From panda to the latest pigeon(by SEL) algorithms are changing day by day, these updates are ruining out our SEO work. Now messing up with old SEO tactics doesn’t work anymore. After Google introduced algorithms like panda and penguin we started fetching new and reliable ways to build backlinks.  Factors like backlink’s anchor texts and keywords are loosing it’s importance by continuous update of algorithms. Everyone of us once used keywords for linking to the site but now using long-tails because of it’s search compatibility .Gaining authority doesn’t end with backlinks. Now it’s time for co-citations.

What are co-citations?

it’s time to say anchor text is diminishing but not completely. Google started giving importance to these surrounding texts. Words on the pages that linking back to a pages always play a vital role. Few refer it as pseudo linking which means when a site A links to Site B and Site C through a post then these  sites are linked with each other even though there is no direct link from Site B to Site C. Co-citations helps Google to find similarities of two web pages due to the third web page referring to both of them. Links are the powerful ranking signals than this co-citations but both have their own merits in the eyes of Google algorithms.

Important concepts of co-citations :

• Most of us vigorously try to get backlinks from higher authoritative websites but while linking back to the authoritative websites also we need to maintain the balance in link eco-system. Linking back to authoritive websites gives a postive signal to Google . You may feel frustrating in this competitive world linking back to other websites is just like aiding the competitor but the trick is find out the authoritative website related to the same topic but not in competition. I mentioned in my previous blog post how to rank a zero content site is based on same concept.
• On the other side, linking to poor quality website and linking to a website with irrelevant topic & low social share, Google might think that you are trying to manipulate the rankings, moreover algorithms can easily figure out this kind of tactics.
• When a site A links to site B and Site C , if site B is more authoritative than Site C then authority of site B is benefit to the Site C. You can use this trick  during  guest posting which benefits  you a lot. Here the concept is first the Authority flows forward and then backward like it’s just a transitive relation.

Conclusion:

The concept of co-citations and co-occurrence  is quite confusing but the basics of making use of it is to keep the words wisely that are surrounding the link as it influences more. Never link to bad websites instead link freely to authoritative websites (relevant sites).

Keyword stuffing and anchor text optimization has lost it’s importance and doesn’t work anymore after the release of Google algorithms Panda and Penguin. After the release of these Algorithms many top blogs had been penalized and lost their rankings in SERP. Now the quality of the links became more important ranking factor(what kind of blogs linking to you).

What is a link wheel?

Link wheel  is an advanced link building strategy, although it is an old concept, but it is evolving from time to time. The main concept behind link wheel is to create a link pattern such that at the end it links to your main blog. The main concept in link wheel is that we are going to use  hosted web 2.0 sites remotely.

Usually these sites allow us to create pages, write content and make some link juice flow through them to your main site. You can also consider that link wheel is a mini private blog network created out of web 2.0 sites.

Also check this : Best 5 Link Building Tools ( Free and Premium)

How to create an effective link wheel

In link wheel, the main site is in the center and followed by unlimited web 2.0 sites which are connected to each other outside. You should link in such away that all the web 2.0 sites are properly connected to main site.

Let me explain you clearly, site 1 links to site 2, and to your main site, site 2 connects to site 3 and your main site and the chain follows. You can look over the simple link wheel structure at down.

site 2 <== site 1 ==> main site.

site 3 <== site 2 ==> main site.

What kind of websites can you use :

• Article submission directories,
• Web 2.0 sites,
• Wiki sites.

Although many of the wiki sites are no follow it helps to flow some authority to your blog and helps to rank higher in SERP.

Link wheel is only effective when you use it properly and safe from Google penalties. Treat web 2.0 properties & wiki sites as your own blogs and invest some time & money in creating unique articles. Note : Never use spinned content. This not only helps you to be safe from penalties but you can also get some referral traffic. Never use any automatic software to create these link wheels because all those softwares are going to leave some traces which can be caught by Google easily and you may be penalized.

So, I advice you to build link wheels manually. Mostly don’t use targeted keyword as anchor text instead use anchor texts which are generic like blog, post, website, click here. My secret advise is that make some links as no follow so that the link wheel pattern breaks and makes it more effective. Also build backlinks to those web 2.0 sites, I mean tiered link building. You can use any sites like social book marking sites, audio sites, video sites, as a part of link wheel .

Here are some best web 2.0 sites which can be used for link building

1. WordPress
2. Xing
3. Bloglines
4. Issuu
5. Academica.edu
6. Livejournal
7. Tumbler
8. Friend Feed
9. Goodreads
10. Jimdo

PS: There are many patterns in link wheel and my personal advice is that try to create a unique structure for your link wheel so that you may not get caught easily.