If you didn’t know already, then you probably can guess that a link that’s in the content is more powerful and will give you much more link juice than any other type of backlink. Why is that?

Let’s talk about one particular search engine, Google, the Big Daddy of all the search engines. If you look deeper into the Google Algorithm, then you will learn that Google likes links that are in place to help the reader. So relevant contextual links that serve as a reference and source to the content, makes Google happy. Also, it’s believed that content surrounding a link helps the search engine spiders know what the link it’s following is about, which makes it a more relevant backlink.

That’s not all, many pro seo’s say search engine spiders crawl and break up the page in different sections of importance. For instance, the header and content are the most important parts of the page, with the sidebar and footer being at the bottom of importance. It makes a lot of sense if you think about it, what part of the site plays the biggest part on what keywords you show up for in the serp’s? The title tags and your keywords in the content, right?

Of course not everything is so black and white when it comes to SEO and the search engine algorithms. But from what I’ve researched and experimented on my own, the importance of backlinks depending where they are located on a site really does seem to make a huge difference.

Here’s my experience with link placement

Back in the day I tried a few things out and plus I was ignorant, so I did whatever the heck the experts told me to do. I was told to do a lot of blog commenting and link exchanges with relevant blogs to get more back links to my site. I had acquired numerous backlinks from many of the top blogs for my niche in the top commentators section, usually located on their sidebar or footer. I also left a lot of blog comments on dofollow blogs. Not only that, I managed to get placed on several blog rolls with decent Pagerank with a one way link back to my site. I really didn’t notice any changes after several months. I didn’t gain any pagerank either. After awhile longer many of these links were taken down. I figured I would lose pagerank or positions in the serp’s from losing these backlinks, guess what happened? Squat, I lost no placement or pagerank and nothing really happened. Some of these links I had were on PR 5 or better sites and of course all the links I acquired were all dofollow.

Then, I started to do more article marketing, getting backlinks from guest posts and only worked on getting contextual links. Sometimes I could almost see my sites or pages moving in the serp’s the very next day for the anchor text I was using. It sometimes only takes a few good backlinks in the middle of the content from a trusted site to give you page rank and move you in the search engine results pages. Try it out for yourself.

What’s the best way of getting contextual links or backlinks in the content?

Article marketing is a good way, but the best way is writing valuable content on your site so others will link to you. But if you’re not the best writer or want to speed things up, then you can do guest posting. Which basically is the same thing as someone linking to you in their content. However, not all of us have the time or skills to write guest posts, so the other alternative is to hire someone to do that for you.

I want to add, getting back links on blog rolls, from blog commenting and link exchanges may help your site out. And of course, each site will give different amounts of link juice than others. Back when I was purposely trying to get these type of back links they really didn’t do much for my sites. Do some experimenting on your own and see what gives you the best results. But I guarantee you’ll eventually see that links in the content are the most powerful backlinks of all.

That’s why I decided to go out with a bang for the end of 2009 and compile a Huge List of search engine optimization tips/tricks, resources, changes and some new things I learned this year. Much of this list separates myths from facts and what and what not to waste your time on.

1. – Use the nofollow attribute (rel=”nofollow”) when needed

2. blog commenting is worthwhile but leave good genuine and helpful feedback

3. meta descriptions and their keywords dont matter and don’t boost position

4. post tags or tag clouds are still worth including

5. The Title tag to a post or article is most important, then heading tags is next in importance <h1><h2>

6. use keywords in permalink

7. don’t pay for links or be subtle about it

8. be cautious who you do reciprocal links with

9. use good seo tools to keep up with your competition and see what they are up to

10. post at least one new post to your blog everyday

11. get backlinks from relevant sites and content

12. pay for seo

13. use article marketing

14. most directories are worthless for PR Juice but can confuse your competition via link count

15. submit to “Yahoo directory”

16. submit to “Dmoz directory”

17. use keywords in titles of your images

18. use relevant sigs in forums

19. submit articles to “ezines”

20. interlink pages but in moderation

21. search spiders don’t like flash so use minimum amount as possible

22. implementing links with javascript don’t get spidered

23. create a sitemap

24. create a robots.txt

25. create account with “technorati” and claim blogs

26. create account with “blog catalog” and claim blogs

27. do guest posts on relevant blogs

28. social bookmark your great posts and have others do it as well

29. use “Twitter”

30. make it easy for people to bookmark your articles, with WP, just add a plugin

31. write pillar posts

32. create value in your content

33. don’t create mirror sites

34. stay away from black hat strategies

35. white hat seo methods is the way to go, especially for longevity

36. don’t try to trick search engines, especially Google

37. Google is still King

38. treat Google like a family member

39. hiring a good, legit and professional seo firm should cost thousands a mth. or a few hundred an hour, concentrate on ROI not the cost

