As the New Year rolls in, you’ve probably see plenty of predictions about what’s ahead in marketing, social media, and more. But, have you heard anything about link building? In a recent article on Search Engine Journal, the author outlined some things that may change during 2011, here are some highlights:

image via Ian Sane

1. More links to content – Instead of solely focusing on your homepage or product page, begin linking to more of your internal pages. Content marketing is growing quickly – so make sure you move along with it.
2. Less use of keyword-based anchor text – As concern about penalization for over-optimized anchor text grows, the need for new anchor text has risen. Instead of continually targeting your keyword phrases, consider using your target brand or business name as anchor text. This can also help with your online reputation, since review sites are increasing in popularity.
3. Quality over quantity – Focus on high-quality linking opportunities instead of getting many links on low-quality sites. As experts are learning more and more about users’ link building strategies, these low-quality sites may disappear, thus causing you to lose those links.
4. The importance of social media – Several recent articles have shown that search engine rankings are being influenced by social mentions like Twitter and Facebook. Although these sites used to be useless when it came to SEO, they’re now being counted for relevance.

For even more link building predictions, check out Search Engine Journal’s article titled, “5 Link Building Predictions For 2011.”

Is your business getting the reviews and positive customer feedback it deserves? Customer reviews are one of the best ways to increase your business, up your search engine rankings, and build your businesses’ credibility through the eyes of others. A recent post by Mike at Blumenthals.com outlined some great guidelines to follow when implementing a review process to your business:

Keep it current – It’s very helpful to get reviews on a regular basis. If all customer reviews are from last year, it looks fishy – not just to potential customers, but to search engines as well.

Encourage diversity – It’s better to have reviews from a variety of sites, instead of just one. When encouraging customer reviews, mention several sites like Yelp.com, Google Local, and City Search.

Plan for a negative review – No matter how great your business or how friendly your staff, you will encounter a negative review at some point. You’ll get the occasional unhappy customer that isn’t afraid to tell people what they think.

In the Blumenthal.com post titled Principles for a Review Plan, the author proposes the question of whether it’s okay to solicit reviews from customers, as some sites – like Yelp – highly discourage it.

If the approach is done carefully and thoughtfully, asking for a review can not only help your business, but can help your customers learn the importance of reviews and how they can help support local businesses.