For years, aggressive link building was the “secret sauce” of SEO that wasn’t so secret. Sites wishing to rank simply made pages filled to the brim with spammy backlinks to their main site. When social-based “web 2.0” emerged starting around 2005, this tactic persisted under a new MO, this time taking the form of socially-based web 2.0 backlinks pages rather than custom-hosted ones.
How do bloggers get those .EDU backlinks? Here’s how our team secured .EDU links!
Google caught on to the fact that people were boosting the ranking of their sites in ways that were hurting the average search user experience. Now, any site suspected of using such tactics will have their ranking penalized, heavily.
What are the top SEO link building methods that get the best results? Check out our top effective whitehat SEO strategies.
Yet, web 2.0 links still work when done right. Some forms should outright be considered mandatory, while others require a lot of effort to be seen as legitimate. In short, the web 2.0 linking game got a lot more strategic, with risk/reward dynamics affected by how much effort you are willing to put in.
So, to help you take advantage of backlink strategies in the post-2.0 era without getting smacked on the wrist by Google, here is our guide to the best web 2.0 backlinking strategies and the best web 2.0 sites for backlinks:
First: A Fair Warning
Just in case we did not stress it enough in the intro: reckless, excessive backlinking is a bad SEO strategy. A “magic backlinking bullet” no longer exists since every single piece of content must offer some value to page visitors. Yet, there are still plenty of sites out there promising you “150,000 backlinks from quality sites for just a few dollars a month!” Beware of giving them your hard-earned money because the products they’re hawking are more likely to hurt than to help.
If Google suspects your site of using gray-hat tactics to benefit from web 2.0 links without adding value, they will penalize you. As such, this practice should be seen as part of a balanced SEO strategy and it should only be engaged in as far as you are willing to put in the effort.
To make the process easier, this guide will outline the tasks that every site should perform first, then move on to the more involved, long-term strategies next.
1. Complete Your Profiles on the Major Sites
Your first step is to give your company a social presence on as many relevant web 2.0 sites as possible. This step will help guide people to more resources on your offerings while providing a more comprehensive and, therefore, authoritative footprint online.
At the very least, every company should complete the following:
- A Google My Business page
- A Facebook page
- A LinkedIn profile
- A Twitter account
- A Pinterest account
- Your Yelp profile
- Confirm Alexa page link (requires a paid account)
- A TripAdvisor page (if you run a B2C business with a brick-and-mortar component)
A nifty tool to have when building your profiles is KnowEm, which automatically checks for a username’s availability on all major social networks. This will provide you with a checklist of where you can still create profiles in preparation for web 2.0 link building.
When creating your social media profiles, be sure to add relevant information about your business and a link to your homepage or an appropriate landing page. In most cases, a naked URL is your only option. But on networks like Facebook, you can create an actual CTA button that sends users straight to your site.
Include at least 100 words on what your business does and what sets it apart from others. You can also utilize unique website features, such as Facebook “milestones”, to tell your brand’s story in a more engaging and relatable way.
Since most networks have an integrated search engine that helps users find what they need, it’s also important to lightly sprinkle your profile with keywords. Inserting them at least once in your short bio and description should suffice.
LongTailPro comes into play when it comes to identifying in-demand keywords. Just type in a “seed keyword” to scrape keyword ideas that people are looking for.
Make a point to post on Facebook and Twitter at least twice a week and LinkedIn at least once every other week for two to three months. These early posts give a nice starting foundation to your social presence so that visitors (and search index spiders) see more than just a blank page.
Also, strongly consider starting a blog within your main domain or with a similar URL to your main domain. The content you publish here can greatly boost your ranking given proper keyword use — far more than excess backlinking — and it can also give your social profiles something to publish on a regular basis.
Now, none of these tactics are the traditional web 2.0 strategies (we’ll get into that later), but they do anchor your company name and any niche keywords immediately associated with it to your home site or preferred landing page. You generally shouldn’t bother to create web 2.0 backlinks until your company has a branded social presence.
2. Spread Your Footprint with Branded Persona Profiles
Once you have a social presence with branded profiles on all the top web 2.0 services like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, you can begin to establish a separate identity from your brand properly.
The simplest way to accomplish this is to create a new profile on community sites like Quora, LinkedIn Groups, and other, similar forums related to your niche. Making a Disqus profile to comment on content is also a good idea.
These new personal profiles should disclose the connection to your company, but they should ideally be represented by your real name to add to the perception of legitimacy. However, they should not share an email address with your site domain or the same email used to register Google products like Analytics and AdWords. You want the connection to be tangible but not obvious to Google. Otherwise, you may get penalized.