40. read problogger

41. read doshdosh

42. read dailyblogtips

43. read dailyseotips

44. read google blog

45. read Matt Cutts blog

46. use wordpress

47. “all in one seo plugin” for WP is Awesome

48. “xml sitemap plugin” for WP is Awesome

49. don’t allow spam comments with permalinks to irrelevant sites

50. use link baits – examples: tutorials, vast collection of resources, solution to a common problem

51. use videos

52. use images

53. add titles in images, and keywords in your image alt or description tags

54. use “blogger”

55. read search engine land

56. read seomoz

57. Build the Perfectly Optimized Web Page

58. 301 redirect (permanent redirect) link it’s pointing to gets credit as the “real url” not the requested link (shortened link)

59. 302 redirect (temporary redirect) the requested link (shortened link) gets credit as the “real url” not the link it’s pointing to

60. SEO and search algorithms change constantly, stay on top of it

61. content is king as well as self promotion

62. use a good keyword tool, Google keyword tool is O.K. but a little behind on stats

63. anticipate what people will search for or “The Next Big Thing”

64. be careful of duplicate content, especially with your url’s

65. watch your Anchor text, don’t use “click here” use your keywords

66. stay focused on creating awesome content not “adding as many keywords you can”

67. only link to sites you feel worthy of linking to

68. Awesome Complete Search engine marketing (SEM) and search engine optimization (SEO) lists and resources Top Rank Blog

69. Publish at least one killer blog post or article per week

70. spend one hour a day brainstorming and researching to write your pillar articles and link baits

71. network with other like minded people, marketers and bloggers daily

72. promote your killer articles and blog/sites everyday

73. consistently give value to your readers daily

74. shorter the url or domain name the better

75. personalize your content in your blogs and let your readers get to know the real you

76. build trust and create value

77. use Facebook

78. social media marketing is the future

79. 20 Top SEO plugins for WP mashable

80. use pinging services, like “pingomatic”

81. link build daily

82. every page should target a tight collection of keywords, around 3 to 5 all relevant to each other

83. create content that starts conversation or controversy

84. create content that drives conversions (sales)

85. keywords should be spread throughout content naturally, seen by search engines but not obvious to your readers

86. domain name registration length is a (SEO Myth)

87. Bold your keywords so they stand out

88. the first words of your content should include Keywords relevant for that page

89. All the SEO resources and tips/techniques for your “Videos” Reelseo

90. In SEO, keywords and branding don’t mix, optimize for your keywords to get traffic and your site should naturally rank for your brand name

91. don’t use tiny url’s to often, it can scare away some and not good for branding

92. use squidoo and hubpages

93. Anchor text links – keep under 8 words and 55 characters

94. search engines bring in most of the traffic to most sites but social media brings in more returning traffic to a website

95. use white space effectively in your web design

96. moonlighting in other areas can be a positive thing, example: you’re a pro. SEO and you also moonlight as a affiliate marketer and social media

97. adaptability and diversity will help you succeed and good for longevity

98. Top 50 SEO Blog Posts for 2009 Evancarmichael

99. Read as much as possible about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) from credible sources

100. – Experimenting on your own is the best way to master SEO!

There you have it, my list of 100 to end this year. I hope this list and sources will help you out in some way since I’ve learned so much from others who write great and valuable content. I know I’m looking forward to 2010 and ready to improve my seo skills and implement what I’ve learned. Feel free to add anything you’ve learned this year or anything I might have missed.

Happy New Year!

There are a ton of great article directories out there, some are dofollow and some are nofollow.  But find and experiment with as many as possible and track the results and traffic from each source.  You need to figure out which ones are the most powerful or bring in the most targeted traffic, how well they rank and etc….

This is what I do.  I usually only use a small handful of the article directories below.  I submit only high quality, valuable and original content to couple of the most powerful directories for example Ezinearticles and a few others.  I put one link to my site and another to a different article, lp or mini site in the resource box.  Now, I may spin that article or rewrite it myself and  then I submit those to weaker or less popular article directories.  These articles will have links back to my original and high quality articles.

I don’t like submitting the same exact content anywhere, search engines dislike duplicate content and their links won’t have much potency for helping your sites anyways.

You’ll find that your high quality and original articles in the right directories, like ezines and isnare will rank easily and be on the front page of google for some impressive keywords even with a decent amount of competition.  You can also do other things to increase those high quality articles ranking even more, like bookmarking them and submitting them to other directories.  Don’t waste your time with the spun articles or less impressive articles.  A few backlinks to them and they should be good.

I advise before joining any article directory to read their policies and tos before writing your first article.  Every place may have different rules and guidelines.  If not followed properly it may lead to getting banned or your articles not getting approved.

