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Too often link builders focus only on engines like Google, Yahoo! or MSN.  As such, they miss great opportunities like the Open Directory Project and other potential sources of links.

In this article, I look at yet another great source of link building.  One that uses technology unique to it.

There are so many search engines out there that it’s no wonder some get overlooked.  One such engine is Clusty.  Clusty is a clustering search engine.  It is very similar to Ask in that it shows clusters of results, and allows you to easily navigate between clusters.

In fact, Clusty actually uses and displays clusters in its search results opposed to Ask that hides most of the clustering from users and only displays a selection via the widen or narrow search options.

If you want a true clustering engine, I’d recommend Clusty because it is fast and easy to use.

But, there is also great potential for link building through Clusty because of its clustering abilities.

You see, much like Ask, Clusty will organize results into groups called clusters.  The following quote comes from Clusty’s site: “Thus a search for ‘pearl’ organizes the top 250-500 results into subject folders such as Jewelry, Pearl Harbor, Pearl Jam, Steinbeck Novel and Daniel Pearl.”

That means that not only has Clusty grouped results, but it has also applied similar ranking algorithms to those results ensuring that the “best” sites show up at the top.

So how do you use Clusty to build links?

The thing to remember is that Clusty is more for researching potential links.  It doesn’t have a “link:” query, but it does show you what it considers “hub” or “authority” sites for a given cluster.

That means when you search on Clusty for your most important keyphrase, for example, it will return results it has determined are the most relevant to you for that phrase.

Now, you could stop after you’ve gathered the list of sites and be on your way, but you’d be missing the true power of this technology.

You see, Clusty has spent a lot of money and invested thousands of man hours to develop this clustering ability.

When you finish gathering your immediate list of potential links, why not take some time to look at the other clusters?

Remember, Clusty has determined that these other clusters could be related to your query.  That means that sites found within those clusters are also likely related.  Because they appear highly in Clusty, they are also likely highly authoritative in Google, Yahoo! and MSN.

You see, the clustering system may provide you with opportunities you never considered before.

For example, let’s say I work for an office supply company.  Of course, my first query will be for “office supplies” and I will gather as many of the sites there as possible that I think I can request links from.

But, I wouldn’t stop there.  I’d also take some time to look at the other categories (clusters) available to see if there are other potential similar results, and then view the top ranked sites there as well.

For example, I see an “Office Products” cluster and an “Office Equipment” cluster that I would want to look more closely at as there are likely sites within these clusters that aren’t shown in my search results but are considered authorities.

There are also “forms, labels”, “discount”, “sales” and more categories for me to review.  And this is just from a single phrase.  Imagine if I were to perform this same search for a dozen other phrases?

By now you may have discovered another great use for Clusty:  Keyword researching.

That’s right, the clusters themselves could be potential keywords you could further optimize your site for.  Using some of the clusters as well as a free keyword research tool like Yahoo!s Search Marketing Search Term Suggestion Tool.

But wait, there’s more.

You will also see that Clusty is a meta search engine which means it goes out and scours the web for relevant related sites found on other search engines or directories.  It shows you that the sites chosen also appear in other areas such as DMOZ, Wisenut, Looksmart, Ask and more.

Granted, many of these are 2nd tier engines, but the fact that the site appears in them as an authority indicates that it is important.  Therefore, it’s one you likely need to research further.

So, if you feel you’ve exhausted all your link potential, think again.  Clusty offers a host of new options for you to review.

Rob Sullivan is a SEO Consultant and Writer for Textlinkbrokers.com. Textlinkbrokers is the trusted leader in building long term rankings through safe and effective link building. Please provide a link directly to Textlinkbrokers when syndicating this article