Once you have accounts set up, include profile links back to your main site on the “About” section. You can anchor these links to keyword text, but do not do this more than twice for every 200 words. Always try to strike a balance between self-promotion and subtlety to avoid penalties.
Then, go answer questions! Find out ways to help people on Quora and in forums.
You can also contribute your own two cents to trending blog posts related to your niche. Say something thoughtful — not just “Good info! Thanks for the post!” — then say something along the lines of “Jane Doe works for XYZ Company that specializes in these services, which can be found here.” with a link to your landing page.
So, to recap, this step involves answering questions as a face of your business but with a somewhat separate identity. Think of the difference between a McDonald’s franchise owner offering recipes and a McDonald’s official page recommending their low-priced combos; one helps, the other sells. Be the first one.
While you’re at it, try to respond to posts that already mention your brand.
You can use a network’s built-in search engine for this. Alternatively, you can leverage social media listening tools like SentiOne or Brand24. This will allow you to accommodate warm prospects, salvage a bad user experience, or clarify any false information that may be circulating.
3. Create Community Pages with Loose Branding Connections
After completing the first two steps and dedicating the needed time to them, you can branch out your online presence with pages that appear like third-party entities but are actually affiliated with your site. This is the traditional face of web 2.0 backlinking, and it is also the most tricky. You absolutely have to restrain yourself from outright selling, going overboard with keyword density, or offering empty posts with no value.
Instead, you should genuinely be inserting yourself into a community with interesting content that occasionally links back to your site and occasionally promotes your services. Think no more than five links a week for the former and two blatant promotion posts a month for the latter.
The easiest sites to get set up with are:
- Tumblr blogs
- Facebook fan pages
- Secondary, unbranded Twitter handles
- WordPress blogs
- Blogspot blogs
- Youtube pages
- Instagram accounts
So what type of content are you posting? Something your customer audience would be interested in! As an example, Joe’s Tucson Pool Place could post images of the best-looking pools on Tumblr then blog about pool maintenance tips on WordPress. A business coach type could post about effective practices or even client horror stories.
Look at Clients from Hell for an excellent example of the latter in addition to stellar examples of how to sell with restraint. Rob Dahm’s Youtube page is another perfect example of “branded” content that only occasionally sells or talks about his business. He sells services such as a business coach, but his page is filled with interesting videos about exotic cars, something practically guaranteed to pull in strong traffic.
Within every third-party-esque profile you build, include profile links to your site or within anchor text to an appropriate landing page. As long as you consistently offer interesting, relevant content to your audience, you are much less likely to get penalized for admitting your affiliation. In the case of Clients from Hell and Rob Dahm’s page, no one even cares because the content is so good by itself.
4. Web 2.0 Backlink Practices to Be Careful With or Avoid Entirely
Despite the previous warnings about Google’s tendency to penalize sites, many so-called “SEO Gurus” will still recommend grey-hat practices that will get your site in trouble. Others recommend practices that have high risk and little chance of reward that could really only benefit a few select niches.
On the other side of the spectrum, there are goody-two-shoes gurus who’d tell you to leave web 2.0 link building alone. Of course, following their advice won’t cause you any trouble. But that also means you’d be missing out on the potential SEO growth that web 2.0 links can bring to the table.
Our advice? Practice everything in moderation.
Remember that even crucial strategies like keyword optimization can be dangerous when overdone.
When it comes to web 2.0 links, here are the most important pitfalls you need to avoid:
Creating a Wikipedia page — A terrible idea for most small and medium businesses since the Wikipedia community will likely delete a page for a company few people have heard of.
On the other hand, if you want to create a new page for a local or niche interest and casually mention your company along with a link, that could potentially be OK.
For instance, a vehicle restorer can create or improve on pages for classic car shows near their area. Note that Wikipedia links are “NoFollow” and not indexed directly.
Creating several WordPress or social media accounts at once — Less is more in the era of Google Panda and Pigeon. Don’t bite off more than you can chew by starting several sites at once. One high-quality site will provide more ranking juice than 20 poorly-made ones.
Paying for others to boost your web 2.0 links or profile links — Just don’t do this one. You are more likely to hurt your ranking than help it while paying for the displeasure.
Creating Empty Social Media Profiles — Put simply, creating tons of social media profiles with nothing but a URL to your website is a calamity waiting to happen. It’s fundamentally the same as building links on top of thin content, only way worse. As such, it’s just as “slappable” in Google’s eyes.
In addition to optimizing your page and sharing content, try to get your follower base going as well. A simple strategy is to be consistent in sharing quality content and encourage your followers to engage with you by asking them questions.
