As an affiliate marketer, you know that you want your website to appear higher in search engine rankings. And that’s because you know that high rankings are the key to getting free traffic.

However, you’re not alone if you’re wondering how to get the high-quality, and diverse backlinks that Google’s algorithms apparently love so much.

Well, posting to blogs and forums is a tried-and-true method to get backlinks. And it works. But there’s more you can do.

We’ve assembled three of our top tips that we share with our Affiliate Classroom students to help them get more high quality and diverse backlinks to their websites.

Tip #1: Get Listed in Resource Directories and Relevant Lists

Resource directories are those sites that act as resources for people who are searching for information about a particular topic. There are websites that provide lists on “the top debt repair sites” or “the top weight loss sites” or “the top whatever sites.” Google considers backlinks from this type of site to be high in quality.

Find these sites by typing “your keyword or phrase + add url” (without the quotation marks). For example if your niche is “fitness,” you’d type the following into a Google search:

fitness + add url

Your results will be an enormous list of sites that allow you to add your URL and create a backlink that Google will love.

**NOTE:

1. Avoid sites that ask for reciprocal links!

2. Make a list and keep a spreadsheet of sites you submit to, so you don’t have to repeat the search.

Tip #2: Get Backlinks from Squidoo

You can add your website to Squidoo lenses and use custom anchor text. Many Squidoo lenses rank surprisingly well in Google results.

To find the Squidoo lenses; go to Google and type “add+to+this+list”+“your keyword or phrase”+site:squidoo.com” (without the quotation marks) into the search box. If your niche is “debt,” you’d type in the following:

add+to+this+list+debt+site:squidoo.com

You’ll get a long, long list of related Squidoo lenses where you can list your site and establish a backlink.

Tip #3: Get EDU and GOV Backlinks

Backlinks ending in “.gov” and “.edu” are valued very highly by Google. You can find .gov and .edu sites by typing the search phrase “site:edu inurl:blog “post a comment” or site:.gov inurl:blog “post a comment” (without the quotation marks) into the Google search box.

**NOTE: Colleges often provide personal web space for students, and the extension of the sites is .edu. If you know or can find a college student who will work with you, you can post a whole article rather than just a comment.

If you want to make the most of your affiliate marketing business, follow these three tips to get backlinks.

You’ll improve your search engine ranking, get more traffic, and make more money from your affiliate marketing business.