“Link building is becoming more difficult lately. People don’t link out anymore and Twitter is polluting the link graph. Oh, and Google isn’t treating my links they way they should.” This seems to be the consensus on various blogs, forums and even Twitter, but I can’t say I agree with it.

Actually, I even think that link building has become more easy, and especially a lot more fun during the past few years. Sure, it can be different to build links to certain types of websites, and some industries are more polluted with bad links than the Gulf of Mexico currently is with oil, but this just asks for more creativity.

Thinking outside the box, evaluating success from the past, building relationships, or even thinking a bit past the usual tactics while avoiding the most common pitfalls can bring you quite far. In other words: there’s no such thing as advanced link building – it’s simply a mix between creativity, logical thinking and persistence (sometimes with a little bit of help).

And also:

• Real life link building examples from SMX Advanced at Bruce Clay and SEO Gadget
• The myth of volume-based link building – Hugo Guzman
• Why building links is important – Leo Dimilo
• Choosing the right link development strategy – Kieran Flanagan
• Death to the paid link – Ross Hudgens
• Link building opportunities big brands miss – Rishi Lakhani

Newspapers are asked to remove links, natural links become a rarity, and more and more webmasters become link-greedy; the link graph is breaking down. In other words: link building seems to become more difficult.

Sure, there are still many relatively easy ways to get links to your SMB website, or to build links to local websites, but this trend will probably not go away. Link tactic differentiation, of which creatively pursuing .gov links or by building links backwards (a very effective way of content based link building) are just a few examples, is probably more important than it ever was.

And also:

• Link building normalization – Anthony Verre
• The reasonable surfer – Bill Slawski (but please read this one, too)
• What kind of links do you need – Scott Willoughby
• 9 “Reach metrics” for evaluating guest publishing opportunities – Garrett French
• Breathe new life into your emailed link requests – Julie Joyce
• How to use goverment website information to create sticky link bait – Debra Mastaler
• All links are not created equal – Rand Fishkin

Using the right link building tools can make link building so much easier. And I don’t necessarily mean the tools that most people have already heard of, but it’s the smaller, lesser-known tools that can make a difference. Luckily, Debra has shared another bunch of non-standard, outside of the box link building tools, which you can use to build amazing backlinks.

The biggest ‘problem’ with tools, however, is that tools can’t do the thinking for you. Tools can provide data, but you’ll have to analyze most data yourself. Tools can provide insights, but you’ll have to draw conclusions yourself. Tools can provide link targets, but you’ll have to do the negotiating and/ or cold calling yourself. Obviously, this is a good thing, as this is the point where creativity comes into play.

And also:

• 6 Steps BEFORE you start link prospecting – Garrett French
• How a search engine may identify undesirable web pages by analyzing inlinks – Bill Slawski
• Paid link noi$e – Julie Joyce
• 29 Queries for content-based link builders – Garrett French
• The definitive guide to web spam – David Harry

PS – If you think I missed one or more interesting link building articles last month, feel free to mention it in the comments ;)

The long winter days seem to have kept quite a few folks inside, considering the large amount of great in-depth link building articles I came across last month. When even Bing starts writing about link spam, you know it must be pretty cold outside…

Although I don’t spend as much time on online marketing forums as I used to, I still try to read the most interesting threads on a few forums. WebmasterWorld is one of these forums, and threads like this link building case study thread are the reason why. And if you happen to like reading case studies just as much as I do, here’s two more.

Another great read is this NY Times article about a Penn study on virality. The researchers studied a list of well-e-mailed articles, checking it every 15 minutes for over 6 months, analyzing the content of thousands of articles and checking for factors like the placement in the paper or on the Web home page. Great stuff…

And also:

• A resource for information visualisation & infographics – Tom Critchlow
• Popularity matters, ignore at your own peril – Adam Singer
• How to write linkbait – Sam Tilston
• Pulling a Kesey (or tripping link filters) – Debra Mastaler
• Using bit.ly for spying, link building and happiness – Jim Gianoglio
• Quality link building starts with questions – Wil Reynolds
• Blogging etiquette – Tamar Weinberg
• Running giveaway competitions for links and SEO – Rob Ousbey
• An interview with Debra Mastaler – Zach Daniel
• Link building strategies video – Ian Lurie
• Things to consider when adding linkbaiting to your online marketing strategy – Lyndon Antcliff

Since there wasn’t a Link Building this Month in December, because of the yearly recap, this month’s edition basically is a double edition. In 2010, I will be putting the bar even higher than it already was. We’ve all read the same stuff over and over again, so I’ll try only to mention articles that are new, different or simply excellent.

