Improve Search Engine Placement With Link Popularity
By Yelena Shapiro
Not just numbers
Link popularity is much more than a number of links that point to
a site. Search engines have been able to come up with sophisticated formulas
that go beyond numbers. Link popularity and the quality of links, are
currently determined by the following three factors:
- Number of Links - The more, the better. Although having several
irrelevant links is not as effective as relevant ones, it's better than
nothing. Inktomi,
a provider of search results to engines like Hotbot,
still values the number of links more than anything else.
- Relevance - Search engines want links from pages that are relevant
to your site. This can include your competition, supplier, or anyone
else in the same category.
Google measures relevance through its PageRank formula, along with other
engines such as Hotbot and Altavista. This lets people, rather than
meta tags, determine how high a page ranks. If a similar site links
to you, they probably found your content to be interesting.
- Link text - This refers to text used in a link, the text that
people will click. For example:
SearchEngines.com
or Search engine
guide or Click
here all link to the same place, but use different text.
Obviously, the use of keywords in the description of a link is beneficial.
The reasoning behind this is quite simple. If another site chooses to
describe your site with relevant keywords, this means that those keywords
must relate to your site's content. The more people that choose to put
keywords in the description of your site, the better. It shows relevance
to the engine.
How do I develop quality links?
For a description of methods and programs that are used to achieve link
popularity, click here.
- For FFAs - sites where anyone can post a link
Although with "Free-for-All" sites you can't control the relevance
of your links, you can control its text. Most FFA pages will ask you
for a site description, which is what they will use as the text for
your link. Your description should contain several keywords. In this
case, it doesn't even have to be in a sentence.
.
- For Exchange programs
Find an exchange program where you can place your site in a category
relating to your business. Exchange programs will give you more permanent
links than FFA pages, with higher quality. The number of links will
be smaller, but it's worth the effort.
- For other sites
The best kinds of links are those created through agreements with
other webmasters. These links are often permanent, plus you can try
controlling their text. When you send a request or an offer for a link,
let the other party know what you would like your link to say. We suggest
including a piece of HTML code in your e-mail.
<a href="http://www.yoursite.com">Your Keywords</a>
Avoid the use of images as links from other sites. Not all engines index
ALT tags, and the use of an
image can mean giving up keywords. If you do decide to use an image,
ask that a text description be placed on the bottom.
Submit new links to search engines
Search engines will not automatically know if you develop a new link.
Submit pages with new links to your site, so that they can be indexed
and start affecting your link popularity. Remember that link popularity
is search engine specific, not universal. This means that you need
to submit to every engine.
An Overview
Link popularity
- Most search engines use it
- A quality link is: relevant, rich with keywords
- Achieved through FFA sites, exchange programs and agreements
Increase
your link popularity >>>
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