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SEO (SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION)ARTICLES
Linking
Campaign Increases Google PageRank
But Only if Google Knows - So Tell
Them!
by Mike Banks Valentine
A client recently contacted me pointing out that
their linking campaign was starting to pay off handsomely
by gaining links at a nearly astounding rate of
about 200 a week! He asked how he could be certain
that those sites that linked to his were spidered
and indexed by the search engines, thereby increasing
his PageRank at Google. Those of you who'd like
a primer on PageRank can visit the following URL's
to learn more.
http://tinyurl.com/7utb
http://www.google.com/technology/
The basic premise of PageRank has it that pages
linked to by other sites, (especially other highly
ranked sites) are more valuable than those with
fewer inbound links. Thus, those that have more
inbound links from other highly ranked sites are
given higher placement in the results pages of any
search done for pages with the same keyword phrases.
Any search engine marketing specialist worth their
salt will suggest a linking campaign to their clients
as a basic element in improving their search engine
positions.
Now returning to my client's question about getting
his inbound links from those sites that had added
links to his site, he asked me if he should simply
catalog those sites that linked to him and then
go submit that long list of URL's to the search
engines. I did some research and found that there
were nearly 6000 inbound links, but that only a
fragment of those were now cataloged by Google and
applied to his PageRank
With further research, I found that dozens of those
links came from his articles distributed across
the web that had links to his site within his resource
box at the end of the articles. Further, many of
those sites featured many of his articles and would
have required him to spend hours submitting each
of them to every search engine. I am opposed to
the practice of submitting other sites without permission
as well, so this was something I recommended that
he NOT do. Submitting other sites at the same time
that they submit themselves could get them penalized
for spamming and that hurts, not helps, your chances
of getting that inbound link crawled and linked
back to you.
You'd simply link to those sites that link to your
articles in most cases. If your articles are in
their article directory, that directory will link
to your article. There is no need to directly link
to each of your own articles when that involves
repeating the same site over and over.
My comments to my client follow:
Here's an example of my thoughts on this when a
site carries multiple articles. http://www.webmasterzine.com/newsletters/
"This one URL links to 14 of your articles.
Not only does it link all your articles, but it
ranks you higher than if you were to link to each
page individually because your name's on the page
15 times along with your article titles, which presumably
would contain valuable keywords surrounding your
name along with the links to the articles and their
titles.
The descriptions presumably include important keywords
too. This can be done for each site that carries
multiple articles. Those are more important to link
to than any single articles listed on small sites
that pick up a single article anyway. I recommend
linking instead to the article directories which
will then link to all articles that are then published
on each site, both now and in the future -- whether
or not you have multiple articles listed at this
site now."
Top Search Engine Marketers know how important a
sitemap can be for the proper indexing and ranking
of all the pages on client sites. Having a single
page that links to all others within the multiple
directories comprising each section can be critical
to getting every page spidered and included in crawler-based
search engines.
So I suggested that we create a map of inbound links
to his site and that we link from his home page,
to his sitemap and from his sitemap to the map of
inbound linkers. Then submit his map of inbound
links page to the search engines. That gets each
of the inbound linking sites spidered and those
inbound links will in turn be credited to his PageRank.
Don't list dead links on this links page! Even though
many pages are listed in the search engines, it
doesn't mean that they still exist and you should
either manually check each one if there are only
a few, use link checking software to check them
otherwise.
Click below and take a look at the page and note
to visitors: http://www.ecommercebase.com/printTemplate.php?aid=441
Something important to consider when someone pulls
an article and the link goes bad. Check every link
you include on your map of inbound links pages.
Another consideration is your resource box when
distributing articles for publication online, it
should include a full link, including the http://
so that it automatically hyperlinks in many content
management programs without having to encode URL's
in the HTML by hand. It's done for editors by the
software when it sees the http:// where as
if you type www.yoursite.com, your www won't get
hyperlinked automatically by the software.
It behooves you to point out to editors and publishers
that you require your URL to be hyperlinked when
articles are used online. Failure to insist on this
practice reduces your PageRank An alternative practice
would be simply to include the HTML in the text
of your resource box and note that it is included
when sending out your article.
Many sites don't distribute articles for use online,
so the way to gain inbound links is simply to provide
great content which encourages linking just because
your site offers such valuable information. This
in itself is not enough though, you will gain many
more links if you make it simple for others to link
to you. Create a specific page on your site with
HTML code for linking and suggested site description
including relevant keywords that can be cut-and-paste
simple for the less technically savvy.
