The small folk wonder how the bigger brands succeed at their link building efforts. In a big corporation, it would take jumping through a lot of hoops to get the correct managers to sign off on link building approval, especially as they may want to verify that every site that they link build upon is kosher.
But do big brands really do link building? Not so much. They are already known so well within the sphere that their links usually come naturally. However, if they really wanted to engage in building other links, it's suggested that they participate in some viral marketing campaigns and linkbait.
If, though, you wanted to look at the effectiveness of existing inbound links, you can contact webmasters and have them point their links to the best possible spots. Some may honor such a request.
Once you're that big, you may not have to worry about "link building," per se, but other strategies, according to nethy:
I suppose you could say that past a certain point its more a matter of being aware of links, how they work & the value they do or do not bring. When opportunities come up, maximise them.
Forum discussion continues at High Rankings Forum.
