Build Links with Social Bookmarking Sites

by Oliver Ewbank on 20th April 2011

In a web ruled by links social bookmarking should not be underestimated. A strong bookmark can provide a valuable link as well as citations to help boost your search engine rankings.

What is Social Bookmarking?

For those new to the world of social bookmarking it is a method for internet users to organise, store, manage and search for bookmarks of resources online. The bookmarks are usually public and often get indexed by search engines. The standard bookmark gives you the opportunity to leave a link back to your site (sometimes with anchor text) which will obviously help grow your link profile.

Creating a Bookmark

As with any backlink the surrounding content is key to adding value. A strong bookmark will need a good description detailing what the page is about. Most social bookmarking services encourage users to organise their page with informal tags which can help theme the URL.

Here is one I made earlier:

Notice how there is enough content to describe the page, the bookmark also has appropriate tags to theme the URL.

Good Sources

There are plenty of social bookmarking sites available on the web; here are five which are worth incorporating into your link building strategy.

1.       http://www.jumptags.com/

2.       http://www.reddit.com/

3.       http://www.bestuff.com/

4.       http://www.folkd.com/

5.       http://www.diigo.com/

When Should You Bookmark?

It is worth bookmarking a variety of your pages to build links back to your site. Bookmarking can also be used to add value to a new blog post or article. For example, a recent article with a link back to your site can be bookmarked to place further value behind the initial link.

Brand Protection

Social bookmarks often clog up the first page of Google which means you have the opportunity to build multiple rankings. A strong bookmark on a brand related term is also another way to protect your company name and dominate search results.

Citations

Social bookmarking is an excellent way to portray ‘popularity signals’ to search engines. The social reference of a brand name or even a keyword (with an appropriate link) can have significant benefits to your search results.

Conclusion

Social bookmarking sites have been around for a long time but this doesn’t mean they should be overlooked. With Google paying more attention to social citations there is an added benefit to include bookmarks in your link building strategy.