Link building is one the key factors of successful SEO and it takes time and patience. Luckily the search engines offer plenty of search operators which makes this task just a bit easier. Here are my top 10 ways to use search engine operators for SEO:
MSN
1. linkfromdomain operator: Use this operator to see who you’re linking to and to ensure you’re not linking out to a questionable source aka bad neighborhood. For example, you can do a straight forward search by typing [linkfromdomain:examplesite.com] or a more comprehensive questionable source search by typing [linkfromdomain:examplesite.com + spammy term]
Yahoo
2. Links to domain – Use this operator to find the total number of sites linking to the entire domain [linkdomain:examplesite.com -site:examplesite.com], or do a more specific search and find the total number of sites linking to a particular page [link:examplesite.com/page.html -site:examplesite.com]
3. Mentions of site without a link back – Use this operator to find sites mentioning your domain but who haven’t linked to it. In Yahoo type [examplesite -linkdomain:http://www.examplesite.com]. Once found contact the site owners or webmaster and ask for a link back.
4. Mentions of name without a link back to your site – Use this operator to find sites mentioning your name but who haven’t linked to your site. In Yahoo type [First name + Last name -linkdomain:http://www.examplesite.com]. Once found contact the site owners or webmaster and ask for a link back.
5. Site:.edu OR Site:.gov operator – Use this operator to find edu or gov domain links which is particularly useful for competitor analysis. Type [link:http://www.examplesite site:.edu OR site:.gov]. View who links to your competitors, analyze their strategy and try to get a link as well.
6. Region operator – Use this operator to find domain links by region which is an important contributor to where your site is placed in Google various search engine properties i.e. google.co.uk, google.de etc (just one of the considerations together with IP address, domain tld, physical address etc). Type [link:http://www.examplesite.com region:europe] (play between europe, asia, northamerica etc)
7. Site operator – Use site: operator to find how many pages Google has indexed by typing [site:examplesite.com]. The deeper you can go, the better the results will be. For example, [site:examplesite.com/directory/] will provide more accurate results.
8. Related operator – Use this operator to find out in which ‘club’ Google has placed your site by typing [related:examplesite.com]
9. Inurl operator – Use this operator to find relevant keywords together with link opportunities. For example, for quality link opportunities type [Keyword inurl:links|resources]
10. Intitle operator – Use this operator together with Inurl operator to find relevant link opportunities by typing [keyword intitle: "suggest site"|"suggest url"|"submit site"|"Add link"]
Start building your links today.