Posted by Matthew Elshaw

Testimonials are a very powerful form of advertising, but did you know they could also be used as a link building tactic? Most testimonials include a link back to the author (to show it’s a credible source) and this can be a great way to get some valuable incoming links.

Testimonial link building really is a win-win scenario for both sites and usually has a much higher approval rate than your standard link request emails. The contact gets another testimonial to place on their site, while you get a new incoming link.

Another good feature of testimonial based links is that they can be often found on core product pages or even the homepage. This means they’re going to have a strong positive influence in your overall link popularity.

Getting started is as simple as writing an email to a few of your suppliers. Explain to them how happy you are with the service and offer to write a few lines they can place on their site.

If they accept, write something specific and ask if it would be ok for them to provide a link to your site. You can make it simple for them by showing an example of how you would like the link to be created:

Hi Supplier name,

“This is an example comment praising the suppliers business.”

Your Name, CEO of Company name – a leading provider of example services.

While this can be a great strategy, only offer to write a testimonial if you are genuinely happy with a supplier’s service! Happy link building.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 at 8:30 am and is filed under Content, Linking, Networking, SEO, Search. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

About the Author: Matt is a marketing professional at ineedhits.com, an international search marketing firm. Matt's passion for online marketing began at university and has proved invaluable in steering product development and marketing initiatives at the company. Matt is a regular contributor to the ineedhits search marketing blog.