Link
popularity has become increasingly important among the search engines.
Because link popularity goes hand in hand with search engine optimization,
it is important for any company with a web presence to build a link
development strategy.
Link popularity is not simply obtaining as many links as possible.
The quality of the links hold more "weight" than the quantity
of links. You will get better results in the search engines if you
have link popularity from sites that have considerable traffic.
To develop popularity for your web site, consider the 5 tips I am
giving you:
(1)
High Traffic Web Directories
Submit your site to the most visited directories. Yahoo of course
at (yahoo.com), LookSmart (looksmart.com), and Open Directory (dmoz.org)
are examples of major directories.
(2)
Reciprocal link exchanges
One of the best ways to get links is to give links, through reciprocal
exchanges. Using link exchanges does two things. First, it makes
getting links easier. Most webmasters are willing to help each other,
so if you give them a link, most times they will return the favor.
Second, by adding links to other quality websites, it increases
the quality of your own website. Finally, you are providing a resource
(links to other websites) for your visitors. Will you lose potential
customers? If you website is good, you don't have to worry.
When looking for possible link candidates, start by searching your
strategic keywords at major search portals. You'll see a lot of
competitors, but look for non-competing, complementary sites.
Screen these sites, selecting those likely to be receptive to your
link request. Give them a compelling reason to link to your site.
Show them where a link might be advantageous. A good strategy is
to link to them first, which might help get a link back. Target
respected and popular sites of relevance to your
target audience.
A note about what is meant by a "quality" website. You
do not want to link to any old website. You need to research the
website and note such things as its Google pageRank, theme, search
engine rankings, the websites it links to, etc. You only want to
link to the best websites you can.
Unfortunately when you are first starting out, many websites will
not want to since you are new ...In that case you might have to
search a bit harder and may be "lower your standards"
some but your persistent will pay off. Set goals and stick to them.
(3)
Linkability Within Your Site
Provide quality resources and appropriate outgoing links, including
links to search engines, news hubs, weather reports, industry resources,
industry professional groups, etc. Outgoing links are important
for they provide incentive for other quality sites to link to yours,
and they can improve your PR score if
internal linkage is done properly.
(4)
Write Articles
Write articles related to your target audience and submit the articles
to appropriate online publications. Include your Web site URL in
the bio and make it a condition for publication that the article
appear with bio and company link. This can generate many links and
can also help promote future business.
(5)
Well Designed and Optimized Web Site
Before worrying about getting those links, you need to create quality
content that will make people want to link to you. Your website
needs to be designed properly and optimized before you worry about
links.
The time spent getting your website's overall design and content
properly done will make your link popularity grow even faster later.
If your website is new and has been designed well and optimized,
do not fall for those "get link popularity quick schemes."
Be patient-it takes time. Yes, you should work on link popularity
but you just can't get a link from anyone.
To
check your link popularity in some search engines, you can use the
following tools at:
http://www.marketleap.com/publinkpop
http://www.searchenginepromotion.cc
While
increasing link popularity is of fundamental importance, you should
take note that there are certain strategies to avoid.
These strategies hyped in the past should be avoided because they're
now worthless and can get you penalized in search engines.
Here are 3 strategies to avoid:
(1)
Link Farms
A link farm is a network of sites linking to other sites for the
sole purpose of increasing link popularity. Search engines consider
this spamming and will remove sites associated with link farms.
(2)
Reciprocal Link Exchange Services
Networks consisting of hundreds of webmasters with sites on numerous
topics are linked to one another. The service requires linking to
all sites in network, making content unrelated. Search engines consider
this spamming.
(3)
FFA Listings
Free for All listings appear and disappear rather quickly. Few people
search through the listings except for spammers collecting email
addresses. These sites are not indexed by search engines.
In conclusion, link popularity cannot be overlooked, but as with
any web site promotional technique, to be effective it has to be
done properly.
Running a link campaign can take a little time, but is well worth
the effort if the groundwork has been laid and you put the time
into it that it deserves, for these links establish relevancy, a
top priority for search engines and consumers alike. Only then will
it truly help your website out.
©
2003 By Jean Lam