Do you favor one search engine over another when building links? I have a favorite for general searching, but when it comes to link building, I don’t use just one. Ask, Bing, Google and Yahoo! each offers a unique set of search options, I use all of them for a wide range of results. Here’s a handful of linking techniques from each engine I’ve had luck using!

Ask.com

After doing a general search, take a look at the “Related Questions” listed on the right side of the results page. These questions provide great ideas for new content topics and resources in submitting content. For example, here’s a list of questions you can use to create new content:

Since people are asking these questions, creating content in response and posting it on your site is great link bait and smart marketing. If you click on the links under “Related Questions” you’ll see a list of resource sites hosting content on subject. Contact them to host your link embedded content once it’s written.

Bing.com

1.  After doing a news search for “CFL light bulbs”, click on the “News about CFL Light Bulbs” link under ALL RESULTS

2.  Make note of all the media publications and journalists writing stories on the topic “CFL light bulbs”, keep this data for future use

3.  In the left navigation bar, click on “Related Tweets” and follow anyone talking about CFL light bulbs. Research these people to see if they have blogs/sites accepting guest content. Contact and offer content:

Yahoo.com

1.  Head to answers.yahoo.com and search on your term in the Search Answers box

2.  Refine your search to “Less than 30 days” and “Open Questions”

3.  Make note of questions asked, create content to answer, add to your site.  Drop a link to your content in thread.

4.  By dropping a link to relevant content and answering the question thoughtfully and in detail, your answer has a strong chance of being picked as the “Best Answer”. When this happens, be sure to save the page to Delicious and other bookmarking sites so others can see it

Note: Both Yahoo! Answers and Delicious use nofollow attributes on their outbound links but both sites are extremely active with traffic heavy making them excellent link sources.

Google.com

1.  After doing a general search for “CFL light bulbs”, click on the Books link in the left navigation area. A list of on-topic books and/or books hosting sections related to your keywords will be displayed

2.  Pick a handful of books to read and write a review of each.  Post the reviews on your website and compare the books against each other. Notify the publishers and authors of your reviews.

3.  When you have at least three written reviews, issue a press release announcing the new review resource on your site.

4.  Tweet a link to the reviews on your site.

5.  Bookmark the reviews on Delicious.com.

6.  Contact authors of the books you’ve reviewed, ask for an interview from each. Publish on your site. Rinse, repeat steps 2 – 5.

I’ve only pointed out a handful of ways you can use the special features the engines offers, play around with each and you’ll find they are great resources for finding solid link partners. Happy linking!

Opinions expressed in the article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land.

Related Topics: Link Week