Building Link Popularity Improves Search Engine
Ranking
By Scott Buresh March 24, 2003
What is Link Popularity?
Link popularity is a factor that many search engines
use when ranking web pages within their index.
Simply put, most search engines give a ranking
boost to sites that have incoming links from quality,
related sites. This method of establishing importance,
pioneered by the increasingly popular Google,
is now used in some form by 19 of the top 20 search
engines. While it is still possible to achieve
high rankings for non-competitive terms without
a great deal of link popularity, it is unlikely
your site will rank well for very popular terms
without it.
Directories
It is important to note that the sheer number
of incoming links is not as important as the quality
of the sites that are doing the linking. The fastest
way to get some quality incoming links is to get
listings in the popular directories, such as Yahoo
and the Open Directory Project. For business sites,
Yahoo costs $299 per year (it is free for non-commercial
sites, although it takes a while to get listed).
The Open Directory is free for all sites that
meet certain quality standards, but it sometimes
takes a lot of follow-up inquiries to make sure
your site gets listed. When listing your sites,
try to get them in the highest-level category
that is applicable to your site. For instance,
if your company in Podunk Ohio ships wind chimes
to consumers nationwide, make sure you submit
to the national "Wind Chime Dealers" category,
not the "Retailers in Podunk, Ohio" category.
Finding Partners
Once you have submitted your directory listings,
you should look for other sites that might link
to yours. Ideally, the businesses that run these
sites will be related to yours but will not be
direct competitors. For example, if you had a
site that sold supplies for swimming pools, it
could be useful to your visitors if your site
had a link to a swimming pool installer, and useful
to his visitors to have a link back to your site.
Since your offerings complement each other, neither
of you are likely to lose business by exchanging
links.
You also have to find sites that show a propensity
to link to others. Google is an excellent engine
to use when looking for potential linking partners.
Typing in keywords that you think your customers
might use to find you, look for quality, well-ranked,
non-competing sites that have "links" or "resources"
pages, and objectively look to see if your site
would fit with the other sites listed. If you
think it is a possibility, make a note of the
site, including the webmaster's address and something
specific about the site you particularly liked.
It is also very useful to look at each of the
sites on these "links" pages, as many of them
might also be potential link partners. When you
have found a good number of sites, add a link
to each of them from a "links" page on your own
site. It is important to do this before contacting
the site owners, as they are much more likely
to reciprocate if they see that you have already
taken the trouble to link to them.
Making the Contact
Once you have added a link to each of the sites
you have identified, it is time to contact the
site owners. Usually this is done by email. Due
to the volume of spam most webmasters receive,
it is very important to let them know that you
have actually visited their site in the first
few sentences. Compliment them on the site and
specifically mention the attribute you particularly
enjoyed (as previously noted). You should then
let them know that you have already provided a
link to them, and give them the URL of your links
page so they can see this link for themselves.
Only then do you mention that you would appreciate
it if they would reciprocate.
Monitoring
Once all of your initial emails have gone out,
check back to the sites you have targeted periodically
to see if they have added your link. If they haven't
added it within a month, one follow-up email is
normally acceptable. If you don't hear back from
them for a month after that, consider removing
the outbound link, unless it is a vital resource
to your visitors. Check your rankings every month
or so to see how they improve, and, if necessary,
start the process again.
The List Of Don'ts
Don't exchange links with sites that you would
not want your visitors to see. This type of link
can make your site look indiscriminate while defeating
the entire purpose of link popularity. Also, do
not ever exchange links with sites that contain
nothing but a huge collection of links (AKA "link
farms"). Search engines have been known to aggressively
penalize sites that trade links with such sites.
In addition, do not harass people who do not answer
your emails. Remember that you are contacting
someone, out of the blue, who probably has too
much to do already. If they haven't responded
within a month of your second email, don't expect
a reply (or a link). Finally, do not expect overnight
results. Link building takes a great deal of time
and labor, and there is no real shortcut- a primary
reason why search engines place importance on
it. If your site is terrible, you aren't going
to convince many others to link to you, no matter
how sweetly you ask.
Conclusion
A properly executed link building campaign will
help boost your ranking with many search engines,
but this is only part of the benefit. The quality
sites that have agreed to link to you will also
send you highly relevant traffic. Also, your brand
and name will become better known within your
industry as a result of the link requests that
you make. Finally, your additions to Yahoo and
the Open Directory will send you a great deal
of additional quality traffic. Link building is
a laborious process, but if done properly it is
most definitely worth the effort.
Scott Buresh is co-founder of Medium
Blue Internet Marketing and author of the
monthly Medium
Blue Internet Marketing Newsletter. His articles
have appeared in numerous publications, including
ZDNet, WebProNews, MarketingProfs, DarwinMag,
SiteProNews, PromotionData, and Search Engine
Guide. Medium Blue specializes in search engine
optimization and submission, with clients ranging
from large multinational firms to small localized
businesses.
Return
to FREE articles index |
Visit Our Sponsor! WebPosition
Gold