Tracking Everything with One Google Account — Do you want to know a surefire way to have your link-building schemes discovered by Google? That’s right — keep all your web 2.0 blogs in the same Google Search Console account will do just that.
Keep in mind that, in SEO, there’s no such thing as being “too safe.” It’s hard to know when a Google penalty is coming until it happens.
If you’re extra paranoid, you can also try using free proxies like TunnelBear when using your web 2.0 pages.
How To Create Web 2.0 Backlinks Conclusion: Stay Balanced
If you noticed three common threads through this guide, they were likely:
- Post something interesting or don’t post at all
- Sell with restraint
- Use web 2.0 links and profile links in balance with other SEO tactics
We hope we hammered them home enough to make a difference and encourage you to participate in communities as a quality member, not just a parasitic link-builder. Do everything right, and your site should benefit. Good luck!
Check out Long Tail Pro for your FREE 7-day trial.
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in July 2016 and has been completely revamped and updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.
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Really useful info thank you. Just saved me an expensive mistake!
Thank you, glad we could be of help.
Thanks, Long Tail Pro Team, I have read the article up to bottom. I was thinking about creating a bunch of quality web 2.0 blogs. My plan is to design and represent them with standard website elements. Such as required pages, categories, etc. I am willing to put much effort to make it a quality web 2.0. However, I got stuck when I was thinking about giving backlinks to my targeted domain. Now my question is If I post 30 quality articles in a web 2.0 blog. Then how many backlinks I can take to a specific domain and several pages of that domain. I am waiting for your informative response. Thanks again.
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Hi…
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Very useful article. But I have a question. Are web 2.0 still work? Somebody tells me that web 2.0 is not working nowadays. Is it true?
Web 2.0 backlinks are generally useful as Web 2.0s gains authority pretty fast when compared to hosted websites. Also, you have full control over the link, it is anchor text and type so you can create multiple backlinks from multiple web 2.0s according to your strategy.
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Thanks for this article. I am new in SEO and don’t know about web 2.0. Here I got the point.
Very Well Explained. Thank You
Hi,
Creating Backlinks from Web 2.0 is a great way to boost a website’s rankings.
Thank you so much for explaining about Backlinks in detail.
Yeah, Web2.0 Backlinks still work when done right. I ‘ve been using them to rank my niche sites for several years now!
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Can we submit same article to multiple web 2.0 websites ?
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I would like to know where to easly post my backlinks. I do car decals and there is no blogs about car decals so it is so so so saaad. I started my one but any way no ones comes to read it. Car decals it is kind of poor niche.
Appreciating For a nice post….
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It’s still very confusing in 2019 how you will use the web 2.0 sites. I do this safely by giving web 2.0 good content and less link. You need to treat your web 2.0 sites af if they are your main blog.
Very informative. Thanks for sharing
The truth is that it is a very versatile tool of easy configuration and handling, as well as very effective.
With it you will get the amount of links you need for your projects and what is more important the diversification of these so valued by the search engines. All this automatically and without much effort on your part.
web 2.0 are so much powerful but only some people knows how to use them correctly.
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Thank you for this blog writer and publisher. This blog is very useful for taking my positive decision about my link building works.
One question from me: Please given me 10 best web 2 site name, which is best for web 2 link building
Google is getting increasingly intelligent and they constantly updating new algorithms, and it is difficult to stay a good position just with Web 2.0 Backlink. I hope you will share more useful articles for SEO
It is hard to stay ahead of google, however this article states very clearly what is going on and how you should approach your websites’ case individually. I really think these backlinks are great because they are easy if you have thin content as in some product sites.
Thanks for this article. I am new in SEO and don’t know about web 2.0. Today I found it easier for me to create BL in these sites. I really appreciate your help Sir.
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Great post! I noticed you don’t recommend buying backlinks to boost your web 2.0 properties, but are there links you DO recommend for boosting those properties? Thanks!
I appreciate to read your blog. There are many ideas about backlinks. because i am on a practice about how to get backlinks. and these step would help me to improve my work
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Hi, Very good article on How to Create Web 2.0 Backlinks That Actually Work for SEO,
Thanks for sharing, keep up the good work.
Thanks for sharing this. I was looking for a new way to get backlinks.
Thanks for this article. I am new in SEO and don’t know about web 2.0. Today I found it easier for me to create BL in these sites. I really appreciate your help Sir.
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thanks for sharing about how to create backlinks.
This article was really useful, i just have a question about 2.0s. I created 3 2.0s now and the only 2.0 that has high DA was the wordpress one i created a tumblr and a blogger but they were 1 DA and 1 PA. is that something normal or Do i need to generate backlinks for them and how as they are buffer websites ? thank you so much for these valuable information.
