The Fundamentals of Inbound Links

We have all heard that adding quality content to your web site will give the search engines a good idea of how to index your web site, it's a topic we covered in "Content, Content, Content" back in November 2004. But the secret to luring the search engines to your web site, and in part to improving your position within those listings is your inbound links.

So what are inbound links? Inbound links are simply the links from an external web site to your web site. You will also hear the phrase "link popularity" which is simply a search engines measure of the number and quality of links pointing to a single URL. We will cover "quality" later in this article but a site's home page usually has the highest number of inbound links, or highest link popularity, because site owners tend to link to home pages rather than any other content page.

What makes a quality link?

Achieving good rankings using links used to be simple; today things have become more complex, with search engines using very complicated algorithms to measure the quality of the links that involves:

· Number of links to your site?

· What is written in those links?

· What key phrases are used in those links?

· What is the quality of the site that is linking to yours?

· How many other links does that site have?

A link from a web site that the search engine recognises as a leader in your industry carries a lot of clout and means that your web site is important. Two links from industry leaders means your site is even more important. But 100 links from random web sites, from industries you are not even related with, means almost nothing. Thus, getting links is only the start; the important thing is getting good links from quality (high ranking and relevant) web sites.

How Do We Get Links?

It all starts with content ? yes we're back to that again. No one will link to you unless you offer quality information about a particular subject. If you are an estate agent, why not offer information about the area you are selling in. People will be interested in local schools, clubs and associations, crime rates, etc. Once you have completed your information; find web sites whose visitors would benefit from your site's content; solicit links from nearby leisure facilities, local towns, builders, gardeners, removal companies, etc.

How Do You Solicit Links?

To solicit links takes a lot of work. First you need to find web sites that are appropriate to your audience and also bear in mind that often, web site owners will require the link to be reciprocal; i.e.; they want one back from you. As a general rule, if you think your target market may visit a web site, you would benefit from a link from it. Type your search phrases into a search engine like Google.com and see what sites are listed in the first page of results and if appropriate, ask them for a link. Also check which sites are linking to these well-listed web sites and ask those sites for a link. For a list of inbound links to a third parties web site type in "link:theirdomain.com" in Google.

Send out personalised emails to the web sites you have identified giving some evidence that you have actually visited the web site. Don't waste time on approaching web sites that haven't been updated in years, many web sites are perfect but if they are rarely updated, your link wont be added. Be friendly and polite in your approach, and point out the benefits of linking to your web site. If you are lucky, around one third of your emails will get a response. It can be frustrating and discouraging when you get little response or a whole string of no's, but it's important to keep going.

It is also important to follow up. Until you get a definite no, keep in contact and keep it personal. The trick is to let the recipient of your emails think that they are the only web site that you are approaching for a link so make sure you keep track of who you have contacted and what you have written or said. If your linking prospects think that you are sending out mass emails, or that you are using the exact same approach with other sites, you will probably lose their respect - and any chance of a link.

Directories and Links

Do not forget to submit to the directories, relevant business directories and local listings. Getting listed in some of the larger directories such as the Open Directory Project counts for a lot in the major crawler based search engines. Take your time and choose the right category to submit to. Also, make sure you read the advice about how to write the descriptions and titles and write them in the way they ask, bear in mind that human beings edit these directories! Also consider submitting to Yahoo and Business.com, both charge annual subscription fees but both would provide high quality links. If the links turn out not to be cost effective, simply don't renew your subscription.

Buying Links

Buying links is also becoming more commonplace. It is a form of purchased advertising that is less obvious than banner adverts or pay per click listings. Often the link will be placed on multiple pages, or all pages within the site. If purchasing a link, make sure you are clear about why are you buying it? Is it for search engine ranking purposes only, or to get traffic directly from the link?

Make sure the link is worth what you are paying in terms of the traffic it will send you and not solely to improve your page's ranking. If the link partners page is well ranked in the search engines under a specific key phrase but receives few visitors, it won't be sending many visitors to your web site. If the page is well ranked, it may help with your ranking in Google and the rest, but that would be the icing on the cake.

Forums

Join forums and discussion groups related to your business and place links to your web site in your signature line. Use your main search terms as the link text. But before spending time writing lots of posts with your signature line in each post, make sure that the forum is spiderable by checking the robots.txt file. Also make sure that links in signature lines are not hidden from spiders (view the source code to make sure that signature links are in plain HTML and point directly to the site).

Link Exchange Centres Find and join free link exchange centres like LinkPartners.com. There you can find a categorised directory of websites that also want to exchange links. Be careful not to sign up with FFA (Free-For-All) sites because they are mostly email address gatherers and you can expect a sudden increase in email sp@m soon after you sign up. Also, only sign up with centres where you can approach other sites personally, and where they can approach you personally.

Controlling Your Links

When providing your link partners with the text to use in your inbound link, make sure it contains the key phrase you are targeting. Search engines will take into account the words that are included in the actual link as well at the text around it so include a brief paragraph about your business and if possible link your top key phrase to your URL. Make sure that each link points to the page you are promoting for that particular search term. This should improve your ranking in their listings. Pointing all the links to your home page, with various target search terms, won't achieve the same as pointing targeted links at specific pages within the site.

