Link
popularity has recently become an important aspect
to consider when promoting a website. Many search
engines have started to use link popularity to
help determine ranking in their listings. Gaining
links from other sites is also very beneficial
because you gain added traffic when users follow
the link from another site to your site.
What Is Link Popularity?
Link popularity is basically the number and quality
of links that point towards your site. A link
from a very important site is worth more than
a link from a smaller site. The search engine
companies think that an important site would only
link to your site if your site was important,
and it makes sense too. Try getting the main page
of Yahoo! to link to you and you'll fail, but
if you did get a link, then your site must be
worth something. You couldn't even get a link
to your site from a medium size site unless your
site was important enough and had something to
offer. Both of which are important aspects in
determining relevancy - a search engines main
goal.
The number of links is also important
for the same reason. Your site must be important
if many sites link to you. Search engines know
these things, and that is the basis for link popularity.
Linking Strategy Rules
The most basic way of gather and exchanging links
is to simply visit websites and email the Webmaster
asking for a link exchange. However, there are
a few rules to keep in mind.
1. Related, Not Competitive
- You should try to focus your linking
strategy on sites related to yours, but not in
direct competition. For example, a search engine
submission company site wouldn't want to link
with a competitor. They would be better off linking
with a website that teaches various ways of promotion.
The object is not to lose business to competitors,
but to gain business from similar sites.
2. Offer A Link -
Most sites won't just give out a link for nothing
in return. Have a link to their site setup and
then email them asking for an exchange. Even go
as far as to give them the URL of where their
link is located. This basically just makes the
offer more serious because you already have a
link setup.
3. Be Selective -
You shouldn't just fire off an email to every
website you find asking for a link exchange. Be
selective based on the importance of your site.
If you have a large site that has been around
a while, you can be more selective with your linking.
You just want to be sure that you aren't wasting
your time with sites that will benefit greatly
from your link, but won't do much for you at all.
4. Mini Yahoo! - When
I created my links page, I had in my mind a picture
of a small directory. Yahoo uses actual people
to decide where and if a site gets added. Although
my link page is obviously much smaller than Yahoo,
I try to keep the same idea. I set up a page with
different categories that relate to my site. This
makes your links page professional and also offers
another free service for my visitors to use. They
can use my links page as a targeted directory
where they can easily find specific, relevant
information.
|
