Wikipedia defines link bait as follows;

Link bait is any content or feature within a website that somehow baits viewers to place links to it from other websites. Attempts to create link bait are frequently employed in the overall task of search engine optimization. Matt Cutts defines link bait as anything “… interesting enough to catch people’s attention.” Typically, users on bulletin boards, newsgroups, social networking websites, or blogs place a link to a website in some copy that further encourages another member or visitor to click. It can be an extremely powerful form of marketing as it is viral in nature.

Link baiting is a tactic being widely embraced by bloggers but for the most part every day websites are yet to give it a go.  Unlike traditional link building, you are not going out hunting for links by emailing requests and submitting to directories but rather you are building content that embraces the user and inspires them to link to you so as to share it with their site visitors.

For example, when I decided to write this entry I went hunting for some information both in Wikipedia and from searches.  I came across an informative article on Search Engine Journal about the topic and recommend you check it out for further information on link baiting.  In turn that article contains links to other relevant sources the author found, and so on.

Successful link baiting techniques can vary from informative articles, to hilarious or controversial video clips or pictures. We will discuss specific tactics in future articles.