Link Bait

Link bait is the common term for a device specifically designed to garner incoming links.

These "devices" can range from a deliberately controversial posting on a blog to generate "heat" to a giveaway script that requires display of a linked logo.

A recent example of link bait came from an Irish SEO/blogger who offered a free consultation to anyone shortlisted in the National Blog Awards with acceptance of the offer signaled by a mention of (and a link to) the offer in their blogs.

The aim of link bait is to garner "natural" one-way links and seems to be a practice, at least when based on content, approved of by the likes of Matt Cutts of Google.

Where things can get a bit murky is when there is a direct quid pro quo between the linker and the link baiter, so entry to a prize competition in exchange for a link might not be seen quite so benevolently.

Either way, with the apparent crackdown on both paid or exchanged links by Google I suspect we'll soon be seeing link bait move further into the mainstream of the commercial web.

For further reading on link bait we recommend: