Search Engines: Link Popularity
How Link Popularity Affects Search Engine Rankings
Search
engines use a concept known as link popularity in
determing the rankings for competing websites. The
idea behind it is simple: If many other websites
are linking to yours, then it must have some valuable
content. With all else being equal, search engines
will give a site with higher link popularity a better
ranking than its competitor because the site with
higher link popularity has demonstrated that it
has content that others find useful.
There are three main factors involved in determining
a site's link popularity: quantity, quality, and
relevancy. Quantity is fairly straightforward --
the more links the better. More important is the
quality of the links going to your site. One link
coming from a very important site with high link
popularity can be worth more than a dozen links
from sites that have low link popularities. Finally,
links coming from sites that have content related
to yours will be worth more than those that don't.
A link from a site that focuses on the same keyword
phrases as your site will be weighted much more
heavily than one from a completely unrelated site.
Improving Your Site's Link Popularity
If
you are targeting highly competitive keywords, then
you should definitely put in the time to work on
your link popularity. Below are some of the different
avenues you can take to improve your site's link
popularity. They are listed from the easiest to
most time consuming.
Directories
Getting
your site listed in directories is one of the fastest
ways to build your link popularity. Probably the
most important directory to be listed on is DMOZ.
It is free and several large search engines including
Google, use the DMOZ database for their own directories.
By getting your site listed on DMOZ, you'll effectively
be listed on Google's directory as well as dozens
of other directories that use DMOZ content.
Yahoo
now charges $299 per year to be listed in their
directory. Whether this is worth the cost or not,
depends on your situation. If you have the money,
and can convert the additional traffic you gain
into dollars, then by all means, add your site to
Yahoo.
Other public directories you can add to are JoeAnt.com
and GoGuides.org. Getting your site listed on these
directories will cost a one-time fee of $39. You
can also get listed for free if sign up as an editor.
Real estate and local directories
In
addition to the major directories listed above,
there are many real estate industry and local community
directories you can submit your site to. If you'd
like the updated list of free real estate directories
that we provide our clients, email us Southport
Design Real Estate Marketing and Tools
To find your community business directories, try
searching Google.com for "YourCity business directory"
(Replace "YourCity" with the name of your city or
county). This should turn up lots of local directories
you can submit your site to.
Find
potential link partners
Another
way you can improve your link popularity is to contact
other websites you'd like to link to and offer to
trade links. Make sure you personalize your email
and include an explanation of the benefits of link
popularity. Your request should be professional
and give the impression that you put some thought
into this.
Identify some positive points in the site you wish
to link to and mention them in your email. Point
out the benefits their visitors will receive by
visiting your site and make sure everything is working
on your site. Most webmasters won't want to link
to your site if it has poor content or broken links.
Writing Articles for Republishing
One
of the best ways you can improve the link popularity
of your site is to write articles and allow them
to be republished on other sites. There are many
article submission directories which webmasters
use to find content for their websites.
At the end of each article, you include a short
profile about yourself and a link to your website.
It's a good idea to explicitly state that your article
may be republished only if the link to your website
is active.
Below are couple sites you can submit your articles
to:
http://www.realestateabc.com/propages/linkpartners/author.htm
http://www.ezinearticles.com/
If you write a good article, it can quickly become
an excellent viral marketing tool. If a webmaster
reads your article online, he may publish it on
his website creating more exposure. His site's visitors
will read the article and may publish it on their
own site. Each time someone republishes your article,
you get a new link to your site. Each of these links
will also tend to come from websites that are highly
related to yours since they're republishing your
articles. As mentioned earlier, these links will
carry more weight with search engines.
Final Tips
Avoid Link Farms
A
link farm is a reciprocal linking service where
everyone participating agrees to link to each other.
Also known as free-for-all link pages, there's usually
no foundation or relevancy in the linking and it's
simply an attempt at improving link popularity.
Most search engines are aware of link farms and
will either penalize or ban participants from being
indexed completely. The minimal benefits you can
get from having random unrelated links directed
to your site are simply not worth the risk of getting
banned by a major search engine. Writing quality
content can do wonders for your search rankings,
but if you allow other sites to use the content
on the understanding that they link back to your
site, it can benefit the both of you. It helps them
rank better in the search engines while providing
content they otherwise wouldn't have the time or
knowledge to write. It helps you because you get
more exposure to your work while improving your
link popularity.
Use Keywords
in Your Link Text
Most
search engines take note of the text used for links.
A link containing an important keyword phrase will
be worth more than the same link with unrelated
text. For example, instead of using your URL as
the link text, use a keyword phrase:
Instead of: http://www.southportdesign.com/
Try using: Real
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