how to reach the right people as well. To be honest, I emailed a few people to get this going, it worked quite well though
Do I know you? hhmmm…. Seldomstatic and SEO, you have to be that friend I know. =X
Do I know you? hhmmm…. Seldomstatic and SEO, you have to be that friend I know. =X