Building Backlinks to Increase Rankings

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Building Backlinks to Increase Rankings

Increasing Link Popularity

Link popularity has been a major concept in search engine marketing since Google's PageRank made headlines back in 2000. Since then, Google has become a search giant - undoubtedly, the most important search engine for online marketing.

Link popularity has grown in importance at the same time. After all, Google uses the quantity and quality of links each site has as one of its main ranking factors.

To rank well on Google, sites need numerous high-quality links.

But what does "high-quality" mean?

1. Links from sites with a high PageRank

Links from sites with a low PageRank add quantity, but little quality. They may potentially increase your site's rankings but it's the sites with a higher PageRank that you should be seeking links from.

2. Relevant link description text

How other sites describe your web site is important. If you sell widgets, ask other sites that link to you to describe you by mentioning your company name and the word "widgets." Search engines' spiders figure that any words used in link text are particularly relevant. So if lots of sites linking to you use keywords in their link text, search engines will boost your ranking for those keywords.

3. Links from relevant web sites

If all the sites linking to you are about accounting, then search engine spiders will assume that your site is somehow related to this theme. To maximize the quality of incoming links to your web site, seek links only from other sites in your industry.

4. Good internal linking structure

If you'd like good rankings for pages other that your main one, create a good linking structure a spider can follow. Some search engine experts believe that Google counts


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internal links as backlinks. This means that creating a good internal linking scheme can potentially increase your rankings.

5. One-way links

For many years, webmasters have tried to increase their sites' link popularity by swapping links or participating in link exchange programs. Google's PageRank gives preference to one-way links because they are more likely to be genuine, rather than a result of a link popularity campaign.

6. Avoiding "bad" links

Ever since link popularity became an important ranking factor, webmasters and search engine marketers have looked for ways to increase it for their sites. Search engines understand that a site can artificially build up its link popularity, so they try to discount links that were created purely for this purpose. "Free-For-All" web sites, link farms and link exchange programs are no longer useful since Google and other web spiders can easily lessen the effect of links acquired through these techniques. We recommend against using software that finds similar web sites for link exchange or buying text links from content networks. You may increase the quantity of incoming links to your site, but you are more likely to hurt your rankings in the long run if your inbound links look "fake."How can you then increase the number and the quality of inbound links to your web site? Link Popularity Campaign.

What is "Real Link Popularity"?

Old techniques don't work any more

Since link popularity became one of the most important ranking factors, webmasters have tried to increase the number of inbound links to their sites. There are numerous techniques that were used to boost a site's link popularity, such as:

1. "Free-For-All" sites

These spam web sites published links to other sites in return for an email address of the site owner.

2. Automated link exchange software

Many software options exist for webmasters who want to find similar web sites and send them an automatic email.


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3. Link exchange campaigns

Individual webmasters or webmaster groups would send each other email asking for reciprocal links Search engines naturally had a problem with the above techniques because they were used to artificially boost a site's link popularity. Instead of people referencing other web sites simply because they thought they were useful, webmasters began to publish lists of "relevant links" just to get reciprocal ones and boost their rankings. Google and other search engines developed strategies to reduce the effects of artificial link popularity. For example, Google gives preference to one-way links because they're more likely to be genuine. Google also prefers links from sites that have already proven themselves - the ones with a high PageRank - because they are less likely to be part of a link exchange program.

Link farms and link exchanges can hurt rankings

Not only do the old techniques of increasing link popularity not work anymore, they can actually hurt your site's rankings in a few ways.

1. Google penalizes links to spam sites

If your site links to link farms or other spam sites, your own PageRank is likely to fall as a result. We suggest linking to other relevant, quality web sites instead.

2. Outgoing links diminish the page's link popularity

If your web site has a page that's full of links, this page is unlikely to score high with Google. That's because Google's PageRank takes off points for many outgoing links and increases them for incoming ones.

3. Linking to spam sites can result in being placed in Google's supplemental index

No one wants their site buried in Google's supplemental index - its backup database. Linking to spam sites and link exchange programs, however, is one of the things that can get your site out of Google's main results. So if link exchange software isn't recommended and getting attention with automated emails is almost impossible, how can you conduct an effective link popularity campaign?


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Rethinking Link Popularity Campaigns

Now that you've sworn off link exchange programs that can do more harm than good, the question still remains: How can you increase your site's link popularity without doing any damage? It's time to rethink link popularity campaigns. The main thing to remember is that your campaign will be successful if you follow one golden search engine rule: Get genuine links and abandon all programs that increase link popularity artificially.

Link Popularity Campaign = PR Campaign

The most effective way to increase link popularity is to get high-quality links from relevant web sites. But old techniques no longer work, which means that it's time to treat link popularity differently. Instead of thinking of it as a supplemental search engine marketing tool, treat your link popularity campaign as a PR campaign. This means committing time and resources to building links the right way.