This was a really useful article to me, it really clicked for me how I can create backlinks with thin content as well.
Looking forward to future articles!
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thanks for Informative Article…….
Thank you for this informative article,
Still, web2.0 submission is beneficial in 2019??
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thanks for sharing. i hope for the best as i create web 2.0s
Hi, thanks for the info. Do you think web 2.0 site links have good effect on the rankings? How we should write content for web 2.0?
Thanks
Thanks for sharing such a valuable information. Currently, I am sticking with blog posting. I will definitely try these tips for making web 2.0 sites.
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Great post.
Can you please confirm, is it really works in 2019. can I share my blog posts on Tumblr and Medium.com
Wow such a nice insight into creating good back links. Web 2.0 back links is really an eye opener for newbies who really give away their hard earned for back links. But wondered if there are people who promise 150,000 back links, may be after reading this post I came to know about that.
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Great piece of content. Actually Web 2.0 sites are great for link building when we use in right way. On my experience, What I learned is when started new web 2.0 site we need keep providing good informations on regular basis and gain some organic traffic instead of start inserting links on my first post.
Very nice post sir thank you for your really helpful guide about web 2.0 backlinks
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I have learnt a lot. thank you.
It is really connecting with the minds of others .
That was a great and comprehensive article…all the tips enumerated and explained will be helpful for those who are wise enough to tap from it. Any business nowadays without social media signals and presence may not make it to the outermost, and investment too is part of the key to success in business.
Thanks a lot! Very informative article!
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I am very much happy to learn new things from your post. Thanks for sharing
This is a very informative post however how about corporate websites built on WordPress which doesn’t have so much in the way of blogs? We never understand Google in which we had creates some interesting posts but some competitors rank Google page 1 with practically no content per post! Would love to know your feedback on this.
Web 2.0 ! Very Informative,
But high DA Profile Links will really provide link Juice?
it works on 2020?
It’s really an authentic Web 2.0 backlink guideline. This post helps us with a lot of things about Web 2.0. I heard before about web 2.0 but you explained clearly. Thanks you admin for providing such useful information with us.
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It’s really an authentic Web 2.0 backlink guideline. This post helps us with a lot of things about Web 2.0. I heard before about web 2.0 but you explained clearly. Thanks you admin for providing such useful information with us.
You’re welcome. Glad to know that you find our post helpful. Good luck on your work.
It’s really an authentic Web 2.0 backlink guideline. This post helps us with a lot of things about Web 2.0. I heard before about web 2.0 but you explained clearly. Thanks you admin for providing such useful information with us.
thanks for such a great article. what if i use a same web 2.0 profile for different blogs ?
Your thoughts please ?
Clearly explained the ways to do get backlinks from web2.0. I definitely use these guidelines. Thank you.
thank you longtailpro for giving me wonderful information
good one keep it up
Very Informative Article You Shared About Web 2.0 Backlinks But Does it Work in 2020?
Very good article. Thanks
I am a huge believer in throttling your link building and hiding your footprint as much as possible.
Stay away from Google products as much as possible for anything web 2.0 related. There are tons of alternatives that get the job done.
Also, if you have a brand new site you should focus on content first anyway. Let Google begin to recognize your site and content organically. Then when you notice Google is indexing and paying attention then slowly start to build out your link building strategy increasing amount month over month.
thank you very nice website article
This article is very helpful,… i had no idea about web 2.o backlinks but now i understand almost everything about web 2.0… thanx for sharing such an amazing article…
Thanks for sharing such nice blog I am really happy to read your blog
Beautiful & Informative Info. Thank you!
Many SEO gig says, the web 2.0’s are no more effective. I think, the most significant thing they do is keyword diversity. Thanks for your tricks, hope it will work.
This article covers all necessary aspects a beginner need
love it
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Thumbs up for you.
Very good post……Helpful too!!
This article helped me really understand how Web 2.0 backlinks work and how not to get hurt in the process. Thanks.
I really loved what you had to say, and more than that, how you presented it. Too cool!
Web 2.0 submission is the online technique (it used to work better years ago, but it still works quite good).
Thanks for this very helpful post that I am looking for. It’s very helpful.
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Thanks for sharing. good Article!
Thanks for sharing the useful list for creating Web 2.0 submission list and I also use some of the website for creating back link
Good Post on Backlinks…
Great explanation on the subject. Question: Are Web 2.0 blogs still good for getting decent backlinks? if they are, which ones do you guys know about?
Thanks For shearing
Amazing tips sir thanks for sharing this awesome posts
Nice sharing amazing one keep sharing more thanks for all lovely one