How not to link

Under no circumstances join any link farms! Link farms, such as LinksToYou.com, sound simple and effective, but search engines, Google in particular, disapprove of them as blatant attempts to manipulate the rankings and they will penalise sites that use them. Once a site has been penalised, it is very difficult to get the penalty lifted, so avoid all link farms at all costs. Search engine software engineers always look for spam tactics, when a software engineer discovers a link farm; all the domains in the link farm are banned. Result? Link popularity vanishes.

Summary

Acquiring links can be time-consuming and tedious. There are a number of ways to get them, some being easier than others. However you get them, inbound links are important for websites that want to move up the rankings. Inbound links, with the right link text, are essential for achieving top rankings when there is any competition for the search terms.

Link development's main advantage is dynamic, cumulative, and difficult to imitate. Many sites maintain search engine visibility and the resulting qualified traffic because of successful link development, not just based on the number of keywords on a page.

For top rankings, it is essential to take the time to get as many quality inbound links as possible. It should be treated as an ongoing task. Getting your first link is like getting your first sale. It is just as hard - and just as satisfying.

Linking strategies are just one of a wide range of subjects covered in our guide "Start at the Beginning". It covers all the basics of building and optimising your web site for both your customers and organic search engine rankings. For an excerpt and contents list visit: http://www.enable-uk.co.uk/html/book_2.html

For a complete guide to marketing on the Internet, including: · The General Principles of Internet Marketing · Start at the Beginning · Writing Text that Sells · Building Online Relationships · Maximising Your Pay Per Click Campaign · Measuring Success Why not purchase the whole series of downloadable guides for the discounted price of £64.95. Click for more information: http://www.enable-uk.co.uk/html/promo_ebook s.html Justine Curtis Enable UK Internet Marketing Information and Resources Make your web site work harder! Web: http://www.enable-uk.co.uk Email: info@enable-uk.co.uk Article from Internet Marketing Tips Newsletter, a monthly publication of Enable-UK Copyright © 2004 Enable-UK.

---

Secrets on Website Promotion: How You Can Get a #1 Ranking for Your Website Name Within 30 Days

Launching a new website with enough acceleration to rise above... Read More

Duplicate the Exact Steps Used to Get a Number 1 Yahoo Ranking in Less than 30 Days

If you have ever been into a McDonalds you will... Read More

Types of Links

Internal Linking ? An introductionThe web as they call it... Read More

Search Engine Optimization - A Beginners Guide

Getting your site listed in the top search engines, such... Read More

Marketing to Search Engines AND Humans

When you were just a young and precocious student of... Read More

Whats the Big Hurry?

Quite often I get asked what the magic solution is... Read More

Straight Talk on Search Engine Optimization

To get your website listed well in the major search... Read More

Why Search Engine Marketing Has A Passion for Web Site Usability

Watching a recent football game, I imagined two very different... Read More

Two Myths About the Search Engine Listing

Getting top search engine listing is perhaps one of the... Read More

Is Page Not Found Making Google Tell The World Site Not Found?

Search Engines are hard to tame, that's for sure. But... Read More

Selecting The Title Of Your Link Exchanges

I want to touch base with selecting the title of... Read More

Search Engine Optimization Strategies To Drive More Targeted Traffic To Your Website

Want to drive more targeted traffic to your web site?Want... Read More

Search Engine Optimization for Dummies

Lets face it. Search Engines rule the World Wide Web... Read More

5 Simple Steps to Great Search Engine Rankings

Having your website rank well in the major search engines... Read More

9 Steps to Getting Better Search Engine Rankings

You finally have a website and you are ready to... Read More

What is The Google Sandbox Effect?

In the age of fair competition you may find it... Read More

Give the Folks at Google What They Want

Recent developments on the Google front have web marketers and... Read More

Banned from Google and Wondering Why?

There are those that get on the computer one night... Read More

SEO = Search Engine Optimization, tips on successful page ranking

One of the key things to remember when developing your... Read More

Get Better Search Engine Rankings with RSS

RSS is the latest craze in online publishing. But what... Read More

How Important is PageRank, Really?

Webmasters can spend most of their waking hours doing everything... Read More

Your Search Engine Optimization Strategy: Make Love, Not War

When it comes to search engine optimization strategy, there are... Read More

Beating the New Google AdWord Rules with Blogs and RSS

When Google Adwords first came on scene, it was not... Read More

Page Rank Purgatory - Simple Things You can Do to Keep Your Web Site Out of Search Engine Hell!

Are Meta Tags Really Dead?Right in their Guidelines Yahoo Tells... Read More

Yahoo Dopey, MSN Goofy, Google is Mickey Mouse Lost in a Sandbox

Seventy-two days ago Googlebot first showed up and crawled over... Read More

Internet Marketing and SEO

Have you ever seen any email offers of getting you... Read More

Linking for Fun and Profit

Well actually, linking isn't fun at all. In fact, it's... Read More

Importance of Keywords in Anchor Text or Title Text

Keywords are indisputably, the single most important element of an... Read More

An SEO Checklist

Search engine optimization is on every webmaster's mind these days.... Read More

Search Engine Optimization Tips For 2005 - Part One

Anybody who has their own website or is involved in... Read More

Search Engine Marketing: 20 Nitty-Gritty Strategies To Compel People To Link To Your Website

You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know... Read More

Google Love - Five Top Tips To Make Google Love Your Site

1. Google love ...Google and all its programming is not... Read More

Black Hat SEO and the Sneaky Redirect

Are shades of grey SEO really Black Hat SEO?Black hat... Read More