Here are instructions for those unfamiliar with
how to set up a "link to us" page:
http://searchengineoptimism.com/SEO_Tutorial/link-to-us-pages.html
How do you know who links to you now? Visit Google
and type the following syntax into the search box
without the quotemarks "link:www.yoursitename.com"
and press the Google search button.
The results page will return 10 results as usual,
but look at the blue bar across the top of the page
where it says, "Searched for pages linking
to yoursitename.com.
Results 1 - 10 of about 203. Search took 0.16 seconds."
Go through the results pages and you'll quickly
discover that many of those links are repeats for
one reason or other. This doesn't necessarily mean
that 203 linking results reflect that many sites,
just that many links. Google also eliminates many
duplicate site listings in the results pages, as
you'll be able to see when you've reached the last
page of results when reviewing all of your site
links. Google will show only a few of the results,
then note after a few pages:
"In order to show you the most relevant results,
we have omitted some entries very similar to the
37 already displayed. If you like, you can repeat
the search with omitted results included."
The results on the above search don't mean you've
found all the sites that link to you either. If
you distribute articles for use online, post to
forums using a signature line or even take part
in discussion lists archived online, you will find
many more links to your site by searching for your
own name or any "handle" or "screen
name" you regularly use.
Go to Google again and type in your screen name
or any other often-used moniker that identifies
you and enclose it within quote marks in the Google
search box and click the search button. Using your
own name, this is called an "EGO" search.
http://tinyurl.com/7vg3
As a writer that has distributed articles across
the web for over four years, I do this to find where
those pieces have been published and make certain
that the site has adhered to guidelines I've established
for use of my articles. Searching for my own name
returns over 1000 results and, to my surprise, many
of those results also link to my site, but are not
listed when doing the previous search using "link:www.website101.com"
In order to gain additional scoring PageRank at
Google, I have set up a map page like that I've
been describing here for one of my web sites at
the following address to assure that it gets all
inbound links spidered and credited to my web site
links and hopefully improves Website101 PageRank
at Google, which is currently at 7 out of a possible
10.
http://www.website101.com/website101links.html
You'll note when you visit that page that I've placed
the links in no particular order except the first
one, which I've always been very proud of - since
the day we earned that honor in 1999. Entrepreneur
Magazine linked to WebSite101 and helped raise our
visibility dramatically. Another early linker was
Internet.com, where we have gained steady streams
of traffic due to perceived importance of such a
referring site.
There are dozens of additional methods of getting
your site linked by other sites which is discussed
more fully at the following URL's:
http://searchengineoptimism.com/SEO_Tutorial/link_popularity.html
Use those techniques wisely, then keep track of
who links to you and create your inbound links map
to tell search engines how popular your site is
and you'll see your PageRank increase over time.
Concentrate on those sites likely to link to you
at first, but don't hesitate to request links from
the big boys either.
That highly coveted link from Entrepreneur Magazine
mentioned above came from online distribution of
a press release done in October of 1999 and got
WebSite101 linked from Entrepreneur Magazine online
as well as a blurb in the December 1999 print edition
of Entrepreneur.
All of this work may seem mundane and tedious, but
the results of that tedium can mean huge boosts
to visibility, traffic to your site and profit in
your bank account.
A final note of caution - Don't link to just anyone
who asks you to! Many unscrupulous webmasters will
post your link only long enough for you to see it
and then take it down or bury it in massive link
farms created solely for their own benefit. Another
site that links to WebSite101 is SiteTipsandTricks.com
where Bob McElwain has written a highly recommended
article on link swapping scams.
Take a look at Bob's article:
http://searchengineoptimism.com/SEO_Tutorial/link_swap_scam.html
Take heed of all those requests to link to unknown
sites that use software generated "Personalized"
letters to webmasters seeking links to www.some-stupid-site.com/unrelated-content/
I've seen dozens of these notes claiming that the
site owner "found you in Yahoo, my favorite
search engine" (sic) and "I'm sure you
are aware of the value of reciprocal links"
and "I've already linked to you" and when
you visit, you find hundreds of irrelevant, pointless
links to unrelated content.
I'd be remiss if I didn't remind you that use of
this article requires that links in the resource
box be made live by hyperlinking ;-) Keep on with
your links campaign and then tell them you learned
best techniques at SearchEngineOptimism by linking
to us! We only link to those we find with links
to us done in searches at Google, or those who provide
articles on relevant subjects that would benefit
visitors to our site.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Mike Banks Valentine is a Search Engine Optimization
specialist practicing ethical small business SEO
http://SEOptimism.com
S
The
Linking Matters Report
A free report to help website owners and publishers
plan effective linking strategies and boost link
popularity - includes guidelines, worksheets and
links to over 50 articles on linking.
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