Link Building Strategies Using Search Operators

Link Builders Share Advanced Link Building Operators

As an SEO, it’s important to know about advanced search operators. Some people say that it’s just an easy way to find what you’re looking for, but I think it more than that. I’ll share my link building strategies that involve search operators for link building. First we need to know the basic search operators in order to know the advanced ones.

Basic Search Operators:

1. intext:
2. inanchor:
3. inurl:
4. intitle:
5. site:
6. allinanchor:
7. allintext:
8. allintitle:
9. allinurl:
10. author:
11. cache:
12. define:
13. ext:
14. filetype:
15. id:
16. info:
17. insubject
18. link:
19. source:

Combine these basic search operators with the right keywords and command search engines to give you more specific search results. Years of manual link building has given me better results than using link building tools. I continue to practice different methods and have always relied on search operators to find good link building opportunities.


Search Operators for Blog Commenting:

1. “keyword” site:.gov inurl:blog "post a comment"
2. “keyword” site:.edu inurl:blog "post a comment"
3. “keyword” "This blog uses premium CommentLuv"
4. “keyword” "Notify me of follow-up comments?"
5. “keyword” "add to this list" site:squidoo.com

Using these advanced search operators you’ll be able to find blogs related to your industry where you can leave your comment and a link. You can find .edu, .gov, commentluv enabled blogs, Squidoo lenses, hubpages and do follow comment blogs to drop off some links through blog commenting.

Search Operators for Guest Blogging:

1. “keyword” guest writer
2. “keyword” guest blog post writer
3. “keyword” submit content
4. “keyword” submit article
5. “keyword” submit post
6. “keyword” submit blog post
7. “keyword” add article
8. “keyword” add blog post
9. “keyword” add content
10. “keyword” guest blogger wanted

These advanced search operators are for searching websites that offers guest blogging opportunities. Guest blogging is one of the best way to build links as it’s not only for increasing your website rank through search engine authority but can also play a major role in generating leads. Search engines prefer article links from informative content and give more credit to the over time.

Search Operators for Directory & Resource Listing

1. “keyword” directory
2. “keyword” * directory
3. directory * “keyword”
4. intitle:directory "keyword"
5. inurl:directory "keyword"
6. "list of “keyword” sites"
7. "list * “keyword” sites"
8. "list * “keyword” * sites"
9. "recommended links" “keyword"
10. "recommended sites" keyword"
11. "favorite links" keyword"
12. "favorite sites" keyword"

These advanced search operators are for searching directories and websites that have a resource list page, recommended site page or a favorite site page. These are great if you’re doing local SEO. If you’re a local wedding planner, you should probably be looking for websites that are related to your niche, wedding planning. A good start would be to search for catering companies, photographers, etc and reach out to them for a guest article in trade for adding your to their preferred vendors list.

Search Operators for Forum Posting

1. “Keyword” forum
2. "keyword forum"
3. intitle:”keyword” forum
4. inurl:”keyword” forum

Forum posting is one way to build links and these advanced search operators are really helpful when search for niche forums. I haven’t been using these for some time now but I think this still works.

Author Bio:

Al Gregorios, Content Manager for Project Assistant with Business in a Box solutions, enjoys discovering and sharing business strategies for online marketing, CRM, project management, mobile marketing and technical publications.