Tips for a Successful Link PR Campaign

Suppose you didn't need to increase rankings for your site. Suppose you just wanted to create a good resource section for your users and develop relationships with others in your industry. What would you do? You would likely gather your marketing personnel, create a list of places you should contact and have your top people send emails or make phone calls. That's exactly how you should treat a link PR campaign - as a chance to extend your reach inside your industry and get to know others.

Focus on quality, not quantity

Forget about sites that promise you hundreds of links. Instead, we suggest focusing on getting 10-30 quality links from relevant and trustworthy sites. You can check the PageRank of any site by downloading the Google Toolbar or visiting CheckPageRank.com. Try to contact sites with a PageRank of 4 or more for best results.

Get listed on Yahoo and ODP

Both Yahoo and Open Directory Project (www.dmoz.com) can be useful in driving traffic to your site. They also both have high PageRank scores, which mean that being listed could increase your link popularity.


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Work backwards

Here's a good strategy to try: Start out by creating a list of resources for your site visitors. No matter what service you offer or product you sell, there are always sites that you can point your users to for more useful information. Once you're done with your resource center, ask yourself if you could get a link from any of the sites you included. Of course, it's impossible to get links from some sites, but others may be good candidates for a link relationship. An added benefit is that you can call these companies with the promise of a reciprocal link since you'd link to them anyway.

Trade associations and professional groups

Professional associations tend to have high PageRank scores. They're a great way to meet others in your industry and promote your business.

Create a strong internal linking structure

When asking others for a link, choose one or a few pages from your site where you'd like the links to point. This will ensure that you concentrate the PageRank on these pages. The PageRank your site has will also extend to other pages. To facilitate this process, make sure that all of your important pages are linked within 1 to 2 clicks from the main page. Avoid deep linking structures that require more than 4-5 clicks to get to a page. Google might also count internal links as backlinks, so make sure that the important pages on your site - especially your main page - has numerous incoming links from other pages. Running a link PR campaign takes a lot of work and commitment, but it pays off with better rankings and valuable business relationships.

Increasing Link Popularity with Directories and Text Link Purchasing

Anyone who wants to succeed in getting better search engine rankings knows just how important it is to build inbound links. But with old techniques like link exchange programs not working anymore, web site owners are increasingly looking for other ways to improve their link popularity. Purchasing relevant directory listings and text links are two of the easiest, and quickest, ways to get more links. Of course, purchasing too many text links from unreliable sources can get your site penalized in Google. But smart link buying - done with your users in mind - can increase your traffic and improve your rankings at the same time.


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The Golden Rule of Link Purchasing

The golden rule of search engine marketing is to optimize your site for your users, not the search engine spiders. This recommendation is reiterated by every major search engine in their webmaster guidelines. If your visitors like your site, then search engines will follow. Link development and purchasing follows the same logic: Do it for your users! Webmasters have historically run into problems on Google when they signed up for programs that artificially raised the number of their inbound links. Search engines, especially Google, have become much better at detecting these "fake" links and demoting sites that participate in these schemes.

So How Can You Improve Your Link Popularity?

First, consider creating a link PR campaign that aims at distributing truly useful content and connecting your site to others in your industry/community. Creating a link PR program, however, is a labor-intensive and slow process. You can kick-start your campaign by purchasing relevant, high-quality listings from directories and text link sites. The key is to proceed smartly and slowly.

Text Link Purchasing

Since link popularity is so important to search engine rankings, some sites now sell links. Text link sites usually have a number of "publisher" sites - web sites in different categories that are willing to put links on their pages for a fee. A good text link broker will offer you the choice of purchasing links on relevant sites in your industry. Beware, however, that buying hundreds of irrelevant text links from junk sites isn't going to do any good for your site. In fact, programs that promise "100 links a month for $24.95" are likely to publish your web site anywhere, without consideration to quality or relevance. Participating in these programs can hurt your rankings, especially with Google, which does an excellent job of demoting sites with fake links.

Text link purchasing is best done with users, not search engines in mind. Look to buy text links on sites where you would consider advertising even if you didn't need more links. If you come across a text link selling site that doesn't list what sites your link will appear on, we recommend looking elsewhere. Your first priority is to ensure that the traffic coming from the link will be interested in your site.

Here are some popular text link sellers:

• TextLinkBrokers.com


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TextLinkBrokers.com sells links on sites based on categories and descriptions. Often, you have the choice of buying a link on the main page or a sub page of a web site. PageRank for each site is listed.

• TextLinkAds.com

One of the largest link sellers, TextLinkAds.com has an impressive variety of sites in its network. You will need to create a free member account to browse the available sites.

• LinkAdage.com

LinkAdage.com offers a different model for buying links than TextLinkBrokers.com and TextLinkAds.com. Their members can buy links from auctions or in targeted exchange programs.

• LinkExperts.com

This is another site that allows you to buy advertising in the form of text links. Whether you're buying more links from text link sellers or through directories, we recommend making sure that the sites you choose match your own site well and have the potential to bring in interested users.

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Building Backlinks to Increase Rankings