January 13, 2004

Independent Back Linking Networks (IBLN’s)

by Brian Turner

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Independent Back Linking Networks (IBLN’s)

The simple truth is that Google is a links-powered search engine, and that all major search engines take link popularity very much into account for ranking purposes. So links are the absolute currency of rankings.

The problem for most webmasters is that links can be very hard to come by. True, you can submit to lots of directories, and/or set up a link exchange program. But what then?

For many webmasters and online businesses, there is little else you can do for free. To get more links, you could pay for link building services, else have a go for yourself, building an Independent Back-Linking Network (IBLN).

With an IBLN, not only will you have to invest a considerable amount of time, you will also have to invest a significant amount of money.

What is an Independent Back-Linking Network?

In simple terms, it’s a network of sites that all directly or indirectly link back to your site in such as a way as to promote it through the search engine rankings.

The complex side of it is that Google at least has multiple ways of devaluing back-links from the same IP subnet (think: xx.xx.xx.different as actually being xx.xx.xx.same). So for SEO purposes, if you want to get real serious with an IBLN, then you are going to have to pay for a lot of webhosting.

If fact, you are effectively going to need a completely different web-hosting plan for every site you want to link back directly to you.

Of course, it’s not all gloomy. After all, you wouldn’t want every site you create to link directly to your own site. Oh, no. You need to create a network of sites that is as organic in construction as the internet itself – a microcosm within a macrocosm.

Search Engines are built to work upon networks, to investigate the way that the vast network of the internet inter-links. That’s why you need your IBLNs to look as natural as possible.

Otherwise, if one of your back-linking sites is flagged, the extent of your manipulation of links to your site can be very quickly uncovered. And do you think that search engines are really going to be so forgiving of you for that?

At best they’ll maybe just wipe all the direct referrers from their index (the sites they find flagrantly built simply to link to your main site). At worse, they’ll drop your entire IBLN - including the main site you were trying to optimising for.

The risks of a poorly constructed Independent Back-Linking Network are considerable – but the rewards of a well constructed IBLN are also considerable: especially in the commerical environment.

Of course, there are greater considerations at hand than mere natural linking. With the face of the search engine world moving in a constantly dynamic manner, it’s important to know what some may have in store for future – and potentially devastating – updates.

For a start your IBLN should try and stay on topic as much as possible – but don’t be afraid to let it drift into one or two off-topic domains. After all, that happens on the net. You could even take that opportunity to promote a complete separately site that you run.

You should also be aware that in an “expert system”, a page full of links to already recognised quality sites – that may just include a few of your own pages – is going to be of particular importance.

You should also seek, where you can, to build your very own “authority sites” within your IBLN, and ensure that authority site links well with your main site. Not only do self-created authority sites help you rise in the rankings - but they also knock the competition downwards.

And, if you’re prepared to take a little extra time to build small but coherent on-topic sites in your IBLN, you should certainly submit them to free directories to help strengthen their legitimacy.

Don’t think that the people at DMOZ are going to be easily fooled by a site filled with Doorway Pages, though. And don’t imagine that you don’t risk the possibility of having your site removed from DMOZ and other directories, if you submit a site with real content, only to fill it with redirects after acceptance.

At the end of the day, an Independent Back Linking Network should look very natural in most ways - ideally, people should not be able to distinguish most of your IBLN sites from any other average site in the topic area.

And that is precisely why they can be so good at supporting your main website.

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