Another thing, it’s recommended you also submit quality articles to some of the nofollow article directories but the high traffic and powerful ones like “article base”, “search warp” and “article alley”.  They may not give you pr juice but they will give some nice authority and targeted traffic.  They also rank well in the search engines.

Here’s my list of 11 Dofollow Article Directories:  they are not listed in any particular order.

1. Ezinearticles.com
2. www.goarticles.com
3. www.articlepool.com
4. www.articledashboard.com
5. www.easyarticles.com
6. www.amazines.com
7. www.articleteller.com
8. www.articleonramp.com
9. www.isnare.com
10. www.articlecity.com
11. www.articleblast.com

There you have it, a TRUE Dofollow article directory list, at least for now.  A few of the good one’s like “article base” went nofollow and others seem to be following that trend.  One other tip would be, if you write valuable and high quality content then others will be more likely to publish your articles or send traffic and links to them which will greatly improve traffic and pr juice to your sites.

If You Fail at this then you’ll probably never get enough traffic to make any “REAL Money Online”.

I started using Blog Comment Demon (BCD) – a True Dofollow Backlink Finder awhile back and recommended it to some people and they have been very happy with the results from it.  I decided to make a small post about it to let others know that this is one inexpensive backlink tool that may be worth investing in.

Blog Commenting is FREE and one of the easiest ways to get Powerful and Relevant one way links to your website or blog. Which can help skyrocket your blogs or sites to the top of the (serps). It’s also a great way to index a new website.

But there’s one problem,  when I first got into blog commenting all of the (so called) dofollow blogs lists were all wrong and most of them were actually “nofollow”.  Make sure you check dofollow lists with appropriate tools to see if they are in fact do follow, I’ve found that most people make these lists just to get traffic but they have no idea if they are in fact “no follow” or not.

Even if you are a more experienced webmaster and have all your must have tools installed (firefox toolbar extensions & Alexa Toolbar) it’s still very hard to make a nice list of Dofollow blogs, especially one’s that are relevant to your sites and have good PR.

That was until I found the ultimate do follow backlink finder, Blog comment demon.  All you pretty much have to do is enter your keywords and hit enter, it does the rest all automated.

Adding a comment is a cinch and all done inside the BCD dashboard.

Click here and Watch This Free Blog Comment Video it really does show the Full Potential this software has.

Benefits of BlogCommentDemon:

• Get Unlimited amount of dofollow backlinks
• Find relevant blogs to your niche
• Find relevant posts
• See pagerank for the Homepage and for the actual Post Page
• Money back guarantee
• Awesome Customer Support
• A ton of features which makes it very easy to use
• Save campaigns and files to easily use again in the future
• Find blogs on Auto-Pilot
• Complete step by step video tutorials
• Save time and money
• Great for getting New sites Indexed Quickly
• Lifetime updates

Let me just say, I’ve read some of the reviews on the internet on this back link software and most of them are bogus.  Most of the negative one’s are made up or complain that it takes a little while to find blogs.  I’ll tell you now that setting it up takes a little time but was simple with their step by step tutorials.  I loved the videos, very easy to follow and implement.  I have no complaints with there customer service either, which I took full advantage of.

Now, when BCD is looking for blogs/posts for you on auto pilot it may take a little while but just work on something else.  Just save everything easily using their dashboard and you’ll be able to pull up the blogs whenever you want to, instantly.  You won’t have to go through the whole process over again unless you are searching for More.

One of my favorite things I use this software for is to find those old and powerful blog posts with good PR that no one else knows about.

You’ll be able to find those coveted domains like .edu, .gov and .org sites.

Here’s my receipt for my purchase a few months ago.  I tend to not believe internet marketers unless I know them or they show actual Proof.  I’m sure you’re the same way.

If you’re looking for a good inexpensive dofollow backlink finder, then Blogcomment Demon is a great tool to use.

You should try to get high quality links from trusted sites that are relevant to your site, and use the correct anchor text (keywords you want to improve search rankings for). You need to make sure that you are placing links on DoFollow sites – search engine spiders will follow and give link juice back to your site. Nofollow links tell the search spiders not to follow them and they don’t pass on any link juice.

I’ve added some great references below every dofollow backlink method that contain Incredible lists of great places for you to use.

1. Do Follow Forums – This is one of the easiest ways of getting FREE Backlinks.  There are 1000′s of forums on the net and more popping up daily.  Most good forums are do follow and allow you to leave a link to your site in your signature at the bottom of each post you make.  Just make sure you find relevant forums to your site and it is a do follow forum.  This is also an easy way to get many links back to your site because the more posts made by you the more one way links.  Even if you add a new site to your signature and you have 1000 posts then you automatically just added a 1000 links to that url.

Here are some great sites that have listed DoFollow forums with their PR as well.