Every new year usually starts with awards, recaps (see earlier link), resolutions (mine is better time management) and predictions. Debra Mastaler asked all Link Week columnists what they think 2010 will bring, and this is the result. As you can see, group interviews can be a great way to create great, linkable content.

And also:

• The psychology behind link giving – David Snyder
• Linkable asset inventory – Garrett French
• Link building checklist – Mark Nunney
• Top searches can attract top links – Debra Mastaler
• How to drive more links via public relations – Jeremy Bencken
• Linkfromdomain: a link building tip for Bing.com – Will Critchlow
• How to woo a blogger – Lisa Barone
• Guest blogging: the ultimate guide – Glen Allsopp
• Getting links for a poker site is easier than you think – Lyndon Antcliff
• How to measure link building – Michael Martinez

It’s already the last day of the year, so it’s time to list the best link building related posts of 2009. Just like last year, I’ve read a lot of great articles. Here’s my personal top three:

1. Link Development Training: How Link Building for SEO is Like Picking Up a Girl – Todd Malicoat
Unfortunately, Todd doesn’t write tons of articles anymore, but when he does, they’re usually great. In this post, he explains how he trains new link builders and which tools and approach he uses. Great stuff.

2. 101 Advanced Tips For The Next Time You Buy Text Link Ads – Gab Goldenberg
Even when you don’t buy links, there’s lots of tips you can get out of Gab’s post. Just replace ‘buy’ for ‘talk your way into…’ or ‘offer services/ a discount/ anything else in exchange for…’, and you’re good to go.

3. 21 Tips to Earn Links and Tweets to Your Blog Post – Rand Fishkin
Rand shares 21 great tips for optimizing your content in a way that you maximize its linking potential. Just try to implement all these tips in one of your articles, and you’ll end up with some killer content.

And here’s a few more excellent articles:

General

• Link building ranking factors – SEOmoz
• Why link building may not work – Michael Martinez
• How to buy links with maximum juice and minimum risk – Lisa Barone
• 17 Ways search engines judge the value of a link – Rand Fishkin
• Link building from A to Z – yours truly (yes, I hate including my own stuff, but couldn’t find a good 5th article…)

Finding & evaluating prospects

• 21 Link builders share advanced link building queries – Garrett French
• Link building evaluation guide – David Snyder
• The link builders guide to analyzing SERP dominators for link opportunities – Garrett French
• Link buying: the good, the bad and the ugly – Aaron Wall
• A big bunch of link building ideas – Debra Mastaler

Webmaster outreach

• Link building outreach: 5 steps to maximize the value of every opportunity – Garrett French
• Get your link building requests answered – Mat Siltala
• 10 Tips for requesting link exchanges – Steven Snell
• How to woo a blogger (and get covered) – Lisa Barone
• 10 Reasons why journalists will write about your website – Ken McGaffin

Content & link baiting

• What makes a link worthy post, part 1 and part 2 – Casey Henry
• How to research, create and distribute highly linkable content – Garrett French
• Getting links and content from Flickr – Lisa Barone
• The psychology of a linkbait – Ryan Caldwell
• How to promote good content – Lisa Barone

Most viewed posts of Wiep.net

1. 69 Link building strategies for 2009 (I know, it’s a post from 2008)
2. The perfect link request email template
3. Indispensable link building tools
4. 10 Questions to ask a new link marketing client
5. Advertising strategies that improve your link popularity
6. A good alt is better than a bad anchor
7. SEO Motivators (also a post from 2008)

This basically wraps up 2009. I hope this year has been as good for you as it was for me. All the best wishes for 2010!