Search
Engine Optimization 101: Everything You Need to Know About
Link Popularity
The number of websites that link to your
website is one of the factors that help search engines
determine your relevancy for a search term. Link popularity
and gaining new links from outside websites to your website
have proven to be a popular concept for people seeking
to improve their search engine rankings.
What is link popularity and how exactly
does it work? Search engines don't just look at the content
of your website to determine if you are a match for a
search. They also look at the number of outside websites
that can validate, by linking, that you are a good match.
Search engines have also begun to rank
the importance of the sites that link to you. This means
if the New York Times links to your site, your credibility
is higher than if Joe's Online Newspaper provides a link
to your website. Search engines also consider the text
contained in the link that is pointing to your website.
If the text in the links contains keywords you are trying
to compete for, the search engines consider your site
to have even greater credibility.
Since link popularity has become a factor
that people feel like they have some influence over in
determining their search engine positioning, many solutions
have been proposed for growing your online link popularity.
One of the more popular ways is also one of the least
effective.
Several software programs have been written
that help you create lists of websites in your space that
might be willing to link to you. These programs also help
you gather the email addresses for these sites and even
help you craft an email requesting that the site add a
link to yours.
The concept sounds good but the results
are often mixed. If you use one of these tools and simply
follow the templates they give you, your email will read
like a spam message that won't be taken seriously.
The best way to build long-term link popularity
is to offer good content and features that provide real
value to your audience. As people discover your website
and realize its benefits, the likelihood of them linking
to your website naturally increases.
There are several critical targets if
you want to build up your link popularity without appearing
to be a spammer. The first is good links from Yahoo and
the Open Directory Project. Both of these sites are human
based directories that have a lot of influence over search
results. If your site is listed in the correct category
and has a good description, links from these two websites
are seen as validating you are the real thing.
The second place it's important to have
a link from is topic specific or niche directories. These
are websites that are dedicated to news and information
that is an exact match for what you provide online. If
you have a website that deals with tractor parts, being
listed on sites that focus on tractors is very important.
In the case where a niche website doesn't know about your
website, it's okay to ask them to link to your website.
But your message should be personalized to them and also
tell them the benefit or feature their users will get
from linking to you.
Another part of the web that helps build
your link popularity is resource sites. Resource sites
are lists of links that people put up on their own. These
pages are often spread amongst friends and readers who
find good information available from the resource. In
order to reach this audience, a good PR campaign and press
releases can ensure that these individuals know you exist
and have a link to your website that they can easily include.
One of the most overlooked spots for building
link popularity is links from partners and vendors for
your business. Because you already have a business relationship
with these companies or individuals, you are more likely
to be able to request and receive a link from their website.
These websites help validate your place online and also
establish you within a community of websites online. If
you are visible to the community, you are more visible
to the search engines.
Link popularity also starts at home. You
must make sure your link architecture is solid and easily
followed by search engines. That's the first way that
search engines see you. It's also the way that visitors
find information within your website. The easier you make
it on your audience to find good information, the more
likely they are to link to it.
The final way you can work to increase
your link popularity is to participate in newsletters
and online forums that relate to your website. You don't
want to just jump in and give a plug for your URL. You
must participate in the discussion as an expert or authority
who gives good advice. When you sign your name at the
bottom of your posting, be sure to include a signature
that includes a link to your website. If these forums
and newsletters are archived and remain online, search
engines continue to see them and the links they contain.
If your website doesn't have a lot of
content and you are wondering how you can build your link
popularity you should think about building a tool or feature
on your website that will be valuable to your online audience.
AUSWEB's Search Engine Marketing tools are a good
example of a feature built to generate link popularity.
AUSWEB's free tools provide unique
data for search engine marketers that they can't find
other places. We've also made it possible for people to
place our tools on their sites easily by cutting and pasting
a piece of HTML code into their web page. Because the
tools are valuable to our community, many websites have
linked to the tools or added the tool to their own website.
Consequently, if you search for "link popularity"
at Google, AUSWEB will usually appear in the top 3
results on the first page.
Link popularity will continue to be an
essential factor in successful search engine marketing
initiatives for the foreseeable future. Links are a helpful
tool for search engines trying to wade through billions
of documents and find ones that are relevant to their
users.
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