• http://getinternetmarketingstrategies.com/2008/11/do-follow-forums/
• http://www.peiprofit.com/traffic-secrets/list-of-dofollow-forums

2. Blog Commenting – Leaving a comment on Do Follow blogs is a very easy and FREE method people have been using for years.  Just make sure you are commenting on relevant blogs and don’t spam.  Add value with your comments and add your opinion to the subject.  Don’t forget about using trackbacks!

Here’s a few great sites with a huge list of Dofollow blogs and their PR.

• http://www.peterleehc.com/blog/work-from-home/the-easiest-way-to-get-backlinks-starts-here
• http://www.thewwwblog.com/top-commentators-blogs-list-october-2008.html

3. Directories – Use them correctly and you will be on the front page of the Serps in no time.  Directories are great because you get to leave a small description of your site then it’s placed in a relevant category which gives you a very authoritive link back.  Some are FREE and many cost money for a dofollow link but usually worth it.  I’ve also noticed many of them are now doing the whole reciprocal link exchange as well if you don’t want to pay.

Here’s a few sites with dofollow directories.

• http://www.onewaytextlink.com/links.php?type=free
• http://www.best-web-directories.com/free-directories.htm

4. Social Bookmarking sites – Okay, I’m sure you’ve heard social bookmarking is a way to get TONS of  free traffic, exposure and authority but it’s another great way to get one way links.  You get to add a description of the site or post and a link to it.

Now there is always a argument over which bookmarking sites are dofollow but I’ve found some good sites below that pretty much got it right and even if you don’t get any linkjuice then you’ll still get plenty of traffic from them if bookmarked correctly and with valuable content like from Digg, stumbleupon and propeller.

• http://www.caroline-middlebrook.com/blog/do-follow-social-bookmarking-sites/
• http://franklinbishop.net/27-dofollow-social-bookmarking-sites/

5. Article Directories – This a very popular method if you are familiar with internet marketing then I’m sure you’ve heard about the power of Ezinearticles.com and all the benefits of using them.  Writing and submitting your articles will give you traffic, backlinks, it’s simple and effective.  Instead of just a description of your site you can write a whole entire keyword rich article which will help your website or blog out tremendously.

Usually they are FREE and I’ve got some sites that will point you to the right article directories below.

• http://www.vretoolbar.com/articles/directories.php
• http://www.sitepronews.com/article-directories.html

6. Pressrelease – A powerful way of letting the media and consumers know about yourself and your products/services with a document.  The more professional and well written the better.  Pressreleases need to be more of a journalistic style rather than a marketing style and more informational, not just trying to make a sale or review.

I’ve got an awesome url for you below with a large list of pressrelease sites most are probably nofollow but still use as many as you can.

• http://www.webmaster-elements.com/submit-press-releases.htm

7. Submitting your RSS Feeds – Many people find your blogs from reading your feeds (small description of your post) they find on different feed directories.  Make sure you are careful to make sure you don’t submit the same feed to many times to the same site.  Some automatic feed services like pingomatic and pingoat submit to the same sites or search engines.  If you need more info on RSS Feeds go here http://www.whatisrss.com/

I would definitely suggest joining a automated feed and post service, then add your feed url to some of the feed directories you’ll find at the site below.  Some are dofollow and some are not, experiment but it’s a great list.

• http://www.mooladays.com/category/lists/page/2/

8. Buy Backlinks – This is a good way to get very relevant and High PR one way links, but will cost some money.  Definitely worth it.  If you are going to have a major website or blog, then you’ll eventually have to pay for SEO services and for Powerful back-links, or you’re competition will run you over and never look back.  You gotta remember, accomplished and successful sites may have a team or a dedicated person just for their seo, so paying for backlinks from a good source, can usually put your sites ahead of the pack.

9. Reciprocal Links – Exchanging links with other relevant sites has always been very popular but not as powerful as it use to be ever since Google cracked down on the Linkjuice from this method a few years ago.  It still works great and a must do SEO tactic to out rank your competition with similar niches.  The best way I’ve found to find similar websites to do this method is by joining forums, usually they’ll have a section for this or by doing some research in the search engines.

I wanted to add, make sure you also use hubpages and squidoo because they really don’t fall under anything above they are more considered as internet tools, web 2.0 website or community websites.  You’ll find they both work very well for your seo needs.  The 9 Ways on how to get Powerful Backlinks above are not in any particular order.  Oh yeah, I wanted to mention don’t forget about “Link Baiting” (creating content just to receive backlinks) that is seriously a very powerful method as well, and Guest Posting (creating posts for other relevant blogs).  If you got something to add then let me know.  Make sure you are using a few or all of the methods mentioned above and you will soon be getting more traffic and PR then expected!