A link wheel is a linking/SEO strategy designed to positively affect your rankings for the keywords which you use and are targeting.

What is a Link Wheel

This entails creating content on a number of Web 2.0 sites (see what is Web 2.0) and linking them in a wheel style WHILE linking back to the URL on your site which you want to rank, using your keyword(s) as your anchor text in the process.

How to Build a Link Wheel

This diagram shows how to build a link wheel.

Note that one signature characteristic of the link wheel is that no Web 2.0 property is pointing back to any other property which is linking to it, or no reciprocal links. We’re generally not even linking to more than one property; just one link going to the next Web 2.0 site and one link pointing to your main URL you’re trying to rank for.

Again, you’re using your targeted keyword as your anchor text so that search engines can better recognize what your content is about.

Best Link Wheel Strategy

The best link wheel strategy comes in three parts:

One, the more sites involved in the wheel the more link juice you’re getting and the less conspicuous and artificial it looks to Google. In other words, the more complex the wheel, the better and more natural it will look.

Second, creating multiple articles/posts or content on each of those 2.0 sites is better than less as this again looks less artificial and like you’re just creating this system for the rankings. Google hates any attempt to manipulate its rankings or anything which could possibly be construed as black hat SEO.

Third, as I already mentioned, don’t link to the same Web 2.0 property multiple times and above all else do not link every page together as this is a quick and surefire way to get Google to slap you.

Do Link Wheels Work?

It’s 2011 at the time of this post, and the idea of link wheels has been around for more than a few years now. With search engines getting more sophisticated at ranking in terms of their algorithms and better at detecting scammy linking practices every day, the obvious question is do link wheels work?

Link wheels do still work today DEPENDING on how you use them. The more complex the wheel, the better as it’s more difficult to tell what you’re doing and the more link juice you’ll be creating. If you don’t cover your tracks well enough, Google and the other engines will catch on to you.